Grinder Nationals

The United States Endurance Cycling Federation is proud to present the USECF Gravel Grinder National Championship. Racers do not need to qualify and any rider 16 years of age or older may register for the USECF Gravel Grinder National Championship. Racers will push the boundaries of human endurance and winning will require extreme willpower, skillful riding and possibly a little luck. When the dust settles the winning riders in each category will be crowned as 2017 USECF Gravel Grinder National Champions and presented with USECF National Championship Jerseys.

OVERVIEW

It’s time for some Gravel Grinding and Lawrence, Kansas is the place! There is a category for everyone from high school to those who are a little longer in the tooth and all who register for the USECF Gravel Grinder National Championship will race for a coveted USECF National Champion Jersey! See what you are made of as you race across a challenging & scenic course as part of the 2017 USECF National Championship Weekend. The USECF Gravel Grinder National Championship will be part of the weekend festivities which include an epic course, great food and a fun & festive award ceremony. The awesome course and time in the saddle with the gravel tribe will make this an epic event to remember.

advrace wrote:bobknh I understand your initial reaction, especially when you explain your background. That is not who we are - possibly listening to the podcast will give you a better feel for who we are and what we are striving to accomplish.

thanks

This brings up some good questions and important information for event organizers so I’m going to post a somewhat lengthy response here that I also posted over on gravel cyclist for the benefit or event organizers as well as participants.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying and I wish were able to have maybe 3 rules for all events – something like have fun, be kind and be fair.

But we usually need some rules just to direct the event - so we can tell if it is a gravel ride or a kickball game. Next you have participants who are not trying to cheat but who are looking for an advantage in the way they interpret the rules or lack of rules. And finally you also have blatant cheaters. All of these factors are generally where rules come into place. Also as a race director & for the racers it is much better to have rules & consequences for the breaking of the rules in place before they happen – so everything is objective versus subjective (eliminates things like you didn’t punish her for cheating because she’s your wife, etc)

We have race director resources on the USECF website and anyone can download them for free. We have no desire to enforce standardized rules – for example we provide a sample set of rules on the website, if a race director wants to use or edit them great – if not that is OK too. We are just trying to provide some of the standard materials a race director might need so they do not have to reinvent everything from scratch. We also provide free consulting for race directors to help them have a successful event – this is especially important for first time event organizers. All of these things can help endurance cycling event directors put on better events and the result is that the sport thrives when this is happening. When someone puts on an event with problems many riders go away disappointed or mad, and a first time participant may assume that all events have these issues and decide to not participate again. The result is that endurance cycling is hurt. We are all passionate about endurance cycling and want to see it thrive.

Disclaimer – here is the event coverage explanation – not necessarily exciting but very important.

It is important to understand that all event coverage is not equal and the event coverage we provide is some of the best available – which helps me sleep well at night as a race director. I have seen all types of terrible coverage through the years including event coverage that excepts the participants – in layman’s terms does not cover the event director from suits arising from the event participants or cover participants medical expenses – coverage like this is more common than you would think. We pass the coverage on at cost – FYI adding to the insurance cost is actually illegal unless you are an insurance agent (which we are not). We also have no plans to have licenses or collect membership fees now or in the future.

I have been involved with event liability for a long time so I also want to address a sometimes misunderstood concept. There is no difference between a race director of a free event or an event that charges entry fees, neither one can have participants sign away your liability. I repeat, free entry is inconsequential with regards to your liability as an event organizer. Understand I’m not talking about a couple of guys meeting at the end of the block on Saturday morning and going for a ride. But once you start adding in the pieces of an organized event such as naming the event, having a website or face book site, entry forms, pre race meeting, etc you have just taken on the liability for the event.

There are several possible outcomes when there is equipment damage, an injury or death at an event and if the event organizers do not have event coverage they will have to bear the cost of responding to actions taken by participants and they also may be found liable for damages arising from the event. An important thing to understand is that if one of the above situations happens, even if the event organizer was not negligent he may incur severe cost in defending a lawsuit if he did not have event insurance.

Let me jump to the next questions that usually appears in this string. You may know all of your participants and feel confident that none of them would ever hold you responsible for something that happened at your event. Well you should know that the majority of losses come from suits brought by the family of the participant. When a participant is severely injured or killed the family may not feel the same towards you as the participant does and they may have no problem naming you in a lawsuit.

I have been through this line of thinking a couple of times during the evolution of sports that I was involved with and I just want all of the race directors out there to understand the liability they are taking on when they organize an event so they are not caught by surprise if something unforeseen happens at their event. Also understand that all waivers are not created equal and that each state may have their own requirements for waivers.

Unfortunately we live in a litigious society and as an event organizer we must understand that when we organize an event, legally we automatically take on the liability for that event.

Is anyone is still awake

Sorry if I was too wordy I just feel it is important for event organizers & participants to understand the legal implications of producing an event.

Having an event organizer covered in case the unthinkable happens at their event should not take the fun out of the event – it may cause the free events to find a sponsor to pick up the insurance cost or charge a minimal fee to cover the event coverage but the participants need to understand that it is not really fair to ask them to personally take on the liability for the event.

We are not trying to sanitize or ruin endurance cycling, actually just the opposite, we are trying to provide resources for the events & riders. We love the variety of endurance cycling events that are out there and want to see them all flourish.

Thank you,

Troy