Pit Zone Now Open For Coaches

Team directors for existing teams can register their teams for the 2021 season in the Pit Zone now, and returning coaches may register, too (the Pit Zone will open for student-athletes on April 1). If you've forgotten your password, please choose 'Forgot Password' at the bottom of the login box. Team and individual profiles remain as they were at the end of the 2020 season. Simply verify the information is still accurate (update as needed) and complete the applicable waivers and fees. Once team registration is complete, team directors can invite new coaches. There is also a 'Re-invite' function that team directors can utilize to prompt last year's coaches to register for the new season.

If you have returning coaches or riders who are changing team rosters in 2021, please email us and we will transfer their profiles in the Pit Zone. There is no need to send a new Pit Zone invitation from the new team. In fact, we want to avoid doing that. When an individual is transferred within the Pit Zone their history follows them (personal information, coach certifications, race category, etc.); when a new invitation is sent the system views the person as an entirely new individual and the slate is blank.

If you're organizing a new team and have not received an email invitation from the Pit Zone (donotreply@nationalmtb.org) or you have any questions concerning this process, please contact us. Pit Zone FAQs are also available online to assist you.

Updated Coach Licensing Courses

Over the past year, the NICA coach licensing team undertook a project to significantly enhance the substance and quality of the educational content contained in the Coach Licensing Program. There are new interactive e-learning courses for each license level that replace less engaging videos.

The way that you access the courses will not change and new requirements have not been added. The content is more relevant to your work as coaches at all levels. The learning is stickier so you will only need to take the Coach Licensing Level associated with your license every 2 years instead of annually.

Change can be intimidating and a little unnerving. We want to make this change as seamless as possible. Please review this FAQs about the update and let us know if you have any remaining questions.

First Aid Training

Mountain biking is a sport of inherent risks and injuries can happen far away from emergency medical services. Adequate first aid and CPR training is a requirement for Level 2 and Level 3 coaches. Coaches may take training from any licensed organization. Following are some upcoming WFA courses offered through Front Range CPR LLC:

Original Certification

Re-Certification

Leaders' Summit 2021

Save the date! We are planning to host an in-person event May 29-30 at Emmanuel Pines in Prescott. The conference brings together head coaches, team directors, team coaches (of all levels) and parent volunteers to develop skills and knowledge, share strategies, and build community. It also provides the opportunity for participants to learn all about the league structure and processes, how to work with their schools, issues related to liability and the unique intricacies of working with teenage cyclists.

Registration will open soon; look for a separate email. We may need to limit registration as a consequence of ongoing COVID-19 precautions so if you're simply looking to check the box for your Level 3 license consider a virtual course offered by NICA. Our summit will fulfill the license requirement, plus also takes you on a deeper dive into the Arizona league.

Conference Re-Alignment and Racing Changes

The league is shifting from three conferences (North, Central, South) all racing together on the same day to two conferences (North and South) racing on separate days. Continued growth in student-athlete participation forces a split and making the change now also offers some crowd size mitigation as we emerge from COVID-19.

The North and South conferences boundary is straight forward. Notwithstanding zigzagging as it follows school district boundaries while traversing the Valley, it's a horizontal east-west line. A detailed view is available on the league map and the updated conference distribution of returning teams is posted on our website under Current Teams.

The final wave start times may be adjusted slightly, but directionally race days will be structured as follows:

Normally, category placement is based on riders’ results from the previous season, with returning top performers earning automatic upgrades to JV1 and Varsity. Because the 2020 race series was canceled due to COVID-19 we will apply 2020 category placement to 2021 (e.g., if a rider's results during 2019 while competing in the JV2 category earned the rider placement in JV1 in 2020, then the rider will be placed in JV1 in 2021).

This year in particular it will be very important for coaches to assess riders' racing capabilities over the course of the summer and complete a Category Placement Petition for riders who should be competing at a higher level. Between graduating seniors and the lack of racing to produce new upgrades, the JV1 and Varsity categories will be auto-populated very lightly and an overabundant number of returning riders will default to JV2.

Tentative 2021 Race Calendar

Venues are still being finalized, but we expect to follow our traditional calendar, beginning with the weekend following Labor Day and racing every other weekend thereafter until the series concludes.

"Home" conference races on Saturdays.

The first four races are open to all registered student-athletes. The fifth race – the state championships race – will combine the North and South conferences, will be open to high school riders only and entrants must qualify based on the following criteria: