Thursday, March 4, 2010

From the archives...

There was a time when the (USCF) United States Cycling Federation (now USA Cycling) would send these rule books out to all new and renewed licensees. I received my first in 1989, and have booklets through 2001. Since we received a new one every year, I am not sure why I kept the old ones, but I did and there they are. They are full of information including bylaws, rules of racing, lists of prohibited substances, lists of past and current national champions, and licensee demographic charts. The same information is now available on the USA Cycling website, but as a one-time librarian I prefer to hold a book in my hands. It is interesting to compare the demographics year-by-year. For instance in 1989 there were 29,214 licenced men and 2,555 licenced women, of all ages. In 2009 there were 44931 men and 6520 women racers. That is a considerable increase, but honestly, after the passing of twenty years I would expect to see an even greater increase, and wonder if even more emphasis should be given to the growth of the sport.

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