It is great to see voice of the people.  And to see that it can get loud at times.  It is difficult in a changing dynamic(growing) that is bicycle racing in utah, to strike a balance b/w those who participate(and all that that implies) most(claw, Todd H, Dave H. etc.......)  and what is best for the future of the sport as a whole.  Where I own a business and have 4 kids, wife, etc. and have my own priorities and therefore spend relatively little time(compared to others) building cycling in utah, so my comments should be weighted appropriatly.  I do love cycling and know many who bike, and as you know I have kids that race.  Many say that the future of cycling is with the Juniors.  I would say yes and no.  I feel that cycling will always be a small sport at the youth level. especially compared to baseball, basketball, soccer and football.  Yes juniors are the future but mosty because they grow up and ride bikes as adults and those adults involve thier kids and so on.  The greatest influx we have is from us middle aged men.  If I had not picked up racing Jillian would never have found the sport she loves so much.  And I would not have been willing to spend the $ unless I had a deeper understanding and love of the sport. As you know I am for building junior cycling but ultimately the parents make that decision with very few exceptions.  We older guys are less likely to dump cycling completely for a stint a football team.  If we do, we will still likely have cycling in our lives somewhere and to some level.  I know that opening up a 35+ B field is one way to get Dads out there and interested and who knows who will come with them.  Sure it may not work.  We can always change it back.  I do not think it will take away from our 35 and 45 fields as most of us are 1's,2's and 3's.  I hope it will take from some of the large citizen groups-prompting them to get licensed and some of the large cat 5 and 4 groups.  If a master begins racing at 35 yrs old he is not likely to be gunning to be a cat 2 but may just want to feed his competative urges.  But if he wants to upgrade and be more serious then he can throw himself to the daughnting and somtimes terrifying cat 4 and 5 races where (pardon my wording) young kids know they can sacrifice thier bodies because they have done 20 times before and in other sports.  Now, if it does work then maybe it will be a step towards more juniors and more masters.  If any of you registered for Masters Nationals this year you saw that it was very difficult to get in.  Although Nationals has been removed from the NRC calender (at for now), there is talk of some kind of selection based on either ranking or qualifying.  So to get national ranking points may be needed in order to go.  I have raced at nationals and it is a fun experience and there are many utah racers with stars and stripe jerseys.  However, If you are 30-34 and race in utah you have no way of earning points if such points become needed.  Yes, Masters starts at 30.  I realize there are many interested in preserving thier position in masters and most of the talk is about racing against guys younger and better.  Your going to be especially put out if you finally get 45 and the age shifts from 45 - 55 to 40 - 50 ( or whatever happens). Yes that would be disappointing but for the racing  community as a whole it would be better- because this move would not be made unless the numbers were there to support it.  I think that a Cat 4,5 B group for Masters 35+ could be a step in the right direction.

Sorry to be so long winded and late - I finaly got my password figured out