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NEBRA Promoter Summit Announced *UPDATED*

January 5, 2016 By jd

NEBRA will be hosting our Promoters Summit on Sunday, January 31. The Summit will be held at the Eastworks building in Easthampton, Massachusetts. This is a full day event, featuring a number of talks and group discussions geared towards making 2016 a productive and successful season for New England cycling. We encourage both event promoters and potential promoters in the New England region to attend. Promoters attending the summit will be eligible to participate in the 2016 NEBRA Promoters Support program, a group of initiatives including discounted event supplies, NEBRA grant and loan programs, social media promotion and cobranded promotional materials. Promoters wishing for their event to be considered for inclusion in the 2016 NEBRA Trophy Series are also asked to attend the Summit.

Our speakers will include NEBRA staff, regional officials and event promoters.

Our agenda is:
10:00-10:30 • Welcome, check-in, coffee and networking time.
10:30-11:00 • A State of the Region presentation.
11:00-12:00 • An event scheduling discussion moderated by NEBRA and geared towards establishing the flow of the calendar and working through scheduling issues.
Noon-1pm lunch (on your own, Riff’s Joint is directly across the hall)
1:00-1:30 • A group discussion on event registration trends: what the modern registration trends look like for event directors and how to best work in this new landscape.
1:30-2:30 • An in-depth “Best Practices” talk on increasing rider turnout and putting on high-quality events.
2:30-3:00 • A discussion of the use of motorcycles as marshals and officials and how they can best benefit events.
3:00-4:00 • Open discussion/overflow
4:00-4:30 • Wrap up – Thank Yous – Networking time

Map and Directions can be found here.

There are plans for limited web streaming of the Summit, but in order for the group discussions to be productive, and to be eligible for the Promoters Support program, we strongly encourage in-person attendance. The interaction between our regions promoters is a big reason for the success of New England’s events, and we would like to continue that theme of cooperation and collaboration at the Summit.

On Prize List Parity

May 10, 2016 By jd

From todays NEBRA Promoters Google Group:

Hello All-

In light of some recent social media postings about prize lists, I wanted to address that here. I realize that some folks have very strong opinions on this subject- I count myself among them. But this is an important topic and as we look to maintain and improve cycling in New England, it is one that needs to be publicly addressed. My personal opinion as a race director, and my professional opinion as Administrator are pretty much in alignment on this, so I may waver back and forth between “we” and “I” but I’m speaking here as NEBRA’s Administrator.

As mentioned in the NEBRA Best Practices document for Race Directors we encourage prize list parity between equivalent men’s and women’s categories. I cannot encourage promoters enough to follow this suggestion. A prize list that does not offer parity is a liability to your event, and a liability to you as a promoter. If there was ever a case of “what we’ve always done” directly hurting you and your race, this is it.

A common response the suggestion of equal payouts is “the women don’t show up to race”. However, it doesn’t matter what your turnout is, we do not believe a high quality event should be basing prize lists on turnout. There is no event that I know of that pays the Cat 4 Men (almost always a larger field) more than the Pro 1/2 Men. Field size is not the determinate of current payout practices and should not be used as a justification for paying Elite Women less than Elite Men. The entry fees at an event all go towards the event budget. You can no more break out individual categories contribution to their prize list than you can parse the cost for neutral support based on who crashes more.

Women make up about 15% of the total bike racers in New England, so it is fair to say that your event registration will likely follow that split. That isn’t an excuse to shortchange the women on prize lists. A women’s field of 15 is 5% of the available women racers in New England. A men’s field of 100 is only 3.7% of the available men. To expect full women’s fields with our current demographic breakdown just isn’t realistic. Women’s race participation is growing but it will take time to catch up to the men. Events like Exeter and the New England Cyclocross Series have shown that if you offer women an equal place they will turn out in ever increasing numbers.

This is often perceived as a charged topic. And I expect that there will be a lot of sound and fury on this one. But no amount of arguing or number crunching is going to change the outcome. Prize list parity is a standard in events now. That will not change.

NEBRA is firmly committed to supporting parity. The 2016 NEBRA Trophy presented by BikeReg series will be announced shortly, and prize list parity is mandatory for those events. For State and Regional Championships prize list decisions remain up to the individual race director for this year, with a preference for events with equal prize money. Looking forward prize list parity will become a mandatory requirement for New England Regional Championships in 2017, and all State Championships in New England by 2018.

Thank You,

JD Bilodeau
NEBRA Administrator

2015

January 11, 2015 By jd

Looking to tune up your criterium skills or interested in a hands on racing skills clinic? Head down to Ninigret and check out the New England Masters Criterium Skills Clinic. https://www.bikereg.com/2015-nemca-criterium-skills-clinic
For new riders, Ninigret is the location of lots of races, including a week night series. Great spot to get into racing.

JD Bilodeau joins NEBRA Staff

April 10, 2015 By jd

The New England Bicycle Racing Association (NEBRA) is pleased to announce the addition of JD Bilodeau as full time administrator. JD will be working with Diane Fortini with his primary administrative responsibilities covering race permitting and racer upgrades.

Diane remains on the Board of Directors, will continue scheduling race officials and will assist JD while he gets up to speed on his new role.

In addition, JD will be focusing on working with race promotors, clubs, and sponsors to build the race calendar, increase the number of racers in NE, and build a new region-wide race series.

JD has been an integral member of the NE racing scene for over 20 years. He has worked to create our vibrant cyclocross scene, has been an active race promotor in the Pioneer Valley, and, through his work with Pioneer Events, is known to just about everyone who races in New England (don’t fold your race number!).

About NEBRA – The New England Bicycle Racing Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to preserve and improve bicycle racing in New England. NEBRA is also the body contracted by USA Cycling to fill the role as Local Association for New England. With the exception of JD, NEBRA is an all-volunteer organization striving to meet the needs the bicycle racing community of New England.

For information on NEBRA visit NEBRA.US, and follow them on Facebook (New England Bicycle Racing Association) and Twitter @nebranews.

Board members

John Laupheimer – President

Steve Weller – Vice President

Jim Smith – Treasurer

Paul Boudreau – Secretary

Diane Fortini – At Large

Free bibs for Junior Race Categories

May 2, 2015 By jd

NEBRA is pleased to announce that we are offering New England USAC race promoters a free set of bib numbers for use with Junior categories.
Because there are often several age groups racing at once, NEBRA has a small run of custom bibs made up with colored bands to differentiate age or gender groups. Each set of bibs is a single 1-100 number series, so easy to score and easy for the results service. Within that set of 100 are two sets of 30 and one set of 40 numbers with red, blue, and green banding.
Just one more way for riders in mixed fields to know who they are racing against, and one more way to help with scoring and prompt results.
Contact NEBRA Administrator JD Bilodeau with any questions or to reserve a set of numbers for your event.

Presenting The NEBRA Trophy

May 14, 2015 By jd

Telling the story of the New England Cycling season.

For 2015 The New England Bicycle Racing Association is pleased to announce a revisioning of the NEBRA points series. Starting with a diverse group of New England’s most prestigious events, the NEBRA Trophy will tell the story of the best all around riders in New England.

A roadmap for the future

It is our hope to add additional events and additional point tiers to the series in future years to expand the reach of the NEBRA Trophy and to elevate the level of New England Cycling events.

Series Overview

With the advent of Road-Results.com and USA Cycling ranking points it has become redundant to score every New England event for NEBRA points. By switching to a select series we can more effectively recognize the best road riders and the best road events in the New England region. This is by no means a definitive selection- in future years the series will expand to include more events and more points tiers.

Some of the first years series guidelines:

Points will be awarded 25 deep in each category

For each series category one road race and one criterium will award double points

Points standings will be available at www.road-results.com

For races with a Category 1/2/3 field, Category 3 points will come from that field

Invited Events

Lake Sunapee Road Race

Purgatory Road Race

Keith Berger Criterium

Fitchburg Criterium

Lime Rock Grand Prix

Tour of the Hilltowns

Concord Criterium

Tokeneke Road Race

The Categories

Elite Men Category 1/2

Elite Women Category 1/2

Men Category 3

Women Category 3

Masters Men 40+

Masters Men 50+

NEBRA Adds Board Members

June 2, 2015 By jd

NEBRA’s board has ammended its bylaws to increase the board size to seven from five. Lauren LeClaire and Dana Prey were appointed to the two newley created open seats. With JD Bilodeau starting as our first full-time administrator, we felt we needed more resources to back up his efforts. NEBRA’s board now consists of LeClaire, Prey, Diane Fortini, Paul Boudreau, John Laupheimer, Jim Smith and Steve Weller.

NEBRA Statement on GMSR

October 13, 2015 By jd

An open letter to the New England Cycling Community from JD Bilodeau, NEBRA Administrator-

NEBRA would like to comment on the events that occurred during this years Green Mountain Stage Race. During the second stage there were several incidents that lead to a number of neutralizations and stoppages for several fields. After the stage a number of stage and GC changes took place for the Cat 2 men as a result of incidents on the stage.

Difficulties in radio communication during the stage and delays with stage results and protest adjudication led to a general lack of information and communication for stage 2 (communiques were posted daily for all stages). The job of NEBRA, it’s associated promoters and officials is to provide a safe and fair racing experience for all those participating. We understand that some of you feel we have fallen short in this regard and NEBRA would like to apologize to those competitors who were affected by the incidents at GMSR.

As part of the post event review process NEBRA welcomes all feedback and constructive criticism. Over the past several weeks we have had ongoing discussions with the officials who were on site, the promoter of the Green Mountain Stage Race and riders in both the Pro/1 and Cat 2 fields. We feel like we now have a solid grasp of the incidents that occurred during the race, and have started to discuss strategies to help us improve not only future editions of GMSR but all cycling events in New England.

Our specific areas of focus in this ongoing review process will be race radio communication between the various fields on the road at the same time and the start/finish area, and communication between officials on the road and the riders racing. We will also focus on improving the results and protest adjudication process to ensure prompt stage and GC results, and to ensure that the protest process is clear and expedient.

NEBRA would like to thank the riders and officials who reached out during and after GMSR to help us improve the racing experience for everyone. We are committed to making New England the best region in the country for riders, promoters and officials. As always I welcome comments and suggestions and can be reached either in person at an event, by email, or through the NEBRA website, www.nebra.us. With everyones continued support we will continue to lead the way in this sport we all love so dearly.

Thank You

JD Bilodeau

NEBRA Administrator

jd@nebra.us

Suggested Revisions to USA Cycling Cyclocross Upgrade Criteria

October 13, 2015 By jd

The following are some suggested revisions to the USA Cycling upgrade criteria for cyclocross events. They were submitted for consideration by JD Bilodeau, NEBRA Administrator to the USA Cycling technical director and the USA Cycling Cyclocross Sport Committee on 10/13/2015.

———————————————————–

Hi All-

I would like to present some suggested rule revisions for cyclocross. Over the course of the past few months I’ve had numerous discussions with riders here in New England about the cyclocross upgrade criteria. I’d like to present some updated criteria that I feel would more accurately reward racers, present an additional tranche to reflect the large field sizes we normally see in cross, and streamline the upgrade process.

I’ve also received several requests to have the mandatory upgrade process automated. I realize that this is a challenge given the various types of data uploaded by promoters and timing companies. However given the number of requests for this feature I got I wanted to include it in my email.

Changes I would recommend:

Awarding upgrade points deeper in the field. Cyclocross is more akin to time trial efforts than road racing- the best riders often tend to make it to the front by the end of the race. The points depth should be more accurately reward the efforts put in by riders in cyclocross.

An additional tranche of points should be created for races with a field size of 80+. This offers larger events the ability to offer more available upgrade points, and rewards riders for competing in the largest events in their region.

Award Category 4 women one upgrade point for finishing a mass start cyclocross race, with a maximum of 10 of those points being available for 4-3 upgrades. This gives beginner women an experience based credit, similar to the Cat 5 – 4 upgrade criteria for men.

Eliminate the “2 race win” mandatory upgrade language from all cyclocross upgrades. Winning races already gives riders points. This additional upgrade criteria is redundant and generally confusing. Instead stick with points based mandatory upgrade criteria, and make those similar to the road point schedules.

Increase the points requirements for upgrading to reflect the new points tables and to mirror the road race upgrade guidelines. The amount of points required to go from one category to another should remain the same for all disciplines, and only the points distribution tables should change per discipline. Additionally, the mandatory upgrade language and points requirements should also mirror road.

I would recommend the following point distribution for cyclocross races.:

field size

placing

5-10

11-20

21-50

50-80

81+

I would also recommend changing the required upgrade points and language to:

Requirements for upgrading:

5-4: Voluntary upgrade after 5 races. Experience in 10 races is a mandatory upgrade.

4-3: Voluntary upgrade with 20 points. 30 points in 12 months is a mandatory upgrade.* ***

3-2: Voluntary upgrade with 30 points. 40 points in 12 months is a mandatory upgrade.*

2-1: Voluntary upgrade with 35 points. 50 points in 12 months is a mandatory upgrade.**

*Juniors are exempt from this mandatory upgrade

** For category 1 upgrades, only 10 of the points may be earned in races that are part of a weekly series or may be earned in master’s races.

*** Category 4 Women earn 1 upgrade point for finishing a mass start race. A maximum of 10 such points may be used for a 4-3 upgrade.

Thank you for your consideration of these proposals.

JD Bilodeau

Administrator, New England Bicycle Racing Association

jd@nebra.us

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