2004 WCA News Archive

 

An Honorable Night at WCA Awards Dinner

December 14, 2003

The end of year WCA dinner is a chance for riders to come together to celebrate their seasons (good and bad!) and honor some of our hard working members. There were many highlights of the night and a few stand out and are worthy of a mention in this recap of the night. One such stand out moment was the Perpetual Motion Awards including a spontaneous standing ovation for Heidi Mingesz. An impromptu idea (suggested by Heidi herself) to honor WCAs longest standing member, Erich Kasten, Jr. turned out to be an excellent one; Kasten is in his 80s and was a key figure in the rebirth of cycling in Wisconsin in the 60s and 70s. Kasten can still be seen riding most days, even in the winter. Inspiring? Hell yes. Along with Kasten and Mingesz, WCA gave long overdue thanks to Colin O'Brien, John Wilson, Lowell Kellogg and Jeff Littman for their financial and volunteer support of cycling in Wisconsin.

Marcie Weiss made several trips to the podium to accept honors as the top junior rider in a few categories (road and cross). Samantha Schneider is another young athlete who undoubtedly has more trips to the podium ahead of her.

As always, a theme for the night was great door prizes. Two prizes for the folks who traveled the farthest (a Nightrider light system and a Polar heart rate watch) were given to Mark Meier and Joel McVenes who drove from Baraboo with their families to attend the awards dinner. The schwag toss was safe this year-no one (that we know of) got hit by flying water bottles or other gadgets.

The Wisconsin Cup awards were given to the top riders in the main categories. One happy note (for us board members, anyway) was the resurfacing of the junior cup which was awol for a year. Happily, the junior cup resurfaced and was presented to Jason Carr who earned it in the juniors 18 year old division. Todd Miller accepted for the second year running top honors in the men's 1,2 division. He was presented the Wisconsin Cup trophy by his wife and WCA board member Amy Miller. That's two years in a row Todd smooched his wife while accepting the trophy-is anyone going to stop this? Pat Loney accepted top honors for taking the Masters 30+ division but did not smooch his wife, maybe next year? Jeff Littman accepted the Wisconsin Cup for the 40+ and Team division, and Alison Dwyer proudly accepted the women's cup. Jack Nielsen made his first appearance (of what will surely be more) to accept his Wisconsin Cup trophy as Men's cat 3 champ. Congratulations to all these athletes for their hard work in 2003.

The night wound down with the showing of The Hard Road, a documentary on cycling. On hand was the film's director, Jamie Paolinetti. Jamie is working on another documentary called "The Quest." More information on both movies can be found at www.thehardroad.com.

We should not close without saying thank you to those who made contributions to pay Jamie's way from California: Randy Roth, Colin O'Brien, Ed Hickey, and Larry Kilduff. Jamie graciously answered questions about the film and his professional cycling career, leaving the audience with a renewed sense of pride for the tough sport we all love. The evening was a fine finale to the 2003 season. Best wishes to all our riders and Happy New Year from the board of WCA.

 

2004 Rulebook Available Online

Get a jump on the competition, and review the new rules now! Some highlights include:

  • Racing age to change at the beginning of the cyclocross season. Because the 'cross season includes parts of two years, a rider's age for cyclocross will be determined by his/her age on January 1, not December 31 as for other events.
  • By 2007, all bicycles used in competition must meet UCI requirements. We recommend that you review these now to avoid purchasing equipment that may soon be obsolete.
  • All USA Cycling licenses will expire on December 31, 2004. Renewals should be available in early November. Licenses purchased after September 1 will be half-price.

Big Changes for Race Organizers

Perhaps the most dramatic changes in the 2004 rules involve official's fees.

  • Category C, D, and E races (most WCA races have been Category E) will all pay officials at the same rate: $80 for the chief referee, $60 for the chief judge, and $50 for each additional official. Note that the chief referee and chief judge may not belong to the organizing club, but additional officials may. This is a very good reason to find someone in your club who is willing to attend a one-day seminar and become licensed as an official!
  • Officials receive $.36 per mile for travel (not to exceed the cost of the cheapest airline ticket for the same trip)
  • Lunch or an additional $10. You can be sure that your officials would rather have lunch!
  • Finally, races lasting over 8 hours must pay each official an additional $25. This should not impact many of our Wisconsin races, but provides real incentive to start on time and keep on schedule! Be assured that we will work with race organizers to provide a capable officials crew at the lowest practical cost. You can help by submitting your race permit applications as early as possible.

The entire rulebook is available at www.usacycling.org. Click on rules, then USCF.

 

Stop and Swap - Cycling's Winter Social Event is Near

January 6, 2004

The Brazen Dropouts are planning their annual Bike Swap for January 24th at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. The swap starts at 9:30am and concludes at 4pm. A $5 per person suggested donation includes automatic entry into the door prize drawings and parking is $4.50. Want to sell? A table is $40 and to register contact Cronometro at 608-274-6550 or cronometro.com. Swap director David Kohli of Cronometro promises plenty of good shopping for bargain hunters and lots of schwag. .

2004 Wisconsin Cup Proposed Guideline Changes

January 6, 2004

The time has come to begin planning the details of the 2004 racing season. Building on the success of the 2003 program, the WCA is proposing some changes to the Wisconsin Cup guidelines. The proposals are aimed at creating a more equitable competition for juniors, boosting interest in state championships, ensuring the financial stability of the WCA, and focusing our efforts on the areas of greatest interest to the membership. Read through the changes, and be sure your club is represented at the annual meeting January 31 to make your wishes known!

  1. Specify the classes and categories in which points will be tabulated:
      • Pro, 1,2 Category 3
      • Category 4,5 Women Open
      • Women Category 4 Masters 30+
      • Masters 40+ Masters 50+
      • Junior 12 Girls Junior 12 Boys
      • Junior 14 Girls Junior 14 Boys
      • Junior 16 Girls Junior 16 Boys
      • Junior 18 Girls Junior 18 Boys
    • Comment: This worked very well for the cyclocross series. Race organizers are still free to run different or additional classes/categories, but those classes/categories will not score points in the Wisconsin Cup.
  2. Should cyclocross results be eliminated from the overall team competition?
    • Comment: Relatively few of our riders compete in cyclocross. Adding 'cross points to the overall represents an advantage for those clubs which have riders.
  3. Should cyclocross results count towards individual Wisconsin Cup standings?
    • Comment: Relatively few of our riders compete in cyclocross. Adding 'cross points to the overall represents an advantage for those riders.
  4. Should the WCA Sprint Competition be dropped?
    • Comment: Interest by riders in the sprints has been relatively low compared to the amount of investment in this series by the WCA.
  5. Shall we add a "Best All Round" omnium in which riders would score points based on their results in Wisconsin state championship events?
    • Comment: This has been a popular concept in other states.
  6. Shall the WCA require a minimum surcharge amount of each race organizer in order to provide photofinish services?
    • Comment: We want to encourage new events, but those with small numbers of participants represent a financial drain on the WCA. The minimum surcharge in 2004 will be $150.
  7. Shall the WCA fine organizers of Wisconsin Cup races who fail to put the WCA logos on their race announcements or who fail to post their announcements 30 days before the events?
    • Comment: Fairness to competitors requires allowing them time to plan their schedules. Note that USA Cycling also fines organizers for failure to distribute race announcements.
  8. Should cyclocross results count towards the overall team competition?
    • Comment: Relatively few of our riders compete in cyclocross. Adding 'cross points to the overall represents an advantage for those clubs which have riders.
  9. Should cyclocross results count towards individual Wisconsin Cup standings?
  10. Should the WCA Sprint Competition be dropped?
    • Comment: Interest by riders in the sprints has been relatively low compared to the amount of investment in this series by the WCA.
  11. Shall we add a "Best All Round" omnium in which riders would score points based on their results in Wisconsin state championship events?
    • Comment: This has been a popular concept in other states.
  12. Shall the WCA require a minimum surcharge amount of each race organizer in order to provide photofinish?
    • Comment: We want to encourage new events, but those with small numbers of participants represent a financial drain on the WCA. The minimum surcharge in 2004 will be $150.
  13. Shall the WCA fine organizers of Wisconsin Cup races who fail to put the WCA logos on their race announcements or who fail to post their announcements 30 days before the events?
    • Comment: It's very important that promoters cooperate with deadlines so that riders can make their plans

2004 Officials' Seminars

January 6, 2004

As a USCF official you are required to attend one seminar each year to maintain your category. The Wisconsin Cycling Association will be hosting three seminars in 2004. If you are already a licensed official, you may attend any one of these in order to meet your obligation.
January 31 10:00-noon Refresher clinic for current officials. We will discuss rule changes for 2004 and the new officials' code of conduct. We will also begin work on a policies manual for Wisconsin events. You are also welcome to stay for the WCA meeting at 1:00. Location: Meghaan's Restaurant, Lake Mills, WI.
(Take I-94 to Lake Mills exit, Hwy 89. Turn south to downtown Lake Mills
February 21 9:00-4:00p.m. Introductory seminar. If you want to become an official, this is the place. We will learn basic rules and procedures, and administer the category C test.
Location: Meghaan's Restaurant, Lake Mills, WI.
(Take I-94 to Lake Mills exit, Hwy 89. Turn south to downtown Lake Mills.
February 28 9:30-4:30 p.m. Category B upgrade seminar. If you are currently licensed as a category 4 official and have worked ten races, you are eligible to upgrade to Category B.
Location: Southridge Mall, Milwaukee, WI, Community Room A. The mall is located on 76th Street, just south of I-894. The Community room is on the upper level, near the south end of the mall.
Questions? Contact Heidi Mingesz at wcatech@earthlink.net, or call (262) 215-9548

Board Candidates 2004

WCA Board elections will be held in December. To nominate yourself for any of the board positions, send an email to board@wicycling.org. Board members up for re-election in 2004:
Rebecca Loney (Americas Dairyland), President
Amy Miller, Treasurer
Scott Grosz (IS/Nova), VP
Pat Loney, (GDVC) SecretaryLarry Kilduff, Director at large
John Ericcson (Brazen Dropouts), Director at Large
Ed Hickey (Brazen Dropouts) Director at large

 

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