The Demise of USAC

Take a look at Oregon

http://www.obra.org/schedule/2005/index.html

vs.

http://www.usacycling.org/events/index.php?state=OR

--
Mike Murray
"TJ" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

After reveiwing the schedule of all USA Cycling events. I then went to
American Cycling Associations web site and was amazed at all the events
here in Colorado. USAC had 3 Road Events here in CO. ACA has a
gazillion. Check it out. ACA:
http://www.americancycling.org/racing/schedule/colo/colo.htm

USAC: http://www.americancycling.org/racing/schedule/colo/colo.htm

USAC is getting their asses kicked out of the state of Colorado.

TJ
www.fatboy.s5.com

And this surprises you why?

While USAC handles all the BS stuff and wastes time with UselessCF
stuff, the other Org's are focusing on real development. When's the
last time USAC worked at trying to get more kid's into cycling? Have
you noticed who one of the sponsors of the 5280 Mag junior team is?
That's right, ACA. Don't juniors race for free in the ACA? How much
does it cost for juniors to race at USAC events? Sure, the promoters
could lower their fees, but then they are doing USAC's job.

Here's a funny sidebar: I just got my UCI license (the fee went up
again), but not not only is the thing crappy card board, I don't even
get the crappy palstic cover to laminate it with. So where does my
$150 go?

CH

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

And this surprises you why?

While USAC handles all the BS stuff and wastes time with UselessCF
stuff, the other Org's are focusing on real development. When's the
last time USAC worked at trying to get more kid's into cycling? Have
you noticed who one of the sponsors of the 5280 Mag junior team is?
That's right, ACA. Don't juniors race for free in the ACA? How much
does it cost for juniors to race at USAC events? Sure, the promoters
could lower their fees, but then they are doing USAC's job.

USCF/USAC never has and never will be in a position to run grass roots
programs. They don't have the person power to run programs on the local
level and they don;t have the knowledge about local conditions to know
what type of programs would work. Grass roots programs will always be
the job of the clubs and local associations. USAC is doing what they
can and should be doing in supporting local associations who are in a
much better position to run grass roots programs.

For the last two years NCNCA has gotten mroe than $20,000 per year from
our USCF license rebates. Most of this money we have put into various
grass soots type programs. We have a junior program and we are seeing
small but steady growth in our junior fields. We had a number of Cat 4
women races that reached their 50 rider field limit. In some cases a
second Cat 4 women's race was added to the race program. Last year we
say our USCF membership increase by 9.5% to over 3100 riders. We also
had close to a record number of USAC clubs in our region last year.

Thanks to USAC we have the financial resources we need to combine with
the local volunteers to run a number of grass roots programs.

It sounds like the ACA program is working well in Colorado. That is
good for racing there in CO. In Nor Cal our programs are probably
going just as good. In the end it just means that the sport of bicycle
racing wins.

"Casey Kerrigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
<[email hidden]> wrote:

My biggest complaint is what do I get for my license fee. I race BMX too.
The ABA, and NBL both are involved at the local level. USAC is the National
Sanctioning body of Road, and Mountainbike racing. We really don't get
much for our dollar with USAC. IMO. There is no money in the Pro anything
in Mountianbiking. There sure isn't all that much money in the road side
either.

TJ

www.fatboy.s5.com

In article <[email hidden]>, TJ

Quoted message said:

"Casey Kerrigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
<[email hidden]> wrote:

My biggest complaint is what do I get for my license fee. I race BMX too.
The ABA, and NBL both are involved at the local level. USAC is the National
Sanctioning body of Road, and Mountainbike racing. We really don't get
much for our dollar with USAC. IMO. There is no money in the Pro anything
in Mountianbiking. There sure isn't all that much money in the road side
either.

Do you live in an area that is serviced by a USAC local asociation? If
so then $10 of every annnual USCF license fee is rebated to your local
association to help support local programs in your area. How the money
is spent is up to your local assoication. If your area doesn't have a
local assoication then how come ? Get together with other local peoiple
and organize a local assoication and you could be getting the USCF
license rebate from USAC to support grass roots racing in your region.
As I said before USAC will never have the resources to run grass roots
programs on the local level but they support the local associations
which are in a position to develop and run grass roots programs.

If you can't see some of the improvements that USAC has made in the
past couple of year then I don't think you are looking very hard.

Today you can renew your license online and print out a Temp license
right away and get your regular license in about a week. Only a couple
of years ago you had to mail a paper license renewal and it could take
2 or more weeks to get your license back. Since you had no Temp license
you were basicallt out of luck in terms of racing while waiting for
your regular license.

Today you can apply for a license upgrade online and in some cases have
your upgrade approved in a hour or so. It wasn't that long ago that
getting an upgrade involved making a copy of your license and mailing
it in and waiting for an upgrade sticker to be mailed back to you.

Today officials and promoters can downlaod the current USCF database so
that if a rider forgets their license the database can be used to
confirm the rider has a license and can race. The database Info can
also be used ot help automate the Reg and results process speeding up
the registration and results process at races. In the past this
database information wasn't available to promoters and officials.

All of these are [positive changes that leads to better benefits and
services to USAC members for their license fees.

Casey Kerrigan said:

In article <[email hidden]>, TJ
<[email hidden]> wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Do you live in an area that is serviced by a USAC local asociation?

If

Quoted message said:

so then $10 of every annnual USCF license fee is rebated to your

local

Quoted message said:

association to help support local programs in your area. How the

money

Wow. And the other $50?

Quoted message said:

is spent is up to your local assoication. If your area doesn't have a
local assoication then how come ? Get together with other local

peoiple

Quoted message said:

and organize a local assoication and you could be getting the USCF
license rebate from USAC to support grass roots racing in your

region.

Quoted message said:

As I said before USAC will never have the resources to run grass

roots

Quoted message said:

programs on the local level but they support the local associations
which are in a position to develop and run grass roots programs.

So for $50/rider USAC doesn't have the resources to support local
programs, but for $10/rider the local association should be able to do
it. Did I get that right?

Quoted message said:

If you can't see some of the improvements that USAC has made in the
past couple of year then I don't think you are looking very hard.

Today you can renew your license online and print out a Temp license
right away and get your regular license in about a week. Only a

couple

Quoted message said:

of years ago you had to mail a paper license renewal and it could

take

Quoted message said:

2 or more weeks to get your license back. Since you had no Temp

license

Quoted message said:

you were basicallt out of luck in terms of racing while waiting for
your regular license.

Today you can apply for a license upgrade online and in some cases

have

Quoted message said:

your upgrade approved in a hour or so. It wasn't that long ago that
getting an upgrade involved making a copy of your license and mailing
it in and waiting for an upgrade sticker to be mailed back to you.

On-line licensing?! This is almost as good as telling us that nearly
20% of our license fee goes to support the association that actual
helps out with racing. My club also has on-line membership, uniforms,
equipment orders, member forums ... It did take one of our riders a
couple days to get the pages up.

Quoted message said:

Today officials and promoters can downlaod the current USCF database

so

Quoted message said:

that if a rider forgets their license the database can be used to
confirm the rider has a license and can race. The database Info can
also be used ot help automate the Reg and results process speeding up
the registration and results process at races. In the past this
database information wasn't available to promoters and officials.

"Database can be used ... " yeah, if you write your own software to use
it. 500(?) clubs all writing their own registration software, and
probably three of them work smoothly.

Quoted message said:

All of these are [positive changes that leads to better benefits and
services to USAC members for their license fees.

Start at the bottom and there's no way to go but up. Just off the top
of my head, how about:

*Resources for race promoters - "how to" documentation, maybe even a
person who can answer questions, give organizational guidance, and
eliminate re-invention of a process every time a new race gets started
or a change in club leadership occurs.

Registration software - What about some software that uses the member
database, supports networking of Windows PC's (sorry if you don't like
it, it's ubiquitous), record of signed once-per-season rider release
form. A rider arrives at a race, gives license number and $25, get's
race number and leaves in 30 seconds. Available free to USAC event
promoters.

*Resources for Juniors - how about some generic advice on how to bring
a 12, 15, or 18 year old rider into the sport? How much training is
appropriate? What order should skills be introduced and what level of
proficiency is adequate/good/great?

*Educational programs - bringing information about cycling into school
phys. ed. classes to increase participatory interest in the sport.
Even just providing a package of material and how-to guide for clubs to
do it in their own area would be useful.

*Cycling advocacy - working with state governments to protect and
increase access to roads for cyclists, maybe even an awareness program
to inform the general public (and police where necessary) of cyclists'
legal right to use the road.

*Legal counsel - available to riders who have been hit, assaulted,
verbally harassed or otherwise abused because of a lack of cycling
advocacy (see above).

*Infrastructure - spearheading efforts to build velodromes, lobbying
government or corporate sponsors to assist with this or
regional/national races series, advocacy for public land access for mtb
trails. Our regional association brings several thousand dollars worth
of equipment to a race for the $10/rider kickback they get (there's no
additional license/membership fee for the association). Imagine if we
had 4 or 5 times that in equipment from USAC for our $50/rider. It
would make one hell of a professional looking spectacle (overhead
start/finish clock, neutral support, barricades, national USAC sponsor
banners, who knows what else) and may even raise interest in the sport.
Your welcome for the advice,

Janek

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Casey Kerrigan said:

In article <[email hidden]>, TJ
<[email hidden]> wrote:

I am not so crazy after all.

TJ

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Casey Kerrigan said:

In article <[email hidden]>, TJ
<[email hidden]> wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Do you live in an area that is serviced by a USAC local asociation?

If

Quoted message said:

so then $10 of every annnual USCF license fee is rebated to your

local

Quoted message said:

association to help support local programs in your area. How the

money

Wow. And the other $50?

I guess you have no clue as to what it costs to keep the doors open at
USAC. Let's dig into the financial picture of USAC. The following is
from the 2003 USAC 990 tax form ( since USAC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
corporation their 990 tax forms are public record and available online.

In 2003 a USAC license was $50

Membership dues for 2003 resulted in $3,167,290 in revenue. Total
revenue for 2003 was $11,231,720. This means that membership revenue
represents 28.2% of total revenue for USAC

In 2003 USAC had expenses of 10,643,543 so in 2003 USAC actually had a
profit of 588,177 for 2003.

Now what did USAC spend money on in 2003

Compensation of officers and directors 172,500
Other salaries and wages 2,043,188
Employee benefits 513,086
payroll taxes 188,788

Phone bills 163,768
postage and shipping 227,085
Printing and publications 241,992
travel 1,467
Depreciation 76,853

Total 7,014,816

So basically twice as much as what has been taken in as membership dues
has already been spent on salaries, and office expenses.

2,616,646 was spent on the national team programs and coaches and
144,234 was spent on Paralympic programs ( travel nd staff costs
associated with the Paralympic athlete competitions and training.

Some other notable expenses.

Insurance 1,106,965 This is the liability and medical insurance
coverage needed to hold races. Note that I've heard that the cost of
insurance went up abour $500,000 for 2005 and I'm sure the cost of
insurance for 2004 was higher than what is listed in 2003.

Bad debts 24,714
Utilities 5,646
Bank charges 56,100
local rebates
and awards 246,839

The above should give you an idea of where your license fees are going.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

is spent is up to your local assoication. If your area doesn't have a
local assoication then how come ? Get together with other local

peoiple

Quoted message said:

and organize a local assoication and you could be getting the USCF
license rebate from USAC to support grass roots racing in your

region.

Quoted message said:

As I said before USAC will never have the resources to run grass

roots

Quoted message said:

programs on the local level but they support the local associations
which are in a position to develop and run grass roots programs.

So for $50/rider USAC doesn't have the resources to support local
programs, but for $10/rider the local association should be able to do
it. Did I get that right?

Yes since the local assoications are albe to use volunteers while USAC
would have to pay employees. Note that the bulk of expenses paid by
USAC is already going to pay for the employees they already have ( who
can barely cover the current workload much less take on additional
duties.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you can't see some of the improvements that USAC has made in the
past couple of year then I don't think you are looking very hard.

Today you can renew your license online and print out a Temp license
right away and get your regular license in about a week. Only a

couple

Quoted message said:

of years ago you had to mail a paper license renewal and it could

take

Quoted message said:

2 or more weeks to get your license back. Since you had no Temp

license

Quoted message said:

you were basicallt out of luck in terms of racing while waiting for
your regular license.

Today you can apply for a license upgrade online and in some cases

have

Quoted message said:

your upgrade approved in a hour or so. It wasn't that long ago that
getting an upgrade involved making a copy of your license and mailing
it in and waiting for an upgrade sticker to be mailed back to you.

On-line licensing?! This is almost as good as telling us that nearly
20% of our license fee goes to support the association that actual
helps out with racing. My club also has on-line membership, uniforms,
equipment orders, member forums ... It did take one of our riders a
couple days to get the pages up.

I think the USAC systemis just a bit more conplicated that the one your
clud has

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Today officials and promoters can downlaod the current USCF database

so

Quoted message said:

that if a rider forgets their license the database can be used to
confirm the rider has a license and can race. The database Info can
also be used ot help automate the Reg and results process speeding up
the registration and results process at races. In the past this
database information wasn't available to promoters and officials.

"Database can be used ... " yeah, if you write your own software to use
it. 500(?) clubs all writing their own registration software, and
probably three of them work smoothly.

No need for every club to write their own software. A simple database
or spreadsheet program that many people already have can get the job
done. I know at least one online Reg service that has a software
package promoters can use. In Nor Cal we have a speread sheet base
program that promoters can use if they want.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

All of these are [positive changes that leads to better benefits and
services to USAC members for their license fees.

Start at the bottom and there's no way to go but up. Just off the top
of my head, how about:

*Resources for race promoters - "how to" documentation, maybe even a
person who can answer questions, give organizational guidance, and
eliminate re-invention of a process every time a new race gets started
or a change in club leadership occurs.

USCF has had this in the past. One problem is that in todays liability
climate producing these types of matterials can also drag you into
future lawsuits if a rider is seriously hurt and the promoter was just
following the guidelines.

Quoted message said:

Registration software - What about some software that uses the member
database, supports networking of Windows PC's (sorry if you don't like
it, it's ubiquitous),

Yea go ahead and simply blow off alll of us Mac useres.

Quoted message said:

record of signed once-per-season rider release
form.

To bad many local governments will probably not go for this idea. Today
we just finished a 5 week training race series and one of the
conditions placed on the race by the city where the race was held was
that riders had to fill out a new release form each week. This isn't an
issue that USAC can control.

Quoted message said:

A rider arrives at a race, gives license number and $25, get's
race number and leaves in 30 seconds. Available free to USAC event
promoters.

We have a number of promoters in Nor Cal that use a system that gets
people through registration pretty quick even with riders needing
release forms.

Quoted message said:

*Resources for Juniors - how about some generic advice on how to bring
a 12, 15, or 18 year old rider into the sport? How much training is
appropriate? What order should skills be introduced and what level of
proficiency is adequate/good/great?

*Educational programs - bringing information about cycling into school
phys. ed. classes to increase participatory interest in the sport.
Even just providing a package of material and how-to guide for clubs to
do it in their own area would be useful.

*Cycling advocacy - working with state governments to protect and
increase access to roads for cyclists, maybe even an awareness program
to inform the general public (and police where necessary) of cyclists'
legal right to use the road.

*Legal counsel - available to riders who have been hit, assaulted,
verbally harassed or otherwise abused because of a lack of cycling
advocacy (see above).

*Infrastructure - spearheading efforts to build velodromes, lobbying
government or corporate sponsors to assist with this or
regional/national races series, advocacy for public land access for mtb
trails. Our regional association brings several thousand dollars worth
of equipment to a race for the $10/rider kickback they get (there's no
additional license/membership fee for the association). Imagine if we
had 4 or 5 times that in equipment from USAC for our $50/rider. It
would make one hell of a professional looking spectacle (overhead
start/finish clock, neutral support, barricades, national USAC sponsor
banners, who knows what else) and may even raise interest in the sport.
Your welcome for the advice,

Yea if license fees are increased to like $600 per year USAC might have
enough money to pay for the salaries of the additional employees that
would be neede to make the above wish list come true. Or do you have
some bette ridea about how USAC could possible pay for all of the
above?

"Casey Kerrigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Casey Kerrigan said:

In article <[email hidden]>, TJ
<[email hidden]> wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Do you live in an area that is serviced by a USAC local asociation?

If

Quoted message said:

so then $10 of every annnual USCF license fee is rebated to your

local

Quoted message said:

association to help support local programs in your area. How the

money

Wow. And the other $50?

I guess you have no clue as to what it costs to keep the doors open at
USAC. Let's dig into the financial picture of USAC. The following is
from the 2003 USAC 990 tax form ( since USAC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
corporation their 990 tax forms are public record and available online.

In 2003 a USAC license was $50

Membership dues for 2003 resulted in $3,167,290 in revenue. Total
revenue for 2003 was $11,231,720. This means that membership revenue
represents 28.2% of total revenue for USAC

In 2003 USAC had expenses of 10,643,543 so in 2003 USAC actually had a
profit of 588,177 for 2003.

Now what did USAC spend money on in 2003

Compensation of officers and directors 172,500
Other salaries and wages 2,043,188
Employee benefits 513,086
payroll taxes 188,788

Phone bills 163,768
postage and shipping 227,085
Printing and publications 241,992
travel 1,467
Depreciation 76,853

Total 7,014,816

So basically twice as much as what has been taken in as membership dues
has already been spent on salaries, and office expenses.

2,616,646 was spent on the national team programs and coaches and
144,234 was spent on Paralympic programs ( travel nd staff costs
associated with the Paralympic athlete competitions and training.

Some other notable expenses.

Insurance 1,106,965 This is the liability and medical insurance
coverage needed to hold races. Note that I've heard that the cost of
insurance went up abour $500,000 for 2005 and I'm sure the cost of
insurance for 2004 was higher than what is listed in 2003.

Bad debts 24,714
Utilities 5,646
Bank charges 56,100
local rebates
and awards 246,839

The above should give you an idea of where your license fees are going.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

is spent is up to your local assoication. If your area doesn't have a
local assoication then how come ? Get together with other local

peoiple

Quoted message said:

and organize a local assoication and you could be getting the USCF
license rebate from USAC to support grass roots racing in your

region.

Quoted message said:

As I said before USAC will never have the resources to run grass

roots

Quoted message said:

programs on the local level but they support the local associations
which are in a position to develop and run grass roots programs.

So for $50/rider USAC doesn't have the resources to support local
programs, but for $10/rider the local association should be able to do
it. Did I get that right?

Yes since the local assoications are albe to use volunteers while USAC
would have to pay employees. Note that the bulk of expenses paid by
USAC is already going to pay for the employees they already have ( who
can barely cover the current workload much less take on additional
duties.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you can't see some of the improvements that USAC has made in the
past couple of year then I don't think you are looking very hard.

Today you can renew your license online and print out a Temp license
right away and get your regular license in about a week. Only a

couple

Quoted message said:

of years ago you had to mail a paper license renewal and it could

take

Quoted message said:

2 or more weeks to get your license back. Since you had no Temp

license

Quoted message said:

you were basicallt out of luck in terms of racing while waiting for
your regular license.

Today you can apply for a license upgrade online and in some cases

have

Quoted message said:

your upgrade approved in a hour or so. It wasn't that long ago that
getting an upgrade involved making a copy of your license and mailing
it in and waiting for an upgrade sticker to be mailed back to you.

On-line licensing?! This is almost as good as telling us that nearly
20% of our license fee goes to support the association that actual
helps out with racing. My club also has on-line membership, uniforms,
equipment orders, member forums ... It did take one of our riders a
couple days to get the pages up.

I think the USAC systemis just a bit more conplicated that the one your
clud has

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Today officials and promoters can downlaod the current USCF database

so

Quoted message said:

that if a rider forgets their license the database can be used to
confirm the rider has a license and can race. The database Info can
also be used ot help automate the Reg and results process speeding up
the registration and results process at races. In the past this
database information wasn't available to promoters and officials.

"Database can be used ... " yeah, if you write your own software to use
it. 500(?) clubs all writing their own registration software, and
probably three of them work smoothly.

No need for every club to write their own software. A simple database
or spreadsheet program that many people already have can get the job
done. I know at least one online Reg service that has a software
package promoters can use. In Nor Cal we have a speread sheet base
program that promoters can use if they want.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

All of these are [positive changes that leads to better benefits and
services to USAC members for their license fees.

Start at the bottom and there's no way to go but up. Just off the top
of my head, how about:

*Resources for race promoters - "how to" documentation, maybe even a
person who can answer questions, give organizational guidance, and
eliminate re-invention of a process every time a new race gets started
or a change in club leadership occurs.

USCF has had this in the past. One problem is that in todays liability
climate producing these types of matterials can also drag you into
future lawsuits if a rider is seriously hurt and the promoter was just
following the guidelines.

Quoted message said:

Registration software - What about some software that uses the member
database, supports networking of Windows PC's (sorry if you don't like
it, it's ubiquitous),

Yea go ahead and simply blow off alll of us Mac useres.

Quoted message said:

record of signed once-per-season rider release
form.

To bad many local governments will probably not go for this idea. Today
we just finished a 5 week training race series and one of the
conditions placed on the race by the city where the race was held was
that riders had to fill out a new release form each week. This isn't an
issue that USAC can control.

Quoted message said:

A rider arrives at a race, gives license number and $25, get's
race number and leaves in 30 seconds. Available free to USAC event
promoters.

We have a number of promoters in Nor Cal that use a system that gets
people through registration pretty quick even with riders needing
release forms.

Quoted message said:

*Resources for Juniors - how about some generic advice on how to bring
a 12, 15, or 18 year old rider into the sport? How much training is
appropriate? What order should skills be introduced and what level of
proficiency is adequate/good/great?

*Educational programs - bringing information about cycling into school
phys. ed. classes to increase participatory interest in the sport.
Even just providing a package of material and how-to guide for clubs to
do it in their own area would be useful.

*Cycling advocacy - working with state governments to protect and
increase access to roads for cyclists, maybe even an awareness program
to inform the general public (and police where necessary) of cyclists'
legal right to use the road.

*Legal counsel - available to riders who have been hit, assaulted,
verbally harassed or otherwise abused because of a lack of cycling
advocacy (see above).

*Infrastructure - spearheading efforts to build velodromes, lobbying
government or corporate sponsors to assist with this or
regional/national races series, advocacy for public land access for mtb
trails. Our regional association brings several thousand dollars worth
of equipment to a race for the $10/rider kickback they get (there's no
additional license/membership fee for the association). Imagine if we
had 4 or 5 times that in equipment from USAC for our $50/rider. It
would make one hell of a professional looking spectacle (overhead
start/finish clock, neutral support, barricades, national USAC sponsor
banners, who knows what else) and may even raise interest in the sport.
Your welcome for the advice,

Yea if license fees are increased to like $600 per year USAC might have
enough money to pay for the salaries of the additional employees that
would be neede to make the above wish list come true. Or do you have
some bette ridea about how USAC could possible pay for all of the
above?

Casey, you've gone over to the Dark Side.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Casey Kerrigan said:

In article <[email hidden]>, TJ
<[email hidden]> wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Do you live in an area that is serviced by a USAC local asociation?

If

Quoted message said:

so then $10 of every annnual USCF license fee is rebated to your

local

Quoted message said:

association to help support local programs in your area. How the

money

Wow. And the other $50?

Quoted message said:

is spent is up to your local assoication. If your area doesn't have a
local assoication then how come ? Get together with other local

peoiple

Quoted message said:

and organize a local assoication and you could be getting the USCF
license rebate from USAC to support grass roots racing in your

region.

Quoted message said:

As I said before USAC will never have the resources to run grass

roots

Quoted message said:

programs on the local level but they support the local associations
which are in a position to develop and run grass roots programs.

So for $50/rider USAC doesn't have the resources to support local
programs, but for $10/rider the local association should be able to do
it. Did I get that right?

Quoted message said:

If you can't see some of the improvements that USAC has made in the
past couple of year then I don't think you are looking very hard.

Today you can renew your license online and print out a Temp license
right away and get your regular license in about a week. Only a

couple

Quoted message said:

of years ago you had to mail a paper license renewal and it could

take

Quoted message said:

2 or more weeks to get your license back. Since you had no Temp

license

Quoted message said:

you were basicallt out of luck in terms of racing while waiting for
your regular license.

Today you can apply for a license upgrade online and in some cases

have

Quoted message said:

your upgrade approved in a hour or so. It wasn't that long ago that
getting an upgrade involved making a copy of your license and mailing
it in and waiting for an upgrade sticker to be mailed back to you.

On-line licensing?! This is almost as good as telling us that nearly
20% of our license fee goes to support the association that actual
helps out with racing. My club also has on-line membership, uniforms,
equipment orders, member forums ... It did take one of our riders a
couple days to get the pages up.

Quoted message said:

Today officials and promoters can downlaod the current USCF database

so

Quoted message said:

that if a rider forgets their license the database can be used to
confirm the rider has a license and can race. The database Info can
also be used ot help automate the Reg and results process speeding up
the registration and results process at races. In the past this
database information wasn't available to promoters and officials.

"Database can be used ... " yeah, if you write your own software to use
it. 500(?) clubs all writing their own registration software, and
probably three of them work smoothly.

Quoted message said:

All of these are [positive changes that leads to better benefits and
services to USAC members for their license fees.

Start at the bottom and there's no way to go but up. Just off the top
of my head, how about:

*Resources for race promoters - "how to" documentation, maybe even a
person who can answer questions, give organizational guidance, and
eliminate re-invention of a process every time a new race gets started
or a change in club leadership occurs.

Registration software - What about some software that uses the member
database, supports networking of Windows PC's (sorry if you don't like
it, it's ubiquitous), record of signed once-per-season rider release
form. A rider arrives at a race, gives license number and $25, get's
race number and leaves in 30 seconds. Available free to USAC event
promoters.

*Resources for Juniors - how about some generic advice on how to bring
a 12, 15, or 18 year old rider into the sport? How much training is
appropriate? What order should skills be introduced and what level of
proficiency is adequate/good/great?

*Educational programs - bringing information about cycling into school
phys. ed. classes to increase participatory interest in the sport.
Even just providing a package of material and how-to guide for clubs to
do it in their own area would be useful.

*Cycling advocacy - working with state governments to protect and
increase access to roads for cyclists, maybe even an awareness program
to inform the general public (and police where necessary) of cyclists'
legal right to use the road.

*Legal counsel - available to riders who have been hit, assaulted,
verbally harassed or otherwise abused because of a lack of cycling
advocacy (see above).

*Infrastructure - spearheading efforts to build velodromes, lobbying
government or corporate sponsors to assist with this or
regional/national races series, advocacy for public land access for mtb
trails. Our regional association brings several thousand dollars worth
of equipment to a race for the $10/rider kickback they get (there's no
additional license/membership fee for the association). Imagine if we
had 4 or 5 times that in equipment from USAC for our $50/rider. It
would make one hell of a professional looking spectacle (overhead
start/finish clock, neutral support, barricades, national USAC sponsor
banners, who knows what else) and may even raise interest in the sport.
Your welcome for the advice,

Janek

I am not so crazy after all.

In article <[email hidden]>, B

Lafferty said:

Casey, you've gone over to the Dark Side.

When USAC was eliminating support at the loca level ( by firing the
district Reps) and had a CEO that didn't listen to or respond to
members I was opposed to what was going on.

Now USAC is increasing support on the local level ( with rebates to
local assoications and giving the local assoications access to
resources we need to better support our riders like database access)
and there is a CEO who members can email or talk to directly on the
phone. I see these as steps in the right direction and as long as USAC
keeps moving in this direction I' willing to work with them and support
them. Critics who are stuck in the past and can't or will not see the
positive changes that have happend with USAC aren't doing themselves or
the sport any good.

USAC isn't perfect but at least they are moving in the right direction
now which is a heck of a lot better than the situation a couple of
years ago.

Quoted message said:

*Educational programs - bringing information about cycling into school
phys. ed. classes to increase participatory interest in the sport.
Even just providing a package of material and how-to guide for clubs to
do it in their own area would be useful.

Quoted message said:

*Cycling advocacy - working with state governments to protect and
increase access to roads for cyclists, maybe even an awareness program
to inform the general public (and police where necessary) of cyclists'
legal right to use the road.

Quoted message said:

*Legal counsel - available to riders who have been hit, assaulted,
verbally harassed or otherwise abused because of a lack of cycling
advocacy (see above).

You're interpreting USAC's mission very broadly. Too broadly.

There are organizations that are better suited to objectives like the
ones above. Do you support them? Nationally it would be the Bike League:

http://www.bikeleague.org/

And there are many state organizations devoted to bicycling advocacy.
Where I live it would be the Bike Fed of Wisconsin:

http://www.bfw.org/

Trail advocacy happens a places like these. I provide support through
membership even though I rarely ride off road:
http://www.imba.com/
http://www.worba.org/

For example...

Wisconsin law requires communities to author periodic planning documents.
The city where I live is currently updating it's comprehensive plan.
Like most American cities, we have a history of infrastructure projects
that make this a more hostile place to ride a bicycle because no one
involved with the project thought beyond the car.

The transportation chapter of the updated plan will lead to more input
from the cycling and pedestrian communities than we have ever had before.
The BFW was very helpful in advocating for this. They have this sort of
thing as part of their mission. USAC does not and should not.

Bob Schwartz
[email hidden]

Who's butt sometimes feels flatter from sitting in meetings...

"Casey Kerrigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, B

Lafferty said:

Casey, you've gone over to the Dark Side.

When USAC was eliminating support at the loca level ( by firing the
district Reps) and had a CEO that didn't listen to or respond to
members I was opposed to what was going on.

Now USAC is increasing support on the local level ( with rebates to
local assoications and giving the local assoications access to
resources we need to better support our riders like database access)
and there is a CEO who members can email or talk to directly on the
phone. I see these as steps in the right direction and as long as USAC
keeps moving in this direction I' willing to work with them and support
them. Critics who are stuck in the past and can't or will not see the
positive changes that have happend with USAC aren't doing themselves or
the sport any good.

USAC isn't perfect but at least they are moving in the right direction
now which is a heck of a lot better than the situation a couple of
years ago.

I agree with you on this. I am frustrated with the current system. And I
am now again a member of USAC. If I have three wishes one of them would be
to straighten them out. They need to forget about keeping up the the Euros
and focus at home. Thats the way I see it. I see USAC moving in a positive
direction though. It's the ACA that is scooping up where USAC is lacking.

TJ

In article <[email hidden]>, TJ

Quoted message said:

"Casey Kerrigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, B

Lafferty said:

Casey, you've gone over to the Dark Side.

When USAC was eliminating support at the loca level ( by firing the
district Reps) and had a CEO that didn't listen to or respond to
members I was opposed to what was going on.

Now USAC is increasing support on the local level ( with rebates to
local assoications and giving the local assoications access to
resources we need to better support our riders like database access)
and there is a CEO who members can email or talk to directly on the
phone. I see these as steps in the right direction and as long as USAC
keeps moving in this direction I' willing to work with them and support
them. Critics who are stuck in the past and can't or will not see the
positive changes that have happend with USAC aren't doing themselves or
the sport any good.

USAC isn't perfect but at least they are moving in the right direction
now which is a heck of a lot better than the situation a couple of
years ago.

I agree with you on this. I am frustrated with the current system. And I
am now again a member of USAC. If I have three wishes one of them would be
to straighten them out. They need to forget about keeping up the the Euros
and focus at home. Thats the way I see it. I see USAC moving in a positive
direction though. It's the ACA that is scooping up where USAC is lacking.

Remember that ACA is a regional group just like NCNCA is. The role of
ACA should be to promote cycling on the regional level which means
grass roots sysling. If ACA was trying to run a real national porgram
they wouldn't have the resources to also do gras roots programs at
their current level.

Since USAC is an national/international group they need to be involved
in those areas. To support reigonal and gras roots programs USAC needs
to work with regional gorups like NCNCA and ACA. In the case of NCNCA
this is being done. since ACA doesn't really want to work with USAC it
makes it kind of hard for USAC to work with them.

TJ said:

They need to forget about keeping up the the Euros and focus at home.

USAC gets more of their budget from sources interested in keeping up
with the Euros than from sources interested in a home focus. The USOC
is interested in medals and nothing else. T-Mobile wants an association
with high profile winners. Other sponsors are similar. It has always
been that way.

I'm with Casey on this. USAC is not structured to be the organization
that many think it should be. The local associations are.

If you want to see just how far your membership fee will get you,
go to http://www.guidestar.org/, search on "USA Cycling". The most
recent form 990 is from 2003.

Bob Schwartz
[email hidden]

ACA has talked to USAC almost every year since they split.
Question to ask is why would they go back? What can USAC offer that
ACA is currently not doing? Why would the riders want to buy a $60
license instead of a $30 license. Doesn't add up...

ACA would loose so much money going back that they would have to
eliminate the Junior Programs. No Junior Race Free, No Free Junior
Road Camp, No Free Junior Cross Camp. Yes, all ACA Juniors ($10 annual
license fee) are eligible for these programs.

ACA in Colorado would go from 2000 members at $30 ($60000) to 2000
members at $10 ($20000). Probably 25% goes to admin fees so after that
they would still loose close to at least $25,000. As local USCF
organization they would still have to provide state website, state rep,
etc...

Only the Pro-1-2 Men & Women Categories are permitted under USCF. All
other Cats at Cascade and Mt. Hood are permitted through OBRA...

In article <[email hidden]>,

CoBikeRacer said:

ACA has talked to USAC almost every year since they split.
Question to ask is why would they go back? What can USAC offer that
ACA is currently not doing? Why would the riders want to buy a $60
license instead of a $30 license. Doesn't add up...

Last year there were 1171 USCF licensed riders living in CO. I would
assume that the majority of those riders probably have both an ACA and
USCF license. This means that last year those double licensed riders
were paying $80 to race in all the events they wanted to do. That adds
up to more than $60 in my book. Seems like a significant number of
riders could save money if they didn't need two licenses. Of course I
rrealize that some portion of the double license riders don't mind
paying for two licenses if they really support ACA.

Quoted message said:

ACA would loose so much money going back that they would have to
eliminate the Junior Programs. No Junior Race Free, No Free Junior
Road Camp, No Free Junior Cross Camp. Yes, all ACA Juniors ($10 annual
license fee) are eligible for these programs.

In Nor Cal we have offered free junior camps funded from the rebates we
get from USAC. We have had promoters offer free junior racing and most
promoters offer reduced junior entry fees. These things could still be
done.

Quoted message said:

ACA in Colorado would go from 2000 members at $30 ($60000) to 2000
members at $10 ($20000). Probably 25% goes to admin fees so after that
they would still loose close to at least $25,000. As local USCF
organization they would still have to provide state website, state rep,
etc...

At least from my experience volunteer time is just as valuable for a
local association as money is. I know for NCNCA the amount of volunteer
time that was freeded up ( from not having to do administrative things)
was put to better use than having to do the administrative matters
involved in running our own racing program.

On 31 Jan 2005 12:48:43 -0800, "CoBikeRacer" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

ACA has talked to USAC almost every year since they split.
Question to ask is why would they go back? What can USAC offer that
ACA is currently not doing? Why would the riders want to buy a $60
license instead of a $30 license. Doesn't add up...

ACA would loose so much money going back that they would have to
eliminate the Junior Programs. No Junior Race Free, No Free Junior
Road Camp, No Free Junior Cross Camp. Yes, all ACA Juniors ($10 annual
license fee) are eligible for these programs.

ACA in Colorado would go from 2000 members at $30 ($60000) to 2000
members at $10 ($20000). Probably 25% goes to admin fees so after that
they would still loose close to at least $25,000. As local USCF
organization they would still have to provide state website, state rep,
etc...

"Lose."

JT

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