Technical Director Update April 2009

Technical Director Update

April 14^th, 2009

Welcome to the new season. Depending on where you live, you may have been officiating for months or just now melting out from a long winter. We wish you a great 2009 season.

USA Cycling staff is thrilled with our new offices and location. We moved a few miles north and now have our own building and a lot more space. In case you missed the other announcements, our new address is:

I hope you like the format of the new rulebook, which is the culmination of years of organizational work between staff and the boards of trustees. A special thank you goes to all of you who renewed your licenses early as requested. It is much more efficient and cheaper if we can use the bulk mail capability. Given the substantial changes to the organization of the book, please be sure to give it a thorough read before you get too far into the season. Many of the rule numbers have changed, and you will want to be able to find your favorite rule.

While there have been lots of minor rule changes, there are some that are very important. The biggest one on the list is the new rule 1N2. This rule requires a full-face helmet for downhill and 4X events. I was concerned about a phone call I got from an organizer wondering whether we would enforce this rule, and if so, what the penalty would be. This is one of those rules that has no grey area, like the regular helmet rule. A rider lacking a full-face helmet does not start a downhill or a 4X. If you are the CR of the event and, by some terribly poor judgment of the starter, a rider is allowed to start without a full-face helmet, it would be no different than if you saw a rider in the middle of a criterium riding without a helmet. It is an instant disqualification.

On page 3 of the 2009 rulebook you will find a brief list of some of the other important rule changes, but again, please read the book.

We were recently contacted by our insurance company regarding many of the occurrence reports that are filed. Specifically, they noted that many of them were lacking information regarding the injured party’s medical insurance, as shown in the figure below:

In the top right, you can see the question about whether the person has other medical insurance or is using the USA Cycling insurance that comes with the license. Depending on the nature of the injury, we all know that sometimes we are lucky to get the riders number before he is transported. We certainly would not want to interfere with the work of an EMT in such a situation either. However, plenty of these reports have been filed when the injuries were minor and/or there was no transport. In such a case, it should be possible to ask the person whether they have insurance. Our insurance carrier’s opinion was that many officials are not really aware of this part of the form as they noted many forms that were very well done and completely filled out other than this part in question. So, in case you were not aware of this part of the form, our insurance company would appreciate it if you filled it out. Thanks.

As many of you have noticed, we are a bit short on officials clothing and patches right now. We are discontinuing the program we had going for the last few years, but will have new suppliers soon. In the meantime, there is still some inventory left with XP including ladies polos, men’s polos, ladies short sleeve button downs, ladies long sleeve button downs, and nylon jackets. You can still get access to these through the XP link on our website:

Unfortunately, we are out of patches and I know many new officials this year have not gotten one. We are having some produced and will have those in about a month. I will send out a message when we get them and hopefully we can first get the new officials their patches.

We are currently putting the final touches on a DVD that we made at our last BMX level C seminar. Once it is ready, USA Cycling officials that have not been certified in BMX will have the opportunity to take a distance option training based on that DVD. More about this in the next TD update.

Unfortunately I must end this update on a very sad note. We recently lost one of our own. Dan Hogan, an official from Texas was killed in a car crash on his way to a race. Bonnie Walker from TXBRA had this to say:

“Dan was an active member and past president of the Permian Basin Bicycle Association in Midland, TX. His involvement with the yearly Fort Davis Hammerfest stage race and the Fort Davis Cyclefest goes unsurpassed. Dan was a warm and loving friend and you could always count on him to be there when you needed him or just to share a laugh. He will be dearly missed by his family, friends and the Texas cycling community.”

Dan’s family has asked that in lieu of sending flowers or other gifts, that well-wishers make a donation in Dan’s name to one of the following:

Midland, Texas 79701

Midland, Texas 79701.

That is about it for April. Again, we at USA Cycling headquarters wish you a great 2009 season. Please don’t hesitate to write me with questions, comments, or topics for future updates.