CRCA Board Meeting Minutes (2016/02/09)

CENTURY ROAD CLUB ASSOCIATIONMEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

February 9, 2016

The Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Century Road Club Association (the “CRCA”) held a duly noticed meeting on February 9, 2016 at the Donghia Gallery on the 3rd Floor of 25 East 13th Street, New York, New York.

The meeting was called to order by Alexis Kraft, President of the Board, at approximately 7:00 PM.

The following members of the Board, constituting a quorum of the Board, were present:

• Alexis Kraft – President
• Gabrielle Fisher – Vice President, Racing
• Tara Parsons – Vice President, Rider Development
• Fred David – Secretary
• Ken Edwards – Treasurer
• Randy Locklair – Membership Director
• David Wen Riccardi-Zhu – Communications Director
• Tomi Ketcham – Marshal Director
• Ted Teyber – Director of Open Racing

1. COMMUNICATIONS WITH MEMBERS

The Board discussed communications with the CRCA’s members, including the need to communicate that marshals at Grant’s Tomb and Orchard Beach will receive only one marshal credit this year (compared with the two credits received in past years) and potential replacements or improvements to the current system for e-mailing members.

2. GRANT’S TOMB

Ted Teyber provided an update on preparations for the Grant’s Tomb Criterium, which is scheduled for March 12, including the need to assign certain related tasks to subteams as part of their team duties. The Board also discussed finding one or two food trucks to come to the race to serve food and drinks to racers and spectators.

Mr. Teyber also reported that a title sponsor had not yet been secured for the race and the Board discussed potential options to secure a sponsor.

3. MEMBERSHIP

Randy Locklair provided an update regarding membership enrollment, which is currently trending flat relative to last year’s enrollment figures.

The Board determined that the new member referral program would not be renewed for 2016 as it was not clear the program had a significant impact on bringing in new members.

The Board also discussed the planned number pick-up social event, which is expected to be held at Veselka in the East Village, with the time and date to be finalized and communicated to members in the next couple of weeks.

4. COACHING

Tara Parsons provided an update on race clinics and information sessions, including timing. One race clinic is expected to be held in April with a second to follow in May or June on a race weekend after the New York Cycle Club’s SIG series has ended to allow SIG participants interested in joining the CRCA to participate.

The Board also determined that, in keeping with past practice, the CRCA would not reimburse new coaches for the cost of USAC coaching clinics, but would continue to reimburse coaches for the cost of their USAC coaching licenses.

5. CLUB RACING

Gabrielle Fisher provided an update on preparations for 2016 club races, including a review of all tasks required to be completed before the first club race on March 5. Topics discussed included updates on the status of the process of obtaining requisite permits from the New York City Parks Department and USA Cycling and race-day staff.

6. TREASURY / FINANCIAL

Ken Edwards provided an update on the status of the CRCA’s financial position. The update include a discussion of the CRCA’s available cash, the current revenue from membership enrollment (which is currently trending down compared to 2015) and Grant’s Tomb registration (which is currently trending at a level roughly equivalent to past races), the importance of finding additional donor members, and a discussion of ways to generate new members for the CRCA (including via recruiting members from other local bike clubs and teams).

Mr. Edwards also provided an update regarding the CRCA’s 2014 state and federal tax returns, including a continuing dispute with the IRS regarding the application of a 2013 overpayment to the CRCA’s 2014 tax obligation.

Mr. Edwards reported that the CRCA’s 2015 tax returns were in the process of being prepared and would be filed on time, and that the CRCA’s 2015 financial statements would be presented at the Board’s next meeting.

7. NYSBRA Grants and Applications

The Board determined that Fred David would work with 2015 CRCA president Liz Marcello to prepare the CRCA’s request for grants from the NYSBRA.

8. WEBSITE UPDATE

The Board determined that the “Forum” section of the CRCA’s website would be removed, as it was rarely used and generated a significant amount of spam.

The Board also discussed creating a “technology committee” to consider potential changes to the CRCA’s website and the backend admin system. No decision was reached on the topic and the Board will consider the matter at its next meeting.

9. SPRING SERIES

Alexis Kraft informed the Board that while a promoter had secured dates to host New York City Spring Series races in Central Park in 2016 (after the Spring Series was cancelled in 2015), the promoter decided not to host the Spring Series this year, and so the Spring Series would not be held in 2016.

10. OPEN RACING

Mr. Teyber informed the Board that a title sponsor had likely been secured for the Orchard Beach Criterium.

Mr. Teyber also informed the Board that due to a scheduling conflict on the part of the New York City Parks Department, the Orchard Beach Criterium would be held on May 15, not May 14 as previously planned.

11. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Fred David, Secretary

CRCA Board Meeting Minutes (2016/01/12)

CENTURY ROAD CLUB ASSOCIATIONMEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

January 12, 2016

The Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Century Road Club Association (the “CRCA”) held a duly noticed meeting on January 12, 2016 at the Donghia Gallery on the 3rd Floor of 25 East 13th Street, New York, New York.

The meeting was called to order by Alexis Kraft, President of the Board, at approximately 7:00 PM.

The following members of the Board, constituting a quorum of the Board, were present:

• Alexis Kraft – President
• Gabrielle Fisher – Vice President, Racing
• Tara Parsons – Vice President, Rider Development
• Fred David – Secretary
• Ken Edwards – Treasurer
• Russ Bogin – Public Relations Director
• Randy Locklair – Membership Director
• David Wen Riccardi-Zhu – Communications Director
• Ted Teyber – Director of Open Racing
• Robert Rakowitz – Director of Teams

Also present were the following former members of the Board:

• Liz Marcello
• David Carr
• Lucia Deng
• Joe Grgic

1. WELCOME

Alexis Kraft welcomed the Board and thanked the outgoing Board members for their contributions to the CRCA.

2. MEMBERSHIP

Randy Locklair provided an update regarding the logistics for opening membership registration. The Board identified a target launch date of January 26.

The Board discussed continuing the new member referral program and potential changes to the program. Under the program, as in effect for the 2015 season, CRCA members who recruit a new member to the club received a $15 discount on the entry fee for a 2015 open race hosted by the CRCA. The Board discussed the need to better define the program’s requirements and to better publicize the program. The Board did not vote on the matter and will readdress the topic in a future meeting.

The Board also discussed the proposals for distributing race numbers, including a number pick-up social event, distribution to sub-team captains and mailings.

3. CLUB RACING

Gabrielle Fisher provided an update on preparations for 2016 club races, including updates on the status of the process of obtaining requisite permits from the New York City Parks Department and USA Cycling, staffing, and other related logistics.

4. GRANTS TOMB

Joe Grgic provided an update on preparations for the Grants Tomb Criterium, which is tentatively scheduled for March 12, including updates on the status of the process of obtaining requisite permits from the New York City Parks Department, USA Cycling, the New York Police Department and the New York City Fire Department and other related logistics.

5. OPEN RACING

Joe Grgic and Ted Teyber provided a brief update on preparations for the Orchard Beach Criterium and the Bear Mountain Classic.

TREASURY / FINANCIAL

Ken Edwards provided a brief update on the status of the CRCA’s financial position and concluded that there was no need to change the pricing model for membership and club races.

7. SPONSORSHIP OUTLOOK

Russ Bogin provided an update on the outlook for obtaining sponsorships for the CRCA and its races. The Board discussed the importance of locating additional sponsors.

8. SPRING SERIES

Liz Marcello informed the Board that the New York City Spring Series would be returning in 2016 after being cancelled in 2015 and that the CRCA would be lending equipment to the new promoter of the Spring Series.

9. COACHING

Tara Parsons provided an update on the 2016 coaching sessions and discussed adding Karl Rahn to the coaching program.

10. MARSHAL CREDIT FOR OUTGOING MEMBERS

Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board voted that outgoing 2015 Board members would have a one-year relief of marshaling duty as a recognition of their contributions to the club as past board members.

11. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Fred David, Secretary

2016 Membership Registration Dates

Registration for 2016 club membership will open on Monday, January 25.

There will be no increase in membership fees from 2015.

Membership fees will be discounted for the first two weeks of registration, and are as follows:

Associate: $45 Racing: $75 Season Pass: $100 Donor: $600

Starting on Monday, February 08, Associate, Racing, and Season Pass membership fees will increase by $15. Sign up early to save!

Further information on membership types and benefits is available here.

If you are new to racing or CRCA, click here for step-by-step guide on getting started.

2016 New Year’s Day Ride

Start time: 8:00 AM @ Cat’s Paw Rambles Parking Lot (79th Street & East Drive)

Hand in your signed release form at the start – WAIVER IS REQUIRED (links below).

The course:

Over the GWB, to 9W North.

The course detours just South of Nyack:

• You can either climb up just before entering Nyack, or

• go through Nyack and use any of the access roads back west to 9W.

Either way you will climb Rockland Hill and continue on 9W for the rest of the ride.

Up to Bear Mountain/Perkins summit.

The return is the same route, finishing up by turning Left @ 110th St & riding South on Fifth Avenue to 90th St.

Have fun and a Happy New Year!

 Preparation tips:

• Dress appropriately for the weather.
• Completed and signed USAC liability release. 2016 waiver is available here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/USACWeb/forms/rider_release.pdf.
• During and post-ride nutrition.
• Report to start 5-10 minutes before start time.

2016 Sub-Team Application

Do your New Year's resolutions include starting your own road racing team? CRCA is here to help you turn that vision into reality. Please click here to fill out an application to start your own team for 2016, and become part of the US's oldest bicycle racing club!

Plea From Local Cycling Groups for Repaving of Prospect Park

Last week, CRCA along with several other local cycling clubs, teams, and businesses who have a vested interest in ensuring cyclist safety in Prospect Park, sent a letter to the leaders of the Prospect Park Alliance, Department of Transportation, and other stakeholders, which pleads the case for why Prospect Park should be repaved for safety reasons. The letter addresses with specificity the most dangerous areas within the Prospect Park loop due to deteriorated road conditions, and points out the lack of a satisfactory repairs and response by officials. We are sharing this letter with CRCA members in hopes that you will help us in being vocal about this problem, and with enough pressure from park users, perhaps the park roads can finally be repaved.

We would urge you to post the attached copy of the final letter to your websites, Facebook pages, twitter accounts etc. to let your friends or customers know about the campaign we've begun to get the park road resurfaced. You can add a simple message or headline saying something like "Support the effort to repave the Prospect Park Loop: leading cycling groups have called on park and transportation management to repave the loop road by next spring."

Post a quick message to the Prospect Park Alliance and City DOT saying you support the recent letter by cycling organizations and shops. Links provided below.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Links: 

December 9, 2015 Letter re: Prospect Park Repaving

DOT: 

web/email: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/contact/contact-form.shtml?routing=bk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NYCDOT Twitter: @NYC_DOT

Prospect Park Alliance: email: info@prospectpark.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProspectParkBrooklyn/ Twitter: @prospect_park

2016 CRCA Board Elections - Concluded on Nov. 29

CRCA 2016 Board elections concluded at Nov 29 2015, 5:00pm Eastern Time. The election committee (Rod Millott, Jeff Vogel, and Sarah Chubb Sauvayre) has certified the results, and the following are the members of the 2016 CRCA Board of Directors. Many thanks to the election committee, to all who volunteered to put their names forward for a position, and to CRCA members who voted.

President-Alexis Kraft
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Vice President of Rider Development-Tara Parsons
===================================
Vice President of Racing-Gabrielle Fisher
========================
Secretary-Fred David
=========
Treasurer-Ken Edwards
=========
Communications Director-David Wen Riccardi-Zhu
=======================
Public Relations Director-Russ Bogin
=========================
Membership Director-Randy Locklair
===================
Marshal Director-Tomi Ketcham
================
Director of Teams-Robert Rakowitz
=================
Director of Open Racing-Ted Teyber 
=======================

Future Cycling Champions Classic (Tour de FCCC) - Race Report

Your contributions to the Century Road Club Development Foundation (a tax-exempt entity) are used, in part, to fund its Grant Program, which gives financial support to members of the CRCA Junior Development Team to allow them to participate in regional and national level races. The juniors apply with a specific race in mind and the Team covers the majority of their racing costs. Recently, the CRCA Junior Development Team traveled to the 2015 Tour de FCCC. Here is Justin Strauss's race report in his own words.

To support the CRCA Junior Development Team, please donate here (membership login required) or contact Matthew Vandivort at clubracing@crca.net, and to find how you can help (volunteers/leaders are needed for coaching, ride leaders, marketing, sponsorship, etc.).

The Tour de FCCC stands for the Future Cycling Champions Classic and is unique in that it is one of the only annual all junior stage races in the country. It’s held in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley (near T-Town) and marks one of the final stops of USA Cycling’s Road Development Race Series calendar. This year, the race conflicted with the Tour of the Catskills, but since this is my last season as a junior, I opted to race the last Tour de FCCC I’d be eligible to compete in. Kaan and Andrew joined me by staying overnight at the Kutztown Main Street Inn, one of my favorite bed and breakfasts, situated just 10 minutes from the races.

Stage 1:

I woke up to the sound of Kaan’s footsteps walking around the bathroom one floor above my room. He and Andrew left early since he had to register day-of and Andrew’s men’s 15/16 race started earlier than our 17/18 field. I stayed behind at the B&B to indulge in a not-so-light breakfast of oatmeal, yogurt, fresh fruit, and the innkeeper’s signature creme brulee french toast. The criterium is held at the Bob Rodale Cycling and Fitness Park, across the street from The Velodrome. It’s a one mile course with one short climb and no true corners, making it more like a short circuit race than a criterium. I hadn’t warmed up and lined up at the start line with Kaan amongst our small 10 person field. Like most other junior races, the pace started off easy. I ended up pulling the field for the first couple of laps and even tried breaking away with a Cannondale Sports rider to no avail. After the field reeled us in, one of the Young Medalist riders launched an uphill attack and his teammate counterattacked, eventually breaking away solo. The following lap, Kaan decided to make an attempt to do a solo bridge up to the breakaway. I moved to the front and slowed my pace to try to prevent the field from following him, but most of our competitors caught onto his wheel and I was left in the dust along with two others to form our own chase group. Just past the halfway point of our 20 lap race, the rider who broke away lapped my chase group and then went on to lap Kaan’s six person main group. With a couple of laps to go, we noticed that we were about to be lapped by Kaan’s group as well, but we stayed about 30 seconds ahead of them going into the finish. I won the sprint among my group of riders, but still ended up over two minutes behind the leader, in 8th place.

Stage 2:

I learned my lesson from the previous morning, giving myself adequate time to warm up and opting for a much lighter breakfast. Stage 2 is a 4.2 mile time trial on a rolling course with three short, punchy climbs. To prepare, I wore a skinsuit and shoe covers and outfitted my bike with aero bars and climbing wheels. Kaan and I were assigned the last time slots, so we were also able to sleep a bit longer. I was off a 8:51:30 AM and picked up speed pretty quickly, getting into a rhythm at about 28 miles per hour. Near the halfway mark, Kaan bridged the 30 second gap separating us and caught up to me. As we ascended the three consecutive climbs, we stayed within a few bike lengths of each other, being careful not to break the rules and accidentally draft. Having Kaan just up the road served as a positive motivator to help me dig deep and try to close the gap during the final minutes of the time trial. I ended up finishing 7 seconds behind him and improved my time compared to last year.

Stage 3:

The same group of 10 lined up for the road race, which is a 29 mile race consisting of seven laps on the time trial course. A few hours had passed since the prior race, so by then it was midday and temperatures hovered in the high 90’s. The surrounding farmland lacks any trees to shade the pavement, so there is no respite from the beating sun. The field stayed together, for the most part, during the first few laps. All attempts to go off the front were chased down to prevent a breakaway from forming. One of the less experienced Young Medalist riders (not the same one who won the criterium) lingered off the front going into the finishing straight with four laps to go. This time, the Cannondale Sports rider went to chase him down and rather than taking the field with him, the two of them stayed off the front. After a few minutes, we realized that they couldn’t be seen up the road anymore and their pace wasn’t letting up, so the chase ensued. The seven of us that remained only lasted as a group until we hit the three climbs. One rider went off the back on the first hill, Kaan peeled off on the second one, and I was the last to go on the third pitch, leaving only four riders chasing. I ended up riding solo for a couple of laps and in a fashion similar to the time trial, Kaan eventually caught up to me. This time, we were able to work together, taking pulls until the finish. And just like that, my three year run of racing the Tour de FCCC had come to an end.

Great job, guys!