Hello all!.

Happy Thanksgiving.

As I've been off the forum and out of the loop for months, I have one question at this time.....

What is......Gymkata Declarator?

I nominate Josh Caesar for Director At Large

I would like to stand (again) for member at large position

To the members of the Kissena Cycling Club,

My apologies for the tardiness of this, but with the busy times doing cyclocross I don't get to check this forum very much.

I will not be returning to the Kissena Cycling Club in 2012, and as such I request the nomination of me for Track Racing Director be withdrawn. While I have enjoyed my time with KCC, I have received little to no support from the club in my efforts in promoting track races, especially when it comes to volunteer help with running the weekend events. Over the last 2 years I have been blessed to have Brooklyn Velo Club jump on board with Opening Weekend; but for all the other events I have had to rely on the track racers themselves willing to do double duties (racing and helping) in order to keep these events going. My needs have been a fraction of what Charlie needs to run Prospect Park, Floyd Bennett, and his other ventures, but I have gotten ZERO volunteer help the past 2 years for registration, marshalling (just 1 "gatekeeper"), and other duties needed for promoting track racing. I can't continue like this, so I have decided to continue running races at the track under my promotion company and will be seeking other clubs to help with weekend events that I promote in 2012.

Thanks for allowing me to be a part of this club over the past few years; but it is time for me to move on.

Alan Atwood

Thank you Alan for all that you have done and continue to do.
-Eric

Hi Folks,

I'd like to nominate Ryan Johnston for club VP. He has been an active and involved member of the club for the past few years, and I think he'd make a great board member and vice president.

Mike

Thanks Mike, happy to accept.

@Alan. Sorry to see you go, but I understand. Best of luck to you in the future. I'm glad to hear that you'll still be doing your thing next year.

@ Alan

Sorry to see you go, you've been an amazing asset to the club. I will miss drinking beers with you in Eric's basement. Best of luck in your continued race promotion, thank you for your service to our sport.

I'd also like to nominate Jules Roazen for a member-at-large position. Since joining us from the dark side, he has been an active and involved club member who will make an excellent board member.

Alan - thanks for your great work. Looking forward to seeing you at the races.

Directors: how do you intend to fill Alan's absence on the board? Will there be a 5th Member-at-Large position?

@ William, I am guessing that would require an amending of the bylaws. Not sure how that happens. Ragot?

current election nominations:

President - Mike Perlberg
Vice President - Ryan Johnson
Treasurer - Eric Ragot
Secretary - Todd McLoughlin
Membership Director - Clayton BRUCKERT
Sponsorship Director - Myles Romanow
Road Race Director - Charlie I.
Track Director - no one
At Large - David Stokes, Dan Reiners, Jules Rozen and Josh Caesar, William Doyle-Capitman,

i would like to run for a Director-at-Large position

i have some good experience getting Kissena governance projects done as a past president and i can supply my own ceremonial robe

Robe? He gets a robe?!?

I call shenanigans

got it two years ago when i was on the board

if you get elected, you will get a robe to call your own

it is soooo soft . . . ur gonna love it!

http://static6.depositphotos.com/1000423/554/i/950/depositphotos_5543863-Portrait-of-a-young-man-in-bath-robe.jpg

William,
I believe you left this at the last board meeting:

I vote we switch from robes to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S2p7AiNX9g

In Kissena colors? Then why only for the board? Maybe we could get a team discount too.

what kinds of chamois are available in the Forever Lazy?

The.End.Is.Here.

I hear the fiddle playing....

Forever Lazy. For when duty calls.

I'm sorry that Alan won't be returning to the club. He's done alot for us. Thanks Alan!

We didn't support him enough. I wish I could have, but life was in the way.

Is there anyone who can help volunteer to do track stuff? This is probably for those of us who are at the track regularly, or semi-regularly. I could be wrong, but it seems that with the exception of Mattie, few on the forum go. If we have more people at the track, it would be great to have track reports. It would also be great to have them offer to pitch in a bit with Alan. Maybe we can bring Mr. Atwood back into the fold eventually, have a greater track presence, and figure out how to better integrate oval racing with the club. I don't have the time for this, can't nominate anyone, but wish people would step forward. It's been my experience that the more people who can pitch in a little, the easier it is to get lots accomplished.

But it brings up for me the issue of volunteerism. I think we've got a great esprit d'corps here, we're great on riding and racing, but in terms of stepping up to do things like helping at the track, we seem to be lacking a bit. I'd love to see more.

I've been on the board for several years. I definitely didn't do enough this go-round. I have to think pretty hard about whether or not I can devote the time to do enough this coming year, not sure about running. I think a contested election is fine. Those who run and don't win have ideas and should offer to help all the same. Even if I'm not on the board, I can and expect to continue to help out.

I think we need some more people helping on the organizational end of things. To me, improving the website and this forum would be a tremendous help. We're doing the right thing by having members up on all the Prospect Park issues; we need to remain proactive when it comes to all road use issues in the city. A wish list thing of mine is to help find more race venues in the city, for the sake of variety and as a safety in case we have issues with FBF or PP, and for cyclocross.

I'm sure there's lots more we can (and should) do.

@ wump: is there a forum thread already started for team "wishes?"

Re track racing volunteers. I think part of the problem, with getting volunteers out to the track, is that Alan ran the whole thing, every week. When I raced track weekly in Chicagoland, most area clubs would use sponsoring/helping out at a track night as one of their USA Cycling club race promoting requirements. And so the responsibility fell on different clubs every week. And somehow, rallying together for a few events a year makes it easier. But even that is no guarantee. We have one of the largest cycling clubs in the region, and the volunteer numbers for Myles' once-a-year cross weekend weren't all that great.

(And unfortunately, the CRCA system sub-team makes it really easy for 90% of the city's cycling clubs to shirk their responsibilities to growing and promoting the sport.)

And this leaves a few teams to be responsible for all the race promotion in the city. Kissena has over 50 racing events on the calendar every year. MangoSeed stepped up big time this year with their FBF races too. But who else puts on races in the city? It seems like Charlie has a crew of regular employees that he relies on to run his PP races and fills in for registration duties with Kissena guys who are going to be there anyway to race themselves, but even he has to send out night before reminder emails asking for help on a weekly basis.

Which leads me to my next thought. Why don't more Kissena's/people race track? I'm sure if we had even more than a few guys showing up to track on a regular basis, they could be counted on to help out. I can't say for sure what we could do to increase the Kissena presence at the track next year, but I can tell you why I raced track weekly or even twice a week during the summer when I lived in Chicago (beyond the general reasons why track racing is so awesome which could get it's own thread).

1. I worked a 9-5 job. Track racing at the Northbrook Velodrome was on Thursday nights and Tuesdays was for Kenosha. Races started at 7:30 or 8, and while I didn't always get in a good warm-up, I could usually make it there before the racing proper began.

2. It was better than doing trainer intervals in my basement. Lots of great racing around Chicago, but training there kind of sucked.

3. It was better than the local training crit.

4. It didn't conflict with road races. By having track races on the weekend, you are making people chose and numbers at the track dropped off dramatically, when the 2-3 weeks of daily crit racing known as Superweek came around every summer.

5. I had a car. And a basement. And a track bike. Going to the track always involved a bag of clothes (temps changed dramatically as the night wore on), trainer, sleeping bag. NYC apartment living makes having multiple bikes hard. And taking a subway and/or riding on the roads with a track bike is hard too.

I know a number of Kissena cyclist raced at the Kissena Velodrome pretty regularly and I think they might have some more thoughts on this topic. How do you think we could attract more club members to the Velodrome to race and volunteer?

the number one reason there aren't many racers at the track (kissena or otherwise) is that the races start at 6:30. when i worked in mid-town at a government job where i could actually work 8 hours then leave, i had to be out of the office, in full kit, on the bike by 5:00 at the absolute latest in order to get to kissena, register and switch to my race gear. no warmup. i don't know a lot of people who can leave work that early.

the kissena velodrome has no lights, so racing has to start at 6:30 in order to be finished by 8:30 (when it gets dark during the summer).

It was suggested that we get a 5th at large board member in place of Alan.

Can\should we still elect a Track Racing director instead ? Would this require less last minute bylaw amendments?

The 2012 Track Racing Director could function similarly to a member at large, with the added responsibility of working with Alan to provide KCC resources for an event or two (like BVF did this year). I think it would be a shame to see Kissena Cycling Club totally disassociated from our namesake track (in addition to it being sad that this niche of our sport is hurting right now).

If we could do such a thing, I would nominate WDC - he has already expressed interest in being on the board, AND has the track experience that not many of us have.

We really can't change the bylaws overnight or change an election that is already in progress.

If we can find someone to run for the track director spot, great.

If not, the new board will have to figure out a way to edit the bylaws to fill the spot, whether it be with a 5th at large rep or whatever.

So for now, the election will stand as posted.

Thanks for that Josh.

I agree that it would be a shame to disassociate from the Kissena track, and I think that some more explicit attention from the board would be a good thing.

Whether as a board member or not, I would be happy to help organize KCC resources towards assisting Alan at the track. However, I can rarely, if ever, make it out there myself.

All - I am running for one of the Director at Large positions. Eric - thank you for the nomination.
As you may know, I am relatively new to cycling. I rediscovered it in 2009 (I rode as a teenager).
Two months after I bought a road back (and was totally wiped by a 12 mile ride) I did the 5 boro bike tour, and 5 days after that I joined Kissena.

Without getting overly sappy, I rode at first for fun, not weight loss, but the weight loss happened, and that was fun too.
I have now lost over 70 pounds and happily hit my correct weight. I have learned a lot, and the support and encouragement of the members of Kissena has given me so so much. It has not been just about weight loss either, I am learning a lot as a racer, and as my fitness improves I can't wait to see how 2012 works out. It is only fair that I now try to serve and give back. I am organizing the Computrainer group session this winter, and I would like to be a part of the Kissena board.

Some of my background info:
- I have two bachelors degrees, one in computer science, one in management.
- I manage a software applications team (who would have guessed, right?) for QSP, a school fundraising company. We are a division of Time Inc and Time Warner.
- Way back when, I was the president of Key Club (a high school community service group) and the Philanthropy Chairperson in my fraternity.
- Raised in Queens (in Astoria and then Fresh Meadows), and I now live back in Astoria.

I hope to see cycling continue to grow, and want to do my part towards helping the club promote that growth. I hope I can have your vote.

thanks,
Joshua

Some pics of me in case we have not yet met:

Before bike riding & Kissena:
(dude on the left)
After bike riding & Kissena:
(dude on the left)