"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Racing in non-regestered organization's kit

I've been riding with a local group for a little over a year. We're getting a kit made up with our local sponsors, our logo and so on, and I'd like to be able to wear it sometimes when I'm racing (cat 5).

The group is not registered with USAC and is not a race club or team. I will however be competing unofficially with a fellow member of the group in races in the area. Will there be any issue with one or both wearing the kit to race in?

I could see it going either way because we:

Would not be representing an organization (club or team) registered with USAC
Said organization does not appear on our licenses
We could appear to be representing ourselves as a registered club/team if we wear the same kit


What are y'all's thought's on this? I have read through the rule book for this but am unclear on the interpretation for this scenario.

You can wear whatever you want I have done that in the past. No biggie.

They will tar and feather you on the spot.

I assume you're racing as "unattached". In that case, I think you can wear pretty much any jersey as long is it is not from another official team, since you are not a member of that team. Pretty sure the officials & refs have more important things to worry about. Bring a generic jersey in your bag just in case.

I assume you're racing as "unattached". In that case, I think you can wear pretty much any jersey as long is it is not from another official team, since you are not a member of that team. Pretty sure the officials & refs have more important things to worry about. Bring a generic jersey in your bag just in case.

Or race in a wife beater - oh wait you have to have sleeves.

if you squeal like a pig, you're good to go.

if you squeal like a pig, you're good to go.

You know where I live so I tend to stay quiet...

(b) Advertising may appear only on the uniform, including caps, shoes, and helmet of riders who are racing members of sponsored clubs [disqualification for other advertising]. The club's name must appear on the front and back or two sides of the jersey. The name may be abbreviated.

If it's a non commercial club/team and you don't have product/company names on there you're fine. Believe it or not once in a while they enforce this stuff.

(b) Advertising may appear only on the uniform, including caps, shoes, and helmet of riders who are racing members of sponsored clubs [disqualification for other advertising]. The club's name must appear on the front and back or two sides of the jersey. The name may be abbreviated.

If it's a non commercial club/team and you don't have product/company names on there you're fine. Believe it or not once in a while they enforce this stuff.

What if you are wearing a Livestrong Jersey??? :notamused::roflmao:

(b) Advertising may appear only on the uniform, including caps, shoes, and helmet of riders who are racing members of sponsored clubs [disqualification for other advertising]. The club's name must appear on the front and back or two sides of the jersey. The name may be abbreviated.

If it's a non commercial club/team and you don't have product/company names on there you're fine. Believe it or not once in a while they enforce this stuff.

Hmm, I read that passage as speaking to the placement of permitted advertising, not that advertising was prohibited to be worn by unattached license holders. We have sponsorships from a local shop, Bike Barn, and a website. Would those logos prohibit our wearing the jerseys?

Hmm, I read that passage as speaking to the placement of permitted advertising, not that advertising was prohibited to be worn by unattached license holders. We have sponsorships from a local shop, Bike Barn, and a website. Would those logos prohibit our wearing the jerseys?

If you're not an active (affiliated) club with USAC, yes. Actually came up at the TXBRA meeting Saturday. Likelihood of being enforced is probably slight.


1E. Affiliated Clubs and Teams
1E1. Cycling clubs may affiliate with USA Cycling on an annual basis, and the name of the club will appear on the USA Cycling license of the member. A given club may also have a separate race team, which may also be shown on the license.
1E2. Club registration requires the paying of an annual fee described in the Schedule of Fees.

1E6. Sponsorship. Any affiliated road or track club in good standing which has promoted a race open to members of other clubs in the current or previous calendar year shall be eligible for sponsorship.

What if you are wearing a Livestrong Jersey??? :notamused::roflmao:

Depends if you're Serena or not.

I assume you're racing as "unattached". In that case, I think you can wear pretty much any jersey as long is it is not from another official team, since you are not a member of that team. Pretty sure the officials & refs have more important things to worry about. Bring a generic jersey in your bag just in case.

can i race in my school's kit? i was not on the cycling team when i was still in school however i am an alum...

can i race in my school's kit? i was not on the cycling team when i was still in school however i am an alum...

Not if it's an affiliated club that has a cycling team. We had a guy who was wearing his old team's jersey and had to turn it inside out at a race.

And BTW I could give a flying if y'all race in assless chaps. 98% of the time they aren't going to care if you're a Cat 5. Just don't have a hissy if you're wearing an Astana kit and an official in a bad mood tells you it's a no-go.

Thanks for the info, Racer Ex.

Most likely no big deal. But it is technically against the rules so the official could make you wear something else.

Depends if you're Serena or not.

What if I have nice ta-ta's???

And BTW I could give a flying if y'all race in assless chaps. 98% of the time they aren't going to care if you're a Cat 5. Just don't have a hissy if you're wearing an Astana kit and an official in a bad mood tells you it's a no-go.

It is much more likely to get a pissed off official if it is unearned "colors", i.e. World or National champion jersey. Not too likely to see World champions locally, but National champions are seen on a regular basis and wearing those colors needs to be protected.

As RacerEx says, don't sweat it very much. Nobody is really going to care very much if things don't meet the letter of the law in a Cat 5 race. On the other hand, if you have a "plain vanilla" jersey I'd carry that along to the race as well just in case.

Personally I'd have a problem with racing against others if they were in assless chaps.

But on the kit thing, be ready to race with the jersey inside out. Or bring a plain jersey as a back up.

Technically someone has to earn the right to wear a jersey with logos on it. I spent a lot of time making it possible for "carpe diem racing" to be on jerseys.

Although you can race in whatever the officials will let you race in, I think that new racers need to learn a combination of "going by the rules" (because a lot of them have some valid reason for existing) and "learning how to change the rules" (because everyone who races has the opportunity to suggest and support/reject rule changes). So follow the rules as they are and if you don't like them, petition to change them.

If you and a friend want to unofficially compete together as a team, you can do it in an unofficial venue - a non-USAC one.

Once you sign a waiver saying you know and will follow all the rules, you're official, whether you like it or not.

Not an official and right now not even a great fan of USAC but someone who understands that I'm supposed to follow USAC rules if I want to do USAC races or I can not follow the rules and just not do USAC races,
cdr

What if I have nice ta-ta's???

It would be the same as if I had hair and could dunk. We'd be in a time/space where the rules of mere mortals would not apply to us.

Hmm, I read that passage as speaking to the placement of permitted advertising, not that advertising was prohibited to be worn by unattached license holders. We have sponsorships from a local shop, Bike Barn, and a website. Would those logos prohibit our wearing the jerseys?
you have to get a uci one, then you can put what ever as your team or sponsor, thats what i had to do as my team for this year is from overseas

It would be the same as if I had hair and could dunk. We'd be in a time/space where the rules of mere mortals would not apply to us.

Like this guy:

http://kellylowenstein.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/david-thompson.jpg?w=442

Personally I'd have a problem with racing against others if they were in assless chaps.

Me too. Because we'd be in the pack drafting where as Rex would be off the front. And btw isn't 'assless chaps' redundant? I believe by definition chaps are assless.

nobody cares abotu cat5
if you race in a made up non USAC team kit that isn't like "US POSTAL SERVICE" or something so obviously not you, you might get trouble and you should not do it IMO in cat4 and up.

I've been riding with a local group for a little over a year. We're getting a kit made up with our local sponsors, our logo and so on, and I'd like to be able to wear it sometimes when I'm racing (cat 5).

The group is not registered with USAC and is not a race club or team. I will however be competing unofficially with a fellow member of the group in races in the area. Will there be any issue with one or both wearing the kit to race in?

I could see it going either way because we:

Would not be representing an organization (club or team) registered with USAC
Said organization does not appear on our licenses
We could appear to be representing ourselves as a registered club/team if we wear the same kit


What are y'all's thought's on this? I have read through the rule book for this but am unclear on the interpretation for this scenario.

you could 'unofficially' compete together in plain jerseys, and have the advantage of being a bit under the radar, as opposed to 'look at us two guys with a made up team.' Frankly if you have the time and energy to worry about such a plan why not do it correctly and sign up as a club and see what the responsibilities are? It might give you some insight into why it does matter.

Not if it's an affiliated club that has a cycling team. We had a guy who was wearing his old team's jersey and had to turn it inside out at a race.

What if the team only has affiliations for collegiate racing?

(d) Club Jerseys. In competition, no rider shall wear the emblem, inscription, or uniform of any club or team which the rider is not eligible to represent [Offending rider may not be permitted to start if noted before the race; otherwise, warning for first offense]. Club jerseys must not be similar in color or design to a National Champion jersey or a USA National Team jersey.

you could 'unofficially' compete together in plain jerseys, and have the advantage of being a bit under the radar, as opposed to 'look at us two guys with a made up team.' Frankly if you have the time and energy to worry about such a plan why not do it correctly and sign up as a club and see what the responsibilities are? It might give you some insight into why it does matter.

The reason we're not forming an officially sanctioned club/team is because I know our organization doesn't have the time or resources to host a race. At this point, there's only two of us in the group that are licensed, so we'd be asking our friends for a lot of time and effort to support the two of us. While I'm sure we'd be able to get our friends on board with us, I think it premature to take that step at this time as we haven't even competed in our first race yet.

To that end, once we get some races under our belts, and have a little experience seeing how things are run, then we very well may seek to have our group registered. In the mean time, we have options before us including riding unattached, forming our own club in the future, or a few offers of sponsorship to join some of the local bike shops licensed teams.

For the record, my intent with the original post was not to change the status quo or suggest, "everyone stop what you're doing, I'm a snowflake and can do what I want," but to simply determine what the status quo is. I'm looking forward to finding these things out for my self, but like asking questions so I have some idea what to expect. Thanks everyone for your replies.

You dont need to host a race if you have no commercial sponsor.

You dont need to host a race if you have no commercial sponsor.

I hate this rule. I wish you could pay a waiver or something to be sponsored without having to host an event. Our team is small but sponsored. We're using our get out of jail card this year. There is one promoter who has pretty much locked up the racing in this part of GA so it's not like we're starved for events. We only have about 4 active racers and a few guys who are going to give it a shot this year.

I guess I could hold a really crappy cx race out on some swamp land we have. Wouldn't need permission from anybody, just an official.

"Jed's swamp ass CX series..."

I like the rule. It puts races on the calendar.

"everyone stop what you're doing, I'm a snowflake and can do what I want,"

If you were a snowflake, you'd be pretty SOL in that neck of the briar patch.

I like the rule. It puts races on the calendar.

But it's hard for small teams.

"Jed's swamp ass CX series..."

I'd race in that

My "teammates" and I raced together as unattached last year. It was fun and it wasn't like there was much team strategy in the 5s anyway. Why not just race in plain jerseys this year and work on recruiting more people for a real team next year?

I hate this rule. I wish you could pay a waiver or something to be sponsored without having to host an event. Our team is small but sponsored. We're using our get out of jail card this year. There is one promoter who has pretty much locked up the racing in this part of GA so it's not like we're starved for events. We only have about 4 active racers and a few guys who are going to give it a shot this year.

I guess I could hold a really crappy cx race out on some swamp land we have. Wouldn't need permission from anybody, just an official.

Or go to the promoter who's locked up the race calendar and see what it would take to be listed as a promoting club. Maybe pay him a fee like a waiver to be listed?

Or go to the promoter who's locked up the race calendar and see what it would take to be listed as a promoting club. Maybe pay him a fee like a waiver to be listed?

Or get enough of your team to work the event (corner marshal, set up, tear down, etc.)

But it's hard for small teams.

That's true, and no one is saying it's not hard. At the same time a training race (or training race series) isn't as tough as a "real" race (downtown crit or road race on long circuit/loop). I've also seen small teams with inspired members hold insanely big events.

A small team doesn't have to hold an event - they can always help a larger team (or standalone promoter) in holding a race - a regular race can have two clubs listed on their permit.

The idea is that if all the racers just raced, there'd be no races. Therefore no racers. Viscous cycle so to speak. By helping out, a club can help return something to the sport. And proudly wear their kits at races (officially).

Inspired by a similar thread here:
http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/2011/01/racing-promoters-racers-racers.html

It's not directed at the OP in particular, but I think that a lot of new racers don't know why some rules exist. I know I don't know why some rules exist, but right now I can't think of any of them lol. My mind is like mush momentarily so I also can't think of specific rules in general either so that explains part of it.

cdr

Or go to the promoter who's locked up the race calendar and see what it would take to be listed as a promoting club. Maybe pay him a fee like a waiver to be listed?

That's definitely a valid option. I'd encourage any small team to think about that, even if you don't come talk to me :)

I semi-jokingly said in my blog post above that I'd be glad to put any club on a permit I (will) have for $1500 per permit. I have 6 half openings (i.e. I'll be on 6 of them, two clubs per permit, therefore I have 6 open spots). I can tell you that although $9k doesn't cover the whole budget for 6 races, not even by half, it would certainly go a long way towards me getting some of my seed money back.

Although most promoters don't promote to make money, it helps to clear a grand or two. It really sucks when you promote and end up paying to hold an event. I know someone who pays probably $20-25k a year to promote races. I can't believe that he's doing this, but he must be masochistic or something. He's not independently wealthy or anything either - he certainly doesn't have an expensive bike or car or anything. But he feels so strongly that he ought to promote races that he does, even if it costs him a lot of money to do so. I'm out about a tenth of that a year, so that's more palatable, and I'm okay with that.

cdr

So when you get on as a promoter is it as the club or the team? Would I request to be listed as X Cycling Club or XYZ Racing?

We have a small team. For several of the 17 years the team has been in existence it's either been part of a larger club, we've paid to be part of a promoter's race (and provided support), or put on our own events.

But it's hard for small teams.

You make me feel old when you put me in a position like this, but...

join a bigger club
race unattached
or my personal favorite, "when we get done promoting our race I'll play my violin for you."

So when you get on as a promoter is it as the club or the team? Would I request to be listed as X Cycling Club or XYZ Racing?

This is what I see for last year's permit info from two different permits I took out:
Sponsoring Club #1
Club ID 10377
Name Carpe Diem Racing
(This is me - it's really sort of a one man club, initially formed in this version simply to be a promoting entity)

Sponsoring Club #2
Club ID 9xxx
(Name withheld because it's not mine to give out)

For a different week:
Sponsoring Club #1
Club ID 745
Name Exposition Wheelmen
(This is the club I race for, but they also held a series of time trials - 17 of them - during the summer)
So it looks like you just put Club ID (it's the same pull down as when you do a license and select your club).

cdr

186623
I've been riding with a local group for a little over a year. We're getting a kit made up with our local sponsors, our logo and so on, and I'd like to be able to wear it sometimes when I'm racing (cat 5).

The group is not registered with USAC and is not a race club or team. I will however be competing unofficially with a fellow member of the group in races in the area. Will there be any issue with one or both wearing the kit to race in?

I could see it going either way because we:

Would not be representing an organization (club or team) registered with USAC
Said organization does not appear on our licenses
We could appear to be representing ourselves as a registered club/team if we wear the same kit


What are y'all's thought's on this? I have read through the rule book for this but am unclear on the interpretation for this scenario.

you will need one of these, to race for a non usac team/club

You make me feel old when you put me in a position like this, but...

join a bigger club
race unattached
or my personal favorite, "when we get done promoting our race I'll play my violin for you."

It's our first year. Two local small business owners who ride wanted to get kits with their names on them on the backs of the racers. There's all of 4 of us racing now and about 10 guys/gals with kits at this point. I may get a few more around March. I'll try the co-promote route, but I guess my concern is if that falls through what happens to the official "team" status with USAC? The club is registered and I have a sponsored team associated with the club. In effect it's all the same entity.

In my first race ever, I wore an old Saeco team jersey my wife had bought me. At the time, it was the tightest fitting jersey I owned and I wanted the aere advantage - it is too big now.

I don't think anyone really cares. In fact, half the time, they don't record my team affiliation at races or list it in the results.

And this year, I"m actually a member of two USAC recognized organizations - one is a cycling club that I am going to be a member of, the other is a racing team that I will race with.

It's our first year. Two local small business owners who ride wanted to get kits with their names on them on the backs of the racers. There's all of 4 of us racing now and about 10 guys/gals with kits at this point. I may get a few more around March. I'll try the co-promote route, but I guess my concern is if that falls through what happens to the official "team" status with USAC? The club is registered and I have a sponsored team associated with the club. In effect it's all the same entity.

Slopes are slippery. I could build a powerhouse team with that many guys who would do some 250 races between us. Can we get out of putting on a race too?

Slopes are slippery. I could build a powerhouse team with that many guys who would do some 250 races between us. Can we get out of putting on a race too?

Yes!

:D

Point taken. I've reached out to the promoter who does the Georgia Cup but haven't received a response. I am seriously considering hosting a low key cx race out in the swamp.

I just mapped the course on google earth. 1,600m. Not bad.

I'm going through some negotiations with a new club who wants to be on a permit. I'm basically asking for about $1000 of stuff to get them on the permit, as well as some volunteer help/marshaling.

This is the "I know you've been around for a while - like 20+ years - and I know your intentions are good and I respect you as a bike racer" discount.

cdr