jayvo86

Question:

A local bike store in considering starting a race team. I was asked if I want to be the team leader. I really have no idea what I'm doing so any advice is appreciated.

mkadam68

Start with direction from the shop: What do they expect from this team? Do they want high-profile victories? Grass roots? Elite cat 1/2? Pro? Beginners? Where do they want it to be in 2-years? 5? 10?

What are they going to put into it? Discounts? Merchandise? Race fee reimbursement? Jersey's? None of the above?

Will they be the sole sponsor? Will they mind if you get others (non-conflicting, of course)?

There's just off the top o' my head. Others with more brain power will do better.

caloso

You might want to post this in the 33. There are quite a few current and former team directors and sponsors who hang out in there.

jayvo86

Not sure what the 33 is, but I originally had this post in General Cycling. Mod decided to move here I guess.

Blackdays

Race forums.

jayvo86

Basic goal is advertising for the shop.

It mostly going to be about showing up to events and flying the colors. I'm going to try to work out a deal for placing well, but it is up for discussion.

Team is going to be invite only for all classes, but I doubt CAT 1 riders are interested. (Probably have bigger and better)

What is the store putting in to it? I have a meeting about that this wednesday.

Sponsors? Right now sole, but I'm looking into other sponsors as well.

caloso

Sorry. Road Bike Racing subforum.

lovestoride

i dont think invite only with work as well as opening it up to everyone whos interested, and maybe just having like a try out so you dont get just a whole bunch of cat 5's who have never raced before.

jayvo86

I disagree. Trying out (for me) is watching people at races and seeing who isn't already mated up with a team. The shop already has a "club" that is open to everyone. You can buy their jersey and get 10 percent off for the year. The race team would be for dedicated people who show up to the races and promote the store. All of the other races teams in the area are invite only.

urbanknight

You must have some excellent leadership qualities, or the shop didn't make a good decision on whom to ask. As someone who helped to start a junior team that had difficulty attracting members, I can tell you that you need something to offer that the established teams don't already have.

mkadam68

That's what I thought. But unless it's going to be a high-powered team (elite 1/2's, master's), IMO they'll probably find little return on investment. Of course, the geographical region/demographics can certainly reverse this.

If that's all, then, yeah, it won't amount to much. Better to take the sponsorship of the team, go to races, sponsor races, sponsor primes, organize shop rides, get team members to show up to social functions (hob-nob with friends of the sponsors), special events (shop rides mentioned).

Other racers won't care they're sponsoring another team if that's all they do. It needs to be married with other ideas that just scream about the sponsors' commitment to the sport, and the athletes in it. Doing non-racing related events helps to widen the potential customer base (there are far more non-racing riders than racers).

As far as leading said team: try to help nurture/establish social relationships among the racers. Most (all?) of the lowly cat 3, 4 & 5 racers I know are on their team because they know somebody. Not until they reach cat 1 & 2 do they start considering perks. Keep it fun, care about each other (i.e.: somebody crashes--go to the hospital). Get to know spouses & S.O.'s & kids. The utmost loyalty I ever had was to a teammate who was a good friend of mine off the bike. Help build this by scheduling regular group/team rides. Stop at coffee shops & socialize. Invite young, potential racers to these functions. Have their parents meet you at the stops. Talk with them.

Some more $0.02.

lovestoride

but most unsigned people who you feel are worthy probably have better team options. you're starting a team you need to compromise a good deal. and most teams probably started by being a ok show up tell us your interested and we'll see how you are racewise.

jayvo86

Well I've made a really good relationship with the store and especially the store manager. I've also spent a lot of money their. But the biggest reason I am such an advocate for the store is they helped me in a time of need. (FOR FREE) They really have my loyalty.

Thanks for everyones advice!! I've actually already a team invite that had pretty good perks. But over all, I think I want to support the LBS more than some race team I know little about. If I can do that with a little incentive, then I'm game.

As far as others, I've already found some guys that have passion for riding and showing up for the events.

jayvo86

Good Point!

miyata man

If you plan on acting and directing in this play you should realize your own goals at the expense of no one else's. To go with that the teams goals shouldn't come out of your personal expenses. It may end up being a nearly full time second job you are paying to work. Given the amount of personal time racing, training, and wrenching can eat up a clear defining of duty can only be beneficial to the team and its sponsor.

EventServices

This is a funny thing. The more printing you cram onto a jersey, the less effective it is. Yet, every team wants to look like a pro team not realizing that we're in two very different worlds.

If you're more interested in flying the colors, then what's the invite selection criteria?

Again, is this a team that's going to use tactics and build a reputation of winning/attacking? Or just be a friendly group of riders who present a good image for the shop?

Anyone who has a job should NOT have their hand out looking for free stuff. Juniors and college kids are about the only ones who need free stuff. Don't get too caught up on buying your teammates.

I don't need free Clif Bars. I would give my house in exchange for three teammates who know how to race.

Are we signing contracts now? Did I miss a step in the evolution of amateur racing? (I know you were just saying "unattached" in a different way.)

I have some pretty strong feelings on building amateur teams. I think the emphasis should be on ...
- riding like a team/teaching tactics
- presenting a positive image for the sport
- junior development

Not on...
- funding a hobby for someone who can pay for it themselves.
- having so many teammates that you don't know who's going to show up at any given race

But that's just me. I'm new at this.

hammy56

cheeky.

urbanknight

Who said anything about STUFF? All I said is you need SOMETHING the other teams don't offer. I left that failing team for one reason alone: I wanted teammates (just as you said). Most teams offer something physical, but few amateur teams offer important stuff like a dedicated coach, teammates with the same goals (and races) in mind, organized group rides and training clinics, and centrally located teammates (easier to train together). One a one-on-one level, you could offer a promising rider - who is otherwise not recognized by other teams - a team captain position and find a way to entice 3 good lead-out men to race for him.

When I got back into racing a few years ago, the first team I joined gave out free stuff. I still left after that season because the owner - who claimed to be interested in grassroots racing - rarely showed up to a Cat 4 or 5 event, even if it was only a couple hours before his beloved Pro team went on. He raised team kit pricing in order to better fund that beloved team (not a problem had he been honest about it). Finally, he talked down to team members for communication breakdowns caused by him. I went to a team that didn't give anything for free, but it had a huge team mostly living within a 20 mile radius and the captain was knowledgeable and supportive.

Sorry, but I just don't know where you got the idea that I said STUFF.

jayvo86

Invite criteria will be for those who are dedicated to showing up to events and promoting the store. Doesn't have to be all or even most...

Team is going to have a reputation of providing a good image of the shop. As the group develops, we'll see where it goes.

As for as the sponsor thing...it was just an idea. I don't necessarily want to cram every little thing on the jersey.

carpediemracing 

Make sure everyone gets along with everyone. There's always a few people in the area you really don't want to hang out with, and if they end up on the team, it's unpleasant. It's worse when you have a pretty good set up with the team, where you are always getting together for races, rides, food. If you don't want to spend a couple hours in a car with someone, car pooling to a race or having dinner or on a training ride, you probably don't want to be on a team with them.

Charity rides really open up non-racers' eyes. A long time ago a bunch of the guys on the team decided to do two laps of a local metric century (led and encouraged by the then team captain, who was good at pulling these kinds of efforts from people - he convinced most of us to do it because the state road race seemed within reach of everyone due to the flatter parcours and it happened to be about 200km long). We did the first lap with about 30 riders, the second with maybe 15. For many of us it was a bit unknown - I know for me it was the furthest I'd ridden "at speed", i.e. in a group, with pressure on all the time, going hard on the (short) hills.

We inevitably picked up riders who were dangerous/squirrelly/uneducated/misinformed etc. Instead of yelling at them (see BF thread around here about that), we drove the pace super high to drop them. The safer riders hung out fine, but I don't recall any of them doing even one full lap with us - different goals for different folks.

We were nice, polite, and rode pretty fast (relatively speaking). And literally for 4-5-6 years after that, people would come in and mention the team in that ride. The "Man, I still remember that ride where you guys were on your second loop and I was on my first and you just flew by me. It was awesome!"

(On an aside - I remembered passing many of those non-racers, and we passed a bunch of them on our first lap - but after a few years, they were convinced we were on our second lap when we passed them.)

Because we were nice/polite, and we're "normal people" (i.e. you can find us at work during the week), the non-racers really appreciated what we did. We weren't jerks, we treated everyone the same (except when we upped the pace, but that's a self-preservation thing). It's how things ought to be.

The rest of the discussion seems good, I'll leave it at that.

cdr