Yet another letter from Dave Mellor - BCF board member

	My Dear Vince Please can you make it clear in your editorial whether your comments are your own, the EMCCA or the BCCA as it seems that they are totally anti "British Cycling". An ideal that will bring together all cyclists under one umbrella to speak and lobby with one voice. You say you will not "speculate on a future that you will not be part of". Surely that is a very negative parochial statement and will do nothing to progress our sport of cycling. Please can you also check your facts before putting your keyboard into action. I welcome your support of volunteers but it was not a volunteer who made the mistake with the rankings at the Nationals and that you assume otherwise is quite concerning when you are in a position of influence. Please can you correct your error and never ever assume. Now if Malc Parr can only resort to personal attacks then it is quite possibly a good thing that he writes no more. Again he misses the point. The BCCA approached the BCF about an amalgamation and some very constructive work has been achieved. Neither the BCF nor I want "charge" of Cyclo Cross that is for the Cyclo Cross Executive. Again I ask, what will change? If some dinosaurs refuse to believe in the "New BCF" and continually harp on about the past then maybe they should leave now and leave the way open for "New Cyclists". Malc Parr finally admits he is a Cyclo Cross man through and through. Well that is fantastic, but why does he not use his energy to be positive about that. Rather he uses his energy to be negative about other aspects of the sport that someone enjoys just as much as he enjoys his cyclo cross. I am a CYCLIST and will support all forms of cycling and not become entrenched in some kind of blinkered world that says you can only play if your bike has tyres less than 1.5" wide. Finally Malc, I assume that to survive you have an income, maybe a job, pension or whatever. My particular source of keeping the kids in shoes is to own a couple of bike shops. Now Cycling and all the other bits like organising, committees, responding to these letters is my hobby. Now on paper that makes me look a bit of an anorak and I have got the classical music on to try and relax a bit so I must be a bit sad but I do not make a personal profit out of organising bike races. I am proud that our club the Mid Shropshire Wheelers does make a small profit out of it's races, due in no small way to my business suppliers donating prizes as an inducement for me to buy more of their product. I was promoting races for the club long before I had a shop and the list includes Premier Calendar and Jo Bruton Road Races, the Midland Cyclo Cross Championships, the National Mountain Bike Championships, the Final of the NPS and Rav4 Down Hill along with countless other road races, time trials, cyclo cross and mountain bike races. We are a club that runs an incentive to younger members from club funds. This year we paid for one of our riders to race in the Grundig World Cup Down Hill in Austria, and this was agreed by a committee predominantly made up of Vet Time Triallists. No blinkers in Shropshire! So Malc to class me in with the greedy money grabbing organisers who have even now started running events without first aid cover to save money (I hope they are not using BCCA insurance) really gets on my tits and begs the question who in fact is ignorant? Dave Mellor BCF Board Member and Shopkeeper Reply: Surly it is obvious that I do not speak for the BCCA. I hold no position other than membership of it. My comments and opinions are to be taken in the same way as editorial comments in any publication. I am a member of the EMCCA committee, Area Coach, and Editor of this site. I have been trying to keep in touch with the views of cyclo-cross riders, and act in what I believe to be their best interest. Editorial attitude and opinion is in-fact considerably more polite to the BCF than anything expressed by riders at races. The current attitude to the BCF would I think see cyclo-cross collapse if your plan were enacted, due to organisers and riders quitting. I am not totally anti "British Cycling". The motivation behind it is good. However, to an even greater degree than the BCF, the control of "British Cycling" it is out of the hands of British Cyclists. I also don't think that a single lobbying voice would help cyclo-cross. Calling yourselves "New BCF" - I think I heard of something similar actually working. Vin Cox

	The ultimate response from Ray Stuart 1) If Directorships have been abolished why does the current BCF Website (now updated Weekly) refer to two Directors at least? And why at a recent meeting was someone introduced as Director of Developement? 2)Why does the BCF think that Cyclo-Cross will be the"next big thing" in Off road cycling, and what do they mean by the "next big thing"? more riders?, more events? more spectators? more prizes? more sponsors? Contrary to DMs statement that nothing will change under the BCF it seems that big ideas are around. It is suggested in "Slipstream" the BCF newsletter that cyclo-cross will either stay as it is (ie BCCA) or become "big" under the BCF. Could someone enlighten me and explain what this means and how it will affect our sport and how it is to be achieved? In my area cyclo-cross is BIG already, every week ordinary riders can race with international stars, under 12 and youth races are thriving, the sport is low cost, accessible, user friendly etc. There is an enormous voluntary input. Staying as an independant organisation under the BCCA is not a vote for stagnation because the BCCA is a thriving organisation responsive to its members needs and has changed and adapted and continues to be a successful sport and will continue to do so. I cannot see how the BCF will improve this and given their track record fear that they will make yet another mess. I am not anti-BCF but wish to see cycle sport in the UK improved and in principle would like to see one body for all. Outbursts from Mr. Mellor do not improve the chances of this happening. 3) It seems to me that an important factor is the successful integration of the professional and voluntary aspects of the sport. This needs to be very carefully managed; the professional side needs to provide a first class service for the volunteers who in turn need to recognise the personal commitment of paid employees and the difficulties they face in carrying out their jobs. Outbursts from Mr Mellor do not help but serve only to polarise attitudes.

	Hey Vince Thanks for posting my letter but it just shows what cycling in this country is up against. You read it and totally disregard what I am saying and even headline it as coming from the BCF and it's Director of Mountain Biking. Old news Vince, Directorships were scrapped years ago and the e.mail came from Dave_Mellor_Cycles@Compuserve.Com not the BCF. Cycling is being held back by dinosaurs with agendas rather than being progressed for the good of all cyclists. The message in my letter which you and others overlook is what will change? Cyclo Cross enthusiasts will still run cyclo cross and even myself a "Cycling Enthusiast" will run cyclo cross as well as my time trials, road races, mountain bike races and training days. Two things that would change is that our club would only have to pay to one cycling body, and would have one contact for all of its cycling requirements, surely that is good. Cyclo Cross would stay the same. Some other points I would like to make: The BCF is a members organisation without members there is no point and no one would sponsor something that did not exist. Whatever the Sports Council say, the BCF is the controlling body for competitive cycling as recognised by the UCI. Response to Malc Parr: "we turn up at margam we expect to pay £1 parking and end up paying a grinning schmoo £1 per person" Unfortunately venues see mountain bikers turning up with ever increasing amounts of equipment and teams with Winnebagos etc etc and dictate how much we pay. Margam asked for £1 per person in return for giving Swansea CC not the BCF exclusive use of the park. Who defines what is a series, my thesaurus says a sequence of events. We can all look back on 98 and see what went wrong but if clubs do not come forward to organise the NPS and Nationals the series will be very small indeed. The BCF should not organise events in much the same way as the BCCA should not organise events, that is not their job. National Rankings List at Nationals for gridding. Total balls up, someone had their arse kicked. Clash of Event with Nantmawr. At a meeting of the MTB workgroup, BCF, SSM the agents for the sponsors, MBUK and representatives from the Large Downhill teams it was agreed that another event was needed and would be scheduled for the only free day which was the same day as a Pedalhounds event at Nantmawr. Now Nantmawr was only the venue and the owners who had helped us out were not the organisers. The organiser was a commercial organiser running outside of the BCF who I phoned out of courtesy to tell him what was happening. After initial ranting and words much more vulgar than "arse" he moved his date. This organiser could not believe that the "Pro Teams" who were already entered into his event had been party to the rearranged event but they could see that it was vital for the continuity of the sponsorship and TV commitment. Dual Slalom at the Nationals. Again total balls up. Bad communication between the Marketing agents and the BCF meant that it was a last minute thing which Builth CC did not have time to do justice. It was no reflection on them but a case of moving goalposts from our agents. Bike Marking. A lot of communication stuff like this should be in a programme, I feel that the lack of programme undermines the status of the event and I will make sure a programme is compiled for this years NC. Sport Race. The National Champs was for Championship Categories only, there was no sport race. Sport and Expert did not even appear on the entry form so I think wires are crossed somewhere. I was there and certainly did not see a Sport race. The organisers wanted some local riders to take part in the event and a Fun race took place which should not have happened and will not happen again. Censorship. I believe in free speech and try to call a spade a spade, if the cap fits etc etc. Fun racers. Again if we move with the times we will see a market dominated by full suspension bikes. The boys with their toys no longer feel the need to blast up hill and down dale and instead feel the need for speed and a total blast DOWNHILL. Open your eyes man see what is happening, go and ride a mountain area like Coed y Brenin or the Forest of Dean and see where the weekend warriors perform. Entry Fees. Another total lack of understanding of the sport of mountain biking. Cyclo Cross, hire the local sports hall (£20) use the local authority land adjacent (£0.00) = small profit for the club if lucky enough to get local bike shop to throw in a few prizes. Please do not say that is not what happens as we all know that is the backbone of cycle sport in this country and long may it continue. Mountain Biking. Green field site means no facilties (£1000) Forest Enterprise it's a business now, (1000 riders x £3 +VAT = £3525) Parking in local farmers field (£1 per rider) already we are into serious money. Try making that pay on £5 entry fees. Mr Parr says that he does not have alot of money to organise a mountain bike event but with a sensible budget and attention to detail small events can easily be achieved by a small club or group. I will continue to disregard anyone who is not willing to walk the walk as they say and are all talk talk! Volunteers are the lifeblood of any sport and I cannot condone anyone criticising volunteers in the aggressive way that has happened this year if they are not prepared to do anything positive for the sport. So some organisers did not get their results in on time for the rankings, maybe it's because they are overworked, but no I will not criticise organisers, I will leave that to the likes of Mr Parr. Hopefully that has answered most of the points in some of the other letters but to Ray Stuart surely your family are not so sensitive that just because you have not got the latest purple widget you deprive yourself of the enjoyment. Fine, as a family man myself the cost of entry fees for my tribe would be exhorbitant if they all wanted to do it but if I were a Man Utd fan it would probably cost much more to sit in the stands at Old Trafford. Surely all of these things are realative and if you really really wanted to mountain bike you would just do it. And anyway any cyclings good so if the track is your thing great but don't slag something just because you don't do it anymore. "British Cycling" is a vision that I believe in where all cyclists can come together under one umbrella but as long as people want to be big fish in little pools it will never happen. I will keep on fighting for this until I get run down by Vinces bus. Ciao Later, DM and as part of a business plan the BCF must continue it's aim to be the organisation of choice for all competitive cyclists. I am not talking about 40 years ago when someone did this to that, I am talking about now when we have the confidence of the Sports Councils and we should exploit that Reply: Dave, I said you were a Director - I see from the original letter that you had actually written it "as a BCF board member". I shall correct the headline. I feel obliged due to my position as Editor/ Webmaster / Area Coach, not to get too involved in the argument - I will leave that to the readers. I do like what you've said about volunteers, and also about criticism. I had thought that no-one in the BCF remembered what volunteers were since they scared them all away with criticism, big business talk, and kicking their arses even though they were doing their best. - exactly what I'm bothered about happening to cyclo-cross. Finally, had not over looked your question "what will change?". I just won't speculate on a future that I will not be part of .

	T his is my last responce to dave mellor as he is truly ignorant and has an inablity to answer any of my comments. He goes on about people helping at events and makes comments that I should do this and not critisise. I would like to point out that I helped to organise last years clipstone cross on a volantary basis and personally donated the treats for the under 12 race. I will be doing the same again this year. I give my time because I like cross, its race structure and its happy atmosphere. I dont organise races like him to promote a shop and make a profit. If people like him get charge of cross then I for one will pack in. Malc Parr

The original letter - reply's are below this

	Hey Vince Still think the site is great but thought I would respond to a few points in your letters page. One comment about the results going on so quickly and the BCF ranking not being updated frequently enough. It's great when enthusiasts sort out a site like this but one day the pub, girlfriend/boyfriend even a bit of training will come first. In mountain biking a couple of pro timing companies post their results at least as quickly. The BCF have to pay somebody to do their site and at the moment it's under review as something was not working out. As a member of the BCF I am glad that someone is looking after our pound quids and actually controlling budgets and making sure we get value. BCF and Cyclo Cross.(And Mountain Biking) As a board member of the BCF, I think the last thing the "BCF" wants to do is take over the BCCA. I think all cyclists see the need for one body to represent cyclists for funding, lobbying etc etc. It seems to make sense to me that the Cyclo Cross comes under the "British Cycling" umbrella but what would change? The BCCA chiefs would be renamed the Cyclo Cross Workgroup of the BCF and still run things. The BCF is a members organisation but with vacant places on the Board it seems that people will criticise but will only get involved in slagging off and not a lot of doing something positive. Apologies to all the committed organisers and officials out there who are voluntarily running cycling locally! The BCF have not cocked up "mountain biking bringing their greedy organisers with them" those greedy organisers were there a long time ago and still are. Vote with your feet and do not support them and they will soon pack it in but at the moment the organisers who are making the most out of mountain biking are the ones who have sub standard insurance, courses, first aid, rules etc but still riders pay 20 to win a tyre costing less than the entry fee. I remember "when I was a lad" that I would hardly ever come home from a cross event without covering the expenses of the day out. Equipment excluded of course. Who are the mugs? The problem is that the majority of traditional clubs do not want to get involved with the organisational headache of large scale mountain bike events. There are to many total arses who slag courses, officials, timing, lap scoring and then turn to vanadalism and a total disrespect for landowners property and other people at mountain bike events. You were almost killed by a stake thrown through your tent once weren't you? How many times have landowners witheld deposits from clubs because of bad behaviour and damage to property and land? Hardly a BUSA champs goes by without that happening I think. The BCF put the same amount of effort into all of it's mountain bike NPS events, after all, 2 BCF staff cannot do everything. The beginning of the 98 season was a disaster because of the weather and BJ's illness but at the end of the season when the sun shone, committed cycling clubs like Builth Wells CC, Mid Shropshire Wheelers and Pearce Cycles showed what a committed club can do. Good reports all round. Where are the the offers to hold a NPS round from the East Mids? No clubs interested? The BCF can only work with the organisers, clubs volunteers who come forward. Exactly the same as the BCCA. Anyways I've forgotten what other points were made, sorry, but together cyclists can be more powerful, look at the BCF as an example. Two years ago the Sports Council were almost pulling the plug but with hard work the funding has gone through the roof with Impruve, WCPP and new coaching and development initiatives. BCCA can be a part of that and will be more attractive to Impruve because of it's ease of access to kids. My 5 year old certainly enjoys the U12 races. And finally please stop the "the BCF this" "the BCF that" . Everyone with a membership of the BCF is the BCF, it is a members organisation not some kind of dictatorship and will certainly come closer to being the organisation of choice of all competitive cyclists if Cyclo Cross becomes a partner. Please feel free to respond to any of the above points. Dave Mellor Reply: It does sound like the BCF wants to take over - but I'll leave what I regard as the more important points for readers to respond to. On the points about this site: I know that the reason cyclo-cross in this area is so strong, is that we don't let things go backwards. This web site will continue because of - not despite of - the pub (I often work on it with a hangover), girlfriends (very invigorating), and training. I'm also sure that other people in the area could run the site if I were to fall under a bus. I am not a BCF member, I "voted with my feet". Therefore I can, and should say "the BCF this" "the BCF that". Even if I were a member, I would regard my democratic power in the BCF as negligible: * The BCF rarely follow the direction of it's members votes - ("British Cycling" was voted out so I heard) * The BCF is dependent on it's sponsors - not it's membership - for it's income and survival. * Sports Council liturature states that they, (not the BCF, or any democratic body of cyclists) control cycling in Great Britain.

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