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Hi folks,
As school's out, we've decided to combine our June and July issues. You'll receive your next Collegiate Update in August. We're also unveiling a few new sections this month:
1. Tip Jar: Here we'll compile your and our tips and advice on running a successful team and succeeding in collegiate cycling. Please submit anything that works for you to collegiateupdate@usacycling.org!
2. Rider Profiles: We're going to highlight some outstanding riders in this section, either for their success on the bike or achievements off it. Please nominate riders via the e-mail address above (you can even nominate yourself - we won't tell!)
3. Board Update: As is explained in the section this month (rule proposal #1), this will help to reveal the secretive inner workings of the shadowy conspiracy group known as the Collegiate Board of Trustees. We'll summarize their meeting minutes here.
Thanks everyone, and have a great summer!
-Jeffrey Hansen, USA Cycling Collegiate Program Manager
Fundraising Ideas - Submit Them!
In the next Tip Jar, we’ll be publishing a list of your best fundraising ideas and successes. So what have you done to raise money for your team? The sustained growth of collegiate cycling depends on everyone sharing their successful ideas with one another, so every team doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel year after year.
So how do you find companies that are willing to sponsor your teams? Do you have more luck with donations or sponsorships? Cash sponsorships are always the hardest: how do you secure them? What do you do to keep sponsors coming back? Have you had successful fundraisers (sorry, but bake sales don’t count…)? Send any and all good and great ideas to us at collegiateupdate@usacycling.org. We’ll publish your answers here next issue.
Team Newsletters
One way of keeping alumni, parents, administrators, sponsors, and donors interested in your team (and therefore giving money) is to send out regular newsletters during the race season. Given the sporadic nature of collegiate cycling (crazy busy in the spring, silent in the summer, etc.) and college schedules, it’s not necessary to set a regular date for the  newsletters (for example, if you make it monthly, you’ll have two during the race season with too much to talk about, and then nothing to say for July or August). Rather, send one out when you can, as often as possible (if you can send out weekly race reports during the season, your recipients will be happy to be able to check in regularly on your success). Then, during the off season, don’t worry about putting together filler issues.
Send it via e-mail so it’s less work for everyone (although a hard copy will usually have a higher chance of being read and will impress some people, despite the trees you will inevitably kill), and you’ll find that the bit of work you put into this bit of news pays off in major dividends, not just for your team, but for collegiate cycling as a whole, as it raises the profile and visibility of our sport. Keep it short (about a page with some results and other little tidbits) and always provide an avenue for the recipients to give money to the team (an address for a check and/or a Paypal account are easiest).
If you’re already sending out newsletters, please sign us up! collegiateupdate@usacycling.org would love to receive your updates, so add us to your list!
Fiber One Collegiate All-Stars
Leia Tyrell - Oregon State University
How long have you been riding/racing? I started really riding road the summer before my freshman year of college when I decided that I would ride my bike from Portland OR, to Corvallis OR to start my first year of College at OSU. I was a swimmer then, but decided that I liked cycling better and would join the OSU racing team. I started racing in February of last year (2009).
What are your aspirations for your cycling career? I would like to eventually get a contract on a pro team, and travel to races all over the world.
Was the All-Star team on your radar going into Nationals? Yes, I saw the article about the team on Velonews and thought, "I want that!" I was worried after my finish in the Road Race that I would be able to get it, but after taking third in the Criterium, I thought that I had a chance
What are your greatest cycling accomplishments? Taking Third place at Collegiate Nationals
Will you be returning to collegiate cycling next year? YES! I have at least two more wonderful years ahead of me.
Flora Duffy - University of Colorado-Boulder
How long have you been riding/racing? I have been riding since I was about 3 years old. Growing up I was into triathlon and did not do much bike racing. I did a little bit of bike racing throughout high school. I did not start racing properly until I joined the CU cycling team in the spring of 2009.
What are your aspirations for your cycling career? I have not really thought too hard about this because I have only just started racing at this level so for the time being it is just to race the best I can and enjoy it. For the moment I will continue to race and see where that takes me!
Was the All-star team on your radar going into Nationals? Yeah it was. It was something I was aiming for but I was unsure about whether I could produce the results to be picked. I knew I was riding well but didn't know how I would compare to the other girls. I was pleasantly surprised when I did get picked!
What are your greatest cycling accomplishments? As I am really new to racing being picked for the Fiber One All Star team is my greatest achievement.
Will you be returning to collegiate cycling next year? Yeah I will definitely be returning! I love racing for CU and want to improve on my results from this past year. I have a lot of great friends on the CU cycling team and enjoy racing with them....my college experience would not be the same if I was not racing on the team.
Elle Anderson - Dartmouth College
How long have you been riding/racing? I started riding in high school as cross training for alpine ski racing, my previous sport. I began racing my freshman spring at Dartmouth in 2008, going to the last few collegiate races of the season and then on to the summer racing. This is my third season of racing.
What are your aspirations for your cycling career? I hope to have a lot of fun bike racing, and to just follow that wherever it takes me. I haven't been in the sport that long, so every year it gets more fun as I ride and race more. I'm hoping to continue to develop as a cyclist in the next few years and to race at new levels.
Was the All-Star team on your radar going into Nationals? I had heard about the All-Star team a bit going into Nationals, but I didn't think it was a big possibility. I went into Collegiate Nationals with an open mind, not knowing how I would do, but soon found out that I had a chance to be on the All-Star team, but really didn't believe it until I got an official invite!
What are your greatest cycling accomplishments? Standing on the podium in 4th place for the Collegiate Nationals Road Race has definitely been the highlight of my season.
Will you be returning to collegiate cycling next year? Definitely. I'm a senior next year, and I'm already looking forward to my last collegiate season!
Jennifer Purcell - Midwestern State University
How long have you been riding/racing? I've been competitive off-and-on for 6 years. Although I started riding in 2001 when I got a job as a bike messenger (which was something I'd always wanted to do). In 2004 I accepted a scholarship to MSU for the radiology program, then had to take 2007-2008 off from racing due to interning and work. Finally in 2009 and 2010 I've been able to train with the adequate time and discipline.
What are your aspirations for your cycling career? I've always wanted to win a national championship and this year was able to do so. My other long term goal has always been to race in Europe on the US National Team. Additionally, I hope to win or help my team win a big race this summer, perhaps we'll do so with the Fiber One Collegiate All Star team at the Nature Valley Grand Prix.
Was the All-Star team on your radar going into Nationals? It was. I thought a lot about it the month before the race. A friend of mine was the first to send me the link to the Fiber One All Star team and after she did, I had a feeling it was within reach and did my best to make it a reality.
What are your greatest cycling accomplishments? Winning the criterium at the Collegiate National Championships was definitely my greatest achievement. Also winning the Texas State criterium in 2009 was especially meaningful because in '09 I was working long hours in radiology and it taught me a lot about balance. It was also incredible to see Josh win the men's criterium for MSU this year, which felt like a testament to the cycling program at MSU. We all motivated each other so much throughout the season and to see it come together, for both the men and women, was really special.
Will you be returning to collegiate cycling next year? Fall 2010 will be the last semester in my post-graduate program. Although, I am very excited to do the Collegiate Track National Championships for the first time!
Rita Klofta - DePauw University
How long have you been riding/racing? I started riding when I came to college 3 years ago. I competed in my first bike race ever at the 2007 Collegiate Track National Championships in San Diego, CA. Ever since then I have been addicted to the sport!
What are your aspirations for your cycling career? I plan on continuing to train hard and race as much as possible in hopes of getting onto a professional women's team someday.
Was the All-Star team on your radar going into Nationals? I was on the Collegiate All Star team last year and it was definitely my main goal to be invited onto the team again going into Collegiate Nationals this year.
What are your greatest cycling accomplishments? My greatest accomplishment is winning the individual omnium at Collegiate Nationals last year as a sophomore (2009). This was a drastic improvement after getting last place in the nationals road race my freshman year, and has really inspired me to keep working hard.
Will you be returning to collegiate cycling next year? Yes, I will be racing for DePauw next year for my final year as an undergrad.
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Team Leader Survey
USA Cycling is a member-based organization, which means that we ARE our members (that's you). Collegiate cyclists make up a sizeable component of our membership, and it's important to understand the specific needs of collegiate cyclists, especially those that lead the teams at each university and college.
Thus, it is IMPERATIVE (apologies for the bold caps-lock tackiness, and yes we know we spelled it incorrectly last month) that all collegiate team leaders fill out this survey, to give us a better idea of how to serve you and your peers in the future. Part of our job is to make your lives easier wherever possible, and this will help us achieve that goal. So please take the 5 minutes to fill out this mostly multiple choice survey. Consider it your civic duty and treat it like the census. Except you don't even have to mail it! How wonderful is that?
Run for a Board Seat!
So you like collegiate cycling, right? Obviously. Who doesn’t? So get involved! The USA Cycling Collegiate Board of Trustees has recently expanded, and there are seats up for grabs. Here are three reasons you should run for one of them:
- The Collegiate Board of Trustees holds a great deal of influence on the future of collegiate cycling, and this is your opportunity to help shape that future. Write the rules, work closely with USAC staff, get to know the inner workings of the sport, get an all-expenses-paid trip to the annual board meetings, familiarize yourself even more with your peers, meet interesting people, see the world!
- Collegiate cycling is awesome. No one will deny that it’s more fun than anything else out there, a great learning experience, and an excellent opportunity to grow the sport we love and introduce it to new people. So why not give back to this incredible entity that has given you so much? Collegiate cycling relies on volunteers (sorry, but the board is not paid…), and it can only continue to flourish by virtue of the continued support of those that care about the sport (that’s you!).
- Looking for a job? Will be soon-ish? Then why not put “Trustee, USA Cycling Collegiate Board of Trustees, September 2010-Present” on your résumé? It shows you’re proactive, passionate, willing to volunteer, and above all, a leader.
Here’s a run-down of the seats up for election this year:
- Male and Female Eligible Athlete Trustees: 167 individuals are eligible for one of these positions, because they finished in the top 50% of a Collegiate National Championship Individual Omnium in the past two years. Only other Eligible Athletes can vote for these positions. If you are on this list, you should have already been notified, but if you’d like to check, here is a list of all those who qualify for one of these spots. The female athlete position is currently held by Emma Bast, who is running for re-election.
- Varsity Trustee: This is a coach or staff member from one of the 20-ish varsity teams out there, where “varsity” is defined as having met 3 of 4 requirements: holding varsity status in the school’s athletic department, disbursing scholarships, attending at least 2 national championships per year, and having a full-time coach.
- Conference Director Trustee: Currently held by former RMCCC director, Anne Spalding, who is running for re-election, this position is open to any current or former Collegiate Conference Director.
- At-Large Trustee: Mark Abramson has held this seat since the board’s inception in 2004, and is running for re-election this year. This position is open to any member of USA Cycling.
What are the responsibilities of this position?
- The board holds conference calls weekly or biweekly throughout the year (less frequently during the less busy seasons) to discuss rule changes, rider/team petitions, and the current state of collegiate cycling.
- The board meets face-to-face one to two times every year, usually at Collegiate Road Nationals and the Fall Collegiate Conference Director Summit in Colorado. The board has a budget to pay for travel, lodging, and food at these meetings.
OK, ready to sign up? Here’s what to do:
- Make sure you have a current USA Cycling license (doesn’t have to be a collegiate one: any license will do).
- Get the signatures of 5 members of Collegiate Cycling. Do so on this form: https://www.usacycling.org/forms/election/2010-NCCA-TrusteeNomination.pdf
- Please feel free to include a candidate statement of 500 words or fewer in length to be posted online.
- Mail or fax that form in, and voila! (The number and address are on the form.)
- Nominations are due July 1.
Please contact Jeffrey Hansen with any questions you have.
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 barWhy are Pros Allowed to Race Collegiate?
Under NCAA rules, professional athletes are not allowed to compete in collegiate athletics, but as cycling isn’t an NCAA sport, pros are welcome. But what’s the motivation behind this? Isn’t it a bit unfair and against the ethos of collegiate athletics? Here are a few basic thoughts on the matter, which came to the forefront after a rule change proposal this year (see below) asked that Pro Cyclists be banned from competition.
- Logistics: So how does one define a pro cyclist? It’s a bit trickier than defining a pro basketball player or a pro football player. Even with the UCI Protour, the USPRO calendar, and the common-sense definition of drawing a paycheck for your riding, it would get a little hairy when it came time to enforce a rule barring pros. Especially since so few female “pro” cyclists even draw a paycheck. Between definition and enforcement alone, such a rule could easily be more trouble than it would be worth.
- Meaning in Winning: If you win a collegiate A race, and there are some pros in your field (which is always the case at Nationals, and
 usually the case on the conference level), you’ve certainly proven yourself. It’s a great moment to achieve, and it makes the win that much more valuable. If pros weren’t allowed, how would you measure yourself against the best of the best? You couldn’t, and you might easily second guess the value of your win.
- Pride: There’s certainly a great feeling to be had in racing with pro athletes, even if they’re kicking your butt. Knowing that you can at least slightly duke it out with these riders is a great source of pride for a lot of people, and it could easily take the fun out of some A races.
- Inclusivity: Part of the philosophy of collegiate cycling is to include as many people as possible, from the bottom of the ladder to the top. Why bar someone from racing in one of the greatest environments out there? Collegiate cycling is a great experience, and it’s worth sharing.
- Credibility: Given the currently small size of most college cycling teams, it’s important to add credibility and star power to any and all teams that can attract it. Think of it this way. What if Taylor Phinney were to apply to your school to get his degree? If he wanted to race on your team, would you want to let him? Or would you happily say, “Sorry, pros aren’t allowed?”
Do Conferences Have Different Proportions of A's?
Also in reaction to a recent rule change proposal, we looked into the proportion of riders in each conference that hold A road licenses, and here’s what we found:
How to read this chart:
- Red=Highest, White=Average, Yellow=Lowest
- The first column of data is the percentage of each conference’s riders that are A’s. So, 96 of the Rocky Mountain Conference’s 290 riders are cat A on the road.
- The second column of data represents each conference’s total share of all collegiate riders. So the RMCCC has 290 of the country’s 3500 or so collegiate license holders at the moment.
- The final column shows how many of the country’s A riders compete in each conference. The RMCCC, for example, has 96 of the country’s 750 A’s.
You’ll see below, though, that these percentages wouldn’t meaningfully change conference allocations. Why is that? These are pretty big differences, after all. Well, you have to take into consideration the size of each conference, too. For example, even though the RMCCC has the biggest proportion of A racers, it’s a small- to medium-sized conference, and so it has only 96 A category road riders, compared to the MWCCC’s 140. When size is taken into consideration, and auto-qualifiers are taken out of the mix, small percentage differences don’t impact the allocations as much as you might think.
Submit any questions you have about collegiate cycling to collegiateupdate@usacycling.org
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bar barUSAC Collegiate Board of Trustees Monthly Notes
This month, after holding open meetings at USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships for input on proposed rule changes, the board voted on many of them. You can find a complete list of the proposed rule changes here. Here’s what they resolved on each of them:
1. Collegiate Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes (submitted by ECCC)
We’ll now be including a regular (probably monthly, but there might be some off-months where not much happens, we will see) section of the Collegiate Monthly Update where you’ll find summaries of the topics at hand and what the board has been saying about them. These summaries were deemed the best route to opening up transparency of the board’s discussions.
2. Change Nationals Allocations to consider just "A" category riders (submitted by WCCC)
Because a staff analysis indicated that such a rule would not appreciably change allocations at this point, the board is going to wait for some more data and feedback before moving ahead with this one. Feel free to continue to provide feedback via collegiaterules@usacycling.org.
3. Clarify/streamline Road and MTB Nationals Eligibility (submitted by ECCC)
This one made a great deal of sense, as it was effectively just a logical clarification of a rule that had been muddled by a few different revisions over the years. This motion passed.
4. Clarify/streamline MTB Endurance Nationals Eligibility (submitted by ECCC)
Because #3 passed, this one became irrelevant.
5. DH and MX/DS Nationals Eligibility (submitted by ECCC)
The board decided not to vote on this one yet, as they want to collect a bit more feedback from MTB riders this fall.
6. Clarify Cyclocross Nationals Eligibility (submitted by ECCC)
This was another clarification that made a ton of sense and passed unanimously.
7. Professional Cyclists (submitted by WCCC)
Professional cyclists will continue to be eligible to race in collegiate races, presuming they meet other requirements in the rulebook.
8. Mixed Category Races - Upgrade Points (submitted by ECCC)
A recent clarification of USA Cycling policy regarding upgrades for combined fields with separate prize lists made this rule-change unnecessary.
9. Change to 2 rider category A TTT(submitted by SECCC)
To stay consistent with Nationals, the board decided to keep the A TTT requirement at 3 riders for conference races. This proposal raised another question, however, in that categories B-E currently score on either the 2nd or 3rd wheel across the line depending on how many started the TTT. As you can imagine, this can get to be a bit of a nightmare for officials, so the board resolved to score all B-E TTTs on the 2nd wheel, regardless of how many starters took to the line.
10. Change to 6 rider category A TTT (submitted by WCCC)
Because of the drastic impact such a change would have on teams both small and large, the board is waiting to collect additional feedback on this proposal before voting.
11. Aero Equipment (submitted by WCCC)
Sorry folks, but the rule is going ahead as planned.
12. Aero Equipment Approved Equipment List (submitted by ECCC)
Due to continual changes to the UCI approved wheel list, approved equipment will be based on the list provided by the UCI on September 1 for the then-beginning academic year. USA Cycling will post this list on its website.
13. Penalties for Aero Equipment Infractions (submitted by ECCC)
Because there are no parallel rules in the USAC rulebook, the board is consulting with Shawn Farrell, USA Cycling Technical Director, before voting on this proposal.
14. Nationals TTT start order based on last year's results (submitted by WCCC)
With the exception of this past year this is normally how the start order is constructed, but this rule, which passed unanimously, would cement it as formal procedure.
15. Count only the top 3 nationals' results towards the national rankings (submitted by MWCCC)
While four national championships (3 occurring in the fall semester, 1 in the spring) is a large burden for teams in terms of travel, expense and time away from school, this could reduce the incentive to attend certain nationals. Additionally, a well-rounded team that is competitive in all four disciplines is a worthy national champion, and teams that are consistent in all 4 disciplines have historically been rewarded in the team national rankings versus teams that excel at only 2 or 3 disciplines. The board will continue to collect feedback from top D1 and D2 nationally ranked teams, as well as look into adjusting the points table for the national team rankings.
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bar barPfeiffer University
In 2006, Tommie Brock was approached by the president of Pfeiffer University, Dr. Chuck Ambrose. As a licensed USA Cycling member, Ambrose had the “out-of-the-box idea” of starting a collegiate team at Pfeiffer, and Tommie signed on with the goal of finding students to start cycling as a club sport. 
He not only found eight students on campus wanting to learn how to race but he also brought with him nine licensed racers to start a USAC team under the banner of Pfeiffer Cycling. He had just retired from a career as an elementary school teacher and was ready to go at the challenge full time, so after signing the contract, he went to work with the mission to build a varsity team offering scholarships for cycling. Their first season gave them an 8th place finish in the ACCC.
The team soon became a varsity sport with scholarships, a university budget, a paid Level 2 coach, and a minimum GPA requirement that “gave the team the sense that hard work, training, and racing would pay off during the season.” From the first day of being recruited each student/athlete knew what was expected from him or her for the entire school year. On and off the bike the team worked well together. Differences were settled quickly so the main focus of the team was to win races for the university.
 Brock chose to keep the team small so he could offer more competitive scholarships. As the team grew and began to race every weekend, though, he realized quickly that money was to become a top-priority issue. Brock had to spend a great deal of time recruiting, which was much more consuming than he realized. Then, once racing began, he saw that after clothing and equipment, the cost of travel was extreme. Even with the budget and sponsorship amounts available, he knew much more was needed. The cost of food, entry fees, gas and hotels began to take its toll. He began to spend more and more time raising money for the team, but BikeSource and the Gaston County Cyclist came through every year with added funding and support that kept the team racing with ease.
The team grew to eighteen scholarship student/athletes once it became a varsity sport. 
Being a varsity sport meant the racers had to make sure they raced as a team and not for themselves. The team was to give support to those racing and when a race was over those just finishing gave support to the rest of the team that was racing. Regular wins lead the team to win the 2009 and the 2010 ACCC Championships.
Riding on this success, Brock is moving now to Missouri in July. He has three options to choose between by the 1st of August: “I have been asked to start new collegiate cycling programs at Southwest Baptist and at the University of Central Missouri. My third choice is to retire a third time so I can finally ride my bike when I want, get back to USAC racing, fish and hike all over the Ozarks.” Brock is as of yet unsure of his future direction. “But after being a licensed racer for going on thirty-one years and coaching for nearly twenty years, cycling is the heart and soul of who I am.”
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bar barAndrew Rizzo, MWCCC Director
How did you first get involved with cycling? 
How did you first get involved with cycling? My first interest in cycling was with BMX/freestyle and in high school I went on a couple bike touring trips. My first interest in racing came when the Tour de Trump passed near where I lived in New Jersey. I didn't see any of the racing in person but the coverage got my attention. That summer, I watched the Tour de France on TV; it was 1989 - possibly the most exciting Tour - and that got the interest going though it took a couple of years for me to actually race.
What about collegiate cycling? When I went to college, there was already a collegiate team so I joined up with them. I had already raced one year, so it wasn't my introduction to racing but I still learned quite a bit from the more experienced team members. I think collegiate cycling was really an integral part in my development as a racer. I raced through college and grad school.
How long have you been conference director? If I count correctly, almost seven years.
Why did you decide to get involved? As I was leaving school, the conference had become somewhat disorganized because of lack of any real leader (the guy who had been CD for the previous year pretty much just disappeared.) A small group formed trying to get things back on track and divided things up into a few roles. I said I could probably do any of them and the only one nobody else volunteered for was Conference Director. And so here I am seven years later...
Describe a typical race weekend; what do you do? I'm not able to be at many of the races, so when I'm there, I don't think I have any typical routine. It depends on what the race is and if they need help with anything.
What about during the week? What kind of conference duties do you take care of then? The biggest thing is answering questions. Racers, coaches, and promoters all have questions. It's quite a variety from the rules to general advice. During the season, I also usually take care of most scoring during the week (except this spring, when Matt Jones was a huge help.)
 What are some unique challenges or requirements of managing the Midwest conference? I'm not familiar with the challenges of most of the other conferences so I don't know if they're unique but the biggest challenges I can think of are how spread out it is and how flat much of it is. It's really a large area and there are teams covering most of it. When I raced in the ECCC, I don't remember having to consistently travel nearly as far as in the MWCCC and - if anything - it's gotten more so since I became CD. The Midwest also tends to be pretty flat (except as you get near the conference boundaries.) This is an issue year-round; we love our crits out here, but it can be difficult for some clubs to find good road race courses or any type of mountain bike gravity course. As anyone at road nationals this year knows, there are some tough hills, but there are also many areas of the conference where highway overpasses are the largest climb.
What are your goals for the conference? I haven't set any real goals, but just in general to help it grow and improve the racing as much as possible.
Do you ride very often? Not as often as I'd like, but I suppose by many definitions, yes, I ride often. Race? Yes - I'm a lifer, I think. I tried quitting when I left school, but that didn't last long. Road or mountain? Road. I did a fair amount of track racing also when I was in school. I did a few collegiate mountain bike and cyclocross races about 10 years ago but I was never any good at either and don't even have a mountain bike anymore.
What kind of bike(s) do you have? I have a number of bikes in various states of disassembly, but the only working one is my Principia road bike that I race on.
What’s your favorite part of the job? Seeing people in the conference succeed. Whether it's a new club growing, someone stepping up to the next level in their racing, or riders and teams doing well at nationals, it's great to see. Least favorite? Dealing with bad attitudes. Fortunately, this is pretty rare but it does come up. Most folks seem to understand that we're trying our best to get things right and fair but there are some who appear to not really understand the world beyond their own handlebars.
Why do you keep doing it? Hmm - are you trying to suggest something with that question? Seriously - I think the answer would be in the question about the favorite part of the job.
What is special about collegiate cycling? The team emphasis and the general feeling at the race top my list. I think it's really great how riders of all categories identify themselves as teammates. So many non-collegiate teams seem to focus on only certain classes or categories, and even those that cover them all don't seem to bring them all together into one cohesive group. There's also an overall feeling one gets at the races that is different from other races which I can't quite put into words; I think most reading this know what I mean, though.
What is your paying job? I'm a health insurance actuary. Simplified into more plain English, much of my work is determining what to charge in premiums to be sufficient to pay claims (I said MORE plain English.)
Tell me three things about yourself that don’t involve cycling. 1. For many years (longer than I've been a cyclist), I've been an avid photographer. I sometimes bring my camera to races but I'm no Graham Watson. 2. A more recent hobby is cooking - especially the pastry side of things (cakes, pies, ice cream, candies - not what many cyclists would want around much.) 3. This does somewhat involve cycling: if you want a small laugh at my expense, find a copy of Ed Burke's "Serious Cycling" (the 2nd edition) and look at the sections on weight lifting and bike fit.
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bar barmEET THE nATIONAL MANAGER
Jeffrey Hansen, USAC Collegiate Program Manager
How did you first get involved with cycling? When I was on the speech team in high  school, the mother of a friend of mine from the team managed a bike shop, and she hired me out of the blue (I knew nothing about bikes or even that her shop existed) based on my ability to speak and think on my feet. I did the impromptu event, where you have about 90 seconds to prepare a 6 minute speech on a random topic or quote, and then give it. So basically, I was able to BS my way out of anything, or in other words, I was a born salesman. Once I started working in the bike shop, terms like “carbon” and “XTR” took on whole new meanings, and pretty soon I was hooked on mountain biking. I got a road bike the summer before college just to fit in with all the Midwestern roadie folks.
What about collegiate cycling? Someone I knew through the bike shop had raced in college, and so I knew I wanted to go to a school with a team, or if it didn’t have one, I wanted to start one. I ended up going to Colorado College, and I really got involved with the team on our annual fall ride to Aspen. It was basically the most fun I had ever had, and I started racing road that following spring.
How long have you been with USA Cycling? I started in July last year, so about 11 months now. And this is your real job? Yes, I’m basically the only person in the country (besides the handful of paid collegiate coaches out there) that gets paid to work on collegiate cycling. I work mostly with volunteers, as the Conference Directors and the Board of Trustees are all unpaid and do it for the love of the sport. I’m in it for the cash, on the other hand.
 What drew you to the job? After graduating in 2008, I had worked on a farm in Minnesota, for a symphony in Berlin, Germany, and then a bike shop in Minnesota again, and was looking for something that would last past the summer. A friend of mine from college was interning at USA Cycling and told me about the opening, and after looking into it, I realized that it was basically the perfect job for me. I got to finish all that I started as the president of my college team, and expand it to the national level.
Describe a typical workday; what do you do? There’s really no such thing as a typical workday, and that’s one of the things that makes my job so much fun, besides the facts that I get to work with witty college kids all the time and I have fantastic co-workers and bosses. I get busier with e-mails and daily membership needs as National Championships approach, and then in between I get to do a lot more long-term things for the program. If I’m not swamped with work, I go for a lunch ride with some of the guys here at work and talk shop (a lot of our most productive meetings happen on the bike). In general, a lot of coffee is consumed, a lot of e-mails are answered, I have a Clif Bar for lunch, some crisis usually arises and is dealt with, there’s a meeting at some point, there’s usually some budget analysis, and I get in several hours for developing and deploying long-term projects every week. A few days out of each month are dedicated to the newsletter. 
What about at events? At national events, I don’t have to do too much grunt work; I just help to coordinate a few logistical things, but the National Events Department handles all the dirty work. I mostly just kiss babies: a priority for my job is to get in touch with riders and coaches and hear them out. At conference races (which I try to get to as often as possible) I’m there to do much of the same, just with the types of riders I don’t normally encounter at Nationals. That, combined with just seeing how the Conference Director accomplishes all that she or he does, observe and help out where I can. All this has the end goal of coming back to Colorado Springs and working out how I can make the Conference Director’s life easier and make the rider’s experience better. That’s my job in a nutshell, really.
What are your goals for collegiate cycling? I have 6 pages of typewritten ideas and notes taped up around my cubicle with specific goals laid out, but all of it comes back to one thing, which is a self-feeding cycle of growth and sustainability (no, I’m not trying to make collegiate cycling compostable). The more sustainable this program is, both financially and logistically, the more it will grow, and the more it grows, the more sustainable it will become. So I try to make sure that everything I do eventually gets back to one of those two things. My other catchphrase (which ties directly into the cycle above) is that I need to increase collegiate cycling’s Visibility, Value, and Viability. And each one of those increases the others. All of those then lead to a more successful, fun program for all involved.
What’s your favorite part of the job? The people, hands down, on both sides of it all: my co-workers here at USA Cycling are fun, friendly, dedicated, and intelligent individuals,while the collegiate riders I get to deal with are some of the coolest people I’ve met. You’ll also never meet a group of more passionate people than the Conference Directors or the Board of Trustees. Least favorite? That’s tough, butbecause we’re a rules-based  organization (without the rules, racing would be neither safe nor fair), there are always a few situations where a rider isn’t allowed to race or something like that, and that’s always heartbreaking. That and call-ups. Nationals call-ups are a nightmare.
What is special about collegiate cycling? Everyone always answers this question the same way, which is that the atmosphere is so different than at any other kind of bike race. And I think that’s because almost no one is there specifically just to race the bike, nose to the ground, pain face on 24/7. Everyone has some other reason to be there that’s either more, or just as, important as racing, and that means that attitudes are much more relaxed.
Do you ride very often? I commute most days by bike and then ride at lunch most days. It’s a pretty ideal setup, although given how much I get to ride, and the speed of the people I get to ride with, I should be a lot faster than I actually am. Race? Not as often as I’d like, but that’s a typical refrain for people my age and older. Road or mountain? All of the above. Actually, my priority is cyclocross. I love that more than anything else. But I race some cross-country and someday will get back into road racing, too. Never raced the track, though. Or BMX. What kind of bike(s) do you have? I have a Lemond road bike, a Trek mountain bike, and a K2 cyclocross bike. Plus enough spare parts to build at least one more bike for each discipline. Someday I want one of collegiate alum Nick Frey’s Boo carbon/bamboo cyclocross bikes. Someday. 
Tell us three things about yourself that don’t involve cycling. 1. I’ve always considered myself a dog person, but I must say that my cat is AWESOME. 2. I was a creative writing major in college, with a focus on poetry. I was published in one journal in 2009 and then I promptly stopped submitting to magazines. I’ve been meaning to get back on that horse for some time, but, well, you know. 3. Three? Seriously? Who writes these questions, anyway? Let’s see. I’m currently dividing my musical attention pretty evenly between Lady Gaga and the great Italian Baroque composers. Plus Kanye's new single is pretty hot.
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