Today We Just Make Kilometers

Today I sent the below emails to the New England Bicycle Racing Association and to USA Cycling. Although I am no longer actively involved in bicycle racing I have to stand up and speak out for what is right and I would encourage others to do the same.

For more information and resources on the situation in Arkansas and other states I’ll point you towards this article by Molly Cameron: https://www.bicycling.com/news/a36014498/cycling-arkansas-anti-transgender-bills/ and you can find some suggested action items in this excellent post from Hup United https://velocb.blogspot.com/2021/04/what-i-can-do-about-arkansas.html?m=1

You very likely arrived here from a post on my Twitter or Instagram feed. Social Media is a pretty unhealthy thing for me so I’m quite unlikely to engage/follow up through those channels. If you need to reach me you can email me directly.

Thanks,

JD Bilodeau

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To: Rob DeMartini –@usacycling.org, “Hodge, Chuck” chodge@usacycling.org, Kelsey Erickson kerickson@usacycling.org, Lucia D –@–.com, bod@usacycling.org, “Uhlemann, Kristen” kuhlemann@usacycling.org, Tim Johnson tjohnson@usacycling.org
Hello All-

It has been quite some time since we talked. Although I’m no longer actively involved in the sport of bicycle racing, recent events surrounding the anti-transgender legislation in Arkansas and other states have led me to stand back up and speak out. This assault on the human rights of children and vulnerable members of our community has me heartbroken. And the USA Cycling CEO’s awful response to the situation (https://www.singletracks.com/community/new-anti-transgender-sports-legislation-in-arkansas-may-negatively-affect-nica-athletes/) is both unacceptable and infuriating.

Below you will find the text of an email I sent to the Board of Directors of the New England Bicycle Racing Association (NEBRA), USA Cycling’s contracted Local Association for Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. I was employed as NEBRA’s Administrator from 2015 to 2020 and I worked closely with you and your predecessors at USA Cycling during that time. I was also a USA Cycling (and USCF/NORBA) member from 1985-2019. In the below email I urge NEBRA to leave USA Cycling- something I never thought I would do. But the repeated failure of USA Cycling to support and protect all of its membership and its failure to protect and support the sport of cycling has ended my belief in the organization.

I fully understand the job of a National Governing Body in the United States is phenomenally difficult. I also know and care deeply for the staff at USA Cycling who put their hearts and soul into this sport. I know all too well the struggle of having to choose the ‘least bad option’ that comes with being in an organization with members of different backgrounds, priorities and belief systems. And I also know that there comes a time where individuals and organizations have to do the right thing- even when it is the most difficult option. I’m gutted watching the staff at USA Cycling work tirelessly for the general membership only to watch current leadership ignore anything without the word Olympic attached.

Without real change as described below I won’t be a member ever again. I won’t support USA Cycling or the USA Cycling Development Foundation and I won’t ask others to either.

Specifically, the change I want to see consists of the following:

Rob DeMartini needs to step down as President and CEO of USA Cycling. He is very simply the wrong person for the job. In 2019 the Local Associations had to fight to get him to come meet with us in person. When COVID hit in 2020 it was a fight to get USA Cycling to pull permits, despite the obvious public health risks. The delay in getting some sort of statement out around Black Lives Matter and diversity and inclusion in cycling was shameful. And his recent commentary in the Singletracks interview, regardless of context, was horrifying.

Bob Stapleton needs to step down as Chairman of the Board of USA Cycling. In five years at NEBRA (one of the largest, most stable and most successful Local Associations), I saw and interacted with Bob exactly once. From the years-long IT quagmire to the revolving door of USA Cycling staff members to the crisis we face today within Arkansas, it has all happened on Bob’s watch. USA Cycling and its membership deserve a Chair who is involved in our community. Someone who is visible, accessible and accountable. 

The USA Cycling Development Foundation needs to formally separate from USA Cycling. Make no mistake – the Development Foundation needs to exist. The work they do is vital to producing successes for American athletes in International competition. But there is so much more to the sport than winning medals and championships. Right now, USA Cycling is like a three-legged chair where everything is concentrated on an oversized Development Foundation leg. There is no support for anything else. Time and time again we have seen that amateur racing and the enthusiast base have no place in a USA Cycling dominated by the Development Foundation, and that must change.

USA Cycling and the USA Cycling Development Foundation both need to make a clear statement supporting the rights of transgender athletes, staff, and members of the USA Cycling community. Further, USA Cycling needs to definitively stand up for the rights and wellbeing of transgender athletes by stating that abuse, threats and intimidation from USA Cycling licensees and permittes towards transgender athletes will not be tolerated. Disciplinary action (such as license or permit suspension and/or revocation) absolutely needs to extend beyond the SafeSport process, as that organization and its policies and procedures currently fall short for the transgender community.

USA Cycling needs to lobby the UCI to move the 2021 Cyclocross World Cup and the 2022 Cyclocross World Championships from Arkansas to a location that is safe and open for all athletes, staff, and spectators. If the events are not moved to a location that is safe and open for all, USA Cycling should decline to send athletes, officials and staff members to those events.

USA Cycling needs to move the 2021 US Professional Road Cycling Championships from Tennessee to a location that is safe and open for all.

USA Cycling needs to actively and publicly connect with Governors, elected officials and Sports Commissions in states such as Arkansas and Tennessee to support the rights of transgender athletes of all ages and in all sports. USA Cycling should explain how hateful and repressive legislation negatively affects those states’ economies, athletes and the sport of cycling.

Today I will be donating the $100 I would have spent on an annual membership and racing add on to
The Trevor Project (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/) to directly support the youth affected by these
hateful laws in Arkansas Tennessee and elsewhere. I will also be donating the $50 I would have spent on
my Officials C renewal to the ACLU (https://www.aclu.org/) to help with the legal battle against this
legislation.

Human rights are more important than bike racing. USA Cycling needs to live up to the mission statement developed by their own DEI Task Force: “People should feel comfortable participating in cycling, regardless of gender, gender identity, race, class or any other perceived difference.”

It’s all of us, or none of us.

Respectfully,
JD Bilodeau
USA Cycling license #50634 (currently expired)
Former NEBRA Administrator

Text of email to board@nebra.us follows—————

Hello All-

I know we have not connected since we eliminated the Administrator position last May- it seems like the past year has been a decade. But in light of the recent uproar that is USAC’s attempted response to the recent spate of anti-transgender legislation in Arkansas and other states I wanted to reach out to you on the future of cycling in New England.

One of the things I was always proud of during my time at NEBRA was our relentless push towards equity and equality in the sport. We were not always perfect, nor were we always successful, but I’d like to think that NEBRA landed on the right side of the issues every time we took a stand. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for USA Cycling.

During my time as an event director, event service provider and as NEBRA Administrator I always felt that it was crucial to work within the system of a National Governing Body despite the many drawbacks and constant disappointments. I still feel that the best thing for the sport of cycling is a consistent nation wide body that serves and supports the vast majority of the cycling population. A NGB (or a Local Association) can’t ever be all things to all people- perfection is an impossibility- but doing the ‘right thing’ and serving 90% of the population 90% of the time is possible and should be the the goal of an organization like USAC or NEBRA.

Over the last year USAC’s response to COVID, to Black Lives Matter and now to the anti-transgender movement has shown me that our current NGB is not up to the task of leading the sport. Without fundamental changes in leadership at USAC, its Board of Directors and the USAC Development Foundation I can no longer support the organization in good conscience. I can’t tell riders that being a USAC member is the best thing for them. I can’t tell event directors that sanctioning though USAC is the best thing for the sport. USA Cycling is simply doing more harm than good right now.

However it is not enough to simply leave USAC. Unsanctioned is not the answer. There has to be someplace else to go- either an existing non profit organization with a proven commitment to the sport or a new one. With that in mind I would encourage NEBRA to reach out to the Eastern Fat Tire Association to see if there is a possibility of a merger or some sort of working partnership. I know that the existing EFTA insurance product does not work for road racing and might not for gravel. But it is a starting point. Most importantly I think its non profit status, the historical mission of EFTA and the current makeup of their Board of Directors gives me hope that this is the sort of ethical organization that with NEBRA’s help can help sustain and grow the sport of cycling in New England across every discipline. I think it is potentially a far better starting point than striking out independently.

I feel that we’ve clearly hit the point where an association with USA Cycling is a liability instead of an asset. If I have one regret from my time working at NEBRA it is that I did not do enough to move us away from USAC. There is always the possibility that USAC might change- that they might turn this around somehow. But their history of disinterest and failure weighs heavily against them. So in the interest of what’s best for New England, and what is best for the entire sport of cycling I think that it is imperative NEBRA begins to move elsewhere.

Sincerely,
JD Bilodeau
NEBRA Administrator 2015-2020