Who will race bikes now?

Two years on and now we're back to another hike in our license fees.
Hey maybe the fat cats can cut down on their salaries before they hike
our fees. Expect a nice increase in entry fees around the corner.

Seriously, though, $10 for 1 day licenses? I understand insurance
rates and all that, but do the other federations also see the
increases USAC offers us?


1. One-day license price will increase from 5 to 10 dollars. To not do
this
would mean that our annual members would be subsidizing our
non-members.

2. The deductible for riders using the USA Cycling policy as primary
coverage
will increase from 2000 to 5000 dollars. For members who use this
policy as
secondary coverage, the deductible will stay at 1000 dollars.

3. The cost for a primary license will increase from 50 to 60 dollars.
Add-on
licenses will increase from 25 to 30 dollars. Other changes include
the
International Licenses increasing to 150 dollars and the junior
license will
cost 30 dollars.

While we regret having to increase our license fees, I hope you
understand that
this decision is based solely on the ever rising cost of insurance. I
also hope
that with the steps we have taken regarding one day licenses and
non-insured
riders we can get this issue under better control.

The insurance provided by USA Cycling has never been intended to
provide primary
coverage. We have been proactive in addressing this issue as well. We
are
working with an insurance company to offer competitively priced
insurance that
can be purchased by riders to protect them from experiencing excessive
personal
costs and to help cover the majority of the deductible under our
policy. We hope
to be rolling out this new program in the near future.

I appreciate your understanding in this matter and commit to you that
we will
continue our efforts to manage this in the best interests of our
members. I hope
to see you all racing in 2005!

Sincerely,

Gerard Bisceglia, CEO
USA Cycling, Inc.

From: (chris)
Date: 10/30/2004 6:10 PM Eastern

Seriously, though, $10 for 1 day licenses? I understand insurance
rates and all that, but do the other federations also see the
increases USAC offers us?


I would subsidize one days if that's what it took. They are designed to give
people who haven't raced before, or are just thinking about coming back a
chance to do it without spending serious cash for a yearly license.
IMO this is going to discourage grass roots growth.
Thanks Folks
Bill C

The big mistake was when they raised the annual license fee to $50 but
kept the 1-day fee at $5. Lots of occasional racers decided it wasn't
worth getting an annual license if they were only racing 4 or 5 races a
year. I don't think $10 for 1-day licenses is excessive at all -
should have been that way two years ago. I do think $60 for an annual
license is excessive, and we will lose licensed riders as a result, but
at least the Regional Associations that are doing much of the work on
the local level are getting a cut of the license fees. From the
promoter's prespective, the increases do not affect what they charge
for entry fees. If entry fees go up, it's because of other factors,
usually police costs and safety (ambulance) costs, or of course lack of
sponsorship. Processing the 1-day licenses is by far the biggest
post-race pain in the arse for promoters.

"TritonRider" wrote in message
...
From: (chris)
Date: 10/30/2004 6:10 PM Eastern

Seriously, though, $10 for 1 day licenses? I understand insurance
rates and all that, but do the other federations also see the
increases USAC offers us?


I would subsidize one days if that's what it took. They are designed to
give
people who haven't raced before, or are just thinking about coming back a
chance to do it without spending serious cash for a yearly license.
IMO this is going to discourage grass roots growth.
Thanks Folks
Bill C



Nipplehead,

Then I suggest you cut a check for all those one days and send it off to
Gerard and explain what it's for
Dave

rom: "Dave H"

Nipplehead,

Then I suggest you cut a check for all those one days and send it off to
Gerard and explain what it's for
Dave



I pay full price for the "privilege" of putting up with the bull**** from
people like you. I really am not sure how long I'm going to keep working races.
Between the politics, and rider bull**** it seems to be a diminishing return.
What would you suggest to help the sport grow? I'm more than willing to
listen.
I was going to upgrade my Motor Official license, but it's not worth it. I'll
let the people who have a thicker skin than me, or have their own agenda (a
much larger group) do it.
Bill C

I'm not seeing a big problem attracting new racers. The one-day
license itself is pretty good at attracting new riders, even at $10.
The problem I'm seeing is getting them up to Cat. 4 where they are
racing consistently rather than just treating the local training rides
as races and staying eternal Cat. 5s. We just had a little local bike
race. The winning Cat. 5s got trophies and a handshake, most other
classes got a bit of cash. Cat. 5s outnumbered Cat. 4s about 4:1 and
more than half of them were racing on 1-day licenses. There are
probably only 20 road races a year in the immediate area, so with $5
one-day licenses, most were quite content to forgo the annual license
and buy one-day licenses for the five or six races they did. I need
riders to get licences and get interested in upgrading so they can race
in the really fun races with the big prizelists and learn what racing
is all about. IMHO, a $60 annual license fee is a barrier to that.
Maybe we should devote some of our club sponsorship to subsidizing the
license fees for new riders??

From: "packmagician"

Maybe we should devote some of our club sponsorship to subsidizing the
license fees for new riders??

Now That's an idea.
Thanks for thinking.
Bill C

I can't tell you about all other federations but Inline speed skating
has a lousy federation. Compared to the USA Roller Sports, cycling has
a great federation!

I would be happy to pay the license costs if it helps the sport
federation provide better services. The 1 day licenses should be
expensive to encourage people to buy a one year license.

How much does your bike cost?

This year, I did only a few cycling races but I was still happy to pay
the federation fee since in my experience they do a fairly good job.

My advices for the USA Cycling would be to triple the cost for master
fatty racing and cut the price of junior licenses to zero. Category
fives should pay through the nose and the price should go down for each
category. The category ones who have lost all their jobs due to their
exercise addiction should have a one dollar license.

-Mark

TritonRider wrote:
From: (chris)
Date: 10/30/2004 6:10 PM Eastern


Seriously, though, $10 for 1 day licenses? I understand insurance
rates and all that, but do the other federations also see the
increases USAC offers us?



I would subsidize one days if that's what it took. They are designed to give
people who haven't raced before, or are just thinking about coming back a
chance to do it without spending serious cash for a yearly license.
IMO this is going to discourage grass roots growth.
Thanks Folks
Bill C

What's your point here Dave? Really, I think the real problem is the
escalation. Every two-three years license fees go up. Why did my UCI
license go from $125 to $130 if the domestic increased by $10? Sounds
like they shaved a bit off the UCI. Wait a second why **** does the
UCI license cost so much to begin with? Where does that money go?

I think the dual increase will hurt growth. Trust me, after running a
training series for 2 years I know that a $10 fee will turn away
people, but the the $60 annual fee will all but guarantee those one
days won't go to the yearly. IMHO.

CH

In article , chris
wrote:

What's your point here Dave? Really, I think the real problem is the
escalation. Every two-three years license fees go up. Why did my UCI
license go from $125 to $130 if the domestic increased by $10? Sounds
like they shaved a bit off the UCI. Wait a second why **** does the
UCI license cost so much to begin with? Where does that money go?

I think the dual increase will hurt growth. Trust me, after running a
training series for 2 years I know that a $10 fee will turn away
people, but the the $60 annual fee will all but guarantee those one
days won't go to the yearly. IMHO.

CH
The cost of almost everything goes up over time. Look at gas prices,
housing costs, the cost of most food items etc. Why should the cost of
a racing license be any different from everything else that goes up
over time?

I actually think that the increase in 1 day license fees might give
some people an incentive to take out an annual license instead of just
racing on 1 day licenses. Next year the break even point ( where you
start saving money getting an annual vs using a 1 day license) is 6
races instyead of the 10 races this year. I have seen lots of first
time racers who don't blink at paying post enter surcharges, high entry
fees, even pay for a full annual license just to do a single race. If
promoters or clubs want to reduce the impact of the higher 1 day
license fee they migh consider reducing or elliminating the post entry
surcharge for people who are using a 1 day license. This would
eliminate the impact of the higher 1 day license fee in most cases
since most 1 day license users also tend to wait till race day to
enter.