san-@juno.com

It states right on the card that comes in the mail with OBRA membership:

"OBRA membership will also allow you to enter races organized by other

Federation of Independent Cycling Association (FIAC) member organizations

without purchasing another membership. These organizations include:

American Bicycle Racing (ABR), American Cycling Association (ACA,

formerly BRAC), Northern California Nevada Cycling Assoc, (NCNCA)."

According to this statement, both an ABR and OBRA membership are not

needed.



Also, having attended the NORBA meeting I noticed several things. USAC

seems concerned with jr racers; however, much of their concern is for the

elite juniors (if not all their concern). The price for a junior license

in USAC will be going up to $35, which is $35 more than what juniors pay

in Oregon. For some reason, the NORBA big whigs think that junior

riders' parents buy them several thousand dollar bikes and therefore

should not be opposed to a $35 license fee. Being a junior myself, I

know that this thought is absurd. I have been talking to juniors lately

about this and getting opinions; they want to stay with OBRA. In Oregon,

we are trying to entice junior racers into the scene with free licenses

and reduced entry. Going to NORBA would eradicate much of what we have

tried to do for juniors. Do those few juniors that qualify for training

camps and development programs justify a major price increase for the

majority of juniors who do not?



-Chris Sandmel



"Anybody who rides a bike is a friend of mine" -Gary Fisher





Paul Hammer wrote:



"u are saying that i should spend $20 for obra

membership and $20 for ABR and another 30 or more for

USCF. That is getting a little out of hand. oh, and

on top of that in ohio we have a man doing his own

series where one has to join that membership. i am a

member in 4 racing organizations. i have spent a good

70 dollars on membership. USAC has made a wise

business choice. if they recognize points from obra

and the 80% (guessing) of riders that just race in

oregon don't have a membership in USAC. where do they

get there funds to hold olympic training camps...send

out news letters... better the sport of cycling.

again i stress this is friendly conversation. i

have promoted several races myself... helped organize

abr, NCCA committees... just to give myself some

credit of my ideas

obra is amazing. going to the crawfish race... i

was dumbfounded by the signs, fencing, communication

etc. my races have been done with carboard signs and

markers. that was excepted as very well done. that

was caused by lack of direct contact from USCF or USCA

with the event. they made sure an offical was there

and i did all that was to be done.

"again...well done to obra!"

paul hammer

--- Mike Murray <mmur-@teleport.com> wrote:

 Paul Hammer wrote:

"i strongly oppose of different organizations like

OBRA and ABR because of

the simple fact that if JR's and Senior men want to

advance at a national

level they must have points from USCF or NORBA.

They can't go to USCF and

say that they have so many points in ORBA and be

upgraded."



This is not an unsolvable problem and the solution

is in USAC's (USCF and

NORBA) hands. All they have to do is recognize

other organization's races

for upgrading purposes. It would be to their

advantage to do that since it

would serve the dual purpose of allowing them to

identify talented riders

and also to encourage participation in USAC events.

So far they have chosen

not to do this, to my mind a bad business maneuver.

I think that they only

real reason that they don't recognize the

alternative organization's

upgrades is because this allows them to cling to the

idea that they have a

monopoly on the market of providing bike races.

They are wrong.



Currently all of the alternative organization

recognize upgrades regardless

of the sanctioning organization, i.e. you CAN go to

OBRA or ABR with points

from USCF races and get upgraded. It just doesn't

work in reverse.



I have had several conversations with the USAC staff

on this subject. They

claim that their board members have prohibited them

from adopting a policy

of cooperating with the alternative organizations in

upgrading riders. As

the alternative organizations become more successful

USAC will need to

recognize the reality of the situation and change

this policy. In order to

facilitate this I would suggest that people contact

the USAC staff and board

members and let their opinions be known. To this

point USAC has elected to

ignore the membership's opinion on this and on many

other subjects.

However, if USAC is to continue to operate they will

need to change in this

regard.



Mike Murray



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Walt Luelling

Here is my 2 cents worth on the NORBA situation: [On soap-box mode]



Under OBRA the mountain biking scene in Oregon is healthier, and the event

schedule is fuller than it ever was under NORBA.



While NORBA's good intentions are laudable (if they are real), the fact

remains that NORBA is owned outright by USAC, and that is where the real

decisions are made, and where the policies established. While USAC wants

our money each year, they have amply demonstrated that they really could

not give a rip less about you and I!



The bottom line is that most of us belong to OBRA because cycling is fun,

and we enjoy it. Most of us will never compete professionally at the

national or international level, and virtually none of us will ever compete

in the Olympics, and those two areas are all that matter to USAC.



It does not make sense to say that we should abandon the OBRA model just

because it will not work at the national level. Whether it would work or

not at the national level, it certainly is working at the state level, and

that is where the vast majority of us are cycling.



Worrying about what happens to OBRA should the Murrays "bail out" is also a

waste of time. That may happen someday, and if it does, others of us will

just have to step up and take over part of that work. But by their own

admission this problem is not even on the horizon. They may outlast all of us!!



There is also the problem of how we support the young up-and-coming riders

who may be able to turn professional, and/or have a chance to compete for

the Olympics. Such Oregon riders should be supported by us directly. We do

it with personal checks and/or by adding a few dollars per year to the OBRA

license. Such a method is cheaper for each of us than the USAC method

because the recipient gets every dollar contributed, instead of pennies on

the dollar that we contribute.



What must happen in mountain biking is that more of us must get involved at

the OBRA administration level, so the Jim Fischer and Randy Dreiling won't

burn-out from trying to do it all.



In the "put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is" mode, I will volunteer my time,

and travel at my own expense to be an OBRA rep at mountain bike races. If

three or four others will volunteer to do the same, none of us would be

unreasonably burdened. Come on, I know there are others of you out there

who could do this also! Let's get involved and make it work!



OBRA is working well for Oregon mountain bikers, and we should continue to

support it!



[Off soap-box mode]



Regards,

Walt Luelling

Klamath Falls

luel-@cdsnet.net

800-593-5953 ext. 100 (Days)

541-883-1058 (Evenings)