Hello RMCCC,

   Welcome back from what I hope was a fun filled and crazy summer.  One of the highlights of my summer was being on on l'Alpe D'Huez to watch Sastre launch his tour winning attack!   Wow!    But once again summer has to end and the fall semester and mountain bike season is upon us. As you come back to school and get your teams together here is a short list of items to discuss.  Please read and pass along to your team.  If you have any questions or would like to add any discussion items, let me know.

1.      Licenses: Register teams / riders on USAC website and get licenses.  This can be done at www.usacycling.org .  Every team needs to be in current and good (paid) standing. Everyone racing in category A must have an annual collegiate license (not just a USAC license).  If you are racing in the B or C categories you may purchase one day licenses.  When you register as an individual, make sure your license category is correct for mountain and be sure to list your collegiate team. 

2.      Categories and Upgrading:  Collegiate categories have now been fully correlated with USAC categories.  This means that you must follow USAC regulations for upgrading.  It will work best if upgrade requests can be made online before the season begins (for those of you who do not feel like you are in the correct collegiate category).  Spencer and I will be able to upgrade during the season at the races, and we will be strictly following the categorization and upgrade requirements listed at http://www.usacycling.org/forms/collegiate/CollCats_CorrelationCharts.pdf and

http://www.usacycling.org/forms/collegiate/collegiate_rulebook.pdf (page 18).

3.      Races:  The race schedule for fall is posted at www.rmccc.org .  If you are promoting a race, please be sure to check to make sure data is correct, get flyers to me on time, and work on securing host housing for your race.  The conference PA system and generator will again be available to race promoters, provided you take care of it and keep it in good condition.  Spencer will be at the following events to announce: CSU, UWYO, FLC.  If you'd like to use the equipment on a weekend that he will not be attending, please get in touch with him or Anne to borrow it.

4.      Conference Finals:  Please note that conference finals are being broken up over two weekends.  Gravity finals will be at FLC on October 4^th and 5^th and Endurance finals will be at Mesa on October 11^th and 12^th.  The overall team omnium and teams going to nationals will be decided after the races at Mesa.

5.      Conference Volunteers:  There are four conference volunteer slots available this season.  Each volunteer agrees to be at every race and complete their required duties in exchange for free race entries for the season.

a.       Results and Points Volunteer: Help to insure that there are good results at each race. Post results to the web on Sunday night.  Assist in points calculations and results protests during the week. 

b.      Officials Volunteer:  Obtain a level C (or higher) officials license.  Help officiate all races (except while racing).  Meet with officials before each race and help with organization.

c.       Registration Volunteer:  Organize and manage registration and help maintain the rider database. 

d.      Media Volunteer:  Help organize photos and press releases for each event.  Run the PA and music when needed.  Help set up RMCCC banners and displays at races.

6.      Racing at Nationals:  The season is very short and if you want to race at nationals you need to start planning early.  National teams are selected based on total points.  We do not yet have exact allocations but we should be allowed to take the top 3 or 4 teams in each division and a few individual riders.  All riders going to nationals must be category A riders and must have raced the required number of category A races in their discipline. Be aware that races may be cancelled due to inclement weather, so you should plan on getting in your required number of races as early as possible.

7.      Team information: We need to update team information on the website.  If you can send information on your teams – contact information of the director, coach, president, race manager, etc. that would be great.  Also, if you need help in forming/reviving a team or finding a coach, sponsors, etc. let us know and we'll try to help.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the races this season,

RMCCC Directors:  Anne Spalding and Spencer Powlison

www.rmccc.org