VOTING IS OPEN!
- You must hold an “active” USAC road rider, official, or race director license residing in the state of Florida as per your USAC license to participate in this process. Riders must hold a road license which covers the disciplines of road, cyclocross, and track, the disciplines that the FBRA represents for USA Cycling in Florida.
- Your vote must be submitted from the email address that is registered with your account at USA Cycling to certify your vote.
- You may vote once for up to three (3) Nominees
- Please email your “VOTE” for the listed Nominees directly to [email protected] with the subject labeled FBRA VOTE 2019. You must include your name, e-mail address, and USAC license number on your email vote. To certify your vote it must be sent from your e-mail address as listed in your USA Cycling account.
- Voting ends at 11:59pm on December 30, 2018
- Voting Results – Results will be provided by Dec 31. Those elected will be informed and the results posted in an email to the membership and on the FBRA website.
The 3 newly elected members will serve for two years and join Jim Wright, Kaleigh Thornton, Steve Mlujeak & Vincent Cook who will be remaining for the second year of their two year term.
Nominees who accepted their nomination are John Tenney, Isabella Rojas, Jeffrey Vivo and Roy Foley.
Nominee Platforms:
John Tenney
“I’ve been a USAC member since 2012.
I’m supposed to tell you all the great reasons why I should be on the board. Wish I could think of some real knockouts, but I can’t.
I’ve been on lots of boards, been chairman of a few, and organized a lot or races. Does that make me qualified? I don’t know. I’ve never attended any of the FBRA board meetings. If elected, I plan to observe and learn for a while, and see how things are in that world.
I would like to see more transparency if possible. I believe more could be done with social media to keep people informed and get more feedback.
I’m also interested in promoting women’s cycling. I see we have a junior program (which we need!) but nothing special for women. I’m always disappointed at how small the women’s fields are at races. There must be some way to encourage more women to come out to the races. That’s one of my agenda items. Another one will be looking at the possibility of getting a velodrome project going in Central FL. I’m not sure if that fits in the scope of the FBRA but it is a long term goal of mine.
I know that’s not much to campaign on, but I’ve heard enough of empty campaign promises, haven’t you? If elected, I do promise to listen.”
Isabella Rojas
I have over 6 years experience in the cycling industry, a love for our velodrome, two years of active road racing experience, and recently structured a women’s specific cycling club/race team (currently 200+ members/6 racers) called Doña Pan–which has developed over 12 new women racers within just a span of 4 months. After being awarded Woman of Sports and Athletics by ‘In The Company of Women Awards’ for 2018/2019, I am now focusing on making more impacts in our local community. 2019 has a lot in store for the velodrome, local racing events, and women’s cycling representation in Florida. With my knowledge of marketing, and community driven efforts, I am hoping to be an asset to our current FBRA board. My platform is pushing for more initiatives for women’s racing, revitalizing our Velodrome program with the proper support, creating a steadier program of revenue for the FBRA, and supporting our athletes heading to Nationals; these are my goals for 2019/2020.
I am running for the board to provide a voice for the riders and improve communication. Also, to work as a liaison between those who race and those who promote races.
Often when riders/promoters ask questions the canned responses are “that’s the promoters decision” “that’s USAC’s decision” “that’s up to the riders”. This offers up ZERO solutions to push cycling forward. Just like training, actions lead to results.
As a board member I would work to offer up solution versus “passing the buck.” How?
- Polling cyclist on what they want/need . Finding out the WHY? is a simple process but one I feel has been overlooked. We can live in the past “this is how it used to be” or “back in my day” or we can take a new approach based on market conditions.
- Help promoters build healthy and thriving events. We can do this through effective communication, offering up solutions versus passing the buck, consult with promoters on what riders are wanting. If we can bring promoters together versus, the us against them mentality, things might just get a little bit better.
- Provide platforms for effective communications. Technology will allow us to setup promoter meetings, live FB forms and more. Communication can solve a lot of issues to help improve the conditions of racing.
We need all promoters working and sharing ideas to bring racers back. This means no SINGLE category is more important than the other. One change I would like to see is consistency in race categories. Change is great but consistency leads to success and often this is lacking. The typical response has been “it’s up to the promoter.” This pass the buck response is why cycling in FL is on the decline. As an FBRA member I would work to build consistency.
How?
I would communicate with the racing community and become transparent. Which means my response will not be “check out the website for the answer” or “it’s not FBRA’s job” or “I am just a volunteer”. Yes, at the end of the day the ultimate decision is that of the promoter BUT in reality it’s the market. Riders are the ones who will make the changes occur. If we show up and pay for racing the promoters will move in that direction. If we do not show up then we are sending a message to the promoters. MARKET drives the demand .
As an FBRA member I may not be able make direct changes. But, through communication, knowledge and transparency we can feed the market (racers) information. They can use this information to make informed buying decision on who/what they want to support.
Lastly, LET’s put the focus back on the positives of cycling. I shouldn’t see 10x as many post about doping versus a Jr’s results or accomplishments. But, a quick scan of social and websites you will see post about people being busted for doping or testing clean. I am against doping 1000% but bring attention to the negatives of our sport is POOR marketing at best.
People will always cheat but the focus should never be on them. I bet we know more about the last 2-3 people busted for doping versus those who won a State Champ. Let’s highlight some of the great athletes, coaches and resources we have in Florida. We have some amazing coaches. How many post do you see on the FBRA or Clean ride fund about training effectively? How to improve your training the right way? Effective supplements? The answer is ZERO, but we have some great coaching resources. We have so many resources that can be used to make Florida cycling great again.
All of the above changes will cost little to no money but could be very impactful for our sport.
In conclusion, cycling is all I do. It’s my profession for the last 11 years as a coach and bike fitter. Everyday I am around the bike community and my secret weapon is, I listen. I built my business on listening, communication and taking action.
PS: I guess, I could have just listed what I have accomplished in the sport. But, that would be worthless. It has value to me but ZERO impact in making changes to a system that needs some help.
Thank you,
Roy Foley
