How do the USA Cycling Race Categories Work?

You may hear a cyclist you know boast about being a "Cat. 3 road racer" or a "Cat. 2 mountain biker."

So, is that good? And how exactly did he get to that level?

The USA Cycling rider categories are a little complex to outsiders. But the No. 1 thing to remember is that the lower the number, the more proficient and experienced a rider is.

For road and track racing, the grouping starts at Cat. 5 and work up to Cat. 1 in men's racing, and starts at Cat. 4 and work up to Cat. 1 in women's racing. Cyclocross racers start at Cat. 4 and work up, and mountain bike racers start at Cat. 3and work up.

Here's a breakdown of each type a rider and an overview of how they can work their way toward Cat. 1:

Q&A With USA Cycling's Jim MillerJim Miller is the man behind the increasingly successful U.S. national team program. The former pro rider came to USAC in 2002 as the director of the T-Mobile women's pro team andtook the reins of the fledgling junior, U23 and women endurance programs two years later. The personal coach for athletes including Beijing gold medalist Kristin Armstrong and recent Dauphin? Lib?r? third-place Tejay Van Garderen, Miller now serves as vice president of athletics, overseeing the top-tier racing programs for USA Cycling in all disciplines. VeloNews sat down with Miller at the national championships in Bend, Oregon.

The national team is really coming of age with a broad contingent of riders in the program excelling in the ProTour, at world championships, in the top women's stage races. What is at the core of that success?

The big thing is the consistency. We've had consistent programming, consistent funding and we're continually exposing these kids to the proper amount of racing. It's allowed us to focus on the kids instead of just short-term projects. When you take a kid at 15--we have a 15-16 program in Europe--we're not trying to make them good juniors. We're trying to make them good U23s because good U23s make good ProTour riders.

How do you go about that?

It's focusing on the process; you have to go slow. Bike racing is a slow process. You can't force it. Kids mature at different rates and you have to give them their own time to mature and

come around on their own. More so than just building a program for one or two riders every generation, we're building a program that is just a process so that a lot of peoplefit into it and a lot of people come out of it.

The transition from a narrow focus on a few athletes to more of a procedural focus is something that the national team has undertaken in the last few years. How has that transition worked?

Athletically, it's been a very smooth transition. It was a bit of a shift in psychology for some people, but now that they see how it works and how they fit in and really the net it casts andwhat comes out of it, I think it's been well received.

Looking past London in 2012, how do you hope the road development program changes going forward?

I hope it stays the same, actually. I think we're doing a really good job. On the men's side, we have really good relationships with the junior teams like Hot Tubes and Garmin. We have good relationships with the U23 teams as well. We're very proactive at working with the teams and not just to get their riders, but so that their riders have good programs.

One thing that has been a big change and has helped immensely is that when we talk about any promising kid--Taylor Phinney, Ben King, Lawson Craddock--we coordinate with their trade teams to ensure everyone's goals are pursued, and the rider's rest is properly timed. We work together to make a really good U23 guy become a ProTour guy. As long as we continue to do that, we're in really good shape on the

road.

We're cranking out ProTour guys left and right. And really solid ProTour guys, too, not average, run of the mill, riding-on-the-front-for- somebody-else guys.

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Lawson Craddock (Hot Tubes) 1st, Men 17-18 Crit, RR, TT:Craddock won every race on his own--he soloed away from the field in the crit and road race. "Lawson's made a big step this year," Jim Miller said. "He was good last year, but his progression this year is big. He's going to be a great rider."

Andrew Talansky (Cal Giant-Specialized) 1st, Men U23 TT; 41st RR: Talansky closed off the first half of his breakout season with a win in the TT by 13 seconds. The newly signed Garmin recruit pointed at tired legs and a target on his back after a disappointing finish in the road race. "He's not the same rider today he was a year ago," Miller said. "There was a big switch, and it wasn't that he changed his training or his mentality or anything; it was just that kids mature at different rates."

Carter Jones (Jelly Belly-Kenda) 2nd, Men U23 TT; 48th RR: Jones was marked in the road race and had to settle for a silver medal in the time trial, fresh off of five weeks with the national team in Europe. "You can see that he has the talent

and when he does get going, when he gets out of school and gets into the summer, that he's a talented rider," Miller said. "Iexpect that his progression will speed up when he gets out of school and is riding bikes full time."

Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) 1st, Women Elite TT; 4th, RR: Stevens was ecstatic with her TT win, but her fourth-place in the road race was a huge disappointment. She hit Abbott and Evans with everything she had in the final lap, butcouldn't shake them. "Unreal. Very talented," Miller said of

Stevens. "When you have a talented and intelligent woman, then you have a beast."

Alex Howes (Holowesko Partners) 2nd, Men U23 RR; 13th Crit; 11th TT: The defending road race and crit champion jumped out of the chase group on the final climb in the RR, but could only close 40 seconds on King and settled for second. "Alex is very talented," said Miller. "I think it's up to Alex to decide what he wants to be. Talent's not his problem. He's very good. He was good at 18, he was good at 19, he wasgood at 20, but he has to decide how good he wants to be."

Kendall Ryan (NOW-MS Society) 2nd, Women 17-18 Crit; 3rd, RR; 3rd, TT: Ryan attacked in the second lap of the crit, drawing out Rivera. The tandem rode the front the entire race and the Dana Point GP winner slotted in for second behind Rivera. "She's done some great results," said Miller. "I mean, she's winning NRC races as a junior."

Kaitlin Antonneau (Kenda) 2nd Women 17-18 RR; 5th RR; 5th TT: Antonneau, runner-up at the 2009 'cross nationals, finished five seconds behind Rivera in the road race, earning

her second silver medal in as many years in the road events. "She's different in her stage of development from Coryn or Kendall or maybe Ruth (Winder)," said Miller. "She's just a small girl. When she fills out and matures, she's going to be a good rider."

Road Racing

All men start at Category 5 and all women start at Cat. 4. For the men to move up to Cat. 4, the most traveled route is to complete 10 massed-start races permitted by USA Cycling. The races must be at least 15 miles long if it's a road race and 10 miles long if it's a criterium.