Actually, I think it pushes you to race harder and faster. And many of the elite racers lead clinics so they're very accessible. I'd say they do have a league of their own -- the As -- but it discourages other A-level women from racing with them. The leader of the Bs is a pro mtn biker (and former national champion). She should be racing As rather than smacking the Bs around. Alas.....

I don't necessarily think the local system is bad. At this point, promoters are giving you the leverage to race in the category you want to race. I think in future years USAC will get a bit stricter about it.

Cs are beginners in CA. I've found the way to get women into the sport and retain them is to give them a lot of support. Velo Girls and Velo Bella do this very well for cross. Other teams don't seem to have the same level of commitment to the beginners.

Oh, the other bizarre thing in this series is that they have big bucks prizes for the winners in the lower categories. For example, the winner of the C women gets a complete felt cyclocross bike. That discourages her from upgrading to Bs even though she'd do well there. Of course, she's only ever done two cross races in her life, so she really is a beginner.