2025 & 2026 Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals

[James Carney]

Hello All,

Some may not know, but USA Cycling plans to send us to Grand Junction, CO, for the next two years for Collegiate MTB Nationals. A huge shocker. Almost all of us thought they would finish their two-year contract with Ride Rock Creek. I think we need to put our foot down TOGETHER as a solidified unit to push for that to still happen.

I accepted the Piedmont job in 2016 because I believed in Collegiate’s potential. Unfortunately, zero progress has been made. One could argue that we’ve taken steps backward. Piedmont became the 25th varsity school that year; we’re down to 22 right now. It is my opinion that USA Cycling should only be concerned with our growth, retention, and participation. Choosing to send us to Grand Junction for the next two years does none of that. Here is why:

Since 2016, we have had mountain Nationals on the East Coast two times. This is unacceptable; we are the majority. Making us travel extensively virtually every year doesn't help retention or participation.

2016 - Snow Shoe, WV
2017 - Montana
2018 - Montana
2019 - Big Bear, CA
2020 - COVID 19
2021 - Durango, CO
2022 - Durango, CO
2023 - Ride Rock, NC
2024 - Bentonville, AR

It is my opinion that we firmly state as a unified group that we want Nationals back at Ride Rock in 2025.

Furthermore, I would like us to stand up together to request that these multiple-year contracts be ended. It is entirely unfair to have Nationals at high altitudes for consecutive years. Any upperclassman who doesn't handle conditions well is robbed of any opportunity to compete fairly. This does not support retention or participation. A simple three-year rotation solves this issue. I don't want you to get lost in this concept because having 2025 Nationals at Ride Creek is the urgent call for action. Still, this kind of rotation promotes growth, retention, and participation for many reasons.

Pretty simple. I suggest something like:

1. Ride Rock or Snow Shoe
2. Bentonville
3. Grand Junction or Durango

But obviously, we could add others to the mix. I have suggested a rotation for many years now. All of USA Cycling’s Nationals were on this rotation in the 70’s and 80’s. They ended it in 1993. It worked great, especially for juniors. Parents could plan. We could plan. It makes excellent sense for Collegiate.

THE MAIN FOCUS IS FOR NEXT YEAR THOUGH. Maybe, I should have saved the rotation agenda for another email.

Will you firmly support a major push to bring the 2025 Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals back to Ride Rock?

Jame Carney, Piedmont

[Alan Sparks]

I think you should check with RRC first to make sure they want it but if they do I support this.

I myself am done with USAC. I’m all for having a SECCC national/regional championship at LMC or TMU as well and just doing away with USAC nationals with any discipline.

I’ve discussed this with my athletic director and if we could get 8 varsity teams to commit we can go to the Conference Carolina’s directors to get set up as an official sport in the conference and be done with race fees and the sort. We can toss USAC once and for all for collegiate governance. For we smaller teams (former D2 teams) I think this would be the way to go. USAC can’t survive hosting collegiate events with only hosting 5 or 6 of the large teams only coming to their national events. Not to exclude club teams, they would still be able to participate at our events but not be included as a Conference Carolina member.



Alan



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> On Nov 19, 2024, at 9:05 AM, James Carney <jamec...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello All,

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[James Carney]

Hello,

I want to thank the SCADs, King, and Belmont for their immediate support. That's five varsity schools already.

Alan has made some very valid points. I will contact Ride Rock for their exact stance/position on these subjects. That is important. I was told that CMU/Grand Junction was the only venue to put in a bid for the 2025 Nationals, but I don't think other venues were aware that bids were being taken. I find it hard to believe that Snow Shoe would not want it. Having a discussion about holding our own Collegiate Championship next fall is a viable option. The words “National Championship” are owned by the National Governing Bodies (NGBs). This is mandated by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

My goal is to have enough support from most of you to ask for a pause before any announcements are made. It is rumored that the 2025-26 contract hasn't been signed yet. If this is the case, we should have an immediate Zoom with Kyle Knott and the Collegiate Committee to discuss our concerns.

Best,

Jame

> On Nov 19, 2024, at 9:18 AM, Alan Sparks <aspa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I think you should check with RRC first to make sure they want it but if they do I support this.

[Zachary Marshall]

Western Carolina University Cycling Club supports this 100%. We are a growing club team, and we were hoping to get ourselves more out there via nationals. Due to the unfortunate move this year, we were only able to get one athlete out to Bentonville. Next Year, we have the potential to get several athletes to nationals if it is held on the East Coast. Having nationals close to home allows us to do that financially. If Rock Creek is open to it, then it should be held there.

Best, 

Zach Marshall

WCU Cycling Club President

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[Avah Cherry]

Hey everyone,

This is Avah Cherry (president of University of Tennessee Cycling Club). I fully support pushing for nationals to be at RRC next fall assuming that is what RRC wants of course. If USAC really cares about the local communities impacted by the hurricane, hosting nats there could be a good economic boost (of course this is assuming the community has recovered enough to be able to host by then). I would be happy to attend any sort of meeting to show UT Cycling’s support for this. 

As a representative of a club team, I am quite skeptical of the idea of abandoning USAC’s collegiate nats all together. I know the varsity teams are very strong in the SECCC and we have a great conference with big influence but us club teams are few and far between relative to the varsity schools around here. I’m afraid that club teams will be easily over looked. Despite USAC’s many flaws, they do a good job creating a place for all us small clubs and bringing us together at nationals which is really important to growing the collegiate sport (varsity programs are great but not a good fit for everyone who wants to race in college so club teams are really important too). 

I think that this is a discussion for later down the road however. Right now we should all be on the same page of pushing for an east coast nats next year. 

Best,

Avah Cherry

University of Tennessee Club Cycling 

On Tue, Nov 19, 2024 at 11:09 AM James Carney <jamec...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Jeff Branyon]

I’m in support of pushing USAC to get nationals to the east coast or doing our own thing.  We pay for a race license for each rider, a team license each year, a permit to host a colligate race and then a surcharge for each rider at the race. What do we get from USAC in return? They extort funds from colligate cycling but do nothing to help. You can count me in on whatever we can do to provide better environment for our student athletes. 

Jeff Branyon

Truett McConnell University 

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 19, 2024, at 1:17 PM, Avah Cherry <avahc...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Colley, Andee R]

Hey guys, 

Ray from the University of Montevallo here. Hope you all have recovered from Nationals last week! Super proud of all our SECCC guys and gals. 

Nationals-

I agree completely, Nationals should be on the east coast next year. However, I also think we need to have discussions with not only RRC, but also the surrounding communities to ensure that they have the ability to host. As all of you know, many of the roads were destroyed during the hurricane, so even getting to RRC could be a challenge. I wholeheartedly think that we need to be on the east coast, but we should have our ducks in a row before setting up a Zoom with the nationals crew. (That I would very much like to be a part of if you're looking for volunteers Jame) 

The rotation is a great idea for nats. I don't have any issues with that. I do think we should look into ski resorts more as an option in the future, just for lodging convenience. Riding to the venue is nice!

Splitting from USAC-

I hate USAC as much as the next guy. Yes, they have done very little to help the growth of collegiate cycling and yes, they do make life extremely difficult at times, however, leaving USAC comes with its own set of challenges. I know the other varsity teams are mostly made up of private schools, but the University of Montevallo is a public university, as are most of the clubs. If we were to split from USAC, we would have to completely restructure our program with the school. Avah also makes a valid point, USAC does a great job of being inclusive for clubs. Honestly, I think our best course of action would be to have a Zoom with all of the coaches and club representatives in the SECCC, to talk about issues we see. Then, I think we should all meet with Vanessa to discuss our concerns, and how to fix things that we see as broken. We have to do what is best for the majority of the conference, and that includes all our clubs. 

To sum up- totally on board with east coast nats, more than happy to help make it happen, and we need to have a group meeting before we even think about leaving USAC, and honestly, just in general to all get on the same page.

Thanks guys. 

Cheers, 

Ray Colley

Head Cycling Coach

University of Montevallo

Cycling Clubhouse, Station 0047

1481 Hwy 204, Montevallo, AL 35115

(334)758-1086

---

From: all-...@googlegroups.com <all-...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Avah Cherry <avahc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2024 12:17 PM
To: James Carney <jamec...@gmail.com>
Cc: Alan Sparks <aspa...@gmail.com>; all-...@googlegroups.com <all-...@googlegroups.com>; Jame Carney <jca...@piedmont.edu>; Clay Wilderman <clay....@gmail.com>; Michael Souers <michael...@mwccc.org>
Subject: Re: [All-SECCC] 2025 & 2026 Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals

 

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[James Carney]

Again. Thank you all for responding so quickly and in-depth. I appreciate it. 

I can personally say that the area wants us there. Brevard and Hendersonville are asking tourists to return (on Instagram). I stayed at Kanuga Lodge on October 18th for the Hincapie Gran Fondo on October 19th (20 miles from Ride Rock). Kanuga and Ride Rock were open that weekend. I took our team to Ride Rock on November 2nd. It was in better condition than it was before the hurricane. I just registered a few of my athletes for Cranksgiving this Sunday at Kanuga. 

I have reached out to David Kahn but haven't heard back yet. 

I do entirely understand that Asheville and other areas were devastated and smoked. I am not denying that. It was great that the Hincapie Gran Fondo raised money for some of those communities. 

Here has been our reality since 2017:

2017 - Montana 

2018 - Montana

2019 - Big Bear, CA (high-altitude)

2020 - Covid 19 

2021 - Durango, CO (high-altitude)

2022 - Durango, CO (high-altitude)

2023 - Ride Rock, NC

2024 - Bentonville, AR

On Nov 19, 2024, at 2:04 PM, Colley, Andee R <aco...@montevallo.edu> wrote:



Hey guys, 

Ray from the University of Montevallo here. Hope you all have recovered from Nationals last week! Super proud of all our SECCC guys and gals. 

Nationals-

I agree completely, Nationals should be on the east coast next year. However, I also think we need to have discussions with not only RRC, but also the surrounding communities to ensure that they have the ability to host. As all of you know, many of the roads were destroyed during the hurricane, so even getting to RRC could be a challenge. I wholeheartedly think that we need to be on the east coast, but we should have our ducks in a row before setting up a Zoom with the nationals crew. (That I would very much like to be a part of if you're looking for volunteers Jame) 

The rotation is a great idea for nats. I don't have any issues with that. I do think we should look into ski resorts more as an option in the future, just for lodging convenience. Riding to the venue is nice!

Splitting from USAC-

I hate USAC as much as the next guy. Yes, they have done very little to help the growth of collegiate cycling and yes, they do make life extremely difficult at times, however, leaving USAC comes with its own set of challenges. I know the other varsity teams are mostly made up of private schools, but the University of Montevallo is a public university, as are most of the clubs. If we were to split from USAC, we would have to completely restructure our program with the school. Avah also makes a valid point, USAC does a great job of being inclusive for clubs. Honestly, I think our best course of action would be to have a Zoom with all of the coaches and club representatives in the SECCC, to talk about issues we see. Then, I think we should all meet with Vanessa to discuss our concerns, and how to fix things that we see as broken. We have to do what is best for the majority of the conference, and that includes all our clubs. 

To sum up- totally on board with east coast nats, more than happy to help make it happen, and we need to have a group meeting before we even think about leaving USAC, and honestly, just in general to all get on the same page.

Thanks guys. 

Cheers, 

Ray Colley

Head Cycling Coach

University of Montevallo

Cycling Clubhouse, Station 0047

1481 Hwy 204, Montevallo, AL 35115

(334)758-1086

<Outlook-w2w4zlgi.png>

[James Carney]

Let’s give everyone a little more time to chime in and then schedule a SECCC Zoom call. Maybe tomorrow afternoon? We obviously need to try our best to accommodate everyone but having it sooner than later is crucial. 

On Nov 19, 2024, at 2:32 PM, James Carney <jamec...@gmail.com> wrote:



[Georgia Tech Cycling]

 Hi All,

I'm Nathan Kleisnchmidt, speaking on behalf of the Georgia Tech team. I have a few thoughts I'd like to share.

1. As a southeast school, I support having the 2025 collegiate mtb national champs at Ride Rock Creek. However, we should also consider the perspective of schools across the country since this is a National championship. For example schools in the northeast or pacific northwest haven't had any "home" championships in recent history. I'd be wary that demanding a southeast nats could come off as somewhat selfish to folks in other regions. That said, the southeast gets underrepresented considering we are one of the most competitive conferences, and we were promised 2 nationals at Rock Creek. 

2. I think that the argument for a 3 year rotation conflicts with bringing nats back to RRC. If we went to a 3 year rotation, it would make the most sense to do 2025 nats in CA since there's only been one championship there since 2016. A 3 year rotation would be preferable, but there may be some logistical benefits for 2 year contracts we aren't aware of. For example a venue might be more likely to invest in infrastructure or trail building if they are hosting 2 years in a row. 

3. My complaint about 2024 nationals is the location being unfit for a national championship, more so than it being 11 hours away. It was ridiculous to call that a downhill race. Postponing a race should not excuse USAC to sell out to Walmart and put on a subpar event. There were also many other issues, such as having DS, DH, XC, and podiums far away from each other. Bentonville simply isn't an option for a championship race with gravity events. Personally, I am happy to drive or fly as far as necessary if it means I get to race against the nations best on world class trails. 

4. Grand Junction's elevation is 4,646'. That's still tough for us sea level mortals but far better than Durango, although the race venue could be higher. I'm not sure how the riding is there, hopefully there's a good venue with proper trails. Also, from what source did we hear that they are planning on Grand Junction? As usual, there's been much speculation going around. 

5. The idea of parting ways with USAC is very interesting. Generally, I think that USAC is poorly run and does little to improve our conference, even causing Nick Luther to step down. This may be an idea worth investigating but it would be a very large shift and therefore would require a huge effort. We would need to consider how other seasons (road, track, CX) would work. Keep in mind that club teams host many collegiate races. Topview and chainbusters would need to be consulted since they have a small monopoly on our race timing. Who would be in charge of organizing the conference? Perhaps there is a middle ground where our conference could be more independent but still be part of the USAC system?

6. USAC holds much of its power in national championships. As long as USAC holds national champs, riders will want to go get their stars and stripes jerseys. The only way I see to upend that would be to hold a different championship race and convince a majority of riders from across the country to attend it instead of USAC nationals. That seems difficult to pull off. A regional championship would be great, but I think people are still going to want to go to nationals whether they like USAC or not. 

7. I believe that we should always push for better outcomes. Let's consider these issues thoughtfully and thoroughly in order to work out a consistent strategy to approach USAC. A clear objective needs to be established, then we can make a plan to get there. This could be a good opportunity to improve the communication pathways both within our conference, and with USAC. Perhaps something like a Teams or Slack channel would be useful? I also ask that the club teams be included in all conference discussions; we make up a significant chunk of the conference and don't like being overlooked! I hope these remarks offer some perspective and food for thought. Let's keep the conversation going and make some progress. Looking forward to that Zoom call!

Cheers,

Nathan

Georgia Tech Cycling 

Nathan Kleinschmidt | President

gatechcycling.com

(978) 201 0684

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[James Carney]

Hi Nathan,

I just sent the reality. It’s Grand Junction for Mountain Bike for the next two years and then we do Road there for the two years after. Four years of the athletes experiencing the same place. 

For the Road, your altitude of 4,646 feet is correct but for the Mountain Bike, we’re at Powderhorn and the base there is at 8,200 feet (very close to Purgatory, aka Durango).

The rotation is out. They just announced these multiple.year contracts. It is clear, our input doesn't resonate much.

Now, that they've announced, we have plenty of time to discuss and to decide how to move forward. No rush now. 

Best,

Jame

On Nov 19, 2024, at 8:19 PM, Georgia Tech Cycling <gatech...@gmail.com> wrote: