I Was Competing?
When I thumbed through the mail yesterday and spotted a letter from NEBRA, I had no reason to rip open the envelop then and there to excitedly read its contents. My only vague knowledge of NEBRA was that it stood for New England Bicycle Racing Association, and that they had something to do with publishing the racing calendar towards the end of the year. I assumed they were sending me some mass mailing about the upcoming racing year, and I therefore dumped the NEBRA letter along with the rest of the bills and junk mail on the counter for later review.
So you can imagine my surprise when later that day I opened the envelop to reveal a single page of typed text, along with a $75 personal check made out to my name! Here's the the first paragraph of text in the note:
On behalf of the New England Bicycle Racing Association, I congratulate you on a very successful year of racing. You have finished in the top 5 of the rankings in your respective category or age group. If you finished in the top three, you will have a medal enclosed, as well as a check. Some of you have multiple checks and medals because you moved categories during the year but still had sufficient points to score in the top of both.
As I finished reading the note, I sought out Mrs D to re-read the text aloud for her enjoyment. And of course as I read it I had a big smile on my face -- who wouldn't be thrilled to receive free money in the mail, along with a note recognizing me as a somewhat accomplished Cat 4 bicycle racer?
But the smile slowly faded as my thoughts gravitated back to that old saying "Nothing in life is free." Somehow I must have contributed some money to fund this organization that is now handing me a check, so it was time to do some research.
Who is NEBRA?
My first Google search result pointed me to the actual rankings. I am a regular visitor to the Road Results website, but this page was totally unknown to me. Apparently someone created a point system associated with a particular set of New England bicycle races, and the uber-mainframe powering Road Results tabulated your results on this page each time you happened to enter one. It was done automatically, and at least in my case, without any effort on my part, and even without my knowledge.
My next stop on the Internet brought me to NEBRA's website. The site looked vaguely familiar to me, so perhaps I had visited in the past when scouring the web for the next season's racing schedule. If I had been here before, I certainly ignored all of the details explaining NEBRA as I read that content yesterday for the first time.
After digging around on the site for a bit I'm still at a loss to clearly explain to you how they get funded and how the fit in with USA Cycling. But I'm guessing that they are getting some money from the race entry fees I pay, plus perhaps some cut of the license fee I send to USA Cycling each year. It seems as though they are the local arm of USAC with the responsibility to administer the local bicycle racing scene here in New England. This probably entails establishing the racing calendar, processing license requests, helping to keep the race official ranks filled, enforcing race rules, etc, etc. I found enough evidence on the site to once again validate that "Nothing in life is free", and my $75 dollar check can be tied back to the money we racers pay to USAC each year.
But later in the day as I spent hours on the road (in a car unfortunately, not on a bike) I had time to reflect more on NEBRA and came to the conclusion that indeed I am getting something for free, and by the time I arrived with the Desmarais clan at our Thanksgiving destination, I felt pretty much like a free-loader.
Pay it forward
If a race promoter was truly out to make a quick buck, I'm guessing they'd be far more financially successful putting their money in the bank and just taking a measly 1% interest CD as opposed to putting on a race. I'd also be willing to bet that race officials could stuff their wallets far faster spending their weekends moving Christmas packages and taking a check from a part-time job at FedEx as opposed to giving up their weekends to make sure my races are safe. And while I know NOTHING about what sort of pay the dedicated folks at NEBRA might draw[EDIT: I was informed after writing this post that only one NEBRA staffer is paid, and the rest of the people behind NEBRA do it for their passion for the sport], my guess is that if they were out for a buck, they might be better off investing with Bernie Maddoff as opposed to looking for riches in the amateur racing scene.
Sure I'm paying a good chunk of money each year in race entry feels and a little more in my USAC license. But I doubt that money does anything more than cover the costs of keeping the sport running. Most certainly I am getting free of charge countless hours volunteered by the likes of the folks running NEBRA. I'm not paying a dime for their passion to see the sport flourish. And I don't do a darned thing to help off-set the sacrifices they make so that each week in the spring and summer I have one or more races to choose from.
The NEBRA note I got in the mail had one more paragraph that read as follows:
We hope the rankings and awards have contributed to your enjoyment of the sport, your sense of success, and your enthusiasm to participate. As leaders in your cohort, I hope you will act as ambassadors for the sport and help new riders and those with less experience.
I re-read that text late last night, and in an effort to feel just a little bit less like a free-loader, I decided go online and donate my $75 winnings, as well as $75 of my own money to the Rails to Trails Conservancy to hopefully "help new riders and those with less experience". I don't think NEBRA's rankings and awards will ever influence my desire to participate in the sport, but their unexpected note did remind me of what I should be thankful for.
