College Edge! Why You Should Have a Cycling Resume by Guest Blogger Michael Robinson

Thanks to guest blogger, Michael Robinson...great thoughts from a cycling athlete.  A sports resume in general is a great thing to have if you are a serious athlete.

A “race resume” to a cyclist, is just as important as a resume for your career. Even if you’re just starting out racing and are not too serious about it right now, you should still consider putting a resume together. If you keep up with your resume, its quick, easy, and can save a lot of hassle in the future. If you’ve ever submitted for an upgrade with USA Cycling and didn’t have a resume already put together, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about. Wasting precious ride time trying to look up your results, and sometimes finding that many of them are not even listed!

If you’re reading this now and thinking to yourself how you’re going to be that person at some point in the near future, don’t worry too much. You’ll get those results, but make sure that you’re looking in the right places! Start by looking at the USA Cycling website’s results page. If you find that some are missing, you can check the results from your local racing association. Generally, the local cycling associations are fairly quick and accurate to get results posted, but keep in mind that they are human! Results can be wrong, inaccurate and (gasp!) missing. Don’t be afraid to email or call your race organizers to ask for a fix to any problems. Once or twice, I’ve even had to resort to a Google search, and with success!

All of this is easily avoided if you update your resume after every single race. Don’t worry, it takes no more than 5 minutes once you get the hang of it. Since I moved to North Carolina for college I’ve been using this resume to keep results organized. This resume was actually created by the Carolinas Cycling Association, and I modified it slightly for individual use by adding the “race fees” column to help keep reimbursement fees in check. When it comes time to submit your upgrade, your results are readily available, so no searching after the fact. There are obviously plenty of different formats you could use for your resume, but I find this one to be very easy once it comes time for submitting an upgrade.

Having this kind of info on hand is truly important. If you were looking for a job would you be more eligible for a given position with or without a resume? (Rhetorical question) The same applies to cycling when you start looking at joining teams, a race resume is a must have! If you have a well put together resume, and the results to go with it, its one less thing that you have to worry about.

You could even take it a step further by adding details such as your personal information (height, weight, D.O.B., hobbies, etc.) and any volunteer work or coaching you have done. The more detailed you can be about your cycling career the better, just don’t go overboard! Teams today are not just looking at how you are as a rider, but also how you are as a person. Your personal details can at times be equally as important as your race details. Think of it this way, most teams out there wouldn’t be too happy if they discovered that their new rider is a felon who refuses to help out in the community. Obviously that was a gross exaggeration, but you get my point. If you can display that excellent personality of yours in your resume and get out there to volunteer in the community, it will truly take it to the next level. Just as a note, this type of information is not necessary when submitting for an upgrade.

Before you get ready to submit your upgrade though, you need to check to make sure that you’ve met your upgrade requirements:

**From the 2011 USAC Rulebook**

5-4: Experience in 10 mass start races.

Local Associations may also establish policies where
upgrade credit is given for taking a USA Cycling
sanctioned rider education clinic.

4-3: 20 points in any 12-month period; or

Experience in 25 qualifying races with a minimum of 10 top ten finishes with fields of 30 riders or more; or

20 pack finishes with fields over 50. 30 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade.

USAC-sanctioned rider Camps and
Clinics that are approved by the Local Associations for
upgrading will count a maximum of 3 upgrade points when
upgrading from category 4 to category 3.

3-2: 25 points in any 12-month period.
40 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade.

2-1: 30 points in any 12-month period.
50 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade.

Click Here for a download of the full USAC Rulebook from USA Cycling and to see how the points are tabulated.

Most racers that have read this probably have some sort of resume put together, but if not then get one put together right now! Stop putting it off and get to it. The sooner you get your past results together, the less you have to worry about later. To those of you that do have a resume, look back to make sure that it is detailed and organized!

You can find out more about Michael Robinson at his blog Michael Robinson Cycling 

~Michael Robinson is home for the summer in Naples, Florida interning as a Social Media Consultant for CRG Leadership Institute LLC.  When he is not working on social media projects and blogging, he is on his bike training.

Comments

[cv templates]

Yea, your website is really great and fantastic informative content on it.

Thanks

[300 Spartanworkouts]

Hi, I enjoyed reading your post. Keep it up. Nice blog though.