The Old Switcharoo
Categories: Sermons
With the exception of one year with a broken collarbone I have done every Cyclocross National Championships since the ’98 Nationals at the Presidio. Every year I have done them in the Masters Category they have called up the Top 10 riders from the previous years with everyone else called in order of registration. I have been lucky enough to finish in the top 10 every year, so as a result I have been called up every year. It also means I don’t have to sit at my computer at midnight on the night they open registration to get a good spot on the start grid. Pretty nice. So with 10 years of history on my side I went to Sportsbaseonline.com to register. I saw was #117 I thought to myself “Glad I am not really starting that far back”. Last year during the registration process there was a part where you could claim you call up based on the previous years top 10, not this year. I figured they just eliminated it since they had the results anyway. After completing my registration I went to the KCCX site and read this:
Jr. Men 10-16, Jr. Women 17-18, U23 Women, & Masters:
First called is National Champion from the previous year if still in the same class.
All others will be drawn by lots, which is determined by order of registration
Bloody hell you have got to be kidding me! Why was this not communicated to the athletes. The KCCX people have everyones e-mail address that raced last year. I know because I got an email that told registration was opening at 12:01am on Sept 15. Nowhere in that email did they mention this HUGE policy change.
I emailed USAC and the promoter voicing my concerns. Bill Marshal from KCCX e-mailed me back blaming USAC for the policy change and hid behind the “well if was on the site” card. While that is true I did not check the site to see if a policy that has been in place for at least 10 years had been changed. Why would I? I am not so much pissed about the policy change (even if it is stupid) I am just dissapointed with the lazy way it was implemented. KCCX passed the buck to USAC but really they both should have taken the initiative to alert their customers to such a major change in policy. It just boils down to rotten customer service on both KCCX and USAC.
If you would like to express your opinion to those who made this decision I have posted the email of those involved below. Let us be heard!
Steve Johnson, CEO USAC
sjohnson@usacycling.org
Linda Bufetti, Member Services Coordinator – West Region
lbuffetti@usacycling.org
Tom Vinson, National Events Manager
tvinson@usacycling.org
Bill Marshall, promoter KCCX
bmarshall@klmmarketingsolutions.com
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You have the wrong attitude. You should be pissed about the policy and the lack of notification.
The policy shows a lack of respect for the non-professional bike racer. The racer who races nationals every year except the year they had a broken collarbone. It’s the policy of a chickenshit organization that doesn’t want to discourage anyone based on their lack of ability. It’s the policy when you don’t feel the obligation to institute a reasonable qualification procedure that could be used for seeding.
I could go on, but I won’t be in KC anyway. If I was the promoter or the licensing body, I would feel an obligation to do a better job. They don’t see it that way.
Oh believe me I am pissed and getting more pissed by the day. I probably wont be in KC at this point either. Bill Marshall at least had the courtesy to reply to my e-mail. Not a word from the ivory towers of USAC. Makes me feel real good about my $150 license. They should use prior results for seeding but that would take effort. If they change the rules they should notify those that are impacted, but again that would require effort. It wont be long until they run cyclocross into the ground just like they did with the NORBA Series. Outside of the Bush Administration it is hard to find a better example of ruining a once great institution (the old NORBA Series)
It’s Tom not Travis but the email is right. I know because talked to him after my registration didn’t go through because they weren’t checking both the road and mtn. USAC databases. He was very helpful. That said they have changed the call ups to the top 8 from last year. The only reason I found out was from CX Magazine site. http://cxmagazine.com/cyclocross-national-championships-call-ups-changed-again#more-446