11/20/06
The Following is from Joe Kopena following last weekend's ECCC 2007 planning meeting:

The following are notes on rules changes from the ECCC 2007
Conference/Road Planning Meeting.  General notes have already been
posted to the listserve.  The 2007 schedule is to follow.


[[ Penalties for General Infractions ]]

Last year there were several incidents regarding public safety, laws,
and general sportsmanship.  Many of these either are not under the
purvey of the officials or have not been enforced or penalized
adequately.  This year the ECCC is introducing a more formal system of
team penalties for individual member's behavior.  The hope is to
encourage teams to police their own members more effectively.

The basic penalties decided upon are:

 - A warning for minor events or unwarranted behavior.

 - 20pts off a team's total weekend points for the first more serious
   offense committed by any team member that weekend.

 - 100pts off a team's total weekend points for the second serious
   offense committed by any team member that weekend, not necessarily
   the member involved in the first infraction.

 - Disqualification of the team from the weekend's results for the
   third more serious offense committed by any member of that team.

A list of likely infractions, e.g. public urination, nudity, unsafe
driving, and gross unsportsmanlike conduct, will be established.
Reported infractions may be penalized after the weekend.


[[ Season Pass ]]

Discussion of a season pass for discounted entry to each race was
tabled until more details have been developed.


[[ USCF Categorization ]]

ECCC categories will be strongly associated with USCF categories.
This provides a convenient, tested, implemented mechanism for ensuring
that riders have acquired adequate experience as they progress through
the categories.  Only riders in specific USCF categories will be
permitted to enter given ECCC races.  In addition, ECCC races will be
officially deemed acceptable for USCF upgrade points when they meet
the upgrade criteria.

Contingent upon the local association of each ECCC state accepting ECCC
events for upgrade points, the following categorization will be imposed:

 ECCC    USCF
 A       1/2/3
 B       3/4
 C       4/5
 D       5
 E       5

This categorization applies for both men and women.

Note that most ECCC races meet USCF criteria for races worthy of
upgrade points.  Many LAs have already agreed to this, and many in the
past have unofficially accepted ECCC races for upgrades purposes.  The
upgrade process is also generally fairly fast.

ECCC events will not be run as USCF categories for several reasons:

 - Branding---these are distinctly different events.
 - Category aggregation/splitting.
 - Rules gaming, e.g. of field limits.

Mark is on point for writing up a book-length treatise on this topic.


[[ Team Scoring Methodology ]]

This year a new overall team standings scoring mechanism is to be put
in place.  Points will be assigned for each gender and event
(e.g. TTT, crit, road race) in a weekend, ranked, assigned points
based on that ranking, and summed to determine team points for the
weekend.  The key issue is the split and ranking within genders and
events rather than across the weekend.  Motivations for this include:

 - Equalizing between men's and women's races, regardless of the
   numbers of riders and categories.
 - Synchronizing with the mechanisms used at nationals.

It is hoped in this way to encourage teams to place more emphasis on
both developing their women's squad, as well as not specializing on a
particular event type.  As a key data point, if scoring at several
recent national championships were recalculated according to the
current ECCC scheme, several teams without any women riders would move
into the top of the standings.


[[ Mandatory Field Splitting ]]

In order to manage continued growth and maintain safe races,
particularly in the lower categories, several categories may have to
be split at many 2007 events.  All promoters must be prepared to split
the Men's C and D fields.  Events expecting high attendance should
also be prepared to split Women's B events.  Mandatory field splitting
limits are:

 Men's D and Women's B: 60 for criterium courses, 80 for road races.
 Men's C: 70 for criterium courses, 90 for road races.

Promoters should work with their chief officials and the conference
director to plan for these conditions and make these decisions on race
day.  The goal is to never turn a rider away simply because of high
attendance, while at the same time maintaining safe races.  Promoters
should consider flexible scheduling, e.g.  list D races as beginning
at 8am with C to follow, and B to race at 12 with A to follow (purely
as an example).  This gives riders a general time to plan for while
providing some flexibility.  Simply listing each race as "to follow"
is not acceptable.  Also, keep in mind that no race may start earlier
than its advertised time.


[[ Coached Format Races ]]

This year, each ECCC weekend will feature the following categories for
all events (e.g. TTT, crit, road race):

     Men's A, B, C, D, E
     Women's A, B, C

Women's C and Men's E will likely be renamed.  These will be run in a
controlled, coached format similar to the 2006 Women's C races.  Half
the race is conducted by coaches, giving instruction and ensuring no
rider is left behind by the group.  In the second half, the race is
uncontrolled by the coaches, who remain in the race simply to ensure
it is conducted safely and continue to provide instruction without
interfering in the race's development.  Anyone with a bike and
suitable experience is encouraged to coach and lead these events.

Both events will be worth some amount of points.  Women's C will be
scored on the standard C points schedule.  Men's E will be scored on a
new schedule to be introduced for E races, with a win worth 9 points
and places going 5 deep.  Note that the 2007 scoring methodology is in
part designed to nullify any concern about the value for a team of
men's points versus women's points.


[[ Undergraduate Leader ]]

In addition to the series and sprint leader, recognition for the
leading undergraduate racer will be introduced in 2007, most likely in
the form of a white jersey.


[[ Clothing ]]

Teams are strongly discouraged from developing designs featuring white
shorts or skinsuits.  Seriously, only Cippo can pull that off.

11/17/06
Jersey Fitting Today, November 17th
The general meeting this week has been rescheduled to today at Handlebars on Kenmore by South Campus
The point of the meeting is to try on the sample jerseys for size and get your payment in. Even though it isn’t due today, it would be smart to get it in anyway. If you will be able to make it, try to email David if you can so he knows you are coming.

Also, please email your availability for a team photo to David.
Also, I need rider bios! Please email me the form… its hard for me to put up info if I don’t have any…

11/6/06
Blue Bikes Thursday, November 9th
No general meeting again this week.
There is a workshop for Buffalo Blue Bikes on Thursday, November 9th from 7:30 pm -11pm. You can do this for less than the entire 3.5 hours, example 7:30-9:30pm. At this community service event you fix bikes to be used as rentals for the city of Buffalo bike commuters.
Also, I need rider bios! Please email me the form… its hard for me to put up info if I don’t have any…
 

10/12/06
No Meeting Today
No general meeting again this week.
Top priority is getting sponsors on board. If anyone has any information about a potential sponsor or wants to get involved in the sponsorship process, please email me or David and we will get you started.
Also, if you can get the rider info forms to me sooner rather than later that would be appreciated. The new version of the website is on the way, and I would like to include everyone.

 

10/4/06
No Meeting Thursday 10/5 – BBC Racing Updates–
No general meeting this week 10/5, instead Nick’s spinning class is at 4:30pm, try and make it if you can.
Sunday Oct 8th - Wyoming Co. NY, local USCF BBC road race, contact Ron if you have a ride to give or need one.
Sunday Oct 15th - Volkswagen Iron Cross IV America's Longest Cyclocross Race – Michaux State Forest, PA
 

9/30/06
Meeting – Events Update
Sunday October 1st - Road Race in Langford NY. It is a local USCF BBC event
Monday Oct 2nd - Training ride/group ride to Letchworth State Park and Back
Sunday Oct 8th - Wyoming Co. NY, another local USCF BBC road race
Sunday Oct 15th - Volkswagen Iron Cross IV America's Longest Cyclocross Race – Michaux State Forest, PA

The new jersey order is underway! We are currently looking at getting a Louis Garneau semi custom set:
$52 jersey, $58 bibshorts, they will be royal blue with the UB logo and sponsor logos.
 

9/28/06
Welcome to the 2006-2007 UB Cycling Team Season –
Although it the getting close to the end of the 2006 Road Season, there are a few things coming up that are worth knowing about:
Meeting Today – 3:00pm-3:30pm in the Student Union room 145D.
Saturday October 14th-15th – Iron Cross weekend, registration