mike.m-@obra.org

The race organizer signs out all the equipment. After that it is his

responsibility to keep track of it. I have, in the past, created sign out

sheets for the radios to facilitate this but they were ignored, not used,

etc. There is only so much babysitting of race organizers that we can do.

Personally I think that each race organizer needs to have a single person

who watches over the equipment and does nothing else. Even better would be

to have that position and also a communications manager who does nothing but

race communication which would include handing out radios and keeping track

of who they were handed to. Unfortunately, what most organizers do is try

to do everything themselves.



Mike Murray



-----Original Message-----

From: David Kerchinsky [mailto:kerch-@hotmail.com]

Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2003 15:46 PM

To: mike.m-@obra.org; ob-@topica.com

Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] OBRA equipment





In regards to the radios, maybe have a sign out sheet so it is easier to

keep track. A little time consuming but it's better than loosing a radio.







David Kerchinsky

North River Racing

Camas Day Races July 27 & Aug 3

Southwest Washington's Cycling team!

http://www.northriverracing.org



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David Kerchinsky

In regards to the radios, maybe have a sign out sheet so it is easier to

keep track. A little time consuming but it's better than loosing a radio.







David Kerchinsky

North River Racing

Camas Day Races July 27 & Aug 3

Southwest Washington's Cycling team!

http://www.northriverracing.org



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mike.m-@obra.org

As you all are aware, OBRA supplies equipment to race organizers. Having a

single organization own the equipment rather than having each organizer have

to purchase what he needs keeps costs down. This makes for more reasonable

entry fees and higher quality events.



This system makes 2 things important. One is inventory control and the

other is timely return of equipment.



Unfortunately keeping control on the inventory of equipment is very

difficult. Each race has items go missing. Things get broken. Over time

this becomes very expensive. Over the past 5 years we have lost 45 of the

orange "Bike Race Ahead" signs and tripods. These cost roughly $100/set.

Obviously they are somewhere. They have not evaporated. If you know where

any are please help get them returned to us. There is one road sign that

quite clearly was used under a stuck car tire. Tripods get run over. One

of the canopies on the truck had to be replace, at a cost of about $1000,

after only one year of service because several parts had been broken through

mishandling. If you see this sort of thing happening try to help us out by

stopping it.   Another item that goes missing frequently is race radios. If

you had one at a race and failed to return it please contact us as soon as

possible.



Timely return of equipment is also very important. There is rarely more

than a few days before the equipment from one race is used at another.

Unfortunately it is very common for someone to call us to tell us that they

have had a radio for 2-3 months and to ask "Do you want it back?"

Obviously, yes we do.



If every racer could realize that this equipment is community owned. We all

use it and benefit from it. Help us to keep it in our possession and in

good repair.



Mike Murray

mike.m-@obra.org

At some point either early this season or late last season someone broke one

of the arms and tore the canvas on the OBRA truck's side canopy.

Unfortunately it went unnoticed for a period of time so assessing blame and

financial responsibility is no longer possible. I just returned from

setting up getting this fixed where I found out that this will cost over

$750. This is a pretty big line item on OBRA's budget and should really not

have happened if adequate care was taken.



My point in sharing this is to try to get everyone to realize that the "OBRA

stuff" is not something that belongs to a faceless organization but is

really all of our stuff. Every race there are lost or broken items. The

lost items are rarely returned. Generally the race organizer is charged for

these items but sometimes this is not possible. Even when it is the cost

comes out of money that might have otherwise been used to put on a better

race or have a bigger prize list.



If you have responsibility for the equipment at any point please make sure

that it is cared for and returned appropriately. If you see someone else

not taking care of the equipment adequately do what you can to stop them or

at very least make sure we know about it. If you see someone using a

Visegrips or garden rake or something to pry out the canopy please shoot

them.



Mike Murray