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Expanding Membership for UC Cycling May Mean Troubles Down the Road

Disclaimer: The author of this story joined the University of Cincinnati Cycling Club in September of 2017.

 The University of Cincinnati’s club cycling team has been eager to receive massive increases in membership as of September 2017, despite the fact that they may not be prepared to fund it.

 The University of Cincinnati Cycling Club (UCCC) exists as a tier 4 club sport within the University’s office of Student Activities and Leadership Development (USALD).  Of the five tiers of club sports that UC offers, the UCCC is deemed Nationally Competitive, which the office of Student Activities and Leadership Development describes as follows:

           “Clubs that compete successfully on the national level will make up tier four (4),      Nationally Competitive.”

 USA Cycling, or USAC, is the governing administrative body of all professional organized cycling racing within in the United States, and holds a thorough mission statement in regards to its stance on collegiate cycling:

           “. . . Collegiate Cycling is team-oriented bicycle racing for women and men of all     abilities. It focuses on Providing new riders with a welcoming introduction to the             Collegiate Cycling family . . . [and] ensuring that the sport we love is low cost and   accessible to any student who wants to race a bike.”

 So while the USAC manages all of the organized cycling events for collegiate athletes in the U.S., and does so very well, it comes down to each individual team to get their racers qualified and actually to an event.

 The USALD deems UC Cycling as being competitive at the national level. While this is true, even more so this year, the UCCC hosts several members who participate in locally-held competitive races, as well as members who are in the club purely to train, attend charity and group rides, or be a member of the discourse community that the UCCC offers. Of UCCC’s current active team members, seven reported to race competitively, while the remaining members either claimed to be purely recreational, or chose not to comment. Of those seven current members who reported to race competitively, only one answered to competing in USAC Collegiate Nationals.

With this current split in the club’s membership between those who race, either competitively or not, and those who are recreational members, the UCCC technically falls into three separate categories of the University’s Club Sports tiers: Nationally Competitive (tier 4), Competitive (tier 3), and Recreational (tier 2).

According to the Club’s current treasurer, Kyle Melling, every fiscal year the members of the UCCC are allotted a base $400 each to cover their racing expenditures, with nationally competitive racers receiving $700. On average, a nationally competitive road racing athlete must have five qualifying races to make it to nationals.

The $600-$1,000 cost of those five qualifying road races, in combination with the $800-$1,000 (both vary due to fluctuating travel costs) expenditure of the Collegiate Road Nationals race weekend, leaves those nationally competitive athletes with accumulated costs of at least twice their allocated funding.

In a previous year, the UCCC had two athletes lined up to be competing in Collegiate Road Nationals. One racer ended up with an injury prior to the races and was left with no choice but to withdraw.

Ben Horn, Vice President of the UCCC, claims that if the injured athlete had not withdrawn, the club would have been spread thin on its funding for the remainder of the year, leading to strong scrutiny from the officers in funding races for the remainder of the year.

After turning down a prior request to communicate, Sam Ransohoff, current president of the UCCC, finally came forth for interview.

“We did have the funds to send both members to collegiate nationals that year,” says Ransohoff.  “Unfortunately the CSB (Club Sports Board) funds are lose it or use it, so we had to utilize those funds elsewhere when we did not pay for the second member to go.” With the club being unable to carry funds between semesters, the UCCC is faced with a dilemma. Ransohoff says, “This past year we have had the highest amount of racing interest we have ever seen in the club, which has caused some financial strain in a variety of areas.”

In the previous fiscal year, UC Cycling spent a total of nearly $9,000 on expenditures. This included things from new team kits to be worn in races, event registration fees, hotel costs and occasional rental transportation, and even gas to pay for travel

Ben Horn, current Vice-President of the UCCC, says that when he joined the club two years ago as a sophomore, “participation was probably 8 or 10 people. As of the end of last year, our normal club membership bounced between 8 and 12.”

“This past year we graduated a lot of people,” he says, “and we wanted to make up for that, because a large part of the way you allocate funds from UC club sports is with a large member turnout. We ended up getting almost 25 members [this year], I think we’re at 22 or 23 right now.”

A week after sending a formal request to get a breakdown of the team’s spending last year, Betty Jean Gabbard, Senior Legal Assistant for the University of Cincinnati, passed along a spreadsheet. The amount originally granted to the UCCC by the university in 2016 was listed at $8,400. They surpassed that amount of expenditure by more than $250. The team ran through the entirety of its initially-granted funds rather comfortably last year, and the extra spending was covered by fundraising coordinated by team officers and its members. Unfortunately, the team has doubled its number of racers across the board, which will likely call for a need of additional funding just to accommodate its competitive interests.

Horn was lead to believe that the increase in membership would lead to additional funds being granted to the team, but he claims they are not seeing much change. “We almost have the same funding we’ve had in recent years – even when we had half the people [last year].” While Horn did not provide a specific amount, Ransohoff confirmed that his statement was true.

Fortunately, the increase in number of those competing for UC was not enough to put the team in jeopardy of going broke this semester. That could be due to the Spring and early Summer being yet to come, which host the largest amounts of collegiate races in the year.

With the UCCC’s total membership growing by nearly %300 percent, along with an alleged expectation of more members to join next semester, the club is placed in a tricky situation of slowly finding a need for more funding.          

When the team does burn through its allocated funding for a semester, it relies on furthering its yearly mandatory fundraising efforts and even requesting additional funding from the University CSB late in the fall semester, which can boost their allowed spending. Aside from this, the club’s only other option would be to raise their aforementioned club sport tier, allowing the club to acquire more funding and resources.

Ransohoff says that it would do more harm than good for the team, “While our budget would potentially increase significantly, there would be mandatory requirements that would change for members. Dues would increase to a minimum of $500 per member, and organized ‘games’ and practices would have to accumulate to ten hours per week, at a minimum.”

Cycling is unique in that there can be several racers who could be competing in different events, each within different disciplines. Because of this, Sam says, “[this situation] ultimately creates a lot of logistical nightmares which translates to tons of time that officers have to put into making arrangements.” With an increase to the Club’s tier, it would only mean more logistics nightmares and difficulties for the Club officers.

 Without increased funding to benefit their boom in membership, the UC Cycling team has a growing problem. The expected further growth of membership, in combination to the CSB’s failing to up their allotted spending leaves the UCCC waiting for their next recruitment meeting in early 2018. If interest in racing goes up, the University will be likely forced to respond with granting additional expenditure.

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Video For Final Project

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Podcast for Final Project

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Captions In order of post (can’t fit caption on photo individually. WIll Smotherman (cq.) (left) coasts through the finish of the Category 5 Men's open division race at the Trek Cyclocross Cup in Waterloo, WI on Sunday, Sep. 24, 2017. He was not pleased with his result, after two mid-race technical malfunctions put him back significantly in the standings. Sam Ransohoff (cq) socializing after a midweek training ride at Devou Park in Covington, KY on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017. A few days after a soaking rain, only a few of Devou's numerous trails were ride-able. Mitch Powers makes his way off-course after taking a well-earned third place in the Men's Category 4 Single-speed race at the Trek Cyclocross Cup in Waterloo, WI on Saturday, Sep. 23, 2017. After selecting the gear he wanted to race in, Powers zip-tied his bike’s shifter, making it legal for the SS races, earning him two podium finishes over the weekend. Jake Kastens (cq.) (right), makes his way to Will Smotherman, who waits for the group to join him at an intersection of trail in Convington, KY's Devou Park on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017. The trail system in Devou consists of several intertwining trails, allowing for different lines to be ridden on nearly every ride. Ben Horn breaks away from the pack of racers in his Men's Category 4 race at the Trek Cyclocross Cup in Waterloo, WI on Saturday, Sep. 23, 2017. The 90-degree heat in Waterloo made for some interesting racing over the weekend, with many racers withdrawing or dropping out mid-race due to the extreme heat and humidity. Ellen Foster (right) sprints ahead of the pack in her Category 4 Women's race at the Trek Cyclocross Cup in Waterloo, WI on Saturday, Sep. 23, 2017. Narrowly avoiding the mid-race pile-up, Foster was able to get a large lead on the pack that she was racing within.

Sam Ransohoff rides Will Smotherman's rear tire on Devou Park's "Full Monty" downhill trail during their training ride on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017. The slick leaves on the trail that day meant deliberate turns and cautious riding lines were a must.

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How to: Put Air in Your Bike Tires

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People on the Street (and in a library) B-Roll from: Alex Constante (Given direct permission to use footage).

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Police Shooting Leads to Grisly Case

Sunday night, a Cincinnati Police officer on patrol in the 4000 block of Main Street was involved in a fatal multi-victim shooting.

After being dispatched to a residence in the area to investigate 911 calls of a shooting, officers were informed of additional reports of an armed male firing shots in the street nearby.

A Cincinnati Police K9 was deployed to apprehend the armed suspect, Ric Young, 32, was struck in the crossfire between officers and the suspect, and was killed at the scene.

Ric Young had spent 36 of the past 60 months in prison on several convictions, including armed robbery and felonious assault.

“He just got a job,” said Young’s mother, who believed that Ric was really straightening out his life, “His girlfriend’s pregnant and they were planning to get married next month . . . He must’ve seen something in that apartment that spooked him. He wasn’t acting like himself.”

Young was taken into custody, then underwent emergency surgery at the UMC Trauma Center; he was pronounced dead at 11:56 p.m.

Upon investigating the apartment where the first 911 calls originated, officers found the bodies of Harold Miller, 24, and Leanne Reinhold, 27. Miller and Reinhold had been reported missing in Biloxi, Mississippi two months ago. They were not listed as the owners of the residence where they were found. Officers have responded to 14 separate calls to the apartment in the past year.

The identities of the officers involved have yet to be released, and it has yet to be determined whether dash- and body-cam footage will be released.

It would be good to find out who is the owner of the apartment. I would try to maybe dig more about Harold and Leanne on Social media to just see if there were any pictures that told anything along the lines of a backstory on either of them. It would be good to try to find an avenue connecting Ric Young to the apartment, and whether there is any possibility of gang- or drug-related circumstances.

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Trek CX Cup Brings the World Cyclocross Community to Waterloo, WI

  Print:             Over the weekend, Trek Bicycle Company, based in the small town of Waterloo, Wisconsin, hosted the 2017 Trek Cyclocross World Cup. Waterloo, a town of around only 3,000 people, hosted a world-class venue for guests both spectating and racing, such as cycling legend Jens Voigt, two-time world champion and seven-time World Cup race winner Sven Nys, and even Gary Fischer, the man considered to be one of the primary inventors of the modern mountain bike. The weekend consisted of all kinds of events on the course, with everything from open races, skills clinics hosted by the pros, and USA Cycling (USAC) sanctioned events that tied into national tours, all the way down to the cyclocross world cup men’s and women’s races, which were also televised live online.

           Fortunately, I happened to be heading up to Wisconsin with the University of Cincinnati Cycling Club team to race in a Midwest Collegiate Conference downhill mountain bike race, but in the mean time, I got to go and see the cyclocross Bearcats take the course with hundreds of others for a weekend filled with excitement. With team members Will Smotherman, Benjamin Horn, Mitchell Powers and Ellen Foster all racing in at least one event, Cincinnati made itself a prominent name on the field. Powers and Horn both raced in Singlespeed Category 4/5, with Mitchell Powers making the podium twice, and Benjamin Horn taking a fourth place spot in his racing. I had some time to speak with Ellen Foster, a third year graduate student in UC’s Physical Therapist program who competed in Category 4 Women’s, to see how Trek’s event stacked up to those she’d attended in the past.

           “Trek CX cup was a step up,” said Foster, “They had many things that are not typically part of race weekends – pro meet-and-greets, onside broadcasting of the world championship road race, free live streaming of elite races, and even equal winning payout for women.” The 90-degree heat in Waterloo over the weekend didn’t seem to be too much of a dampener on the festivities, especially with the excellent job that Trek did with hosting the event. The course for all racers was kept in one area – the back yard of Trek Headquarters. This venue was unique however in that Trek changed the course throughout the weekend, allowing for more interesting pro races as well as a course that was more suited for the open divisions, allowing everyone competing to have a great time on the bike.

           The Elite Men’s race on Sunday attracted the largest crowd, and for good reason. Now five-time World Championship gold medalist Mathieu van der Poel (racing for Beobank-Corendon) of Belgium was out in force, taking home another win, beating out second and third place winners Corne Van Kessel and Daan Soete (both Racing for Telenet Fidea Lions) with a devastating thirty-three second gap. Radio Brief: The 2017 Cyclocross World Cup comes to Waterloo, WI, headquarters of Trek Bicycle Co. University of Cincinnati Cycling club team members Benjamin Horn, Mitchell Powers, William Smotherman, and Ellen Foster travel north to compete in the weekend’s races. Powers takes home two podium spots in Men’s Cat 4 Singlespeed, where Horn takes home one fourth place spot. The Men’s Elite World Championship Race finishes with Mathieu van der Poel of team Beobank-Corendon taking first, and Corne Van Kessel and Daan Soete of Telenet Fidea Lions taking second and third, respectively.

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Cincinnati Area Cycling Team Aims to Promote a Rising Discipline

           Cyclocross is the name of a particular discipline of cycling which involves riding several laps of a short circuit that is always filled with different challenging obstacles and varying terrain that demands massive amounts of focus, stamina, and skill from the rider. In recent years, cyclocross has begun to appear as a much more prominent chunk of the cycling community, and it shows with the beginning of a team here in Cincinnati that has made quite a name for itself.

           Team Hungry Cycling was founded in the winter of 2008, and today exists as not only a social club that revolves around cycling, but also serves as the foundation of a training regimen for many racers, as well as a proponent of advocating cycling safety and awareness in the Cincinnati area.  For the past month, Team Hungry has been holding open hot lap training sessions, where members of the team set up a free and public course for anyone to come and ride on. Every Tuesday of this past month, the team would head out to Otto Armleder park in the early evening, set up a short course, and host the practice session.

           Through holding this event, Team Hungry is attempting to not only spread their presence as an entity of the cycling community here in Cincinnati, but also promote interest and progression in cycling throughout the community as a whole. Mitch Powers, a fellow member of the University of Cincinnati Cycling Club, and avid cyclocross rider, said, “(Team) Hungry sets up a course in the park before any of us even get there. It’s cool because it’s all volunteer run and free to everyone.” Hungry does not require registration for these events, all that you have to do is show up in order to ride alongside the team. “Events like this, Ault Park Crits, and the CX TT (another similar public cyclocross practice held in the area) are great for the Cincinnati cycling community. Anything that gets people meeting and talking to others who they may not run into in their regular lives is a great thing.”

           Another member of UC’s cycling club who happens to ride and race cyclocross, Ben Horn, has in the past spent time both racing and riding alongside many members of Team Hungry, and has been attending the hot lap practices for a couple of years now. “It is free training against competitive people. It’s better than training on your own because they push you.”

           Much like Ben, another person at the practice on Tuesday was appreciative of the effort that Team Hungry makes the participators put into their ride. Celeste Taylor has been riding with Team Hungry every week for this past month. “I really enjoy the fitness I get from riding race-paced interval workouts, and the skills training that comes along with riding here is great,” says Celeste. I asked her about the atmosphere and community at the practices as well, and whether there has been noticeable change to the vibe as the weeks have progressed. “The biggest thing I see is new faces. It’s so awesome to meet those people who are coming here for there first time, with no prior experience in riding cyclocross.”

           While Celeste had a lot to say in regards to Team Hungry and all they do for the cyclocross community, her favorite part about the events speaks volumes to the cyclocross lifestyle: “Being around people here who are involved with the same interest and putting in work with them to get better.” Although Team Hungry has finished this round of hot lap practice nights, it will be exciting to see how they and other groups in the Cincinnati area will continue to advance the cyclocross scene in our city’s cycling culture.