In order to race in ANY collegiate cycling race, whether in the conference season or at national championships, a rider must be full-time as defined by the rider’s university or college. Students in their final semester of a degree program who require less than full time hours will be allowed to compete, with submission/acceptance of the Final Semester Reduced Course Load waiver.*

In order to race or compete at national championships, a collegiate athlete has to be considered full time for the semester in which the bulk of the season occurs. The term full time is used in accordance to the athlete’s university guidelines and for the purposes of Track, Mountain and Cyclo-cross needs to be within the fall term and for Road and BMX it is full time within the spring term.

*A Final Semester Reduced Course Load waiver permits students to reduce their course load below full-time hours (at least one credit, but fewer than 12 credits) if it is the final semester of their degree program and they need fewer than 12 credits to graduate.

International riders that attend American universities are allowed to race as part of their university team with a collegiate license. This is because we judge eligibility based on the designation of the team and not the designation of the riders.

Students at other international universities (American citizens or not) are allowed to race within the conference seasons on a case-by-case basis. However, these students are not allowed to compete at national collegiate competitions.

Collegiate cycling is open to anyone with the intent to not only get new riders into the sport, but also to allow those at the elite level to get an education while continuing to develop as a cyclist. Because of this emphasis on education we allow all levels of cyclists to compete with the hopes that this will encourage more athletes to get a college education.

The first thing you need to have is a USA Cycling Collegiate license. You can buy a One-Day license at the race or an Annual Collegiate License. You must also be a full-time student and your school must have a team. If your institution doesn’t have a cycling team, you can always start one. The normal (club) fee is waived for the first year.

First, create a USA Cycling account from the “Sign In” link, if you don’t already have once. Once you are logged in, click on this link which will take you to the collegiate license purchase page. If you already have a domestic or international license and you only need to add-on a collegiate license. Log into your account, click on the “Licenses” tab, then “Upgrade your Membership”. If you run into any issues, reach out to collegiate@usacycling.org.

Your collegiate license is good for 365 days from the date of purchase. If you hold an International license, your license will be valid until December 31st of the same calendar year you bought it.

Your collegiate license is valid for collegiate races only, but included in the purchase is a domestic license. If you only have a domestic license, you will need to “purchase” the free collegiate add-on through your account.

When purchasing your license, if you find that your team is not listed but you know that your school does have one, then contact your club president to get this issue resolved. It is likely that the club membership is simply expired or that some paperwork is missing. For more details, take a look at my school is missing page or reach out to collegiate@usacycling.org.

The fields are separated according to collegiate categories. So, there is an A race, a B race, a C race, and so on. Your USA Cycling category does usually correlate to a collegiate category, though, and some of the collegiate categories encompass more than one USA Cycling category. On the road, for example, A’s are Category 1, 2 and 3 (but only those with enough points) riders, while the B’s are Category 3 and 4 (with enough points) riders. So a Category 3 rider may be fit into either category based on the number of points accrued. For more information, take a look at the collegiate policy document.

Collegiate cycling has a season for every discipline. Track runs from summer to September; mountain bike goes from August to October; cyclo-cross is held from November to January; and road spans from February through May.

The location of results and rankings will vary by conference. Many conferences post their race results to their conference websites. Some will also post those results here at the USA Cycling website, and you can search for a specific event by simply typing that event’s name into the “Search USA Cycling” box. Finally, we keep an archive of current and past national rankings.

Your category is a reflection of your racing experience and ability. If you have never raced before, you should start out in the lowest available category and work your way up. If you do have previous racing experience, but this is just your first time racing collegiately, then your collegiate category correlates to your USAC category. If you are a Category 3 on the road, for instance, then you can race in either the A or B fields in collegiate. Check out the collegiate policy document for full details.

Upgrade requests should be submitted through your USA Cycling account. Under your “License” tab. You can click to request an upgrade. You must then list all the races and results for which you think you earned upgrade points, as well the total number of points you have. The qualifying races and number of points necessary is different for each discipline and from category to category, so consult the upgrades policy for complete details.

Collegiate cycling has a strict no aero equipment policy. This means that, if it’s not mass-start legal, you can’t use it. So while most helmets are okay, that disc wheels, tri-spokes, and aero bars won’t fly. All wheels used in collegiate cycling must have at least 16 spokes. For more details and a list of what is allowed and what is not, head over to the regulations page.

No, when starting a club your team and its members may only be affiliated with a single school. If your school has no club, you can always start your own, as there is no minimum requirement for members. During conference races, though, you can compete with members of other clubs as a composite team for team time trials. Any results you earn, though, will not count toward the season’s points, and this applies to the conference season only. No composite teams are allowed at USA Cycling Collegiate Nationals.

The conferences are organized by region, largely, though not always, divided along state lines. There are 11 in all, and they are meant to make traveling to competitions more convenient for you. Check out the collegiate conferences page for the break-down of all the conferences.

Collegiate cycling is split into two divisions, Club and Varsity. Within the club program, there is a further split of Division I and Division II based on school size, with the threshold for Division I at 15,000 students. Smaller schools can, however, choose to compete at the Division I level if they choose. Only varsity programs can offer athletic scholarships to its riders.

Club teams are USA Cycling Collegiate member clubs which have submitted the appropriate application to USA Cycling and are in good standing with USA Cycling and their individual school. Club teams are typically student led and any funds for the program that come from the school typically are from university programs budgets and not athletics.

Varsity teams are distinguished largely by the amount of funding they get from both their school and outside sponsors. Additionally, they must have a USA Cycling licensed coach. In order to be recognized as a varsity program by USA Cycling, teams have to meet three of the four following criteria:

1. Does your school recognize you as a varsity program?
2. Does your team give out at athlete scholarships?
3. Does your team pay entry for most collegiate races during the year?
4. Did your team attend 2 USAC Collegiate National Championship events the previous year?

Start by talking to your Conference Director to find out what dates are available and what needs to be done to put on the event. If there is one thing we cannot emphasize enough, though, it is that you need to plan ahead! It is never too early to start. If your school has put on a race before, get in touch with whomever was in charge last time. He or she will likely have a lot of useful information that will give you a huge head start.

Collegiate cycling has a strict no aero equipment policy. This means that, if it’s not mass-start legal, you can’t use it. So while most helmets are okay, that disc wheels, tri-spokes, and aero bars won’t fly. All wheels used in collegiate cycling must have at least 16 spokes. For more details and a list of what is allowed and what is not, head over to the regulations page.

To compete in any USA Cycling Collegiate National Championship event, you must be a full-time student during the semester of championship eligibility, which is listed on the Eligibility Verification Form. You must also meet any other eligibility requirements, like race participation, as well as any qualification standards, which are different for every discipline and sometimes vary by conference. Reach out to your conference director.

In short, yes. Just have your registrar fill out the eligibility form proving that you are enrolled as a full-time student for the coming semester. Even if you haven’t earned any credits yet, if you are enrolled as a full-time student for the coming fall, you are good to go.

Yes, you can use aero equipment at collegiate track races, where otherwise allowed. That means aero bars, disc wheels, etc. are all good to go.