Dec. 31st

I just wanted to give a quick year end wrap-up report. It looks like we had a very good year in NCNCA land. Our USCF membership increased by 9.8% growing to 3136 riders from 2856 riders last year. If next year grows as much as this year then we will be near our all time high USCF membership mark. AS of Thursday 884 of you have renewed your licenses for 2005. Remember that you will need a 2005 license to race starting tomorrow. If you are planing on racing this coming weekend and you haven't renewed your license yet you can still renew online at the USAC web site and print out a Temp license. You can also renew your license at the races but it will take you 6 to 8 weeks to get your license back. Make sure if you renew at a race you get and keep the yellow copy of your license application since this acts as your Temp. license until you get your real one. Also note that we are still using last year's annual license forms so the annual license is $60, not $50 as listed on the form for adults and $35, not $25 as listed for Juniors. Also remember that 1 day licenses are now $10 per day.

It was a busy year with a total of 532 upgrades. We had 271 Cat 5 to 4 upgrades, 180 Cat 4 to 3 upgrades, 81 Cat 3 to 2 upgrades and 18 downgrades. NCNCA processed post event paperwork that covered 24,292 rider days. This total doesn't include major events like McLane Pacific and Sea Otter so we probably had closer to 27,000 rider days in the region. We had 72 NCNCA member clubs for the year which is pretty near a record number. We finished the year as the largest local association in the country with 149 more USCF members that our sister association in Southern CA/NV

There are way to many people to thank by name for the success that NCNCA has had over the last couple of years years so I will just throw out a generic thank you to everyone who has helped promote our sport in the region.

Dec. 30th

The annual officials meeting will take place on Sunday Jan 9th at the IHOP in Newark ( same location as the past few years. The meeting will start about 3pm ( shortly after the Early Bird race) and it should run 1.5 to 2 hours. As always we will review rule changes and deal with Chief Ref assignments. All current officials are urged to atend and anyone who is thinking about becoming an official is also invited.

The Jan NCNCA meeting will be held at the same location after the conclusion of the officials meeting ( starting about 5pm).

Anyone who doesn't know where the IHOP is can stop by the Early Bird race before 2:30 and we can play follow the leader to the meeting location.

Dec. 28th

Just a quick reminder that anyone planing on racing at Mt. San Bruno on Jan 1st or any of the Early Bird events will need a 2005 license. If you haven't renewed your license yet the best thing to do is go to the USAC web site and renew or buy your license online. Remember to print out a temp copy of your license since it will probably take longer than a week to get your license and you can use the temp to race until you get your license back.

Dec. 17th

I just wanted to make promoters aware of this new rule for 2005.

3A2. Multiple Fields. If more than one massed start race is to be on the course simultaneously, starting intervals should be chosen such that different groups will not overlap. If overlapping cannot be avoided, the races should not be placed on the course simultaneously.

If you have put on a race with multi groups on the course at once and you have had a history of fields catching each other then you should either adjust your start schedules to eliminate the fields from catching each other of not have multi groups on the course at once ( probably the case in cases of Crits with multi groups on the course.

Dec. 3rd

At the end of the year we are seeing a nice growth in USCF membership in the NCNCA territory. AS of yesterday USCF membership in the NCNCA region was 3010. This is about 5.8% ahead of last year when we finished the year with 2846 USCF members. We are less than 500 riders away from the all time high USCF membership mark of 3480 which was set back in 1992.

Also as of yesterday we have had 292 people who have renewed their license for 2005. Remember all licenses will expire on 12/31/2004 this year. Since there will be a crush of people renewing their license around the first of the year this might lead to delays in processing license renewals. People who are planing to do early season events ( like Mt. San Bruno, Early Birds Cherry Pie) should think about renewing now rather than waiting till the end of the year so you don;t have to worry about getting your license in time for your first race. The best way to renew your license is online at the USAC web site since you can print out a Temp. license online to use until your regular license arrives in the mail.

Dec. 2nd

The following riders are currently suspended by USAC and can not compete in a USAC permitted event until their suspension ends.

Nick Llewellyn - Suspended until outstanding financial obligation has been paid.

David Yeater - suspended for 30 days starting Dec. 1st
Nov. 9th

A fuller meeting report will be coming later but this item deserves special mention. Ken Hernandez who has been in charge of the NCNCA web site and the BAR/BAT rankings has decided to devote more time to his work, home and family next year. This means that as of Dec 31st we currently have no one to maintain the NCNCA web site or do the 2005 BAR/BAT rankings. Now is the time for anyone who wants to keep wither the web site or the BAR/BAT rankings going to step forward and lend a hand in keeping running the NCNCA. Anyone who is interested in either project can contact me or NCNCA president Tom Simpson.

The NCNCA would like to thank Ken for the number of years he has volunteered to keep the NCNCA web site going and taking on the BAR/BAT rankings. His efforts have helped keep NCNCA one of the top local organizations in the country.

Casey

Nov. 1st

This is just a quick reminder about the Nov. NCNCA meeting. The meeting will be on Monday the 8th at the usual location, Marie Calendar's Restaurant 2090 Diamond Blvd. in Concord. From 680 take the Willow Pass Rd exit and head east. Turn left ( north) at the first intersection, restaurant is on the right at 4th light on Diamond. The meetings starts a little after 7 pm

Nov. items That I know of so far.

The usual reports from NCNCA officers
Review of 1st year racer survey
Open nominations for 2005 NCNCA officers
Start reviewing 2005 NCCA budget
Newsletter - continue as is, eliminate or do something different ( like an electronic version) Sponsorship request from Pilarcitos for one of their UCI Cross races

If anyone else has any items they would like on the agenda send them to me by Wed and I'll post and updated agenda.

Oct. 30th

for those people who didn't get the email from USAC today.

Dear Valued Members of USA Cycling,

I wanted to communicate with you to discuss an important matter concerning the license fees for 2005. We will begin to sell licenses for the 2005 season on November 1 so we need to let everyone know where we stand and why we were forced to make these decisions.

We always strive to keep down costs to our members and promoters while providing as much support as possible to the membership. Further, we will not compromise our commitment to provide the most comprehensive insurance coverage for our members.

As most of you know, insurance costs are rising rapidly in every area. Insurance has been a widely discussed topic in the recent campaign season for all levels of elected office, including the presidential race.

Bottom Line? -- The loss rate for injuries incurred during the 2004 racing season exceeded our premium by more than 150% resulting in an increase of approximately $500,000 in our insurance premium. This increase is caused by a number of issues:

- More claims
- Higher medical costs
- An increase in the number of riders-members who use USA Cycling insurance as a primary policy. Our policy is designed to be secondary coverage.

In order to deal with this escalating issue, we will be taking the following steps in 2005 to cover the cost of this dramatic increase to our insurance:

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.

Oct. 18th

Attention Pro/1/2 track riders Riders hoping to earn a postion on the USA Cycling's Track Talent Pool should be aware of an event on Nov 19th and 20th. The event will be at the new ADT Event Center in LA and will consist of time trial events. Riders who win and meet the time standards will be part of the Track Talent Pool. Get all the details here

Oct. 4th

This is just a reminder that next Monday night is the Oct NCNCA/2005 race scheduling meeting. All clubs and organizations that are planing on promoting a race next year are strongly encouraged to have a representative at this meeting. The meeting is in the same location as last year the Lafayette Community Center, 500 St. Marys Road, Lafayette, CA. You can fins a map to the meeting here

Just a few things to keep in mind for those who are coming to the meeting.

NCNCA can't force any promoter to accept or move off of any specific date. We do try to encourage promoters to work out potential conflicts when it looks like two or more races on the same date may hurt each other ( like two Crits held fairly close to each other on the same day).

Race Scheduling in Nor Cal is fairly easy because we do have wonderful promoters who are willing to work with each other to minimize conflicts. I've heard horror stories about some other districts where most promoters only seem interested in getting their preferred date and to heck with everyone else.

New for next year is the performance bond to have a race listed in the NCNCA printed calendar or listed on the web page. Established races will have to put up a performance bond of $50 while new races will have to put up a bond of $100. The bond is returned to the promoter when the race is held and the results are submitted to NCNCA in the required format by the deadline. To have your race appear on the 2005 printed calendar the bond must be paid by Dec 1st.

Sept. 14th

The Corporate Crit #4 scheduled for Sat Sept 18th has been cancelled by the promoter. The reason given is low pre-reg. numbers.

2005 Race Scheduling form availablle To help get ready for the 2005 race scheduling meeting next month we ask promoters for fill out the 2005 race scheduling form and send it in as soon as possible. Having this information ahead of time will help make the scheduling meeting go faster. In addition to sending in the scheduling form we strongly suggest that clubs send a representative to the scheduling meeting next month.it makes things easier to have people there to deal with conflicts when they come up. Also in case of conflicts preference will tend to go to races that have a representative at the meeting.

Sept. 1st

Just a quick reminder that for people who need to renew or buy a 2004 USCF license the cost is now $25 for a license that will expire on Dec 31st 2004. Starting on Nov 1st riders can renew or buy a license that will be good through the end of 2005 for the cost of a regular annual license. You can buy or renew your license online by going to the USAC web site.

Aug. 31st

The Nicole Reinhart Memorial Fund has announced a grant opportunity of up to $2,000 to a cycling club that is running a program to help develop cyclists. The Nicole Fund wishes to reward clubs that are taking extra measures to introduce and nurture new riders (men, women, juniors).

For more information about the "request for proposals"ÝÝ please check the website or contact Rebecca Anderson at 608-223-1378.

Aug. 30th

There is a motorcycle officials clinic scheduled to be held in San Francisco the day before the T-Mobil race ( Sept. 11th). If enough people don't pre-register for the clinic it will be cancelled. Anyone who is interested in taking the motorcycle officials clinic should contact Shawn Farrell ASAP. Note you don't have to have a motorcycle or be a current official to take the clinic.

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