February 22, 2016
Joan Hanscom, Chuck Hodge, Jon Whiteman, Jeffrey Hansen, Frederike Blattspieler, Valecia Frasier, Stephanie Sexton, Kristen Uhlemann, Jared Esquivel, Emily Palmer, Larry Martin, Stuart Lamp, Stefanie Larson
Stefanie Larson
* We are excited to introduce Joan Hanscom as our Director of Event Services
– Joan will lead the effort to grow USA Cycling’s support to events across the nation, develop policies and products that better serve the needs of event directors across all disciplines and event formats.
– New internal structure – Membership and Event Services
* Membership Service Coordinators to be called Event Services Coordinators- Valecia, Jared, Kristen, and Stephanie
* Business Development Managers to be called Event Services Regional Managers- Stuart, Larry, Erin and Don
Joan Hanscom
* I am excited to join the team at USA Cycling. I ran the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross. I also worked on the Tour of the Red River Gorge, Five Spot Series, Long Run Circuit Race, and the York Tour de Pink.
* I come from ABUS Mobile Security where I led US public relations and marketing for the bike lock brand.
* I have raced pretty avidly and I’m happy to be here. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Jeffrey Hansen
* Membership update
– We had a strong start in December
– Currently, our struggle nationwide is road memberships. We are down by 8.6%.
– Our trouble spot is gaining new members
* We’re down 14% on new members
* The new member season is a little bit later in the year
* We will keep an eye on one days with the new members
* It’s cheaper to purchase a one day, but it’s a bit too early to draw any conclusions there
– Renewals are up
– Returning lapsed members (anyone that wasn’t a member in 2015 but was in 2014) are steady
– Trouble areas
* California down 13-14%, but it’s getting a little better
* Northern California is doing better than Southern California – weather
– We are working on incentives
– Are there any thoughts on what we can do on your end to incentivize people to come on board?
* Judy Rhyne- CCA
– People are moving away from races to gran fondos. There’s a general shift away from road racing. Has that been factored into the analysis?
* Jeffrey Hansen
– Yes, that is a factor, but it’s difficult to assess how much. We’re looking at the industry, the types of events, and types of bikes being sold.
– With our ride membership we are trying to get in that space
– The people who are slightly disengaged are the hardest to reach while sending surveys
* Randy Legeai – LAMBRA
– Is there a way I can see my Local Association’s license count for road?
* Stefanie Larson
– In our current system, viewing licenses by discipline is not available at the moment. We hope to implement that possibility in our new system. In the meantime, I will ask if IT can run a report on the back end.
* Jan Luke- SCNCA
– To address the topic of getting new riders into the sport we started to request our RDs use the term “public” as a way to entice riders to come back to category 5, gravel grinders, and gran fondos.
– We want to be able to attract people from the outside by using the term “public”.
– We encourage RDs to include cat 5 only instead of cat 4/5.
Jon Whiteman
* Anti-doping education links
– Last month I sent an e-mail to all of the LAs containing several anti-doping education links.
– Thank you to the LAs who have posted links on their websites.
– I encourage the others to post the links as well
– Please let me know the links that have been posted since we want to keep track how far the education is going
– If there are any changes we can get the information to people who have links on their website
* Event submission
– Thank you to everyone who submitted events.
– There are still a handful of those who haven’t sent me potential anti-doping events
– I meet with USADA this week to go over the year.
– If I don’t have events by the end of this week it may be difficult to fit those in for the year.
* RaceClean Report
– Lookout for another race clean report. I will make an attempt in this update to address all questions.
– Feel free to make recommendations and send me topics that you think are important to you and your community.
– For example, we made a marijuana FAQ. This came as a result of people coming forth with questions.
Chuck Hodge
* How to handle international licenses
– I will do a more robust FAQ that will go out to all LAs and race officials.
– In the midst of the Mexican and Canadian Federations, I am working to get some reciprocity.
– As you deal with foreign racers racing in the US, they should be an international license holder.
* They have a category of what we call class. Except for Canada and Mexico, those racers should have a foreign permission letter. They need a letter from the Federation stating they have permission to race in the US
* We will leave you to the final judgment.
* They need to have accident insurance in place.
* If there’s ever a doubt, we may sell a $10 one day license.
* Randy- LAMBRA
– Suppose we have a racer that shows up from Puerto Rico and has a license issued from the Federation. Is liability status affected by license status? We want to make sure they have a one day license mainly for the medical coverage.
* Chuck Hodge
– Any racer should not have a license from more than one Federation.
* Some have a USAC license as a lower category and another license from a different Federation as an elite.
* Please get all the relevant information and send to me to deal with.
* Other Federations don’t use the same category information.
* We will leave it up to the chief ref to determine the proper category for a racer to compete in.
* Elite is an age and it does not necessarily mean category.
* If we have someone who is living here in the US and is a student with a foreign license we can issue them an account.
* If they don’t have any license at all, they race cat 5 like anyone else.
* Dave Fowkes- ICA
– Have the Safety and Anti-Doping Committee members been selected yet?
* Stefanie Larson
– I will have Nancy or Jon contact you regarding the committees.
January 27, 2016
USAC attendance- Chuck Hodge, Jon Whiteman, Emily Palmer, Fred Blattspieler, Valecia Frasier, Stephanie Sexton, Kristen Uhlemann, Jared Esquivel, Don Losole, Erin Hawley, Stefanie Larson
Chuck Hodge – Technical Director
Status of National Level Assignments
* National Championships- made some initial assignments
* Technical Commission meeting involves Local Associations and assigners
* Filling holes on the assignments tool
* Doing what we can on our side to make sure we’re establishing what’s fair and equitable
* Includes a review by RD and crews
* It will be a couple more weeks to finalize this
* Jeff Poulin NYSBRA- What is the criteria of assignments?
* Chuck Hodge- Qualifications are set for various positions
– A panel member at a UCI race must be a National Commissaire
– National racing calendar- there are more local level positions
– More positions available for that B level official
– Trying to run a balance making sure an RD doesn’t have to pay to bring in 8 people
– Want to make sure folks are qualified
– Giving assignments to officials that work hard- it’s a tough balance
Emily Palmer – Membership Programs Manager
BRP – Beginning Racer Program
* Trying to really bolster the Beginning Racer Program
* If your LA has any interest in hosting a BRP, we want to work with you on that
* Let us know if you have any clinics that you as an LA run
* Trying to grow our offerings and clinics to get new riders that experience
Jon Whiteman – Risk Protection Manager
Race Clean Program update
* Got a hold of a study from the International Sports Journal looking at sport injuries
* 10% of cat 3s and 12% of cat 2s used PEDs during their lifetime
* Problematic doping in cat 2 and 3, but not much in cat 1
* Testing was creating a deterrence
* Testing is mainly there to create a threat and to deter people from using
* Without testing cheating is going to happen
* These studies are going to help drive our program
* USAC is putting together a Safety & Anti-Doping Committee
* A letter is coming out that’s going to appeal to the membership to ask if they are willing to share their talents and put their name in the hat to help us drive these efforts
* Goal is to test in a very meaningful and cost effective manner
* Testing is very expensive- looking at ways to make this efficient
* Every dollar this year will go farther than any past years
* Looking to drive up donations
– Hope is to build partnerships with each one of the LAs
* If your LA is interested, please give Jon a call
* We need to get the education out in front of our amateurs
* Hoping LAs will take the opportunity to put information on their website
* On our last LA call someone asked about the possibility of using our RaceClean logo for 2016
* Answer is yes- I send this logo out in the e-mail
* USADA update- Race Clean has yielding 4 positive tests within the last 3 months
* Goal is not to catch, but to deter
* Gina Kavesh- WSBA- Will your e-mail be written to us as LAs or written where we can use it as a template for us to send to our members? Some members don’t want to read a long e-mail.
* Jon Whiteman- There are a lot of links in the e-mail that makes it look longer than it is- if you need help putting together a template, let me know.
* Michael Edens- TBRA- When you say 135 tests a year, are those tests or 135 events?
* Jon Whiteman- Tests. Last year the Race Clean program was only able to achieve 45 tests
– Goal this year is to triple that
* If we get support from donors and LAs, we can surpass that 135 goal this year
* Cost wise, it’s more effective to do more testing in one day than a couple tests on separate days
* Costs per tests are driven down significantly if we do 6 a day-
* Focus is to do more testing on each day rather than spreading them out
* Bruce Dunn- ABC- NCC and NRC have amateur components to them. If you’re driving down costs, this may be the perfect opportunity to test those events because generally, that’s where fast masters and 2+3s will be. Masters category is sometimes faster than 1, 2 race.
* Jon Whiteman- We welcome suggestions from any direction
* Jeff Mertz from IBRA- Is there an opportunity for USADA and USAC to work with a smaller LA that isn’t able to help/afford the full program, but can help with some supplemental costs?
* Jon Whiteman- We are 100% on board. Any suggestions like that we’re up for
– We want all LAs to send us their lists of events in their region- at least 3-5, but 10 would be great, that are highly attended or events where you have a good reason to believe we should be visiting
* Gina Kavesh- WSBA- Do these have to be USAC events?
* Jon Whiteman- Yes
* Gina Kavesh- WSBA- What about World Championships?
* Jon Whiteman- Please feel free to give me a call
Fred Blattspieler – Event Services Manager
MVR check update
* Looking at simplifying the process for MVR requests as well as the auto/moto process
* Other than changing drivers last minute, are there any other issues regarding MVR checks?
Stefanie Larson – Business Development Director
Umbrella policy update
* Following up on my e-mail- Optional extended insurance RDs may purchase if they want an additional $4 million of coverage
* Reasons for our new pricing
* Coverage is very expensive and we have been underpricing it – aiming to reduce subsidization of this coverage by those not utilizing it
* Pricing according to risk – events with more participants and spectators carry more risk, and therefore more costs, than events with fewer participants and spectators
* Reduce the cost of umbrella insurance for small events
* Tiers
* 1-99 participant days- $350
* 100-249 participant days- $550
* 250-999 participant days- $750
* 1,000-4999 participant days- $1,000
* 5000+ participant days- $1,500
* Events with 10,000+ spectators incur an additional $2,000 fee
* Thoughts/feedback?
* JD- NEBRA- Discussed this with my board and we are in favor of the change
– Can you create a flyer that we can pass along to RDs? It’s hard to convince a promoter and we don’t know the terminology
* Stefanie Larson- Yes, we can definitely send out an information sheet
* Gina Kavesh- WSBA- On the topic of insurance, I can’t find the insurance webinar link from the Symposium posted on USAC’s website
* Stefanie Larson- Let me check and get back to everyone
* Introducing a Gran Fondo tier
– We want to give LAs a heads up on a new permitting tier that is being implemented this year for gran fondos
– Currently, we have two levels- Competitive and non-competitive
* We want to move towards a structure that fits all the different types of events that exist and this is our first step in doing so
– This new level that will cater to gran fondos will come with changes in gran fondo regulations and pricing- Prize money and timing is allowed among other rule changes
o We believe gran fondos are less risky than competitive events, but more risky than non-competitive events so this tier will sit at the middle. Gran fondos will pay a $3.25 per rider surcharge, $50 permit fee, and no licenses are required
– For the time being, we are also including gravel events in this level
– Thoughts/feedback?
* JD- NEBRA- As we expand these levels, I imagine LAs will have some administrative interaction with these events. Will these eventually be included in the LA rebate?
* Stefanie Larson- USAC will be handling these gran fondo events just like we do our non-competitive events.
Membership trends
– Jeffrey couldn’t be here, but he asked me to get some feedback regarding membership trends.
* Compared to last year at this time we’re seeing a decline in memberships- We’re trying to get a better idea of any possible reasons for the decline and any information you can offer is appreciated- We are trying to stay ahead of the curve
* Nationwide we are down 1238 road licenses
* There is a 14% decline for renewers, 9% decline among returners (lapsed), and 14% decline among new members
* We are going to be doing more marketing wise along with working on bigger picture issues
– Thoughts/feedback?
* Randy- LAMBRA- We need a tool that allows us to see the breakdown of our members by discipline
* Stefanie Larson- We are looking to see how feasible it would be to implement that in our current system while we balance the work load of executing our new system
* Reminder: Your signed LA Agreements are due this Friday, January 29th