Jump to October indexYorgason is a well-known race official in Utah and has officiated at the International Women's Challenge in Idaho and officiated at EDS Cup track events this year to gain experience to upgrade to Category 2 official. The USCF states the most important aspects of the Regional Rep. are maintaining an efficient permitting process, maintenance of officials for events, officials education and rider assistance with upgrades and clubs. Yorgason has experience in all of these areas and will be an asset to the racing communities of Utah and Idaho.
Yorgason has been involved in cycling for 15 years and she looks forward to expanding cycling in Utah and Idaho. Yorgason will chair the annual club meetings in both states in November. The Utah meeting is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7 in Salt Lake City. The Idaho meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 15 in Boise. She will be sending clubs letters of invitation to the annual meetings.
One of the main points of each meeting will be to allow clubs to bid for their respective District Championships. She emphasized that each state would have its own championship race within its state boundaries. Yorgason is looking to clubs for help in organizing these important races. She stated that District Championships organized by the District Rep. was not the norm across the country. Organizing a race is not something she admits to having much experience at.
Yorgason also plans to have an officials seminar in the spring. Yorgason would like to create an email list to contact racers regarding races. She cited Oregon as an example, where all race announcements are emailed to racers.
Yorgason will continue to referee at races. She will also attend as many
races as she can during the season.
For information about either District, call (801) 479-4247 or email her at
[email protected]
"The voting was poorer than usual," Collins said. "The USCF received 900 responses out of 31,000 members. That's only about 3 percent." The West region tallied the most votes, 450. There were 290 votes cast in the East region and the rest cast in the Central region.
The West region candidate's statements were printed incorrectly in Cycling USA prior to the voting and required a separate ballot mailing that may have contributed to the stronger West region showing.
Collins was in Colorado Springs Oct. 24-26 to be installed on the board. The trustee position is not a paid position, however, he will receive travel expenses to two board meetings a year.
As a member of the board, Collins can submit legislative items at any time. He will support two legislative items before the board at the October meeting.
The first is a resolution in support of ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991). This law is currently up for reauthorization.
The second is a resolution to develop a relationship with the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) that will be similar to the one the USCF has with NORBA.
"It makes sense to combine recreation and racing," Collins said. This is something he has done while serving as president of EDC bicycle club. "Being on the board creates credibility," Collins said. "Dave Iltis and I have been vocal for years and some resolutions are being enacted now, like the 1-day licenses. Now being elected, I'll perhaps influence policy better than just being a member."
"USA Cycling perceives itself as an entity with no competition," Collins said. "It doesn't consider itself a business. I think it's one of the biggest problems of non-profit entities. We have to compete with people's recreational time. We have to promote cycling.
"Evan Call, USCF Managing Director, has created the first marketing plan.
They've been working on it since June."
He feels this is important because the bicycle industry as a whole is a
fragmented industry that does not market itself well.
This time, with the insurance certificate in hand, the race came off as scheduled. Mark Smith of Utah Premier, the club which organized the race, expressed appreciation for the understanding of those who returned for the rescheduled event, despite their prior frustration with its cancellation. "We are especially happy with the cyclists and racers that decided to come back and help us out with this event."
After leaving Nephi, the pack encountered a crosswind as it approached the first and primary climb. Swindlehurst moved to the edge of the road to take advantage of the crosswind. "We just waited till the hill and there was a good crosswind. So we just went to the right and I just went as hard as I could, and it kind of trimmed down the field a bit," Swindlehurst said. Indeed. By the top of the climb, only Ward Halley (Untamed Spirit) remained with Swindlehurst and Littlefield. These three remained together through the backroads and until they turned onto the main road back to Eureka. About three miles after the turn, Halley could no longer match the pace. "Those guys just have more speed than I do this year. I couldn't keep my legs going as fast as they could."
Swindlehurst and Littlefield worked together till the finishing sprint, which Swindlehurst won, thus garnering his third district championship. "It's always nice to be champion of something," he said. Meanwhile, Halley stayed ahead of the rest to grab third place. Terry McGinnis (Mi Duole) managed to drop the pack and soloed several miles before finishing fourth. David Wood (Mi Duole) led the rest of the field in to finish fifth.
The net result? Stone finished five minutes ahead of Albert to grab the championship. "Dirk took off, and I knew I had to stay with Dirk. I looked back and saw I had a gap on Heather, so I just stood up and punched it over the top. . . . Anytime anybody beats Heather, its a good win because she is such a good rider." Albert took second while Stone's teammate, Jennifer Clothier, finished third.
Idiot or not, Schaefer reaffirmed his strength in these long breakaways by not only staying away to win, but continuing to increase his margin till he led by almost eight minutes at the finish.
Teammate Dirk Cowley took advantage of Schaefer's effort to relax in the pack till the final mile, where he rode away from Dana Harrison (Unattached) to grab second place. Harrison, riding his first race of the year, came in five seconds behind Cowley for third.
A group of five remained together to the turnaround. At that point, Jon Haney, Mark Bates and George Veasy moved away. These three remained together till the final gradual climb to Eureka and the finish line. Haney, a nonsprinter, took advantage of the climb to easily drop Bates and Veasy for the win. Three minutes later, Bates led Veasy over the line to finish respectively, second and third.
For the Category 4 Women, Allison Bedleson outlasted Marsha Adams for first place, leaving Adams to settle for second. Margaret Douglas came in behind Adams to finish third.
William Bradford finished first in the Category 5 Men, with Wayne Anderson second and Jim Jacobs third.
Joe Pust, riding a flat tire for the last several miles, still hung on to win the Masters 55+ category. Bill Young, winner of several district championships from 1946 through 1968, garnered an additional district medal by finishing second.
Peter Kuennemann, by being the only junior entrant, had only to ride and finish the race to win, which he did.
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