LA Call Minutes- 4.27.16

LA call
Wednesday, April 27 at 10:45 am

Stefanie Larson- slarson@usacycling.org
- Introduction to Kelly Reyes - Vice President of Membership-
- The VP of Membership role is a new senior leadership role here at USA Cycling.
- Kelly will oversee the Membership Department and will be focused on improving the customer experience and growing membership.
- Introducing Kelly to tell you a bit more about her background and what she has planned for the organization.
Kelly Reyes- kreyes@usacycling.org
- My background is predominantly with Membership Marketing and Product Development. I worked for Jet Blue and Booz and Company.
- I look to improve our membership offerings as well as expand from elite cyclists into the enthusiasts market.
- I am excited to join USA Cycling and better serve our members.
- Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
Stefanie Larson- I’m excited to bring on our RaceClean guest speaker Tammy Hanson.
- Tammy is the Education Manager at USADA. She joins us today to tell us about the new education program.
- We also received questions about TUE allowances so she will address that as well.
Tammy Hanson- USADA Education Manager-
- We’ve been doing education presentations on the risks of supplements and we would like to extend this education to amateur sports.
- We’ve been finding a lot of the amateur cycling teams are interested in learning since they are seeing testing within their sport.
- We understand there may not be enough money in order to implement these programs, but we’re here to help.
- This is a way to help athletes without launching a full testing program.
- Please reach out to Jon Whiteman (jwhiteman@usacycling.org) if there is any interest in USADA coming out to present.
- We were able to hold an education program in TN were about 70 athletes participated. We can do the same for your LA you just have to let us know.
Rob Kelly- MABRA-
- Can you address the recreational TUE program that I’ve been reading about on the cycling forums?
Tammy Hanson- USADA Education Manager
- Please go to USADA.org and you will find all the specifics.
- Be careful of articles that may not be factual.
- Recreational TUEs are for athletes that aren’t super competitive. They aren’t allowed to place top 3.
- Recreational TUEs require the same process of filing just like regular TUEs.
- All of this can be found on our website USADA.org.
JD Bilodeau- NEBRA-
- Regarding the tests laid out in the USADA policy, is that a conjunctive test or a disjunctive test? If you won $500 do you have to meet all the standards?
- Is this something USAC will be following when it comes down to amateur testing? How does it work with the surcharge?
Jon Whiteman- jwhiteman@usacycling.org
- As a National Governing Body we are in many ways tied to the WADA code and are responsible for upholding the WADA code. We are held to the same standards.
JD Bilodeau - NEBRA
- Regarding the new policy, is it a conjunctive test? I would like a little bit more clarification for our LA so that when we get asked question we have the correct answer.
- How big of a regional event does it need to be? How high of a finisher do they need to be? I have some masters that could be impacted by this policy and I am a little unclear.
Tammy Hanson- USADA Education Manager
- From USADA’s standpoint, our message is the same if it’s a recreational TUE or a regular TUE.
- At that point, it will go in front of the committee.
Jon Whiteman-
- I hope everyone is reading the monthly RaceClean reports that go out. I can add some TUE updates in the next report.
- I read a couple of articles that made me question the authenticity.
- I encourage everyone to push people to the USADA website and direct them to USADA policies so no one is misinformed.
- I want to stress the opportunity for education. If your LA is interested in putting together a program please get in touch with me.
  - We can tackle the TUE process at a local event or educational group.
  - This effort will help with deterrence and prevention.
  - We want to make this a good process as well as affordable.
- I can also look at ways to help fund additional testing in your region.
Bruce Dunn– ABC-
- At the Joe Martin Stage Rage cat 3 4 women were tested as well as the masters men.
- This was very well received throughout the amateur ranks.
  - They were surprised they were being tested.
  - USADA did a good job of killing two birds with one stone.
  - They received the education piece just through testing.
Jon Whiteman-
- Thank you for the feedback. We’re always looking for feedback and thoughts.
Gina Kavesh- WSBA
- We didn’t hear about the Joe Martin Stage Race regarding the women’s categories.
  - Can we see those stories in a publication to let more people know?
  - Makes a stronger argument to the average member to show testing is actually happening out there.
Jon Whiteman-
- We talked about this optin with the communication team.
  - There are many pros and cons in each direction and we’re still on the fence.
  - We have elected not to announce it at this point, but we could go the other way and end up announcing. It just depends.
  - We don’t want to tip anyone off.
Gina Kavesh- WSBA-
- Can you just let us know about the categories that were tested, but reveal the event?
- All of us on the west coast didn’t hear about it and it would be valuable coming out of USAC to let everyone know it’s really happening since no one really believes it.
Jon Whiteman-
- This is completely doable
  - I will try to tackle that in my next update.
Bruce Dunn– ABC-
- USADA left it to the very last minute in regards to announcing amateur testing.
- We knew UCI men and women testing was coming, but no one knew it was going to be done at the amateur level.
- I didn’t know until the day before so it was done properly.
Chuck Hodge- chodge@usacycling.org
- Mechanical doping- Just say no.
- There are equipment guides out there that are pretty consistent.
- We already have some regulations in place in our rule book.
- Officials do have the ability to inspect bikes at any time during the event.
  - We direct officials to not pull apart bikes at the event because we don’t want to cause any damage
  - This creates safety issues
- This is a pretty complex issue. For example there could be 100+ bikes out at a pro race and it’s difficult to check every bike.
  - It’s a pretty time consuming process to do the inspection.
- If you feel like something suspicious is going on we can take appropriate action just like we do for medical doping
- Disk break issue
  - The UCI has reinstituted the ban on disc breaks due to an injury.
  - The UCI never really passed the regulation saying disk breaks were allowed, they just extended a test.
  - They rescinded testing.
  - If you have any evidence disk breaks are dangerous please it forward to me.
  - The concern is that do provide increased breaking
    - A lot of members invested on disc breaks and we don’t want to ban them after members may have spent money.
  - Once we make a decision, we will send a notice out to everyone.
Gina Kavesh-WSBA-
- What does that mean for the individual going to Nationals or UCI rating?
Chuck Hodge-
- I discussed this with the UCI and we made a decision that for the domestic events we will allow disc breaks.
- UCI events are under UCI rules they are under their regulations and must abide by them.
Jeffrey Hansen- jhansen@usacycling.org
- Experienced one days
  - We are trying to get this out the door as soon as possible
    - Had some delays internally as a result of Todd leaving as well as the data breach.
    - I am hesitant to set a hard deadline.
      - We have an internal deadline, but I’m careful not to over promise.
    - Working to get this system up and running so we can get this online for the future.
    - Stay tuned.
Joan Hanscom- jhanscom@usacycling.org
- I’d like to give an update on NACS and an insurance comparison we’re working on.
- VeloNews is looking to do a story sometime in June
- We are working on a comparison document as well as a document listing questions all event directors should ask their current insurance provider.
- We were able to get a look at the NACS policy and there are differences between the coverages and offerings compared to our policy.
  - We will have a document out shortly that should address some of the gaps
Stefanie Larson-
- Our new logo should be finalized soon. Keep an eye out for the launch.
- Medals
  - This year we’re going to try to phase out the flag and wheel logo.
  - This will be a year of transition where we will have both logos out in the field. The roll out process will be gradual and this also goes for all other items as well- not just medals.
  - Please don’t to throw out your flag and wheel medals.
    - We don’t have enough money in the budget to replace all counts.
  - Hopefully by 2017 all medals with the flag and wheel logo will be used and completely phased out.
  - We also ask those of you who will end up with both the old and new logo, to make sure you aren’t mixing them on the podiums so that they’re at least separated by category.
  - Since we’re waiting for the new logo to be finalized, we’re waiting to order the new batch of medals.
    - If you need your medals during the month of May or June please send me an e-mail slarson@usacycling.org with the medal count for those months only so we make sure you’re covered.
- Symposium-
  - This year we are looking to do a super symposium again where we combine LAs, RDs, Teams, and Officials with us ending with Sport Committee meetings.
  - Our tentative dates are the last week of October.
  - In order to accommodate all groups we are looking to stagger your meetings so people with multiple roles don’t miss out.
  - As on now we’re looking to have LA meetings on Thursday October 27^th and Friday, the 28^th.
  - Once we finalize the schedule we will send it out to all of you.
- Monthly call times-
  - During our last call we discussed the possibility of alternating our monthly call time.
  - I didn’t receive much feedback on the survey I sent out to all of you.
  - Can we do a quick vote over the phone on whether this is something we want to implement?
  - If you’re in favor of alternating call times please speak up now.
  - Silence.
  - We’re keeping our 10:45 am call time the last week of the month on Wednesdays.

Thank you.

This Article Updated July 14, 2016 @ 07:48 PM For more information contact: