Hello all,

 I’m finally back into the school schedule and getting readjusted.  It’s been tough making up all the work, but all in all, it was worth it! 

 For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Curtis White.  I live in Delanson, New York, I attend Duanesburg High School, and I’m 16 years old.  I started racing on the road when I was ten and started cyclocross shortly thereafter.  The LAJORS program that many of the New York race promoters supported provided a solid network of both local and regional racing.  On the cross side, my development was more organic and can be attributed to a number of local racers, namely Tom Butler, Chuck Quackenbush, and Dave Beals.  These guys had a real love for the sport and were excited to teach the skills during their weekly training rides.

 It seemed like cyclocross was really starting to catch on and the NYCROSS and the Verge Cyclocross Series offered great venues for juniors to race, learn, and develop.  Through Adam Myerson, of Cycle-Smart, I was introduced to Ben Turner, the program director of the Clif Bar Junior Cyclocross Development Team.  With Clif Bar’s help, I was recognized by Geoff Proctor, the national team coach. 

 Selection and preparation for this year’s World Championship team started back in October and November, with four UCI weekends that served as selection for December’s Euro Cross Camp.  I podiumed five out of the six races I attended, including Granogue, Cincinnati, and Louisville.  I was selected for, and attended the Euro Cross Camp, racing six races in Belgium between December 17^th and the 31^st for three top ten results.  A week after returning to the states, I had a mechanical at nationals and nearly missed the podium.  I was notified six days after nationals that my spot on the US team was however confirmed, and I would shortly be heading back to Belgium and the Netherlands.

 A short two days after arriving, team USA was off to the Hoogerheide World Cup in the Netherlands.  I came out of this round top American, in 20^th of 70.  For my first race back, and almost 48 hours after getting off the plane, I was extremely excited for my result.  Throughout the week, it was important that we eat, train, and rest all with the World Championships in mind. 

 After recovering from Hoogerheide, the US team trained on the World Championships course in Koksijde throughout the week.  All week long, the conditions kept changing. The racing was far more ruthless than any other race I had raced.  In retrospect, I may have made some mistakes in the days leading up to the World Championships.  I didn’t feel in top form, was not as fresh as I wanted to be, I ended up 32^nd of 60, 3^rd American. 

 The trip as a whole was an incredible learning experience of both racing my bike and adapting to the culture.  It was a brilliant way to top off an incredible season.  Also, being able to watch the elite mens race on Sunday, with over 60,000 spectators, was absolutely remarkable. 

 I’m looking forward to some rest and a killer road season with Hot Tubes over in Europe again this spring and summer.  We kick things off in mid-April at the Grand Prix Bati-Metallo one day classic in Belgium, rated UCI 1.1, and then the Trophee Centre Morbihan stage race in France a week later, also rated 1.1.  There’s a number of other major races on the schedule, including the Tour of Ireland, an eight day stage race.

 My goals for the road season are to develop into a more tactical rider, improve my time trialing, and learn what the euro road scene is all about.  For cyclocross next year, my goal is to podium at the World Championships on home turf.

 Without the support of family, friends, club members, race promoters, development programs, and various cycling organizations, none of this would be possible.  It seems to me, in many different ways, it’s the people behind the scenes that make this whole process work.  I feel fortunate and blessed just to be able to ride and race the bike.  Thank you for all you do for cycling.

Regards,

Curtis

2012 Race Schedule

The address is: Vestal Public Library    320 Vestal Parkway East    Vestal, NY 13850

If you can’t make it in person, you can dial in by telecon at:  310-539-2229 participant code: 110084

If you have anything you wish to see on the agenda, please let me know!

Jeff Poulin – NYSBRAPresident@gmail.com

2012 Road Race Schedule

Get out and race!

Road Race:  Bear Mountain Road Race/Harriman Springfest, 12 May, at Harriman State Park, hosted by Rod Millott of Century Road Club Association (CRCA)

Crit: Saranac Lake Downtown Criterium, 10 June, in Downtown Saranac Lake, hosted by Jim Walker of Team Placid Planet

Time Trial: NYSBRA Time Trial Championships, 22 July, Cambridge, hosted by Dieter Drake of Farm Team Cycling

https://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=7220

   Accordingly, NY has dropped Men Masters 30+ from the NY Championship categories list (attached).  As promoters, you should consider dropping that field from your events as well.

•    Running a separate “junior champ weekend” has not been feasible so junior champs will be held with the main Crit, RR, and TT events.

•    Dave Beals will collect bids for the CX champs once this CX season winds down.

NYSBRA has been working hard to build the prestige and quality of our State Champs with Championship Jerseys and grants to promoters that offer free entry to reigning champions.  These should increase participation in 2012!

Extract from our Championship Selection process:

Promoters and clubs that would like to host Championship events should indicate their interest every year in the hopes of establishing a pool of interested clubs and a fair rotation.  Although a location near the geographic or population center of the state is desirable, the goal is to allow championship events to move around the state without prejudice to location.

1.      Any club can offer to host a race up as per the schedule published on nyraces@yahoogroups.com by the NYS Schedule coordinator.  As a guideline, bids shall be due by midnight, 30 November of the previous year.  Calls for bids shall be announced on nyraces@yahoogroups.com at least 30 calendar days prior to the bid deadline.

2.      Offers to host (“Bids”) must be posted (note: as email) to nyraces@yahoogroups.com.  Bids must include:

a.      Name of promoter

b.      Name of sponsoring USA Cycling club
c.      Proposed date and location
d.      Description of course (type of terrain, condition of roads, road closure, lead/follow cars, wheel vans, safety, etc.)

e.      Description of venue (parking, facilities)
f.      Description of proposed event (fields, sponsors, prizes, any other factors)
g.      Description of previous experience hosting similar events
h.      Last year the club hosted the championship event.

3.      If there is only one bid to host an event, the offer shall be accepted.

4.      If there are multiple bids, the bidding promoters shall discuss options to achieve a consensus that resolves the multiple offers to satisfaction of all.

• No Events Available

Updated 2011 Cyclocross Schedule