The 2011 race season is almost upon us! The Psycowpath season starts with the Bellevue Bike Ballyhoo weekend April 2 and 3, and the road season fires up officially in Nebraska April 16 and 17 with the Le Tour de Husker.
Here are some notes regarding the season and Elkhorn Valley Cycling – Team Type 1 Nebraska:
1. Join USA Cycling. Even if you are a Cat 5 road racer or a Cat 3 mountain biker, join. The dollars you spend with your membership fees will not only save you money in one-day fees, it comes back to support the sport in many, many ways. And, part of your annual license fee comes back to the Nebraska Cycling Association, which is using it to buy chip timing equipment, making everyone’s life easier. Join.
This same basic procedure applies to USA Triathlon as well, so if you’re going to be a tri guy or gal, buy your membership.
After you join, you will get a license to carry around with you. Make sure you take it with you to the race! You WILL need it when you pick up your number and sign your waiver on-site.
2. Choose your club. When you buy your license with USA Cycling you will be given some options regarding clubs and teams. Everyone who belongs to EVCC, even if you race with Team Type 1-Nebraska and only wear that kit, must pick Elkhorn Valley Cycling as your club.
3. Choose your team(s) carefully. When buying your license you can purchase a road or mountain license, or both. Either one includes a cyclocross license. If you are buying a road license you should pick “Elkhorn Valley Cycling pb Monster” or “Team Type 1-Nebraska” as your team. Planning on doing some cyclocross? We would like to have you wear the EVCC colors when doing it so pick “EVCCX-Monster” as your CX team.
If you are buying a mountain bike license, we would like to see you pick ”EVCCX-Monster” as your mountain team, unless of course you are going to wear your TT1 kit off-road. In that case stick with ”Team Type 1-Nebraska”.
4. Create an account at RaceRegister.net The Psycowpath series is using that registration service for its events again in 2011. Some road events may use it as well. (Others may use the USA Cycling registration system, which is another reason to sign up for a license.)
When creating your account ar raceregister.net you are again given the options to join teams. We would ask you join the appropriate road or mountain teams again, or join them all! There is a verification procedure and one of the team leaders has to approve your admission to the team on that website so don’t wait until the last minute.
5. “Day Of” registration This is more and more becoming a thing of the past but the same rules apply when you register for an event on site. Please make sure you write in the appropriate team.
6. Communication Our goal this year is to coordinate a bit more regarding race tactics, goals, and logistics. Get with your team leader (see below) and let them know if your going, what your goals for a particular race are, and what you can do to help. If you’re going, surely someone else is as well so try to carpool as much as possible to save us all some money and resources.
Team Leaders
Road: Dan Spray
MTB/CX: Jon Downey
Team Type 1: Craig Harding
7. Why do we ask you to do all this? Organization. We want to help you have the best race experience you can have. Being organized early is a key to that. You may be asking why we are so explicit about team selection and such. It is very simple. Your membership fees do not cover all the cost of putting on races and fronting several teams with discount uniforms, free entry fees, web sites, etc etc. We have to rely on outside sponsors to get through the year. Sponsors want to see their name out there. We, as a club, need to be representing ourselves correctly and giving the sponsors and the team their due exposure.
At the end of the year, we have to be able to show our sponsors that we attended this many races, and that each time our names appeared on a race roster, the team sponsors names were right there as well. This underscores the need for each of you to enter all your race results, not just the ones you’re proud of, into the datebase at http://www.nencycling.org/wiki/race_team_results We use that data to pursue and keep sponsors.
Finally, we want to thank you all for being a part of our organization. We value each and every one of you not only for your ability on the bike, but your attitude and demeanor off the bike. Our reputation in the peloton is impeccable and its all because of you. Thank you.
See you soon!
The Jackrabbit Hundy, promoted by the Jackrabbit Racing team, went off this last Saturday October 15 on the “long, slow rolling hills North of Omaha.” According to organizer Dave Tyler, there were 43 starters and 35 finishers, with the last rider rolling at a time of 11:59. The popularity of these endurance-based events is growing and the number of events available annually continues to rise accordingly.
