2020 USA Cycling Officials and Technical Membership Renewals
As we close out 2019, our IT department has been hard at work creating some changes with our officiating license renewals. As you can see from the title of this email, it references “Technical Memberships”. Officials, Coaches, Mechanics, UCI Support (DS, Team Assistants, Soigneurs, Drivers, etc.) as well as Domestic Drive are part of the “technical licensee” group.
This year, we’ve made progress in handling our Officials’ Renewal in the same manner as racing licenses. Change is inevitable and that doesn’t always mean “flawless”, but please give the new process a chance and bear with us as we finalize integration all of the memberships.
If you haven’t already renewed for 2020, I’m going to run through the renewal process to highlight changes and known issues. Hopefully this information can make your renewal as painless a process as possible.
Renewal Requirement Changes:
As in previous years, you will have several prerequisites to fulfill (depending on their valid dates), in order for you to renew your license. Those items haven’t changed in principal; SafeSport and Criminal Background Check for everyone, and an MVR for moto officials.
SafeSport finalized their latest update of their training in between December 2018 and April 2019. Everyone must have taken this version of the full training (many of you already have). After completing the full training course, there will now be an annual, short, refresher course. You can log-in directly to SafeSport to renew. When you log-in to SafeSport, it will only show you which course you must take; full training or the refresher. Why do we do SafeSport? To assure our members that we are up to date and vigilant for things that have no place in our sport, and to know what to do if it is discovered.
Renewal Process:
Many of you have already renewed without problems. If you’ve looked at the new process and wondered what is all of this? This is for you. If you already successfully navigated this, skip to the General Updates and Information below.
Start by logging into your USA Cycling member account. Your USA Cycling “My Account” Profile, the first page you see after logging in, will show you the expiration dates on your license and your prerequisites. If they are expired, or close to expiring, please take the time to first renew those items before renewing your license. In the past, “pending” your license, until these items were complete, was a problem because many officials never knew their license was pended until a most inconvenient moment!
Now, it’s time to start the process of renewing. On the left grey menu bar, pick either “Official Links” or “Licenses”. You’ll be presented with an image of your License and the ability to select the red bar that states “Renew Now”. Once selected, the new screen shows your Current licenses and Memberships. Select the license you want to renew. The page that follows will allow you to edit name and address information (update your contact information, please! Take a moment here and review your Communication Preferences and make sure we have a good way to contact you, other than the post office.)
This page also shows the status of your requirements. Below that, check the “Official” checkbox.
If you are a Motoref, please check that box as well.
Known issue-if you are a current motoref, please check the box indicating “add a motoref designation”. This will appear "checked" in future versions, if you are a current motoref. In the future, you can "uncheck" this box to indicate you no longer wish to work as a motoref and the MVR requirement will be removed from your license. You cannot add a moto ref designation if you are not already certified as one.
Known issue-if you have a “P” designation for motoref (passenger only) the screen displays a message indicating that “P” motorefs should select motoref as well. That is incorrect and doing so will require an MVR, which is not intended. We will correct this shortly. Please simply send me or Justin an email and let us know if your final screen does not show “P” and we’ll update it internally.
Follow the prompts and you’ll see your completed name and address as well as your membership options you’ve selected. From here, you have the ability to select “Complete and Proceed to cart” of “Complete and Add Another License”. We hope this helps you with renewing any additional Technical Memberships you may hold.
As you proceed to the purchase cart, you’ll see all of your membership information as well as the membership options you selected.
You are now ready to proceed to purchase. Your next prompt will be all of your releases (3). Just check them off as you read them (they become green) and type a signature at the bottom. The next screen has donation screen which you can complete or simply pick either of the “Proceed to cart” buttons.
On the final screen, simply enter your payment information and you’ll be set! Please remember that SafeSport, CBC and MVR all take time to complete and report to our system. In encourage people with MVR's soon to expire to complete that before the end of the year as there is a general price increase that will go into effect January 1, 2020.
Thanks for following this through and completing your 2020 USA Cycling Technical-Official’s License renewal.
Randy Shafer, Technical Director
General Updates and Information:
Want to update your CBC or MVR before expiration? Follow this link (and instructions closely) for CBC: https://www.usacycling.org/resources/safesport/criminal-background-check-procedures
Follow this link ( and scroll down) for instructions on updating your MVR: https://www.usacycling.org/officials/motoref-program-overview
Learning Management Site. USA Cycling is moving to a Learning Management System that will eventually house any required or continuing education opportunities. Soon, our on-line testing for the level C will reside on this site, as well as B Modules, National Rules Updates and Seminars, along with many of the educational materials developed from the past; CX Secretary, Officials’ Manuals, etc.
Continuing Education Units. Currently the CEU requirement is SafeSport. Any CEU messages you receive in or around your renewal is simply referring to SafeSport.
Concussion Awareness. Great LA’s have great ideas and we are learning along with them. The Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado introduced a concussion training protocol several years ago, utilizing the CDC’s Heads Up training This is a free training comprised of online training.
https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/youthsports/training/index.html I found a great deal of value in the training. As cycling officials, we are often on the scene of an accident even before First Responder Medical assistance. I want our officials feel confident that they can manage situations that require understanding the possible signs and considerations of a concussion for an injured rider. I will be introducing this training as an optional CEU in 2020 and require this as a mandatory CEU in 2021. The training is short and helps us create a safer member experience as we manage events.
Road and Mountain Bike Event Requests. Just a reminder to complete the request surveys for Road and Mountain Bike events, found on your USA Cycling “My Account” page (after you log-in to your USA Cycling account). As a reminder, all officials can see these surveys and as noted, you can request a position or apprentice position as they may be available. You can request a position and leave an explanation as to why you should be considered for a position and you can also request a position as a moto driver or marshal at events (we pass this information along to the organizations). We will follow up this process with Track and Cyclocross as those calendars are finalized.