CX Pool - Updated

[The update has to do with the scoring system. See below]

Good news, vicarious racing fans. The 2012-13 FGBC CX Pool is open for business.

Your task is as follows: assemble a team of nine riders consisting of 5 men and 4 women to compete vicariously at high level cx races in both Europe and North America. Specifically, your team will be broken down as follows:

3 European Men
2 European Women
2 North American Men
2 North American Women

In case it's not obvious, "European" here means "races largely in Europe." And likewise for "North American."

When assembling your team, pay careful attention to the values that the FGBC's Dept. of Low Stakes Gambling has assigned to each rider. The combined values of your three European men must add up to 10 or more. The pair of riders in each of the other three categories must have a combined value of at least 6. Math is hard. So be careful. And please include rider values when submitting your picks so that we can get our minions to verify the legitimacy of your team. The trick is to figure out whether it's more advantageous to go high and low or to split the difference in the middle. It is harder than it seems.

The list of riders can be found here.

Submit your team here by Saturday at noon.

The pool is free and open to all. Feel free to invite others.

Thanks to his last place finish in the Vuelta Pool, Ian will supply a six-pack of Belgian goodness to the winner. The loser of the CX Pool will supply the prize for the Spring Classics Pool.

We will use the same scoring system that we have used in the past. It seems to have worked well. Basically, World Cup races are worth more than others and the World Championships are worth even more. See the detailed points breakdown here.

[Update: King Andy raised the question about whether all the North American races should be scored the same. They always have been in the past. But for this year, the USGP races will be scored the same as the World Cups. It is the big national series and actually attracts an international field of racers. It only seems fitting that doing well there should count for more than doing well at a regional UCI 2 race somewhere else. So adjust your picks accordingly, if necessary.]

It is always tricky to specify which races are included. For this year, all UCI races in North America, Belgium and the Netherlands will be included. All races in the World Cup, Superprestige and GVA series will also be included. Other European races will be included only if there is sufficient representation from the list of riders included in the pool. You want me to define sufficient? If five or more riders from our list show up to race, it counts for the pool. Mens and womens categories will be evaluated separately in this regard. The point is to make sure a larger, more internationally diverse field shows up at the races. So, for example, a handful of Czech or French racers travelling to race in their respective countries doesn't make that race count. But if they bring along some Belgies or other top pros, that's a different story. Make sense?

See the full UCI Race Calendar here.