OBRA Categorization Guidelines
Upgrade Rules

Please send upgrade requests to .

Road Upgrades

For an upgrade, all points may not come from a weekly series.

Points for combined fields will only count for an upgrade if the majority of riders are from the category you are moving out of.  For example, in a combined 3/4 field, a majority of the riders must be Cat 3 for upgrade points to count toward an upgrade to Cat 2.

Guidelines and Notes by Category:

5→4: Experience in 10 mass start races or 15 points.

4→3: 20 points in the previous 12 months; or experience in 25 races. 30 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade.

3→2: 25 points in the previous 12 months
40 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade

2→1: 30 points in the previous 12 months
50 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade

Qualifying Distances for each category

To qualify for upgrading points, races must meet distance standards. Races shorter than the minimum distance do not qualify for upgrading. However, if a road race is less than the road race minimum but above the criterium minimum, it will count for upgrading using the criterium points schedule.

Category	Class	RR	Criterium and Circuit
5 to 4	Men	15 mi.	10 mi.
4 to 3	Men Women Junior	25 mi. 25 mi. 25 mi.	20 mi. 15 mi. 15 mi.
3 to 2	Men Women	50 mi. 40 mi.	20 mi. 15 mi.
2 to 1	Men Women	80 mi. 50 mi.	30 mi. 20 mi.

Points awarded for Criteriums and Circuit Races

Number of Starters
Placing	5-10	11-20	21-50	50+
1	3	4	5	7
2	2	3	4	5
3	1	2	3	4
4		1	2	3
5			1	2
6				1

Points awarded for Road Races

Number of Starters
Placing	5-10	11-20	21-50	50+
1	3	7	8	10
2	2	5	6	8
3	1	4	5	7
4		3	4	6
5		2	3	5
6		1	2	4
7			1	3
8				2
9				1

Points awarded for Stage Races (Cat 3→2 and Cat 2→1 upgrades only)*

Number of Starters
Placing	10-19	20-35	36-49	50+
1	5	7	10	20
2	3	5	8	18
3	2	3	6	16
4	1	2	5	14
5		1	4	12
6			3	10
7			2	9
8			1	8
9				7
10				6
11				5
12				4
13				3
14				2
15				1

* For points earned in stage races, GC and stage places both count for points, but only up to a maximum of 20 points for a cat 1 upgrade or 15 points for a cat 2 upgrade from a single stage race. When deciding whether a rider qualifies for an upgrade, an administrator will take into account points earned in qualifying events per the table above. In the case of a rider who is marginally qualified, the quality of the events and the level of competition may be taken into account.

Road Downgrades
A rider who wishes to downgrade may request a downgrade. Such requests will be evaluated individually. In no case will a rider be allowed to downgrade to category 5.

Cyclocross Categories and Upgrades

Cyclocross categories are self-selected. Riders should take the following guidelines into account when choosing a category.

CCX Category based on Road or XC Category
Road Category	MTB XC Category	CCX Category
1	Pro	A
2	Semi-Pro	A
3	Expert	B
4 or 5	Beginner or Sport	C or Beginner

Masters – Age 35+ (unless otherwise noted) and ability graded as outlined above.

Officials and/or promoter reserve the right to change your category. No sandbagging will be tolerated!

Mountain Bike Categories and Upgrades

OBRA allows self-selection of category as Beginner, Sport or Expert. Pro and Semi-pro classes are only available through upgrade through OBRA or by having a current USAC Pro or Semi-pro license. *Masters Men are not required to upgrade beyond Expert. Masters Women will not be required to upgrade beyond Sport.

Mandatory upgrade rules:

• 4 finishes in the top 3 in any class with a minimum of 15 competitors for men and 10 for women.

These upgrades apply to:

• Beginner→Sport
• Sport→Expert
• Expert→Semi-Pro*
• Semi-pro*→Pro

* Not a women's category

Downgrade rules:

A rider may downgrade one category when:

• They have no significant results for 2 seasons or at rider's discretion.

Track
ATRA Upgrade Guidelines

All track upgrades are processed by the Velodrome Managers using the following criteria: Cat. 5 to Cat. 4 Complete a Velodrome Class or 4 race days. Cat. 4 to Cat. 3 5 race days and 20 points Cat. 3 to Cat. 2 5 race days and 25 points Cat. 2 to Cat. 1 5 race days and 30 points Points: National championships, Category A, B, or C track race will be 7,5,3,2,1 for each event. For all other events, upgrade points are 5,3,2,1 and are based on an omnium of the evening's races. Additional Consideration: Ten person field minimum for category 3-5 and 20 person field minimum for upgrade to category 1. Fifty percent of Upgrading points and number of times raced will be carried over to the next year. Points do not carry over to the next category. When upgrading to a Cat. 1, points earned need to be from more than one velodrome. A race day is defined as one full day of racing. A race day can include a number of events such as a kilometer, sprints or time trial, but it only counts as one race day. Women and Juniors earn one point for every five times raced when upgrading from Cat. 4 through Cat. 2. Races exempt from upgrading are Youth races and races of more than two categories (ie: "A" and "B" races). Results from other velodromes will be considered for upgrading. Downgrading: A rider may be downgraded for the following reasons: unsafe riding; lack of ability to compete in current category; or lack of placing within current category.

All upgrade questions should be sent to: