Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash - Pink Floyd
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash - Pink Floyd
Friday, Friday, Friday. Get there early. Choose your seats wisely. Hit the concession stand before the house lights go down. You should only need to use the edge of your seat for this one. With USAC CEO Steve Johnson making the trip North to grace his with presence, this should be fun.
USAC is ready to start playing hardball and the showdown is here. These are the brief highlights, I mean lowlights of joining "the firm" from the South. This is all available on the ACA website if you want to read more.
So reading over the documents that were sent out, how can you even think about voting for this crap? First off, USAC will not be able to give ACA 20k per year for 3years. There are legal issues with this for starters. Other local associations will want the same sweetheart deal that we are getting. That aint gonna happen. That should make the rest of the discussion a moot point. It has been bantered about that we will be giving up more than 100K in revenue in return for "joining" them and they are giving back on 60K? That is fuzzy math that every liberal or repub can see is a bad deal. But if you are in congress, maybe that is a good deal?Second, the fee's that are going to be collected could wipe out the debt of small countries. It now costs your team $100 bucks for dues. Going forward, it will be $275 bucks. Want a license, pony up that platinum card to the tune of $120 clams. That is $60 bucks to the feds for either a road/cross or cross/mtb license. Wanna race one of the disciplines that you didnt buy a license for, that will be $30 more. Add on the "BRAC" part of for another $30 bucks. Currently license are $45 dollars and good for a full year from date of purchase. USAC license will be good for only the calendar year.
Wanna have results, ask the wife for another loan. $35 bucks for your BRAC timing chip or $38 if you dont join them. Now it talks about leasing the chips. Does not say how long the lease is good for, but this is USAC so figure you get to lease that guy each year. Also, D&L are upping their rates from $700 to $800. Wanna put on a race without USAC but have cool results, that will be $1200 dollars for them to come out. Want D&L to type in everyone's name on race day, add $250 more to that total.
Another casualty of this could be the ROL Wheels neutral support program. They are willing to grandfather in all officials but have said nothing about the mechanics. If you have raced a crit in the last 5 years, you have seen these guys sitting around waiting for you to show up with your flat tire, twisted seat or bottle cage falling off. A "yes" vote will probably see this go away also.
Where this is really going to be a cold shower of reality is for the promoters who want to put on any race. Your race has a prize list more than 2K, feel free to donate 7% of that to the feds, in CASH$$$, they aren't going to take your merchandise. Wanna put on a race in that open date on the calendar and it is less than 6 weeks away, that will cost you $100 dollar late fee plus the standard processing fee. Where is the incentive to join these clowns again?
The other major failure is with juniors. They will be eliminating the 8-9 year old category. Please tell Muffy and Buffy why they cant race next year while they have been watching their siblings race for the past 3 years and they will be turning 8 at the beginning of the 2012. They will be putting in jr. gear restrictions. Make sure your roll out is correct at home or pay the penalty. I truly hope that Alpha Bicycle Co., Boulder Jr. Racing, Boulder Cycle Sport, Blacksheep, ICCC, Dawson Cycling, Peak to Peak Training, Ridge View Acadamy, Green Mountain Sports are all going to vote "NO" on this Friday night. These are just the teams that I know of that have JR. racers.
As you might understand, I have not pointed out any positives about getting back to somebody that was kicked to the curb about 10 years ago. I have also heard rumblings that USAC has also come to OBRA and they told them to take a hike, we are not interested. I think this is the same thing we should do.
Do the right thing and show up and vote on this. Stand up, be proud of your vote and and say it with authority. Just remember, everyone will be watching you.
Amen, Brother Rich, Amen. You can add High Peaks Masters to the NO party. Sadly I would not be surprised to see this pass.
ReplyDeleteYou are entitled to your opinion and I enjoy your blog, but try not to make stuff up. ROL neutral support is going to go away if we go back to USAC? This is the sort of stupid scare tactics people make up in debates like this, to support their own point of view. There is no rule that the people working in pits at races have to be certified mechanics with ACA or USAC. So as long as ROL wants to continue to support racing in CO, they are free to do so, as is any of the other wheels companies/bike shops that have helped out like Mavic and others.
ReplyDeleteHere is another distorted statement “Where this is really going to be a cold shower of reality is for the promoters who want to put on any race.”, please give any factually support for this? Somehow thousands of bike races go on across the US under USAC in nearly every state and those promoters can magically handle the cold shower you mention. How can that be? Maybe they are just better promoters than what we have in CO?
I am not sure how I feel about this, still on the fence, as I find equal levels of things to like and dislike with both organizations (I do have both licenses currently). But I find it frustrating when I read distorted opinions passed off as facts supporting both USAC and the ACA.
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThere are no scare tactics involved in the post. Since I am the person in charge of the ACA/ROL Wheels support program, I am pretty sure that I know what I am talking about. The program was started about 5 years ago with Beth Estes and Luke Jeter. Both Luke and myself are USAC certified mechancis, helped create the ACA mechanics test and have 8 mechanics that have passed the ACA test. Please verify this info with Yvonne if you dont believe me. The program is paid for by the ACA, not the promoters. We have been to every BAR/BAT crit on the calendar plus support the Mt Evans HC. Please show me a bike shop that has been to all the BAR/BAT crits the past 5 years?
I also personally know the person running the MAVIC support program. He is based out of Longmont and he has a USAC license and only works a couple of races in CO anywhay. You are required to have a license if you are going to work any USAC/UCI race in the states.
What I dont know is this: Will the new LA be willing to keep paying for this program if ACA goes away? Will ACA want to keep this program if we vote no on Friday?
For the promotors angle, it has been verified, in the USAC rule book, that 7% of all prize lists over $2000 dollars will be given to USAC. We dont have any rule like that in CO as it stands. DBC Events has already stated that they are not going to vote for this. Do you really think that Chris wants to give that much money away for the "priveledge" of hosting a race with USAC? Not hardly. For an outfit like Boulder Racing, just the 7% of their prizelist from the Superior Stage race would have totalled over $2000 dollars going to USAC. Crazy talk if you ask me.
Sometimes you just have to stand up and say enough is enough. This is what OBRA, SoCalCycling, ABR out of Chicage, Utah Cyclocross and others have said to USAC. You cost us to much money, not enough value and hit the road.
I thank you for reading the blog and hope you continue to do so. I will be at the meeting Friday night. Come find me and we can discuss over beers and popcorn. I will be the one in the blue Yeti hoodie.
Thanks
Rich
Rich
Just FYI...Boulder Cycle Sport will not be voting NO on this. They want it. Their position is stated in the comments on 303Cycling. http://303cycling.com/special-aca-usac-meeting-nov-18#comment-5714
ReplyDeleteThey don't care about the Juniors - You said it ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS THE MONEY!
Rich,
ReplyDeleteWhat would you say to the riders who support reintegration? Their issues seem real. Collegiate, elite, future elite, higher level masters, serious juniors, racers who visit CO... these riders have to juggle two organizations, two+ licenses, travel out of region to earn points/results, convince promoters to host duel permit events, etc. I am one of these riders (it is a sickness ha ha) but I am certainly not the only one. Sure, USAC has created some of these problems, but how do we solve them today?
Thanks, Pete Webber
Pete,
ReplyDeleteThe issues you note for the more elite riders are real, and deserve attention. Just as the needs of the "recreational" and local only riders are deserving.
As written this plan puts the new cost burden on the people LEAST likely to swallow a higher license cost, the riders who race a few races, only local. They are being asked to fund 2 organizations now, mostly to address issues they don't have or maybe even care about. In my opinion, I don't think that raising the cost and barriers to entering the sport at the bottom end is how to grow the sport. People who race more will probably justify the cost, and continue as is.
New and less active racers will simply look at the cost of one-day licenses vs annuals. Today, it is a 5 race break even, in the proposed system, it's 9 races. This will mean a loss of many of these riders out of the "system".
The only option presented at this time is to fully fund BOTH bureauocracies. Other options, a reduced ACA size (NOT the best Idea mind you...), a split focus of ACA running a "grassroots" focus, and USAC running the "elite" side in Colorado under a cooperative arrangement, or for that matter ANY other option to vote on has not been presented.
-Dale
Hey Pete,
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for reading.
I have thought about this all day and haven't come up with a happy medium for anybody. Maybe there should be both a new LA and still have the ACA together for the first year and see how everyone likes it. Make it so the license are good for either, fees are the same for clubs and let the market work it out. People go to the best race venues all the time.
Our race day is already super full. I don't know how you bring in collegiate kids except have them race in their regular category. I have seen race flyers from around the US and have never seen collegiate races with USAC races. Nobody is stopping them from joining ACA right?
For the elites that are here, this is a new issue. I can't believe we can't work this out but we can't be told how it will be. USAC needs to be flexible and cooperative. I think they want to work it out but they only want to play hardball. Common sense has to be used.
I think the ACA BOD wants the reintegration at this point. Will there be increased income, maybe. With such a big state, we don't have a lot of folks traveling here though. If the fees weren't so high, promotors possibly losing money on races and the thought of funding something that has no tangible value to the local community, this would be a slam dunk
Maybe the "old guard" is seeing the light of the situation?
Rich
Rich,
ReplyDeleteI got into racing through NCAA racing and now I am just some older masters guy, was never that good, and I am worse now. I think it is one of the best and more pure forms of racing out there, it is based on how the team does as a whole, top to bottom and men and women. It is the opposite of a lot of what we have in the ACA now with too many small teams that just race one category and do not add much to the sport (like grow it, put on a race, get riders involved). Collegiate cycling is sanctioned by USAC and USAC only. It needs to to be to work on a national level, kids race in their region, they get points, the most points go to nationals, and so on. I actually think it is one thing USAC does pretty well. So you are wrong, there is plenty stopping college racing from happening with the ACA.
I am surprised you are saying you have never seen a college race with USAC races too as we have a bunch of them in CO that have been going on for years, like CU's race at the Research Park, the Oval Crit at CSU, DU's race at City Park, and Mesa hosts a stage race Junction. NCAA Nationals has also been held in CO 3 times in recent memory, twice in the Fort and once in the Springs. I do not know how someone so involved would not be aware of this. A typically college schedule is 3 to 6 races, so it does not take a whole day. So for example at the CU Research Park crit they will have collegiate races until about 1 pm, and then run a scaled down USAC schedule that might be cat 4 men, cat 3 men, pro/1/2 men, and women. It is a good deal for everyone as the college team makes a few extra bucks and as the races are in the spring there is generally demand from racers in the state.
You talk about ACA supporting juniors, while collegiate racing is really about the best thing out there. The numbers are much higher than junior and these kids do move into the senior ranks (cat 4, cat 3, or higher). This is an area where we could help them out by getting the schedule synced together for better exposure to their races, thus giving these kids more $. It would help out all CO riders as it would provide more racing in the spring and might remove date conflicts. It would also provide a new growth opportunity as we try to grow the sport with younger rider and masters.
Back to the point, you never answered Pete's direct question, what would you say to some of the people who could really benefit from going back like college kids?
The votes are in! Welcome to USAC.
ReplyDelete