asloan7

Hi,
I've been looking to join a team, and like supporting the environment but can't find any teams out there that have this in mind specifically. I'd like to have a stronger "reason to race" as I'm not going to turn pro for many, many reasons ;-)

Would there be any interest from anyone else in helping to start one or at least join it if it existed?

Would probably approach environmental organizations to see if anyone is interested and choose one, and then approach other companies to be the paying sponsors. If more than one environmental non-profit is interested then I suppose there could be more than one team! The interface may be a bit tricky, the books may have to be done internal to the non-profit to make it easy, and then volunteer for them, they probably would need someone familiar with USAC, etc.

I am thinking for road racing (grass roots/cat. 4 to start) and bike racing in general, but could also make t-shirts and membership available to runners, etc.

Thanks!

merlinextraligh

Have you considered how much impact bike racing has on the environment? If you care about such things the carbon footprint has to be rather large.

Besides, if your not racing for a check, your racing for your own enjoyment, nothing more.

asloan7

Yeah, I cycled to 2 races this year but the others required driving, and putting on a race takes a lot of energy (the Earth's).

But the same can be said for all sports and arts - entertainment of any kind from camping to watching TV.

People are going to do all these things anyways, and I think there is value for the human race in sports and arts (culture). To remove them and only have work (non-sports/arts related as they wouldn't exist) would be kind of like reducing the human race to machines...

Environmental organizations have marketing/advertising departments so this would be helping get the word out.

The team could grow to the size of putting on it's own races, and trying to lower the footprint, like replacing the gas generator for the PA system with solar panels and stationary bikes - it could be interesting.

PS. I'm also vegetarian so I really am trying to offset my personal footprint, and have debated the why race a bike question a lot. Why be vegetarian? Why race? There's lots of reasons.

robncircus

Not a bad idea. Colorado has a strong cycling scene from what I understand so it shouldn't be too hard. Maybe start by talking to some potential sponsors to see if they are interested. Might want to search the racing forum for team starting threads as there have been some there in the past. Good luck.

EdIsMe

I really like the idea of cycling/racing representing a cause.

The cycling scene around my area is pretty small though and it's difficult enough simply to ride safely on the roads...

david58

You might take a look at the Pacific Power Blue Sky team in Oregon as a source of ideas for a team.