USA Cycling continues to shoot wildly from the hip as they announce a very last minute U.S. 4-Cross National Championship for Pro men and women. It will be held during the Chile Challenge at Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico on May 26, 2008.
 
In more proof of sanctioning run completely amok, USA Cycling will continue to hold a U.S. Dual Slalom National Championship as scheduled at the 2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships at Mount Snow Resort in West Dover, VT, July 16-20.
 
As a UCI-recognized discipline, the National Championship 4-Cross competition at Angel Fire will offer national-championship-level international points and will be open to American riders only.

 

Prior to the addition of an American-only National Championship 4-Cross race for Pro men and women, the Chile Challenge was already a category-2 UCI event and part of the Mountain Bike Gravity Calendar. Both the previously scheduled downhill and 4-Cross events will be run as planned and will be open to American and international riders alike.

 

Who can understand any of this? It all began with a Norba National Series. Then a group of roadies purchased Norba to improve numbers and sanctioning bucks. The roadies spent all their time creating USA Cycling while doing absolutely no maintenance to the Norba Series. So it died. Team Big Bear and Blue Wolf then stepped in and took over the Norba Series. The name was changed to the National Mountain Bike Series, although all of it's contestants and the entire industry refers to it as the "Norba's". Between all of this the Fred's at USA Cycling created the American Mountain Bike Challenge and the ridiculous Mountain Bike Calendars that they try to pawn off as a national series.

 

In the end we have numerous "national" series and a one day country championship. The one day championship begins May in the Rockies and concludes two months later in the Northeast.

 

Good idea?