Heathpack 

As I understand it, you pay your $ to USAC for a racing license and a certain amount per license is kicked back to your local association.

Does anyone know if there is a specific, detailed written mandate provided to the local association from USAC, as in what are they supposed to do with that money?

Here’s what the USAC website (the part for public consumption) says:
“Beginning in 2003, in an effort to better serve our membership, USA Cycling began cultivating relationships with established Local Associations (LA). Currently, there are 34 Local Associations that serve specific areas of the United States. Each Local Association is a non-profit organization consisting of a board of directors elected by the local members.

USA Cycling reinvests a portion of the rider license sales to each Local Association. The Local Association appropriates the funds to support racing programs where they live and race. The program allows the Local Association to decide where to reinvest their financial allocation from USA Cycling. They establish priorities to best meet the needs of their members. USA Cycling recognizes that the Local Associations are in the best position to know what works for their area, and by reinvesting funds in those associations we hope to grow the sport at all levels.

Local Associations are made up of passionate members and volunteers who are the hands-on representatives that drive grassroots bicycle racing across the United States.

LOCAL ASSOCIATION RESPONSIBILITIES
USA Cycling's Local Associations are structured to serve the local population's best interests in regards to licensing, events, and officials.

The LA is one of your best resources for information regarding your local cycling community. Your LA can assist you in the upgrading/downgrading of your license, the approval of your permit, assigning officials for your event, finding a club to join, finding a race schedule, and networking with fellow riders.”

When I read the USAC blurb, it’s pretty vague. My impression from the first half of the quote is that the LA existed before 2003 and that USACs partnership with the LA is positive, USAC didn’t change what the LA was already doing, it just gave them money.

My impression from the second paragraph is that part of the LA’s mandate is to invest their USAC dollars in local racing as they see fit.

But then in the final paragraph, it sounds like LAs exist basically to process paperwork for USAC and to maintain a website.

I’m mostly asking because I had a recent email exchange with my LA president the gist of which was me expressing an expectation that my LA be proactive, anticipate issues with racing and try head them off at the pass, essentially show leadership. My LA president told me that’s not what they do, they just serve an administrative role for USAC.

So, my questions:
1. Is this what a LA is supposed to do, is it just administrative? Or something more?
2. Is anyone (USAC, my LA, individual clubs) actually mandated to take a leadership role in the sport- ie set a vision for the sport, identify problems/goals and propose solutions and organize the execution of the the solutions/work towards the goals?

What do the rest of you get from your Local Association? Do they “do” anything for your local racing scene besides process paperwork?

Just curious, I’m probably going to ask my LA for an accounting summary so that I can better understand what they are doing, and I’ll express my thoughts to USAC as well. But I’d love to wrap my head around exactly who is tasked to do what in bike racing, because every time I make a suggestion anywhere, I’m told that the thing I suggest is not the responsibility of the organization I’m making the suggestion to. And I’m also told to volunteer, which I’d be open to doing except who do you volunteer with if you’re consistently told that the parts you’d like to work on are outside the purview of the organization that is suggesting you volunteer?

rubiksoval

My local association is absolutely brilliant. TN has the best organized races of absolutely anyone anywhere I've raced, and that's straight down to our local association and their work with race organizers.

We have a flawless results systems at races (about as close to live results as you can get; all uploaded on the internet pretty quickly after the protest period is over), a great season-long points series in all three disciplines, great grassroots/development type of races/events, wonderful communication, and an overall extremely smooth system of getting races put on and sorted out. There's a yearly season review meeting at the end of the year where lots of data is presented to note trends and whatnot, and plans for the next year are put in place.

Can't say enough good things about it.

Doge

Same LA as you likely. There has been changes there lately.
In recently attending an officials class, and being mentored at a few races, I was surprised how much stuff the head referee gets involved in. They are/should be/sometimes involved was ahead in the permitting process etc. My hunch is this is just a very proactive official group and this is not their role that I have read anywhere.

Heathpack 

By "all three disciplines" do you mean crits, road races and TTs?

rubiksoval

CX, road, and mtb.

furiousferret

1. Mostly administrative, I believe. They're all volunteers with other jobs and limited resources.
2. I don't think there is a mandate but they do help guide it in some form. Our president is really pushing clinics and youth programs.

I know SCNCA has revenue issues because they are getting rid of the SoCal Cup (at least the rewards). We're also bleeding memberships, venues, and promoters. Its a mess right now.

Voodoo76

I have to believe this creates a positive first impression on new racers. I occasionally attend USA Swimming events in the San Antonio/Austin area with my Sister (Nephew competes). Coming from the cycling world the level of organization, and the turnaround time of detailed info/times/results, all on a phone app blows my mind.

Heathpack 

Presumably the local association leadership in @Rubiskoval 's association are all volunteers as well, yet they sound very effective with a vibrant race scene. They sound pretty proactive and well-organized, they communicate well. All of those sound like doable things even for volunteers and it sounds like it's real by benefits. That TN LA does not sound like it's mandate is predominately administrative?

topflightpro

The LA is a volunteer organization that is essentially USAC's representative. It assigns officials to events, provides equipment for races (such as cameras), and handles upgrades (except Cat 1). The LA gets money from USAC, but it can also charge it's own fees.

mattm

I would also think the needs are vastly different between TN and SoCal - as in a lot more pressure on the SoCal Local Association. More races, more racers.

Not sure what axe it is you have to grind - but I bet if you volunteered to join your LA and be the change you seek, everyone will be happier!

Heathpack 

I don’t have an ax to grind per se. The issue that led to me communicating with the LA president has to do with the State TT. The date was changed significantly from the traditional date of the race but it was not put on the calendar. I’m annoyed because it’s 6 weeks earlier than it was expected to be, I won’t be ready in the way I would have been, and will be on a cycling vacation immediately prior that can’t be rescheduled.

But my annoyance is not really what this thread is about. In my communication with the LA president, he stated that he is powerless to influence the race schedule, he just puts promoters events on the schedule and certifies State Championship races. He also stated that he has no way of communicating with the membership other than the LA website and FB. (The website is not a great resource though because it’s frequently out of date, has dead links, etc.)

He suggested that I look at their open contract positions and apply for one of those, but they are all in areas I know nothing about (upgrade coordinator, mentor coordinator, etc) as someone who only races TTs. The questions I have are more to do with the big picture. Every year, I hear about races that cease to exist but I never hear about new races coming on board*.

Why? Has anyone asked the promoters why they stopping running the races? Was there a surmountable problem or problems that could be addressed? What would it take to address the problems? Is it worth it? Etc. OR with the schedule, if no one can work with promoters to influence dates of key races, is that the best way to run things? Should it be done differently and if so, how do you implement this change in a way that works for everybody? OR In a sport with waning popularity, is relying on for-profit promoters realistic? Or should we be trying to develop incentives for volunteer organizations like cycling clubs to be hosting races?

I assumed those types of questions were under the purview of the LA, but according to my LA president, nope. He made it sound like they are a passive organization that just responds to what’s happening around them. So that’s really my question- is anybody looking at the big picture? If so, who?

I could volunteer to help my LA with some specific logistical aspect of TTs or to address big picture stuff but the nitty gritty of crit racing, sorry I have neither the interest nor expertise. There’s minimal interest from our LA in TTs and they don’t deal with aspects of racing that tries to influence or shape the future of the sport. So practically speaking, my LA doesn’t seem like a place that I could realistically devote volunteer time in a way that would (as you say) make them or I happy.

So all of that led me to wonder: what does my LA do? How much money do they get from USAC? It seems like in cycling, there’s continual stress on the system due to insufficient resources, so what do LAs with the resources they get? Does my LA do something different from other LAs? Is anybody doing it particularly well? I honestly don’t know, there is very little communication of any sort from our LA to its members.

The really interesting thing is that when I attempt to ask questions like this, I’m inevitably told one (sometimes two) of two things: 1. I don’t understand how it works and 2. Stop complaining. As if it is all working perfectly as is, the sport is robust and growing, and there’s no need to question anything.

*well actually I do hear of new races- gravel, mountain, fondo

Heathpack 

Do you have any idea how many LAs do this? Does yours charge an extra fee?

furiousferret

I can tell you in early January, the promoter that ran the State TT quit so they were scrambling for a replacement. Another promoter was showing interest, but nothing was booked. In fact there wasn't a single State event booked since we lost San Marcos (SLRR was on the fence), the TT and a few others.

I definitely understand your frustration; I think from the SCNCA's perspective they just wanted to book venues for State and everything else was secondary. For someone training to peak for the TT event I'd be pissed. It cuts off a few weeks and there's not much time to really change things up.

None of this is probably new information for you though.

Doge

For SoCal - I have asked many times, many answers, but some rise to the surface.

Cities offer permits. Cities are more and more finding ways to require more and more $100/hour officers to monitor intersections. This (monitoring) used to be done by volunteers. Cities favor non-profit groups (AYSO soccer gets fields easier than Club soccer) and permit fees can be high.

The "pressure" for upgrade points makes detailed placings more important. In the 80s we had "pickers" that were volunteers that would pick a place. So Joe would pick 5th place, Mary would pick 2nd. When you ran out of pickers, you ran out of places to score. Now a race venue has at least 3 officials, generally 4-5. It is all pretty serious, as are the riders. That costs more.

Clubs used to be REQUIRED to host a race. Now promoters do. Promoters want to make money.

Many fields are not so full. Regardless of what anyone thinks the fix should be, there is a lot of fixed overhead to cover and fields need to be some 20+ strong, more like 30+ to break even. Some demographics do not want to race, yet there is pressure to have a race for that group.

This one is getting worked out, but there was a push to have all races paid the same prize money. One year in Boulevard the promoter was loosing a few bucks/woman racers as the advert said purses were the same size. Newer flyers still say this - but it is based on field size - for men and women. But I heard a few promoters says junior and women's fields were always losses.

Heathpack 

It’s not a few weeks, it’s 6 weeks. And they put it on Easter weekend.

Sucks for me, especially with my unchangable travel.

But that is not the point of this thread. The big picture is that participation will likely be low as a result of the changes, the promoter will be reluctant to commit next year and we’ll have the same situation as this year where no one knows what’s going on, the date gets set late, and the whole thing turns into a death spiral.

I’d love to work to make that not happen and I have some specific ideas as to an approach to take. But I cannot change things alone and it seems that there exists no entity under whose auspices I could actually work? Is the system really this inefficient? There’s no place to go with proactive ideas?

Heathpack 

Maybe I missed them but I never saw any law enforcement at the State TT (which is the only TT, except for hill climbs, on the SCNCA schedule).

Besides that specific issue though, the city permitting is a great example of what I’m getting at. Cannot “someone” (who? I have no idea, that’s my question in this thread. My LA? USAC?) lobby cities or attempt to work with them to mitigate the effect on bike racing? Are some cities more friendly to bike racing with less expensive permitting? Would it be worth exploring a partnership with such cities to try to develop races in their town? Could bike racing try to structure any partnership in ways that minimize negative effects to the city but maximize benefits? Is anyone in charge of stuff like this?

It seems like not. If I tried to suggest something like that to my LA, my impression is that I’d get an answer along the lines of “that’s not what we do”.

Doge

Some of the new officer rules came in this year. Ontario is one I was told about needing the police. I was closer to this in soccer. As mentioned, a 501c.3 has much better chance of getting city help. Bike clubs were that, or at least non-profit. That might be the right direction to go back to. And finding ways to get 70+ riders in each race.

I didn't mention it, in my 1st post, but I expect the other disciplines compete too. cx, MTB, Track...all "seem" to me to be growing.

TTs in SoCal are close to dead. Santiago is gone, Is Tom's Farm going?
I think Lake LA is dead - Team Velosport has disbanded and we will no longer be running the SCNCA ITT and TTT Championships at Lake Los Angeles. Fiesta Island is there.

rubiksoval

I want to say ours is $2.00 per racer per race.

rubiksoval

TBRA site:

::Tennessee Bicycle Racing Association::

"The Tennessee Bicycle Racing Association (TBRA) is an organization of Tennessee bicycling racing clubs and their members. TBRA exists to help promote, develop, and grow the sport of bicycle racing in the state by helping race directors promote events, helping riders access the sport, and generating enthusiasm in the cycling community at-large."

For fees:

2016 Revenue was:

TBRA Club Dues $1,775
Race Rider Fees $ 15,063
USA Cycling Rebate $9,007
Merchandise Sales $441
Total Revenues $ 26,287


No idea what merchandise sales would be, but nearly 17k from rider and club fees with 9k from USAC.

Heathpack 

SCNCA is a non profit.

Toms Farm is long gone. Santiago is dead. Fiestas days are numbered, the island is going to be developed and the city of San Diego has already clearly stated that there will be no racing anymore when that happens in a few yea s. Piru is the only stable one left.

The State TT is still going to be at Lake Los Angeles this year. Or so I was told by the SCNCA president and the promoter just a few days ago. But I just got a private message from someone that the date might be changed to June with a different promoter. Oy my head hurts just thinking about it.

So with these changes, that’s just it? Our LA plays no role? We just all watch this death spiral play out and don’t try to solve it? Makes sense.

Heathpack 

Completely reasonable.

topflightpro

USAC and LAs do not put on races. Promoters do. USAC is the umbrella organization under which events are permitted and insured. They provide a structure for the events to be held, including rules and policies. The LA coordinates the schedule, approves permits for races, and assigns officials to events. As far as the calendar goes, it's really up to the race promoter to determine when they want to hold the event. The LA doesn't really have much say. The LA can deny the permit if there are too many other events, and there won't be officials available, but around here, that rarely happens.

The reason races are going away is because it is a lot of work for little reward. Promoters are in it for two reasons - they want to race or they want to profit from the race. Few, if any, are profiting off races. The winter series we put on for years used to net about $1500 to $2000. We are not down to a few hundred dollars. The cost for putting on events keeps going up, and participation is going down.

We are losing state championships because no promoter wants to put on the events.

As Doge said, Clubs used to be required to put on an event. But USAC had no way of enforcing it and never bothered to, so they dropped the requirement. But even then, the clubs were still considered the promoter.

As for our local fees, I don't recall the breakdown, but between USAC and the LA, it's about $5 per racer per race day. So, the first $5 we take in goes to those fees.

topflightpro

Actually, you can. You can put on an event. You just need to find a venue and apply for an event permit from USAC. The permit costs a couple hundred bucks.

Depending on the location you chose, you may need to get a permit from the city, which may cost money. You may also need police. Around here, the police tell you how many officers you need and for how long. And it's overtime pay, so it's usually around $50 an hour per officer. (We spent $5000 on police a few years ago for a Gran Fondo.) You will also need to come up with a purse. And after all that, you might make money from entry fees.

Doge

SCNCA does not put on races and pull permits. This is typically a promoter - it used to be clubs.

Heathpack 

Right. Good point.