NEW VENTURES

Well the last blog gave some hints at the new things to come. I can say that we have launched an entirely new program. The USA Cycling Neutral Support Program is now 100% up, running and functional. Slightly under the radar and as quietly as we could, we approached the USA Cycling JR, U23 Elite and Para National Championships with anticipation. It was no easy feat to support an event with over 1,000 competitors, 3 full days of road racing, 1 full day of time trials and a very full 14 hour days of criteriums. You can view some photos from the event here.
About 2 months ago we had some internal discussions and decided we could do this. We looked to some long time sponsors like Shimano, Park Tool and Thule for much needed equipment support. We called on those with current mechanics licenses to come out and join the fun. In the end we accomplished what we set out to do with success. We changed about 40 wheels, assisted in around 10 crashes, changed somewhere around 10 bikes and modified about 20 of a certain carbon bike frame to make it UCI compliant and had fun in the process.

The mechanics who volunteered their time now have the experience that6 months on the race circuit could provide and they achieved that in less than a week. Kurt Holtzclaw, Neil Nessle and Chris Moore were what you could consider green in the bicycle race mechanics profession. All attendee's at the 2010 Bill Woodul Race Mechanic's Clinic they didn't know what they were in for. We brought in some veterans to help show them the way. Guys like Pete Hill, TJ Grove and myself were solid in support of the newbies.
As the year goes on we will be supporting a few other events and adding more as time and budgets allow. Up next for the USA Cycling Neutral Support Program will be Larry H Miller Tour of Utah followed by the Aspen Pro Women's Challenge. At the end of August Masters Nationals in Bend Oregon will be our next epic event on the same level of the recent nationals in Augusta.

We will hope to see some of you out there joining us in support of racing in the US.

New Things Coming Down the Pipe

It's hard to believe that almost 1/2 the year is already gone. In cycling, if you're a well rounded mechanic, there isn't really much of a "off season". Road Racing, Mountain Biking, Cyclocross, Track, and BMX make the days for our USAC team mechanics and staff long and seemingly never ending.

I've been busy with trips this year, plenty of US travel as well as a trip to Europe and Colombia already under the belt. I've also been planning and working on what USA Cycling can do to further the mechanics licensing program. I've come up with some pretty good ideas. Thanks to support from great companies like Shimano, Park Tool and Maxxis we are testing some new developmental opportunities on the domestic racing scene. As more details fall into place I'll have a lot more to tell you.

I've also been working with some of the industry greats who happen to be instructors at the Bill Woodul Race Mechanics Clinic about the 2011 clinic (dates to be announced soon), continuing education and developmental programs and opportunities as well as changes to the licensing structure to meet the demands, needs and requirements of the different teams, programs and events that we interact now a days.

The half year yet to come includes a trip to Russia, Europe, Colombia, Mexico and plenty of travel here in the states. The Olympics are fast approaching and we have lots of testing and planning to do from the equipment side of things. Hopefully I'll be able to share some of what we are doing here in about 4 weeks when we go into our first aerodynamics phase.

All for now -- James