2025 Year-end analysis of racing in the Midatlantic

Almost every year since 2021, I have tabulated and published an analysis of demographics and race attendance in the mid-Atlantic. The first edition was six pages long, and had seven tables and two graphs.  The 2025 edition spans 76 pages, 20 tables, and 45 graphs. 

Download the complete version, with many more high-resolution graphics,  here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HrT9VbiZpCvaRzCs2GSJNiBMWMy4bHlc/view?usp=drive_link

This post, a kind of executive summary, highlights some findings and plots that interested me. 

Methodology

Every year I have managed to acquire several snapshots of the USACycling rider database, though this task has become much more difficult in recent years.  I also assemble all the results for races in the MidAtlantic (DC, DE, MD, and VA.) from the USAC website (also no longer possible since October 2025) or road-results/cross-results.com.  A giant R script processes the data, creates the figures and tables. A  LaTeX file of  the final report ingests them all on every run. 

Observations

I decided not to add too many of my own speculations on the reasons for the trends. But, with hte exception of the trends for Juniors, the current situation does not look healthy. 

Club membership trends

• The number of Licensed racers in "New" clubs (formed after 2008 but Pre-Covid) has generally decreased.

• The number of licensed racers in clubs that formed Post-Covid has generally increased.

• The number of licensed racers in large clubs is generally decreasing.

The size definitions based on membership, M, of licensed racers identified in the database are 

Large                      M >40

Medium        15 <= M <=40

Small              5 <= M <15

USACycling membership 

The number of licensed racers in USACycling continued its steady decline that began in 2011

MABRA licensed racers 

The number of licensed racers in MABRA (the area governed by the MidAtlantic Bicycle Racing Association, roughly DC, DE, MD, and Northern Virginia,  has continued to hold constant at 2000 post-Covid-19, but it has not reached the peak from 2019.

USACycling demographics

The distribution of the ages of USACycling licensed racers has three peaks: 16,  40, and~55.  The peak at  55~years has been increasing about 11 months per year since at least~2005, when I first had access to the data. 

Juniors

• The most common age demographic in USACycling is Junior racers, see plot above. 

• The number of licensed junior racers in MABRA has remained constant since 2016.

Unattached racers 

More than two thirds of the total licensed racers in USACycling are unattached to any club.  And even the fraction of established racers (Cat 3 and above) has been increasing for the last decade. 

Competitors 

In 2025, more than 40 % of all licensed racers did not compete in any event. That fraction had been 25 % a decade ago, but has remained constant since 2023.