Word just in about this year’s USA Cycling Professional Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT), kind of like the old NORBA’s.

Here’s the full press release:

PRESS RELEASE
Colorado Springs, Colo. (February 23, 2010) – USA Cycling announced today the 2010 USA Cycling Professional Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT). In its second year, the five-race series will continue to raise the level of competitive gravity racing across the United States by providing a consistent stage of international-caliber events for elite gravity racers to showcase their downhill skills.

The Pro GRT is a downhill-only series for 2010 and will visit four states from April to September, beginning with a return visit to Port Angeles, Wash. for the Northwest Cup, April 24-25. The series will then make a trip to the opposite coast for the Plattekill Gravity Open in New York’s Roxbury Bike Park, May 22-23. Midway through the season, racers will contest the Northstar-at-Tahoe event in Truckee, Calif., June 26-27. The Pro GRT will then move to WinterPark, Colo. for the Trestle Bike Park (Crankworx Colorado), July 31-August 1, before concluding again with the Whiteface 5th Annual 5K Downhill in Lake Placid, New York, September 11-12.

Each of the five stops will offer series ranking points to top finishers, resulting in overall individual titles for professional men and women. Additionally, competitors will have the opportunity to accumulate international ranking points as two of the five races are inscripted on the UCI calendar. The racers with the most points throughout the five-race series will be recognized as the best gravity athletes competing on U.S. soil.

The 2010 series will also feature an Amateur GRT which, like the Pro GRT, will give Expert-level Category 1 racers the opportunity to compete against each other for an overall series crown.

For more information on the series, please visit USA Cycling’s ProGRT webpage

2010 USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT)
April 24-25: Northwest Cup – Port Angeles, Wash.
May 22-23:  Plattekill Gravity Open – Roxbury Bike Park, NY
June 26-27: Northstar-at-Tahoe – Truckee, Calif.
July 31-August 1: Trestle Bike Park (Crankworx Colorado) – Winterpark, Colo.
September 11-12: Whiteface 5th Annual 5K Downhill – Lake Placid, NY

Photo caption: The USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT) will kick off April 24 with the Northwest Cup in Port Angeles, Wash.