Interesting Article on USA Cycling

[DirtyWorks]

Steve Johnson's replacement at USA Cycling is Derek Bouchard-Hall.

Adam Myerson is ecstatic about it. https://twitter.com/AdamMyerson/status/593816448801341440

Ryan Trebon is cautious: https://twitter.com/ryantrebon/status/593820348824440832

Does he let Thom and friends run it as they always have? He's going to run into Thom's complete disregard for good governance soon enough.

Anyone remember the last outsider they hired that had a public history of good governance?

I have doubts. Let's see what happens.

 

[spetsa]

Re:

Steve Johnson's replacement at USA Cycling is Derek Bouchard-Hall.

Adam Myerson is ecstatic about it. https://twitter.com/AdamMyerson/status/593816448801341440

Ryan Trebon is cautious: https://twitter.com/ryantrebon/status/593820348824440832

Does he let Thom and friends run it as they always have? He's going to run into Thom's complete disregard for good governance soon enough.

Anyone remember the last outsider they hired that had a public history of good governance?

I have doubts. Let's see what happens.

What a joke. May as well just hire someone whom is friends of both Weasel and Cookson, Oh, that's right, they did.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

Re: Re:

What a joke. May as well just hire someone whom is friends of both Weasel and Cookson, Oh, that's right, they did.

Please, do tell.

 

[spetsa]

Re: Re:

What a joke. May as well just hire someone whom is friends of both Weasel and Cookson, Oh, that's right, they did.

Please, do tell.

Former US Olympian, executive at Wiggle, has lived in London for the last 5 years or so.

That being said, he is a nice guy. Very intelligent. Unfortunately, the job doesn't lend itself to being an independent mover and shaker. USA Cycling got the "best" of both worlds with this hire.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

Re: Re:

Former US Olympian, executive at Wiggle, has lived in London for the last 5 years or so.

That being said, he is a nice guy. Very intelligent. Unfortunately, the job doesn't lend itself to being an independent mover and shaker. USA Cycling got the "best" of both worlds with this hire.

orrrr....one of the most talented cyclists in US history whose career was dramatically limited by results and team selections lost to riders who were involved in systematic doping programs which were condoned by the federation he now leads.

I guess it depends how you parse it.

And independent of who? Johnson ran the fed independently of everything....except Ochowiz and Weisel's bank accounts.

 

[spetsa]

Re: Re:

Former US Olympian, executive at Wiggle, has lived in London for the last 5 years or so.

That being said, he is a nice guy. Very intelligent. Unfortunately, the job doesn't lend itself to being an independent mover and shaker. USA Cycling got the "best" of both worlds with this hire.

orrrr....one of the most talented cyclists in US history whose career was dramatically limited by results and team selections lost to riders who were involved in systematic doping programs which were condoned by the federation he now leads.

I guess it depends how you parse it.



And independent of who? Johnson ran the fed independently of everything....except Ochowiz and Weisel's bank accounts.

To the first bolded comment. His career was cut short by serious health issues, not dopers like the ones he raced with at Mercury. He was US Pro Champion and Pan Am Games Champ for god's sake.

To the second. Thanks for reiterating my point.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

Re: Re:

To the first bolded comment. His career was cut short by serious health issues, not dopers like the ones he raced with at Mercury. He was US Pro Champion and Pan Am Games Champ for god's sake.

To the second. Thanks for reiterating my point.

His results, pay and possibly medical treatment would have been much better had racing been clean. He would have been a star. Better than Lance or Hincapie.

But he knew what happening, got what he could clean, and bowed out when the wear and tear got to be too much. He knows exactly how the system works, he knows better than anyone what it is like to lose results to dirty riders, and he knows better than ANYONE how to support clean riders.

 

[spetsa]

Re: Re:

To the first bolded comment. His career was cut short by serious health issues, not dopers like the ones he raced with at Mercury. He was US Pro Champion and Pan Am Games Champ for god's sake.

To the second. Thanks for reiterating my point.

His results, pay and possibly medical treatment would have been much better had racing been clean. He would have been a star. Better than Lance or Hincapie.

But he knew what happening, got what he could clean, and bowed out when the wear and tear got to be too much. He knows exactly how the system works, he knows better than anyone what it is like to lose results to dirty riders, and he knows better than ANYONE how to support clean riders.

No, he bowed out due to Exterior and Common Iliac Endofibrosis, which he had surgery to repair, and which reoccurred a couple of years later. You also seem to keep forgetting that he was beating all of these "dirty riders".

Do you even know who Erin Hartwell, Mariano Freidick and Tommy Mulkey are? All cleans.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

Re: Re:

No, he bowed out due to Exterior and Common Iliac Endofibrosis, which he had surgery to repair, and which reoccurred a couple of years later. You also seem to keep forgetting that he was beating all of these "dirty riders".

Do you even know who Erin Hartwell, Mariano Freidick and Tommy Mulkey are? All cleans.

So what is your point?
That they were also good riders?
That DBH didn't lose results to dirty riders?
That they would be better USAC CEO choices?

 

[spetsa]

Re: Re:

No, he bowed out due to Exterior and Common Iliac Endofibrosis, which he had surgery to repair, and which reoccurred a couple of years later. You also seem to keep forgetting that he was beating all of these "dirty riders".

Do you even know who Erin Hartwell, Mariano Freidick and Tommy Mulkey are? All cleans.

So what is your point?
That they were also good riders?
That DBH didn't lose results to dirty riders?
That they would be better USAC CEO choices?

It is obvious that you are just trying to troll now. Have a great day.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

Re: Re:

It is obvious that you are just trying to troll now. Have a great day.

No, I'm genuinely curious what you're getting at.

I know DBH had medical problems towards the end of his career. Clean riders keeping up with doped riders are going to be more prone to injury, so I don't separate the two.

And I know there were other good clean riders from that era who got screwed over, and by all accounts, DBH was one of, if not the, best.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re: Re:

It is obvious that you are just trying to troll now. Have a great day.

No, I'm genuinely curious what you're getting at.

I know DBH had medical problems towards the end of his career. Clean riders keeping up with doped riders are going to be more prone to injury, so I don't separate the two.

And I know there were other good clean riders from that era who got screwed over, and by all accounts, DBH was one of, if not the, best.

But, we don't know. Thom is okay with doping and rules don't matter. I'm not saying he was doping. Maybe you have better information.

We just have to wait and see.

For an organization with no competition to change as much as they are means some other stuff will probably come out. We saw it with Russia and Kenya as Seppelt's stories broke.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Derek is getting tough on those dopers!!!!! Busted a 35 yo woman for THC in SoCal.

The exclusive interview with "Derek" here. https://pvcycling.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/usada-bans-washington-oregon-and-california-for-doping-violations/#comment-28399

The fun has just started.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re: Re:

And independent of who? Johnson ran the fed independently of everything....except Ochowiz and Weisel's bank accounts.

No, not true. The way USA Cycling has been modified over the years is USA Cycling Development Foundation appoints a block of Board members. This more or less guarantees USACDF has complete control of the federation.

Johnson was a Board member at both USA Cycling and USACDF. USACDF took over USA Cycling, then took fund raising away from it so it became a shell with one job, do all the regulatory stuff it has been charged with doing and that's all.

All the money and power shifted to USACDF. This eliminated the few good governance rules that weren't ignored in the USA Cycling charter.

It was a brilliant takeover by Wiesel. Since there's effectively no government funding/compliance unlike other countries, it's pretty easy to abuse what revenues the USACDF generates. For example, USACDF theoretically funds athlete development. Funding what projects? Nobody knows. There's no requirement to report it at USACDF. The topline number is reported, but how is the money spent nobody can tell.

 

[DirtyWorks]

For once, a Velonews writer is calling it like it is over at USA Cycling. Lots of veiled references to the corruption and mismanagement at USA Cycling.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/10/news/bouchard-hall-prepared-for-world-championships-of-change_387263

For me, the honeymoon is still on for Mr. Hall. Let's wait and see.

 

[DirtyWorks]

One of USA Cycling's "own" is trying to set up another cycling federation.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/new-national-sanctioning-body-emerges-in-us/

That would be crazy stuff if the whole reason for hiring Bouchard Hall was to respond to this guy.

The writer seems to not be aware of NABRA.

You can tell the guy is a longtime USA Cycling person, he likes the local association model. Of course, if he's trying to get areas to abandon USA Cycling, then it's pretty easy for the association to do so.

##########Long boring explanation.
Background for those not familiar: USA Cycling national organization "associates" with an independent local organization responsible for a geographic area. Some of a race's revenue in a local association's geographic area passes back to the local association. The local associations operate without much oversight and certainly no transparency. The local association sets the race calendar and limits .

Both USA Cycling and their local associations are permitted to abuse their monopoly status with anti-competitive tactics. My favorite was scheduling a race opposite an independent, then USA Cycling(? USACDF?) kicked in $10,000 for prize money. That is how they handle incorrigible race promoters.