2011 Table of Contents 02 Executive Summary 03 League Defintion 06 League Leadership 08 League Following 09 League Partnerships 11 Race Event Venues 18 Event Venues 20 League Fundraising & Development 21 Conclusion UT HIGH SCHOOL CYCLING LEAGUE :: 2011 1 Executive Summary WHY UTAH SHOULD BE AWARDED LEAGUE STATUS NICA is a developing governing body with a goal to be across the country by 2020. NICA needs states who believe in their way of running operations and who believe in NICA’s success. NICA needs a state who can not only jump on board but do so in a way that makes a powerful statement to other states that NICA is the way to go. Utah makes that powerful statement by moving to Project League for 2012. We are able to save NICA the expenses of overseeing an Emerging League for extended periods and jumping straight to Project League status demonstrates a strong belief in the NICA system. We have done all the work and we are ready to go. Additionally, we feel we can confidently say we will claim the title of being NICA’s largest first-year League with our current number of committed schools. We have had time for non-committed leaders, volunteers and coaches to come and go. Our current committee leaders are in for the long haul. Another positive factor is that the state’s population disbursement will lead to high participation in this state as many race venues will be approximately a one hour drive for most participants. Utah makes a powerful statement from the involvement of key organizations and individuals. We have the Superintendent of the Canyons School District who is completely supportive and has a staff member helping us. We have the support of government officials like Heinrich Dieters and Charlie Sturgis in Park City. We have the support of the Utah Cycling Association, The Intermountain Cup, MTB Race Productions, Cycling Utah Magazine, and other race promoters like Park City Point to Point. We have personally been in communication with the cycling clubs and have their support. Most of our venues are donated and the bike shops are very excited and supportive and want to be involved. A league in Utah will offer world-class venues in anticipation of national and regional growth. With 2002 Olympic venue sites in Park City and Soldier Hollow, we can and want to host a NICA national event. The leaders of Park City have already expressed this desire. In summary, Utah is already a cycling mecca with a strong cycling community that is supportive of our League. With 80% of our state population condensed in a small area, our League will be easy to run and attract large numbers because of ease in travel times. Our leadership is highly committed and hard working to become a successful league. Our Leader Advocate has been putting in a full-time effort to make our league a reality and a success. The support of the community is fantastic. We have actually been out to the venues to make sure they will function, deciding where to place fencing, the pit, parking, etc. We have ridden the courses several times to find the best options for racing. Utah can offer NICA world-class venues for future national and regional events. This bid is not just a dream on paper. We have been out in the community meeting with people, schools, venue operators, etc. We have actually done the work and are ready to go with 25 schools and over 50 coaches. We are excited to offer up our preparation for your review and approval. 2 UT HIGH SCHOOL CYCLING LEAGUE :: 2011 Executive Summary League Definition STATE LEAGUE DEMOGRAPHICS We are proposing a league for the state of Utah. The state of Utah is 84,849 square miles. It is 270 miles wide and 350 miles in length. The overall population is 2,763,885 according to the 2010 census. One unique aspect of Utah is that that 80% of the entire population resides in what is called the “Wasatch Front”, an area 80 miles long running along the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Wasatch Front includes the 3 major cities of Utah: Ogden, population 547,184; Salt Lake City, population 1,124,197; and the Provo-Orem metropolis with a population of 555,551. This unique population disbursement has a positive affect for Utah’s future high school cycling league. It not only facilitates management of the league itself, but provides close proximity for all events. By disbursing the race venues along the Wasatch Front, schools will have drive times that will average only one hour to get to the events. This will also increase potential participation greatly. HIGH SCHOOLS There are 187 total high schools in the state of Utah, with 152,751 students in grades 9 through 12. Again, you can witness the population disbursement as 117,581 students live in the Wasatch Front among 69 public high schools and 27 private/charter high schools. The range in the sizes of schools throughout the state is great. Rural high schools will have numbers anywhere from 2 to 1200. Along the Wasatch Front, high schools fall between 1200 and 2500 students in 10th to 12th grade. Most ninth grade classes are part of junior high school in Utah. However, ninth graders can and do participate in their high school athletic programs. COLLEGIATE CLUBS There are four collegiate clubs in Utah. The University of Utah in Salt Lake, Utah Valley University in Orem, Weber State University in Odgen, and Utah State University in Logan. UT HIGH SCHOOL CYCLING LEAGUE :: 2011 3 League Definition CYCLING DEMOGRAPHICS OF UTAH Utah is a cycling mecca. We are famous for our “Slickrock” mountain bike trails and beautiful rocky mountain alpine trails. People literally travel from all over the world to mountain bike in Utah. However, there are some surprising facts about our cycling community. Utah hosts the largest women’s ride in the country. The 3,000 cyclist spots for the “Little Red” ride literally filled up this year in less than a day. Utah also hosts the longest one- day USA Cycling sanctioned bicycle race in the country, LOTOJA. The Tour of Utah received UCI sanctioning for 2011. This demonstrating Utah’s support and enthusiasm for cycling and racing. There are 61 cycling clubs in Utah. Besides the four collegiate clubs, there are only three clubs who specialize in just one area of cycling. PCIM, a women’s road racing team, UtahMountainBiking.com, and The Young Riders, a junior’s mountain bike racing/development team. All the other teams have a combination of racers, masters, juniors, road, mountain, cyclocross, touring and recreation riders. Two clubs have about 600 members. A few clubs are small like Cakewalk’s Vegan Athletes. Three clubs are focused on fundraising: Teamgive, The Huntsman Hometown Heros and Team Bad Ass Coffee. While they have over 200 members each, those members can also be a part of other riding/racing teams. The average club membership size is 100. Most importantly, we have been in contact with every single club through phone and email conversation and they are behind having a high school league here in Utah and are willing to help in any way they can. The team leaders have sent out emails to all their club members and have asked them to like our facebook page and to be prepared to get involved. There are 1291 licensed racers in Utah. Utah’s road races are sanctioned with USA Cycling and require riders to be licensed. However, Utah’s mountain and cyclocross races are not sanctioned and do not require licensing. The Intermountain Cup is Utah’s main mountain bike race series and ranges in participation size of 135 to 243 for all categories among 11 different races. Photos courtesy of Christopher See There are 82 bike shops in Utah, 57 of RACING SEASON those are along the Wasatch Front. Currently, mountain bike racing in Utah begins in March with two races in Southern Utah. Mountain bike racing Depending on how you define bike compa- nies, there are 21 companies that deal with along the Wasatch Front starts in May at lower valley elevations and moves progressively to high mountain making bikes and components specifically elevations as winter snow melts and lasts through August. Cyclocross starts at the end of September. like Specialized, Enve, and Reynolds. If you include all companies that deal with any form of cycling like touring groups, etc. A race series for a high school league would work best for Utah in the fall. The Wasatch Front is exactly what it that number is increased to over 200. implies, the lower, front valleys of the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains. The mountains are home to ski resorts and winter snow recreation. At the same time, we are considered a desert and summer temperatures in the valleys reach 100 degrees. One of the problems with having a spring/early summer race season is that you are dealing with snow melt on top of occasional rain and/or snow creating more difficulties and wet conditions. The second problem would be training time for the high schools. Those of us who train before racing in May 4 UT HIGH SCHOOL CYCLING LEAGUE :: 2011 League Definition League Definition typically put in a lot of time on indoor trainers or on the road with road bikes, creating obvious problems and expenses for high school teams. Thus, we propose a fall race schedule. With a fall race series, kids can start their training in August.