From: stek@alcvax.pfc.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.racing
Subject: Report from USCF delegates meeting
Date: 29 Sep 92 01:20:23 GMT
Organization: MIT PLASMA FUSION CENTER

Last weekend I attended the 1992 USCF delegates meeting
in Washington DC.  The main thrust of the meeting was a reorganization
of the Board of Directors.  Currently the board has 26 or so
members.  This is a remnant from the time when the board ran all the 
programs on a volunteer basis without the benefit of the large staff 
currently employed.  It was decided to reduce the size of the board to 
11 members (3 from each of the three regions each serving 3 years, and
2 athlete reps.)  The large size of the board made progress 
cumbersome and interfered with the work of the employed administrators.
It is hoped that the new setup will improve the effectiveness of the
board.  The plan was universally accepted with the only concern being that
each of the three regions will be dominated by a particular community
in that region. (California in the west, Chicago in the middle, and 
Penn. in the East.)  Expect the regions to be further divided or
something. 

Delegates were asked to vote on the new arrangements.  They approved 
all of them unanimously.  They also approved a statement that clarified
the point (seldom observed) that cat 5 races can not have primes of 
real value.  The feeling of the delegates was that 5's should
be allowed to race for items of monitary value. Expect there to be
such an ammendment next year.  A request to do away with the gear restrictions
on juniors was rejected.  

Other events:  There was lots of talk about what could be done to 
help get juniors into the sport.  I found this rather frustrating
as the real source for new talent is currently college programs.
No talk was made of that though.  Also there was no talk about
women's racing.  

A long discussion with the providers of insurance to the USCF 
was a bit disturbing.  It certainly appears that the real concern is
liability prevention rather than rider safety.  Two cases in point:
Bike checks add to the promoter's liability, and are therefore discouraged.
A manual produced some time ago on how to put on a race was used to 
prove that a race promoter was negligent in not padding a brick wall
75 feet from a course, so now there is now no manual on how to put on a 
race.   I got the feeling that race promoters are under insured against
a major incident like someone getting paralyzed or killed due to 
a promoter error.  One incident like that could end the sport.
I would like to see some work done on the bike check problem.
I have seen too many rolled tires this year.  I wonder if some sort 
of a standard release form for bike checks could be arranged.
ex."I understand that it is the rider's responcibility to maintain his or her
bike.  No bike check can find all safety problems with a bike." 


Erin Hartwell and Bunki Bukakis-Davis (sp) talked at one session
about their experiences.  Erin started by saying that he was not going
to use the speech he had prepared (OH NO!) and was going to 
wing it instead.  He described living at the Olympic Training Center
and being a bike rider full time.  It was interesting to hear what it was
like to live at the OTC, though I would not choose to.  We all 
got tears in our eyes when he thanked his wife of one year for improving
his riding, especially by cooking more nutritious meals for him.  
Bunki was introduced in a manner that is inappropriate for me 
to repeat.  She spoke eloquently about things that really did not remain in 
my memory long. I was tired.  She is joining the board as an athlete 
representative.  

One change of note for some of you is that if you get a licence now, it 
will be good for 15 months, ie till Decmber of next year.  There are not
many road races left, but there are plenty of MTN bike races.   You get
a discount on a NORBA licence when you get an USCF licence.  

The feeling that was really left in my mind was that the main object of the 
USCF is producing world class athletes rather than encouraging the development 
of bike racing as a recreation.  Too much emphasis was put on how to organize
big, ambitious events rather than a fun local race.  

Still the staff and the board members were all very open to suggestions
on how to improve things. It is only a small group that keep things going.
They do a real service for all of us. Going to the meeting was worthwhile.
It is a good place to network and hear ideas from other people about putting on
races and organizing things.  


Notes: USCF + NORBA + NCCA membership = 56,000

Clubs of the Year:  West L.A. Sheriffs
		   special mention to Velo Avanti and others
		    Central South Shore Wheelman
		    East Tidewater Bicycle Association
		    Special meantion to CCB, Sons of Italy, Stowe, and others
		   Overall L.A. Sheriffs

The new transportation bill that passed last year dictaites that all states must
have a bicycle plan coordinator of some sort.  It would be good to have USCF
members advising these people.  There are also several safety videos that have 
been produced highlighting the national team.  They were pretty good in general.

Paul Stek
Stek@alcvax.pfc.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.racing