Smithers MINNEAPOLIS

My interview with the new Preznit, finale!

Once more with Kevin Schaeffer, new President of the Minnesota Cycling Federation (MCF).

Smithers: Sorry to keep you here so long. That chair does not look so comfortable now after three days. Anyhoo, continue what you were saying two days ago about Minnesota cycling and how it is such a family friendly and safe sport for the youth.

KS: The thing that scares me is the really dangerous aspect of the sport. What we are doing is inherently dangerous. Not only are we riding bikes, extremely close to each other as hard as we can, (well except for the Wall of Grumpy’s) but we are doing it on open roads, with cars, pedestrians, tractors, geese, dogs etc. The worst part of any day I’ve spent as a promoter has to do with the crashes. We had a MASH unit at one of our road races last summer and it was almost enough to make me want to quit this nonsense. I watched a team-mate die in front of my eyes at a training camp, I never want to see someone die at one of our events. I would never sleep again… That’s what we tend to forget when we’re whining about the lack of a wheel truck, or that I nipped so and so at the line to take 59th place….

Smithers: So much for me encouraging my kids to race bike. I’m not into that whole “death on a bike” thing. Violin lessons sounds better. Anyway, I think there would be a lot more shutting up about race organization if more racers promoted a race, that’s for certain. There would also be a lot more races I suppose. What else do you want to fix now that you are our cycling commander in chief?

KS: Race administration. Registering riders, starting the race on time, then accurately scoring the results, listing them quickly, posting them on the world wide web and then getting the results into the various competitions is a real struggle. There are tools out there that mitigate these things and make them a lot easier. There is no silver bullet.

Smithers: Yes there is and Greg LeMond rode it. SUCKA! Please continue.

KS: We are mostly volunteers and we are bike riders, so we are already disadvantaged, yes we make mistakes. I think the MCF should help out the promoters in getting these tasks performed efficiently. These areas were of great discussion at the Local Association conference in Colorado Springs and every association has issues with these. There are 2 imminent tools that I feel can greatly improve these problem areas. First is pre-registration, day of race registration and results processing. Sports-Base Online has a new software tool that they are providing to race promoters that use SBO for race registration. It is called Race Day. Basically what it is is an excel workbook loaded with macros. When a promoter uses SBO, after online pre-registration closes, SBO provides an excel workbook to the promoter. In this workbook is the pre-registration startlist. The promoter can then run a macro to put these racers in tabs in the workbook by field. Then there is a macro that the promoter can use on a laptop for day of registration. Then the promoter runs the macro and it merges the day of registration with the pre-registration for start-lists by bib-number by race field for the officials. These are printable documents and can also be emailed or handed off to the officials with a thumb drive or disk. Then after the race is over and the results are given to the promoter there is another macro which the promoter uses to input the results into the excel workbook. You just have to put in race, bib-number and place and the macro does the rest. So now you have your results in a sorted electronic format that you can print up and post to the results websites. Easy beans. One of the main problems that Loon State has experienced with pre-registration isn’t in how well it works but the perception that we are trying to gouge riders and make more money. Nothing could be further from the truth. I think a mistake has been made in the past in how it was administered. Rather than saying you have 3 days to register at 25 dollars otherwise you pay a 10 penalty. It should be that the race is 30 bucks but if you pre-register it is only 25! And you don’t have to stand in line and results will be out sooner! This sounds like a plug for SBO and it is, because SBO is the vendor of choice for USA Cycling and each association gets a kick back from USA cycling for each rider registered using this tool. So then the MCF gets more funding to assist the local racing scene.

Smithers: Kevin Schaeffer, always thinking of new ways to bring more tools into cycling. As if we don’t have enough tools in the sport. There are always going to be those who will wait until the last minute to register. But having the option to pre-register would be great. What else?

KS: The other main issue is getting accurate results. I used to complain and pick on the officials ad nauseum for the time it took to get results and the inaccuracies once we got them. However, after I became an official and spent my fall scoring cyclo-cross races, I have a new appreciation for what the officials go through. First off, the start lists are atrocious. Especially in cyclo-cross where the uncertain weather mitigates the use of laptops, most start-sheets are hand written. Very rarely did we get a hand written start sheet that was in bib-number order or even field order. Numbers were assigned randomly as well. To make matters worse, riders had numbers attached all over their bodies. Some people can put their numbers in places I wouldn’t even want to approach with a rusty pin!!! Some riders are notorious for not even wearing a number! Then the field sizes on short courses have 70-90 people streaming by constantly getting lapped and having difficulties and disappearing on the course. Then in the 15 minutes between races, the officials have to sort this all out. It’s mind numbing work.

Smithers: Must have been why I was such a great official back in the day. Pre-numbed.

KS: Getting the race scored right is only half the battle. Then the results have to be matched with the illegible, incomplete start lists for results to be produced, which again are hand-written. So you have the head wound harry official reading names to the official who’s writing looks closer to Egyptian hyroglyphics and an attention span of a squirrel on the gas (that would be me) posting the results! I’m going to sound like a sales rep again but there is a solution and it’s called Chip-timing! I know the arguments against ad nauseum, but done correctly chip timing combined with electronic pre-registration is the cat’s ass. I talked with the Florida guys who are a professional race promoting company and they purchased chip timing this past summer. They have had nothing but good results from using chip timing. The snafus occur but much less than our current system. The major drawback is cost. They spent approximately $12k to get the system and they require the cyclists to purchase the fork-mounted chips which cost approximately $90 each. There is also the option to rent chips at a rate of $10 per weekend to the riders. Clubs are encouraged to purchase extra chips to provide juniors or poor college kids with chips. The MCF has $20k? hmmmmm, if it were entirely up to me, I know what I’d like to do with it….

Smithers: Ummm…let me guess….I give up. What is your opinion on the Minnesota Bicycle Festival? Good for local cycling, makes no difference, or bad for local cycling? What do you think the MCF’s role should be in regards to the Nature Valley Grand Prix?

KS: I’m biased because I have been a volunteer on the MBF since 2001.

Smithers: OK, I’ll ignore your opinion then. As opposed to what I normally do, which is ignore your opinion.

KS: I think the MBF has been good for local cycling. One thing I noticed this year, more than before, is that the communities where the events have been held, really like having us there. It seems like the event has continued to grow in stature and has definitely created a niche in national cycling. Again at the LA conference, the NVGP model was brought up different times for different reasons on things we are doing that make cycling better. One area that got lots of press was the creation of the Ryan Collegiate All-star team. Some say that this has no effect on local cycling and takes away from the scene. I vehemently disagree. The 10,000 or so people that gather downtown in Minneapolis to watch a bike race would never do that for an amateur event. Just won’t happen. We need events like this to grow the sport from the top. One thing Steve Johnson ceo of USA cycling stated is that you need a push-pull model of growth. You need the grassroots bottoms up growth, such as we offer with the local amateur cycling scene. However, you also need professional events, the role models at the top for riders to admire and aspire too. Look at national cycling, we now have tours in California, Georgia, Missouri and Utah, who woulda thunk it just a few years ago when we had nothing? I also look at the lessons learned from the volunteers at the MBF and what they then bring to amateur cycling. Bruce Braesemle and the officials have grown from their opportunities hear. Andy Dahl, Paul Merwin and myself have all promoted local amateur races, we’ve all cut our teeth on the NVGP.

Smithers: What advice would you offer to the youth cyclists of our state who may aspire to be President of the MCF?

KS: The reason I’m dumb enough to want to be the president of the MCF is that I’ve had quite a few head injuries. I had a particularly nasty one back in 1988 that should’ve killed me. So I’d say wear a helmet. Wear your helmet on the way to football/basketball/soccer practice, real sports with real money played by athletes that most importantly get you chicks. I’d suspect that Tom Brady gets more chicks than I do…

Smithers: No way.

KS: But if you still want to be a president of the MCF? I’d say ride your bike, race your bike, volunteer, officiate and drink lots and you too can be the MCF president.

Smithers: You are a role model indeed. Are you concerned regarding the future of road racing in Minnesota? Do you have any plans to help improve the conditions that allow road races to be promoted? Any plans to help bring back stage racing, such as the Tour de 10K Lakes, to Minnesota?

KS: I am concerned about road racing in Minnesota. While national level events are growing, they are ridden by pros. Grassroots cycling suffers from the fact that basically we are viewed by most people as pests. We are geese in lycra. We slow down traffic and we defecate all over everything. LSC/GrandStay has successful road events because they are 100 miles away from the gnarling urban traffic. Even out there we can wear out our welcome if we don’t spend money in the local communities, if we don’t pick up after ourselves and if we yell at the farmers or church-goers while we’re trying to beat another egocentric old man to the line….

I think stage racing is coming back in Minnesota. Tone Coughlin’s race in Duluth is growing and him and his club are talking of making it a true stage race this year. Mike Delaney/Jim Bell are doing a good job of growing the Tour of Granite County into a good stage race as well. One thing I noticed while talking to those who around the country who promote races is that, all successes are based on the hard work of just a few people. Crazy people like Kevin Lennon who put everything they have into a race. It’s only natural that these people are going to come and go. Hopefully, the MCF can function as a conduit to develop more crazy people who will do great things such as the Tour of 10k in the future.

Smithers: Thanks for you time Kevin, I really appreciate it. Good luck in your new role. I look forward to bagging on you and the rest of the MCF this coming year.