The Georgia Cyclocross Series has its first race this year on Sunday, September 29, 2013.  As with many things in life, some things change and some stay the same.  In this post I'm going to address the new CX5 category and how it may affect you.

In the 2012 season, beginners and those who had not moved up to CX3 yet raced in the CX4 category during a 1:15PM, 30-minute race.  The race was a split start with the under-35 CX4 group starting a minute before the 35+ CX4 Masters group.  What this meant was that everybody on course was the same skill level.  Points were tallied for the GACX Championship Series based on these two categories.

For the 2013 season, there are some changes being made to the events.  There is a new 9:15AM start time, 30-minute race for the newly created CX5 category.  Anyone new to the sport may compete in the CX5 category, but if you have raced in the GACX series in previous years, you should compete in CX4 or your current appropriate classification.  There will be no points championship for the CX5 category.  CX5 is a developmental, introductory level to cyclocross encouraging more participation and a "run what you brung" type of atmosphere.  There is a mandatory upgrade to CX4 for riders after competing in ten CX5 races.  A rider may voluntarily upgrade to CX4 prior to the 10-race limit.

The CX4 category is the one that is seeing the most shakeup from this new change.  Since there will be fewer CX4 competitors this year with the addition of CX5, there will no longer be a split start race at 1:15PM.  The 1:15PM race will strictly be a CX4 race.  Any CX4 racer of any age may choose to participate in this 30 minute race.  If you are 35+ and wish to compete in the Masters category, the official Masters race starts at 10AM.  It is a 45-minute race and will consist of CX1, CX2, CX3, and CX4 competitors all over the age of 35.

I hope this has helped newcomers and existing CX4 racers understand the upcoming changes for the season.  If you have further questions feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@jsnyng), and I'll do my best to help you out. 

Congrats to the newly elected AMR Board of Directors-
CX Director - Jason Young
XC Director - Arturo Quintanilla
Membership & Events Director - Rick Nudd

AMR is run by 5 Board Members. Two of the 5 members are the founding members and
creators of AMR - Brandon Andrews & Bill Bailey. The other three board
members are elected annually by all members in January for a February to
February term. Anyone can nominate a member or themselves for any of these three
positions. The 3 Board positions, roles and current term members
are...

CX Director - Jason Young  
Roles:Attend majority of CX events/races
Help guide new CX racers 
Promote CX racing 
Help with CX group rides/event 
Speak on the board for cyclocross racers 
Designate regional CX Captain if needed 
Request funds/purchases from Board for CX 
Use AMR Twitter, Facebook and Website for CX updates

XC Director - Arturo Quintanilla 
Roles:
Attend majority of XC events/races 
Help guide new XC racers 
Promote XC Racing
Help with XC Group rides/event 
Speak on the board for Mountain bike racers 
Designate regional XC Captain if needed 
Request funds/purchases from Board for XC 
Use AMR Twitter, Facebook and Website for XC updates

Membership & Events Director - Rick Nudd 
Roles:
Recruitment of new members 

1. First contact with members 
2. Makes sure members are up to date for dues 
3. Coordinate new membership functions

Create new events 
Create CX event(s) with help of CX Director 
Create XC event(s) with help of XC Director 
Schedule other events as needed. 
Use AMR Twitter, Facebook and website for updates

Founders-  Brandon Andrews & Bill Bailey 
Roles:
Maintain functioning team 
Overall goals of the team 
Continued direction for team and its members 
Use AMR Twitter, Facebook, and website for updates 
Recruit new AMR members.

Board Members
Will have conference calls once a month. 4 of 5 members for each meeting must be
on the call. For any votes, all 5 members must vote via email or through calls
or vote is unanimous. Board members can be removed by a unanimous vote of the
four other board members if they are not able to perform their job, or they may
resign. A vacancy will be filled by a decision of the board. Board might need to
fine tune or clarify all these "rules". After this first year, any major changes
will need to go before the general membership for approval.

Now is the time. Seriously, if you have ever thought of joining an awesome dirt team like ours, now is the time. Why? Cause CX season is upon us and at the end of August we will be ordering our last kits for the season. Hopefully will be here mid October for the rest of Cross Season.
How do you Join.....read below.

Joining us-  
1. Do the paperwork. Fill out our
membership form, being sure to let us know if you will be racing MTB,  CX,
both for us, (or if you're not sure you're ready to race, but want to be part of
a great team and think our kit would look cool on you)  http://www.angrymonkeysracing.com/join.html

2. Who are
you? Send us your short bio and a picture. We're happy to have you on our team,
and want to show you off on our web page.

3. Pay to play. Our $25 annual membership fee pays for our USA Cycling registration, the website, and other club expenses. Membership expires Feb 1st each year, but if you join us in Dec or Jan, we'll go ahead and count that for the next year. Paypal payments accepted through the site http://www.angrymonkeysracing.com/join.html

Quick, easy, cheap. Boom!
You're on the team.

Remember AMR is not just in Georgia-  We have members in Georgia, Wisconsin and Indiana. Although USACycling Registration Team is in Georgia, but you can live anywhere and register your license to our team.

This is the time. Do not wait. Do not hesitate. Do it. Change your life and have fun doing it.