TBRA meeting review

I attended the annual TBRA club meeting this past weekend in Brentwood. There were over 20 people in attendance with another hand full listening in via teleconference. This meeting was to update all the clubs on TBRA financials (old business) and then delve into open topics (new business).

The state of TBRA's financial standing is very good. The organization has ample funds leftover from 2006 that will help it invest in a better future for bike racing in Tennessee. The annual TBRA banquet essentially pays for itself, but with the promoter fee increase (from $1 to $2 per rider) against rider participation and grass roots rebates from USA Cycling the bottom line is growing. This was TBRA's goal set in 2005 to achieve in 2006, well done. The biggest expenses to run the organization deal with actual TBRA awards and jerseys.

New business topics were mostly taken from the discussions on the TBRA forum. The three big topics that ate up the majority of time was:

1. Should TBRA create another award for Category 4 Masters 40+
2. How should TBRA get involved with Cyclocross, a growing discipline
3. How to increase participation in mountain bike races

I won't ramble ad nauseam about all the discussion that took place regarding those three issues, but I'll share the outcomes of those discussions. I will say there were a lot of good ideas and concerns shared, nothing was taken lightly.

The Cat 4 Masters 40+ topic took up the majority of the time. Promoters want to reach out to this crowd; that is if they actually exist. The end result was TBRA tabling the issue for discussion again in 2008, but is requesting more data from USA Cycling and Tennessee promoters to make future decisions. In the interim, promoters can do whatever they'd like to attract this segment of the racing population. Expect to see this category bonused with split results at a race, but it will be combined with other fields. In all likelihood it will stay in the Category 4 field or with Masters 50+/60+. TBRA neither will be offering TBRA points for a separate jersey nor will USA Cycling grant upgrade points.

My suggestion to those who would fall into that category? Be patient and encourage promoters to create this field for you. When promoters offer it then race in that category. We want to see if this segment has a true need or not, so this year will be an experiment for all promoters who choose to do this. My thinking is there may be a few in Category 4 who fall into this segment, but I am more interested in the countless Category 5 riders who could potentially choose this category in the future. We may be losing riders too early in their cycling career, and the whole goal for all of us is to keep people in the sport. More and more cyclists are entering our sport in their late 30s or early 40s. Let's find a way to keep them with us.

Regarding the cyclocross discipline, the promoters across the state aren't quite prepared to buy into the TBRA series completely. Promoters aren't able to swallow the $2 per rider fee that accompany being in the series. Currently attendance isn't as big as road or mountain, which means income is low, and more importantly they're working on shoestring budgets. Promoters are going to try and work together to create their own series, but are working to have TBRA to possibly promote a State Cyclocross Championship. This event would potentially be the only one that TBRA would sanction. Therefore, for 2007 there will be no official TBRA cyclocross series and no jerseys awarded.

Mountain bike clubs and the TBRA board are concerned about the decreasing turnouts for mountain bike races. Ideas were discussed on how to improve this, and the one thing that kept getting mentioned was it was the "little things" that attracted riders. An example used was the promoter of Chickasaw, GoneRiding.com, and how they make the racing experience unique. The SERC series they promote is more polished and riders know what to expect at one of their events. In other words, it's about consistency in their product. Plus, they typically have lots of features like vendor booths, food, music, etc. The non-racing experience for mountain bike riders is very important. Participation for mountain bike racing will have to fall on the shoulders of promoters. They were encouraged to find those "little things" that make their event memorable.

Last order of new business was the discussion of TBRA's new rider initiative. This was probably the most exciting aspect of the meeting, and once it gets implemented it will help every racing discipline grow in the future. The purpose of the initiative is to increase the number of licensed riders in Tennessee. Content will be added on the TBRA website that will essentially be a "Bike Racing 101" so that interested cyclists can learn how to get into the sport. Once the content is built then TBRA will begin an advertising campaign to Tennessee bicycle shops to reach new racers. This initiative will take a lot of time to gain momentum, but once it does it will draw more riders into the racing scene in Tennessee.

Another issue brought up were riders who are sandbagging and not upgrading as they should. Racers who stay in a category and dominate are discouraging others within the category and those below looking to move into that category. TBRA is aware and will ensure officials are paying closer attention to this problem. We all know this happens on the road and mountain, and we should discourage it at every turn.

These were the highlights of the meeting and sums up the results. Club leaders now have better ideas on the direction they should go as well as where TBRA is going.

If you have any comments or questions then feel free to EMAIL me for more details.