Nick
Geeze, I open up the OBRA chat and it's a flood... For me OBRA means Old Bicycle Riders Association. I am one of those Washington riders that commutes from the Tacoma area to participate in OBRA events. And I wish that Washington had something like OBRA!!! Since I'm a rather new member of OBRA and new to bicycle racing (4 years) I may be missing something by my naiveness... but that hasn't stopped me yet. All I have to do is compare the WSBA and OBRA schedules. There is absolutely no contest. Just in TT events alone the comparison comes down predominantly on the side of OBRA. If you look at other venues (cross, mountain) it's all there on the OBRA calendar. I wouldn't be surprised if they started including disc golf ; )

The race organizers on the Washington side do a fine job putting together some great events but my sense is that they are a bit more hobbled then helped by USAC. It would be a very sad day for me to see OBRA become a part of a very top heavy USAC for the marginal benefit of a very few.
Jay

----- Original Message ----
From: nick
To: obra@list.obra.org
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 2:05:31 PM
Subject: [OBRA Chat] OBRA's Future...

I am writing this in hopes that it will spur some conversation on the issue of OBRA races becoming USCF certified. There is a "HUGE" missed opportunity that races in Oregon and South West Washington have because of the lack of certification. USCF is "thee" organization that governs racing in the US, NRC and amateur, from state to state every members points are collected and recorded for national ranking as well as for upgrading purposes (I do not wish to patronize anyone here so please understand that I have only explained this for reasons of those who are unfamiliar). My point here is that OBRA races are missing out on several levels; the most obvious in this case is the lack of national recognition (no one wants to travel to a race that they wont receive points for). Because of this OBRA races miss out on increased funds as well as more competitive fields. On a similar note for those of you that race mostly in Oregon and South West Washington you miss out on the ranking

system as well as points if you were to compete in a USCF race (this is a tragedy seeing as there is a lot of great races in our neighboring states as well as Seattle). We all know that Portland has established itself as a cycling rich community, but just like the cities progressive nature we also should be following that example and become leaders in the progression of our sport instead of living in the past. USCF certification would be a phenomenal asset to racing in Oregon and South West Washington; increasing awareness, funding, competitiveness, and as a result more racing! I encourage everyone to comment on this topic and to start the conversations, good or bad, for or against, please speak up.

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