Section head text.
Mother nature has done her worst and wiped out an entire weekend of races, the powers that be have callously closed off the cycling nirvana of New Jersey to area riders, and Salvatore Commesso has the Tirreno-Adriatico climber’s jersey. The confluence of these events can mean only one thing. God despises NYC cyclists.
Don’t worry, mister, you’ll get yours…
SJ
PS Anybody else wanna fuck with USAC?? Let’s do this.
If it’s typical for the USAC CEO to explain why a rank-and-file employee was fired, that’s pretty good. From what other organization would you expect that? The email was clear without being explicit – she was good at some things, not at others, and they plan to hire someone to do the things she wasn’t good at. You can disagree with his assessment of her performance, but his response – and the fact that he came out and wrote it – is commendable.
The reason why you haven’t seen anything about the LA lately is because the guy heading up the efforts is a little busy putting his race together that has over 800 pre-reg’d right now.
I’m becoming part of the process, and will be making sure that the LA works for all regions, including NYC, Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse, etc….
Alan
So wait, NYC doesn’t have someone who handles upgrades locally? In NJ, Paula Grill handles all upgrades except 2 to 1.
If anyone is looking for an upgrade, just submit it through your account on usacycling.org; it’ll get looked at.
Alan
Thanks Mike Green for posting the response from Steve Johnson. That’s a typical USAC answer, run away from the question like a scolded dog. She must of pissed somebody off; maybe she can follow in Gerard’s footsteps and sue the pants off of them!!
Alan
Honestly how difficult is this upgrade thing, as the rep if you follow the results and make a few calls and talk to some of the right people and have some knowledge about cycling it sorts itself out pretty quickly.
As far as the other duties I’m sure its all bureaucratic BS that takes a ton of time with tons of paperwork.
So give her back her job.
Are creating a statewide association (despite lack of much interest/support from NYC area and perhaps a few other places/major clubs in the state). They held a meeting last fall and decided to do it.
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/nyraces
http://spokepost.com/news/?articleID=1611
I said I don’t know much about Judy’s work, but overall that’s a good thing. Despite griping (some misguides, a little bit valid) about upgrades and such, it seems to me the wheels were turning properly under her administration. If there were lots of people clamoring for to take over her role, maybe it’d be appropriate to shake things up. But I don’t like the idea of someone doing a decent to very good job being let go like this. It disturbs me.
A few years ago, Judy proposed to us (a group of local clubs people and promoters) the idea of forming a NY-area association that would be more self sufficient regarding upgrades, categories, etc. Most of us weren’t too keen on the idea because it seemed like the USCF was asking us to do their work. But from that, it seemed to us that the regional staff (Judy, et al) was overworked and spread thinly.
What if her replacement, when announced, turns out to be someone that everyone is excited about? It sucks that someone was given thier hat and shown the door but before we start shooting down uscf, I think we should see who is put in place. I, however, dont agree with releasing a person BEFORE the replacement is found so I’m guessing the transition year or 6 months, will probably suck – which puts our organization right up there with the uci when it comes to running a tight ship.
The silence out there has been deafening, especially from USAC. Personally, I concur that this is a dark day for our cycling community, in a seeming neverending series of dark days, and will likely join this (most likely futile) email campaign to enlighten the USAC leadership of our outrage. Each of you should act (or not) as you see fit.
Gary Toth – USAC Official
Don’t know why Judy was fired. She was always helpful to me. No real inside info but the USCF is pushing hard to set up Local Assocations. The Local Associations would take care of upgrades, permits and assigning officials. An LA gets $10 for each rider in it’s area from USCF. In area’s where there are LA’s, the coordinator position(Judy’s position) is not eliminated, but I’m not sure what their main duties are. There is an open requistion for Judys’ position. They are offering $30,000.
The USCF wants to set up the LA’s to help increase membership. The LA’s have a strong incentive to get more members, $10 per member. That’s also $50 per member to USCF.
In New york Dieter Drake(Battenkill) is going ahead with forming an LA for 2008. There has been discussion among NYC people about either forming a Metro Area LA or joining with the entire State although discussion about this has pretty much stopped.
Don’t know exactly how this effected Judy. I think the USCF would be concerned if the numbers weren’t increasing enough. New York is the largest area without an LA and is seen as a large are for growth. New england, New Jersey and most of the rest of the Northeast region have LA’s.
Mike Green
sweet. i’m in! at least now i won’t have to make the decision of "cat 4 to place or cat 3 to survive"
it’ll be just one giant cluster%$#& with the tongue licking the ass in central park
Damn Sandbaggers in Cat 5
I don’t have any inside info or know how well, or not, she did her job, other than having a feeling that the job was stupidly huge.
But I note that Diane Fortini signed that note protesting Miller’s dismissal. Diane Fortine is a goddess, so my opinion of the USAC just dropped a bit more.
Schmalz is that your schtick today? Everybody gets busted to Cat5. Screw this I am joining NYRR and just to feel good about running 11 minute miles, while lining up in front of the elite runners.
But I don’t want to go back to cat 5
Everyone back to Cat 5! Time to clean house! Armstrong – Cat 5!
I’ll be taking over and you’re all busted back down to cat 5 – there’s a new sheriff in town!
Anyone know who will be taking over Judy’s upgrade responsibilities?
I’m taking up curling
I can’t say if Miller was doing a good job or not, but if our region ends up having no one in the post for half the season then it’ll be clear USAC screwed up.
Only thing ever really worked for me was to have no money to eat with. Body does what it can to keep at a weight! Good suggestions, and I’ll add one: The pros said not to keep anything in the fridge that you can grab. I’m not the only one here, unfortunately, and they are good cooks…so its to the hills to get power, and eat figs (puuuuuuuuuu) excuse me!
Steve Johnson is an asshole regardless if Judy was not upgrading NYC riders. However, I liked her methods. She made it tuff. Half you NYC riders need more bike skills anyway. Especially CRCA riders. OOO, I race in the park. Whippty do… Steven Johnson should live in NYC with you assholes.
i will get the inside info on the judy thing, i like her, i first met her about 15 years ago, i had a talk with her last year ablout the scene up here it was right after a few guys got busted for drugs. She has been slammed with protests over the years from NYC with guys cutting courses, fighting and now drugs. it is fair to say she has her opinion about nyc riders a cat 1 upgrade is very hard to get and should stay that way we are not helping things if we dont enforce a very high level code of conduct
…about why everyone who lives in NYC should now finally get that upgrade to cat 1 that they deserve.
it amazes me how many triathletes can not swim, can’t even come close to breaking 1 min for the 100 free.
I’m a bike racer and I can’t swim
Only thing ever really worked for me was to have no money to eat with. Body does what it can to keep at a weight! Good suggestions, and I’ll add one: The pros said not to keep anything in the fridge that you can grab. I’m not the only one here, unfortunately, and they are good cooks…so its to the hills to get power, and eat figs (puuuuuuuuuu) excuse me!
don’t forget the jokeys…
the judy miller saga deserves a week long epic thread!
Yeah there are great anorexic pride sites, out there, that are filled with teenage girls and 40something bicycle racers looking for the best purging techniques.
deserves its own discussion page.
I agree with the guy who said riding hills is the best motivator for a cyclist keeping food intake under control.
Yes! That’s the equivalent of the ‘I fell off the rollers and rode through a wall’ myth. Cut off the motor, swimmer shoots out of the pool.
Just FYI, eating disorders are not a matter of willpower, though that’s usually the jump made by those unfamiliar with them. If it really is an eating disorder you’re contending with, this forum is probably not the best place for help. The "tips" provided below are for people unafflicted by real eating disorders, and though well-intentioned, totally miss the target. Contact a real therapist to start to address this issue.
power cuts off, pump dies during sprint sets, and the swimmer rams the pool head first
and apparently George Hincapie’s broken wrist is preventing hincapie sportswear from getting their jerseys to certain teams on time (ahem…). god really doesn’t like us- should make for an interesting season
Endless pool race not my idea, can’t take credit. What’s the equivalent of crashing off the rollers in an endless pool?
I just eat figs all day…
drowning?
in that case, once you stop eating fruit and move on to candy, you’re "not hungry enough to continue eating fruit" but still eating. At that point slap your hand with your other hand step away from the candy until your willpower returns or you get hungry for real again.
Why would you envy a dude who is 140lbs. He may be able to climb but unless you are in the alps all day every day I am willing to be a strong rounded rider in the 170lb range will come out on top most races. Plus, I doubt any guy weighing 140lbs has an easy time picking up the ladies…
sounds too much like mtv’s road rules ish, if that’s the audience you’re going for…
Andy – I think you are on to something with the endless pool race. Would make for good spectating/betting. Slowly increasing the speed until the swimmer bonks and gets pushed into the back, setting off a loud buzzer to the joy of the crowd.
Interesting email there re Judy Miller – so beloved by NYC riders? Never once met her thus far at any NYC area races, though I guess she might have been around (was she?). If I dont see Alan Atwood signing on, I dont write…
I would start with the fruit. Then move on the cereal. Once that is done I would move over to the kidd’s school snacks, annoying the living crap out of my wife and once that is done I would start with the bad stuff like leftover Halloween or party candy and anything sweet including cliff bars or powerbar gels if I’m desparate. None of these things work for me and during times that I’m good I can’t believe that I will eat all that shit when I’m bad, but before I know it, I’m there. It seems worse in the off season. Well, I am on day 3 of being good and let’s see how it goes this time. Thanks for the comments however. I suppose there’s no easy fix for a very sweet tooth. Dentist loves it though.
Oh yes, one more thing, F@#k the flats. That is when he is hanging in the pack right next to me.
My point exactly. My threshold power say for argument sake is 330 watt and at my very best I might get to 80kg. Power to weight = 4.125. My good friend and subject of my envy is the 145lb’er (say 65kg) and that is with ease (not a record low as in my case). Now he easily putts out 300 watt at least at threshold in season = 4.61. The result = 12% more speed up the hill and quite clearly ilustrated with the more than a minute difference in stage one of GMSR.
Bridge was open and clear of ice today at about 10am
I like that rule
if you’re not hungry enough to eat a fruit, then you’re not really hungry.
Does anyone know if GWB has been reopened for cyclists? PATH closed between 6:30 and 9:30 for cyclists and ferry = too expensive.
Jesus would count calories.
I’m one of the only guys left in the team without a power meter and riding with some of my team mates recently in LA I saw the sickening effect of gravity on us heavier guys. One of the guys is a 145lb’er and on the other end of the scale is a 200+lb’er. The powertap reading was something like 330 watt for the Clydesdale and 200 watt for the featherweight while maintaining the same pace. Of course the featherweight announced that he is going to go a little faster and upped it to 260 or so and the clydesdale could not maintain the 330 because it is start of the season. You all get the picture. How I would love to trade in my 190lb body for a 140lb one.
I’m not convinced. Rabbit should stick to running and I would stick to cycling. Fighting skills are only important to those with a high regard for happy hour.
Dear USAC Club,
This week USA Cycling terminated Judy Miller as the Northeast Road
and Track Regional Coordinator. The alleged reason was poor
performance.
Anyone who knows Judy, her time spent promoting cycling in the
Northeast and her commitment to the success of USA Cycling in our
region has to look at this with suspicion and wonder why USA
Cycling has removed this outstanding servant of cycling from her
position.
The undersigned have known Judy for many years, many since before she
became the North Eastern regional coordinator. She has served in so
many different roles at USA Cycling and given so much of her time and
energy to the sport that her termination as regional coordinator in
this manner comes as a shock to everyone.
Her already large territory coupled with the recent addition of even
more responsibility and then termination for poor performance seems
like a Catch 22. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible for
anyone to do the job she has been given in a 40 hour work week for
the salary USAC provides. Yet, in our opinion, she has done it well.
One of the skills not measured by paperwork alone is the time Judy
has taken to know and nurture so many of the local associations,
officials and race promoters. She has remarkable people skills in
managing the inevitable crises, squabbles and last minute problems
inherent in the sport of bike racing. This invaluable characteristic
is hard to evaluate in a strictly business manner but will be sorely
missed if her replacement is only counting beans.
If you are as angry and upset with this decision as we are please
take the time to send your comments on this firing to our
Federation’s leaders:
Steve Johnson, CEO – sjohnson@usacycling.org
Sean Petty, COO – spetty@usacycling.org
Theresa Delp, VP of Member Services- tdelp@usacycling.org
Please copy us on your email so that we will have a consolidated
record of the Federations’s membership’s response to this egregious act. This is our Federation, supported by our dues and participation. It’s time we had a say in how things are being run especially if they are being run as badly as this decision indicates. Yours in Cycling, Fred Austin, USAC Official – fwaustin@comcast.net Tom Balaban, USAC Official – tbalaban@attglobal.net Mark Byers, USAC Official – Cornersquid@aol.com Ellen Dorsey, USAC Official – ehdorsey@fast.net Keith, Sherry & Allen Erb, USAC Officials – keith_sherry@msn.com Diane & Rick Fortini, USAC Officials – Rdfortini@comcast.net Paul & Jim, Grill, USAC Officials – p.grill@verizon.net Kirk Liedy, USAC Official – kirkleidy@gmail.com Mike Miller, USAC CAT 1 Racer – cmmiller89@aol.com Ruth L. Stornetta, USAC Official – rs3j@cms.mail.virginia.edu
I stick with the cereals, salads, and pasta’s.
Honeynut Cheerios & fatfree milk after a training ride
es guuuooooood!
It is with a great deal of sadness that I saw that The Jan retired on February 23 this year. I so wished I could see him one more time attempting a second or third place in the Tour. I totally agreed that The Jan was merely trying to level the playing fields but he did weigh in at around 73kg (160lbs) in most of his Tours and that is pretty light for a 6ft tall guy with more muscles in his legs than the governator.
I found the discipline to maintain a healthy diet was self-perpetuating. The longer my diet is good, the easier it becomes to keep it going. It’s a habit. That said, I can’t overemphasize the importance of one or two "cheat meals" per week. Once or twice a week I eat whatever I desire. Gives me something to look forward to. A reward.
The Jan didnt have an eating problem- the jan was being fatter to level the competition. That and the Jan is loving the Schnitzel. maybe all you skinny bastards on the bike are the ones with eating disorders…
I started counting calories in January, and ran a small daily deficit to lose weight. I’ve never done it before, and it’s worked very nicely– I learned much about the stuff we eat. But I have trouble maintaining that kind of discipline all year long.
I was off the bike for 2 weeks, and I gained back all the lbs that I took 2 months to lose (5lbs, but damn that was hard work). I can’t help you other than saying, keep the temptations away: throw out the takeout menus, throw out the junk food, buy tons of veggies and fruit, carve it all up into easy to grab servings and drink your water. That is what I try to keep myself to. Oh and reminding myself that everytime I put something in my mouth that isn’t whole grain, fruit, veggie, or lean protein it is going to make me get dropped on the hills.
That being said, even if I only ate whole grain, fruits, veggies and lean protein I would still get dropped on the hills, because God hates me.
…..it’s called binge and purge….eat what you want, when you want.
I have to say that my worst struggle in this lovely sport we do is combatting my eating disorder. The higher the stakes, the more I seem to not be able to stick to any sort of diet. Back to the original God comment, growing up and still being religious at that stage it was easy because one could pray and believe that it would help but that seems just silly now and of corse back then I could consume any amount of food without having to worry about the effect it would have. Now, everything I stick in my mouth is accompanied by questions of "Should I?", "Am I hungry?" etc. and then I start to starve myself just to get lost in a late night binge session in front of the TV. Double wammy because then of course you can’t sleep either and so you have the ill effects of sleep deprevation and overeating to deal with the next day. Any thoughts on diet for guys clearly out of their high matobalism years and very fast approaching their big beer belly stage? I cringe at the thought of having to cope with a beer belly and still I can see that it is in the cards for me if I don’t get this eating disorder under control. Most pros say that when racing season start, the extra weight comes off naturally but I know at least Jan Ulrich seemed to have struggled with this for most of his career. Sorry for the long windedness but any thoughts on this?
funny, i remember zoltan once saying something like, "Come on!! You guys might be idiots, but you’re not beginners!! Are you?!"
I hate to join in the tri-bashing, but an endless pool race has got to be the funniest thing I’ve ever heard of. We should do it for crappy swimmers like me. I’d never get off the back wall of the pool.
Tri Guys make my day too. As if beer pong was appropriate training for a triathalon. They need their own version of roller races, where they run on treadmills in front of screaming drunks, and swim in endless pools while spectators make bets–with fake money–on who’ll get tired and sucked into the jets. Now that’s a fundraiser!
you got your Jordans confused. The coach is not the tri email guy. Plus DJ made today’s session good and safe, he was always talking so you’re taking his words out of context….he gave all good advise.
Haven’t your parents taught you anything? I absolutely love the fact that the posters are so invested in bashing what it is they are doing. Long love NYVelocity.
The GW path was closed, closing NJ…
Coach Jordan quote from this morning:
"Come on!! You guys might be beginners, but you’re not idiots!! Are you?!"
I’m telling you. rainbowsponiesnycbikeracing.com the time is now. we’re ready for it.
just wait for http://www.proasshit.dk...
And… so… WTF is closed in New Jersey?
posts like Jordan’s put the sunshine in my day. What would the world come to if us bike snobs didn’t have a forum to dump on triguys? I shudder at the thought. Nyvelocity is dead, long live nyvelocity.
can we get jordan’s email address so that i can explain to him why an olympic tri is in no way like an ironman?
From: Me
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 9:48 AM
To: Jordan
Subject: RE: Save the Date: April 21st
yea, like you’re doing 1/4 of the ironman and taking twice as long!
————–
From: Jordan
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 9:47 AM
To: Me
Subject: RE: Save the Date: April 21st
It
just registered rainbowsponiesnycbikeracing.com. who’s with me?
Get some unicorns there and I’m in!
can I be the Fonze. if not. can I be Leather Tuscadero
I still have A Leather JAcket
case closed
case closed
Repeated refreshing revokes your "Fonziness", sorry.
can I be the Fonze. if not. can I be Leather Tuscadero
I still have A Leather JAcket
Im still the "Fonze" right?
…like a wasrm sweet pie…in the blatter
Hello? I’m Mork!
The Fonz would not refresh 3 times
Given the alternatives, I’ll take Chachi. And now that this site is officially dead Joanie and I will create our spinoff.
I don’t know about Dan as Ralf and Andy as Chachi. If anything Dan’s most likely to have a ridiculous, poorly planned spin-off so I’d put him at Chachi and Andy as Richie (not putting down Dan’s skills, there’s worse things in life than being Scott Baio).
Still thinking over the Ralf Malf spot.
Wait. you mean jump the shark like happy days.
does that men that the cast is as fallow.
Dan S= Ralf Malph
Andy=Chachi
Alex=Potsie
And would that make me
the Fonze……..?HEYYYYYYYYYYY
"Someone should develop a competitor to NYVelocity.
A kinder one. Yes."
Someone will get on that, as soon as he’s done putting on that ITT.
Someone should develop a competitor to NYVelocity.
A kinder one. Yes.
Wait. you mean jump the shark like happy days.
does that men that the cast is as fallow.
Dan S= Ralf Malph
Andy=Chachi
Alex=Potsie
And would that make me
the Fonze……..?HEYYYYYYYYYYY
Wait. you mean jump the shark like happy days.
does that men that the cast is as fallow.
Dan S= Ralf Malph
Andy=Chachi
Alex=Potsie
And would that make me
the Fonze……..?HEYYYYYYYYYYY
Do any of you guys plan on making a website better than this? You shouldn’t complain unless you plan to do anything about it.
Yeah some of the stuff on this site gets a little lame or far-fetched but if it is so intolerable than why do you hit your refresh buttons every 30 seconds??? This site is a great resource for local racers, keep up the sometimes thankless work!
Don’t worry Dan…you guys haven’t jumped the shark quite yet. Just wait for the season to hit full swing. You’ll be filled with the normal b’tchin and moaning right quick.
…getting emails like this:
From: Jordan
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 9:21 AM
Subject: Save the Date: April 21st
Hey Everyone!!
As you all know, last summer I raced in the Westchester Triathlon in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Wait – we jumped the shark? We didn’t even get to sell out yet!
If you listen closely you can hear the beginning of a death rattle for NYVelocity. At first I thought it was just me, but if you go back to last year and the year before, it’s obvious that both the editors and the users found this site more fun and interesting.
Nothing lasts forever. Everything has a lifecycle and it looks like we are in the autumn of this site.
Of course, I do expect the proprietors of this site to keep flogging this horse’s carcass even as its hauled off for rendering. Grace and a sense of timing are not widely distributed.
If God really hated us we’d be racing recumbents.
Boring.
Your refunds are in the mail…
What is this about Jersey being closed? Is this about the GWB?
Think up something more interesting.