phatmonkey

My wife is an incredible PR person and has contacted several people about sponsoring me in races. In talking with them, she mentioned their name and logo on my jersey.

My question is, what do I do now?
Would you start a usac team?
Would you take the money and get a few jerseys printed to wear?

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

woodduck

bring thier money to a club you want to join.

Speak to the club president and get the logos on next years kit etc.

buy some stuff for the club, bikes for juniors, track bikes, megaphones, computers, anything.

ridethecliche

+1

Take the cash to a club that you'd like to race for, has a good juniors program, and does good PR work for cycling in the community!

jkizzle

well, since i know where you are coming from, i dont know how well the bringing the money to a club woudl work. bgcc is awfully big, and the race team (at least i think) is not separate in sponsorship from the main club, so i dont know that logos would work with them. there are other teams, such as mcdonalds/mullet ranch, pedal the planet, and commonwealth eye/pedal power that might be easier to come to.

realistically, to start your own team, you would need many thousands of dollars to subisidize costs of jerseys, entries, travel, etc. i think for the UK team, our kit order (min. order of 25 kits) was something along the lines of $2000. get in touch with some of the team coodinators, go on some group rides, and see which team you feel you can develop with. in the long run that is the most important, i would have quit trying to race long ago if i hadnt of been with a group of guys as bad and as inexperienced as me that are all interested in improving. if the team is focused on winning big races, like schellers is, your money will be spent on the top guys, not you and the guys you will develop with.

if you need help finding those people, google "lexracing" and post up a message or get in touch with Christopher R from the bluegrass cycling club, he runs their race team and likely knows a lot more than me about other teams and starting race teams (he revived the bgcc race team this year).

aicabsolut

Also if you have your own USCF club, you need to sponsor a race, which could be a huge pain if you don't form a big enough club, can't put up the cash for officials and other costs up front (to be recouped by entries), or if getting all the necessary permits and closures is a big hassle in your area.

toothless

Can you have sponsors on your kit if you do not have a club/team?

ElJamoquio

Technically, no, and you can be DQ'd. I doubt that would happen in reality.

carpediemracing 

I think you could if you're a Cat 3-5, but I doubt it. If not, just spend $125 or whatever and you're a team.

However, the spirit of the rule is that to earn the right to wear sponsors logos, you ought to give to the sport as well, and the way everyone needs to pay their dues is to promote a race. Clubs/teams need to promote a race to remain in good standing. Most clubs/teams require their members to help promote the race, even if it means just marshaling for a race or two.

The thing that allows racing to grow is races. Without races the rest of the infrastructure collapses.

So, ideally, you'd join a team that will stay in existence because they help promote a race. This way your expensive kit won't be unraceable next year.

Or, if you start a team, you also promote a race.

There are ways small teams get around this race requirement, or teams whose riders don't care about "promoting racing". They just piggy back on another team's work, usually in exchange for money or volunteers. There is a rule limiting how many teams can piggy back on one event now, since there were races with 5 or 6 teams "helping". I suppose it helps if they pay some money (say $1000 towards the prize money) but ultimately it reduces the number of races and makes the whole racing scene a little less consistent.

I don't know of a good way of making teams actually promote races. It'd be interesting to see how many teams there are if there is, say, a $2000 deposit required to start or continue a team. Then, after they hold a race, they get their deposit back, with interest. Teams that don't hold races forfeit the deposit, and the money goes towards things that help cycling (NEBRA offers grants, they have a lot of money for that stuff), perhaps things that help promoters (numbers, forms, officials, etc). If the pain were such that it'd be hard to maintain a team without holding a race, we'd see a LOT more races around. And a lot fewer teams.

cdr