[Rollo Tommassi]

check out Velonews.
What is truly interesting is that Ochowicz is over in Europe right now.......always good to fire people from a distance.

 

[Whareagle]

What the heck?

Weird - I thought Bisceglia was part of the 'old guard' that protect themselves with oligarchical methods (Gerard was part of the old 7-11 program...). Still, I trusted him more than Lisa Voight, and I do think he did some good things for the sport and the infrastructure of USAC while in charge. So, I'm perplexed about the suddenness of this firing. And Ochowicz doing the firing? Man, sometimes you wonder about the people in charge of those who are in charge.

Sidebar: Everyone disaffected by NGB bungling should read "In Spite of Ourselves" by David Prouty. I guess it'd be interesting to see if Gerard writes a Kiss & Tell...

 

[MR_GRUMPY]

Never cared for the man. He tried to eat up our local "break-a-way" organization by promising all sorts of "funny" stuff.

 

[Rollo Tommassi]

Lisa Voight = THE DEVIL HERSELF

omg don't get me started on that Btch.....

Yeah I'm kinda surprised too, but I'm not sure how "old guard" he really was.

 

[TurboTurtle]

omg don't get me started on that Btch.....

Yeah I'm kinda surprised too, but I'm not sure how "old guard" he really was.

From an old interview: "...the national governing body exists to serve the membership, not to rule the membership." The UCI would insist on canning him for that alone. - TF

http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2002/interviews/?id=gerardbisceglia02

 

[Rollo Tommassi]

you hit the nail on the head...

the UCI just wants your/our money, as does the USOC. Screw the membership. Imagine if you had to have a 'license' to play youth baseball....

 

[magnolialover]

Don't join..

the UCI just wants your/our money, as does the USOC. Screw the membership. Imagine if you had to have a 'license' to play youth baseball....

If you so highly disagree with USA Cycling, don't join. It's not a forced thing you know.

In my hometown, playing youth baseball, or little league if you will, you had to be a member of the local community center, which ran you $100/year. That's sort of like a license to play baseball, and throw on top of that the other fees for playing ball, it all sort of evens out, and I don't ever remember winning money playing little league. In just one race last year, I won back my membership fee for USA Cycling. That's pretty good turnaround.

 

[Rollo Tommassi]

i don't agree with the Bush Admin either

but I'm not leaving the country.

I have two licenses - American Bicycle Racing, and USAC. If I want to race, and race their events, I have no choice. I don't race to make my money back either. I'm an amateur and always will be.

At least in the USA I can still VOTE, something that, as a "member" of Usacycling, I can't do anymore. The 'regional' trustee for me is in Colorado...how does that help Midwestern cycling?

I don't have a voice in whether or not USA Cycling and Jim O. take sponsors, cronies and potential sponsors on 10-day long junkets to Europe to see the Classics or the Tour, but they are using my membership money to do so.

But I suppose, budgetarily, that sort of expense is neatly separated, so that our license fees fund something specific to amateur racing in the country.

Perhaps Mr. Bisceglia really was working for the good of the membership, instead of flying off to Europe? I thought the past four years under his leadership were pretty good.

 

[Whareagle]

I guess I'm just disappointed...

I got my MBA in Sports Marketing & Management, thinking (naively), that I could change the world and make cycling a "Big 5" activity, right about the time that the whole EDS thing blew up, and Bisceglia was hired. He seemed to be at least saying the right things, and he did assemble a decent staff around him to execute the plans. Now, IMHO, I really DO think they missed a lot of opportunities with the whole Lance scene (c'mon - he did PSA's for the LAB, but not for the USCF? And just how successful IS LAJORS?), and the corporate sponsorships seem to be few & far between, post EDS, but there were some good things that occurred on Gerard's watch. Events in San Fran, NYC, Georgia & now the Tour de California. A Gold, Silver, & Bronze in the Olympics (though the track program fell on its' feet), and he was on board when they got membership back up over 50,000 in the USCF. He was always present at the USAC Coaching Seminars, was well-spoken, and though he was a bit chubby, he presented a good face.

I'm convinced that Steve Johnson is guilty of a conflic-of-interest situation with his dual positions at USACDF and USAC, but my comments about this in the past fell on deaf ears. I also think there might be some rumblings that Johnson's strings are being pulled by Weisel, but that's just a rumor.

Johnson WAS a coach (coached Don Myrah, I think), and worked out of the Univ. of Utah, but we'll have to see what he does to raise membership, increase membership value, appease the USPRO elitists, save mountain biking, bring more juniors in at sustainable levels, and do it without raising fees. Good luck, hombre.

 

[magnolialover]

Analogy is wrong...

but I'm not leaving the country.

I have two licenses - American Bicycle Racing, and USAC. If I want to race, and race their events, I have no choice. I don't race to make my money back either. I'm an amateur and always will be.

At least in the USA I can still VOTE, something that, as a "member" of Usacycling, I can't do anymore. The 'regional' trustee for me is in Colorado...how does that help Midwestern cycling?

I don't have a voice in whether or not USA Cycling and Jim O. take sponsors, cronies and potential sponsors on 10-day long junkets to Europe to see the Classics or the Tour, but they are using my membership money to do so.

But I suppose, budgetarily, that sort of expense is neatly separated, so that our license fees fund something specific to amateur racing in the country.

Perhaps Mr. Bisceglia really was working for the good of the membership, instead of flying off to Europe? I thought the past four years under his leadership were pretty good.

You don't need a license to live in a country, unless you're not a citizen, and then you "sort of" need one. Your analogy is flawed, at best.

I seem to remember getting my ballots from USA Cycling last year and sending them in.

You know that you want to race your bike, therefore, you know that you need a license to pursue that activity. This is nothing new really, and like I said, the fees for a license are not that extremely high, again, I won mine back first race of the season last year. So what is the big deal? Do you have plenty of races to choose from? If not, then try promoting one. It is about grassroots after all, and we can't rely on USA Cycling to do that for us. Or do you lack races where you live? I'm not sure. For me, in the SE, I have a bundle of races to choose from almost every weekend from late February through October. I can't complain at all, it appears my money for my license is doing something in the SE. Or, we just have a bunch of kick ass promoters down here who like to put on races (most likely the latter). For the most part, USA Cycling does little, or nothing at the grassroots level. They never have, and never will. They're more about the elite levels of cycling, the Olympics, the big time pros, shmoes like you and me, they don't care, and have never cared about what we're doing, and I'm more than fine with that. I have to use their license to race, and I'm fine with that too. It's just part of the game. In a sport where we will throw down $300 for a pair of shoes, $1400 for a single set of wheels, I can't believe people complain about $50 (or whatever it is this year, I haven't got mine yet, as I probably won't be racing much this year) for a racing license. It's kind of silly actually. Don't you think?

 

[Coolhand]

For the most part, USA Cycling does little, or nothing at the grassroots level.

Not true, without the officials and insurance provided through USA Cycling almost none of the races on your local calender would go down. I feel that the vast majority of USA Cycling (like officials programs) are damn good people who tend to be overworked, underpaid and do this because the love the sport.

Now at the top of organization appears to be a random assortment of chuckleheads, has-beens, wanna-bes and random political types with their own agendas- but not sure that is much different then the UCI either. But the vast majority of the USCF and USA Cycling are good people from what I have seen.

 

[MR_GRUMPY]

"Now at the top of organization appears to be a random assortment of chuckleheads, has-beens, wanna-bes and random political types with their own agendas"
.
This is the reason that they're F'd.

 

[asgelle]

Not true, without the officials and insurance provided through USA Cycling almost none of the races on your local calender would go down.

Well in Colorado and New Mexico that isn't true; almost all races are licensed through ACA. But even then, a sanctioning organization isn't really necesasary. It's not that hard to get insurance independent of a sanctioning body (plenty of charity rides and the Stazio Crit series do it), and the same officials who work USCF or ACA races can work independent events.

 

[magnolialover]

I agree...

Not true, without the officials and insurance provided through USA Cycling almost none of the races on your local calender would go down. I feel that the vast majority of USA Cycling (like officials programs) are damn good people who tend to be overworked, underpaid and do this because the love the sport.

Now at the top of organization appears to be a random assortment of chuckleheads, has-beens, wanna-bes and random political types with their own agendas- but not sure that is much different then the UCI either. But the vast majority of the USCF and USA Cycling are good people from what I have seen.

I agree with what you're saying without a doubt. I've worked, promoted, and helped with too many races to not know what those men and women go through week in and week out. So yes, big props out to them for working a mostly thankless job.

I was more speaking to the top tier of the organization though. The money we pay for licenses don't do much of anything at the local level. Fees from races, official clinics, and other things like that keep the local race scene going, not the $50 I toss to USA Cycling at the start of each season. Know what I mean?