Mark Guthart, NCCCC Director

How did you first get involved with cycling? As a kid, I grew up riding my bike everywhere...to school, to run errands, everything. I never really thought much about it - it's just what I did. It wasn't until late in high school that it became more of a passing thing and I started riding longer distances, and then once in college I was exposed to the racing scene and haven't looked back since.

What about collegiate cycling? My first experience with collegiate cycling was as an official actually. I was asked to help officiate the Lincoln Plating Stage Race that John Leffler was putting on in Lincoln, NE. There was something like 200 collegiate riders that showed up, which really opened my eyes to what collegiate cycling could be (in the NC, having 200 collegiate riders is huge). At that point I was hooked and wanted to learn more about it and how I could help it to grow.

How long have you been conference director? I've been director of the NC for 2+ years. I say "+" because I think the first year I was sort of the conference director and Larry Martin (my predecessor) was also sort of the conference director.

Why did you decide to get involved? I helped incorporate a collegiate event into a weekend of racing that I was already promoting and organizing. And for me I saw it as the best way to help collegiate cycling grow in our conference. I also have a strong background from being an official, a race promoter, and a racer myself (though I think my racing days are fewer and fewer these days). Well, okay, and also because Larry Martin asked me too. :)

Describe a typical race weekend; what do you do? Just about anything that's needed. I oftentimes will help with registration (which helps because I know a lot of the riders), but I'll also help out with the officiating side as well. Being a conference director goes far beyond that though...a lot of times I'll find myself trying to help mentor riders, give them suggestions and encouragement, and find ways to help them keep going if they've had a difficult race.

What about during the week? What kind of conference duties do you take care of then? I typically make sure the next weekend's events are on track - permits applied/received, flyers ready to go, etc. I also spend time getting the conference points standings updated, and spend a good deal of time on email helping answer questions.

What are some unique challenges or requirements of managing the North Central conference? We're not really a huge conference (yet)...so we don't have a lot of the same challenges that some of the other conferences have. But that makes things fun too because everybody really knows each other and it's brings out much more of a community atmosphere. I'd say our biggest challenges are geographical and the weather. The past two years we've tried hosting races in late March only to have them snowed out. Grrrr. So our road season is pretty limited in terms of the number of weekends we have prior to Nationals.

What are your goals for the conference? My primary goal is to get more people involved in the other disciplines of racing - mountain biking, track, and cross. When I took on the role of conference director, this was the one area I really wanted to focus on, and we've gone from literally 0 non-road events to now what looks to be 7 or 8 non-road events. Beyond that, I'd really like to increase the support I can give to clubs and schools in helping to maintain and build a strong foundation within the clubs. I think too often a club will effectively 'start-all-over-again' each year after the previous year's President graduates or moves on. I'd really like to help create a consistent structure for them.

Do you ride very often? Every day. It may not always be a formal training ride. It might even just be a commute to work or to run errands, but I ride every day. Rain, snow, sun, etc. - doesn't matter. Race? I don't race nearly as much as I used to...maybe 2 or 3 races each year. Part of that is from my own choosing though. My priority with cycling at the moment is more from the officiating, promoting, and conference directing standpoint than it is on the actual racing side. Road or mountain? Both. If given a choice I'd probably say road, but I love the mountain side too...and especially the camaraderie that goes with that - at least more so than what you typically find on the road side.

What kind of bike(s) do you have? Right now I'm actually a bit down on the bikes. One time I had bet a friend that I could go longer than 10 months without buying a new bike. I lost. I'm going through more of a retro-steel craze at the moment, with my road bike being a steel Casati and my mountain bike being a Raleigh steel single-speed. I do have an aluminum Redline cross bike, but haven't ridden it yet. It sits right below the steel Surly Cross-Check frame hanging on the wall. But I'll ride whatever...and have ridden just about everything and just about every material.

What’s your favorite part of the job? Really it's the camaraderie of the athletes with each other. In the NC, it's almost an unwritten rule: leave the egos at the door. My favorite example of this was a year ago when one of our Cat A men had finished their crit and the Men D were lining up. A Cat D rider broke his pedal right before getting to the line, so the Cat A rider let him borrow his bike for the crit. And yes, it was a Specialized SL2 with Dura-Ace (their highest model at the time). But he didn't even give it a second thought - just yelled out "what size do you ride?" and that was it. Won't find that very often in a regular USAC crit.

Least favorite? Honestly? The whole points thing. In my opinion, it's way over-complicated. Different point scales for road races versus criteriums, different point scales based on category, team points versus individual points, etc. Give me a simple system of x for 1st place, y for 2nd place, etc. across the board. It'd make my life so much simpler. :)

Why do you keep doing it? Cycling in general is a huge part of my life. I got completely out of the sport about 10-15 years ago. Never looked at a bike. Never talked with other racers. Nothing. And I hated it. I told myself I was going to get back into this thing and really see how far it could go. I've loved every minute of it ever since.

What is special about collegiate cycling? Apart from the camaraderie I mentioned above, I think the special part of collegiate cycling is that it gives new riders a chance to experience racing in a fairly non-intensive manner. They can learn the ropes without feeling intimidated by the other riders.

Do you have any good stories (funny, heartwarming, dramatic) from being a conference director? Some of the fun things I like to do in the NC is come up with off-the-wall awards and trophies, and I encourage our other promoters to do the same. This year, for example, our conference championship TTT award was a trophy made out of cookies/frosting. I also came up with various awards at one event...things like the "Wow, I can't believe collegiate racing is really that hard.", the "I came to a collegiate bike race and all I got was this lousy T-shirt award.", the "Wow, I can't believe it's really gravy award" (which of course was a commercial size can of sausage gravy - and yes, it was as gross as it sounds). So you gotta have fun with it.

What is your paying job? I work for a computer software company that specializes in project management software. My role is primarily in helping companies set their systems up, customize the systems to their needs, and train companies on how to use the software. I travel quite a bit for it and have been just about all over the world with it.

Tell me three things about yourself that don’t involve cycling. Our unofficial conference mascot is my dog, Dudley. He's a Puggle (cross between a Pug and a Beagle) who typically goes with me everywhere - he even came to Nationals in Ft. Collins last year. I have two daughters (Emma who is 12, Ellie who is 6) who both enjoy riding their bikes around, but certainly haven't caught on to the racing bug (yet). I'm both a techno-geek and a techno-phobe at the same time; meaning I'm huge into computers and gadgets and all that, but then at the same time could be just as happy out in the wilderness without even so much as a cell phone.