# Team Rider Contracts



## funknuggets (Feb 4, 2004)

do any of you ride under specific rider contracts to your respective team? 

Im quite curious as there is some political regional pressure for local teams to have them, but all the riders who I have talked to that have had them locally, said they have been, to this point, a joke and not used as intended. Do any of you have well structured team/rider contracts that work and would be willing to share with me. And keep in mind, this is for amateur racing in the 1s - 4s. 

Im looking for a standard template that we can pick and use the items that apply to our current needs and situation?


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## Spunout (Aug 12, 2002)

Are you paying salary? Otherwise, I don't think it is worth it.

For a club jersey and entry fees, we rely on a handshake. IMHO. Best to have riders on a team because they want to be there. Run a good club, let everyone speak, make it obvious to all who is designated (let their legs to the talking) and share prize money.

If someone goes against the grain of the team, flick him in the gutter.


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## Toorad (Jan 28, 2004)

Rider contracts are no real big deal, if you are talking about small shop discounts and the like, but, if your team is involved in freebies(bikes/parts/clothing, etc...), get a contract drawn up. Our team last year had a problem with a rider, and had to invoke the rules on his contract, and our contract was legal and binding, so he had to give up the stuff or face a lawsuit...Far too many think they will get something for nothing, it does NOT work that way...


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## JPRider14 (Feb 9, 2004)

I'm not 100% sure what you're talking about, but I ride for a good-sized team in Colorado that has a P/1/2, 3, 4, women's P/1/2, track and masters team. There are some stipulations in our "rider agreement" form, such as: we will speak highly of sponsors when the opporunity arises; we agree to participate in 20 races/year (very few exceptions); we do not share information concerning sponsorship deals; help out with extra projects on the team (putting on the race, working with sponsors, being a captain, etc.), and probably a few other things too. The brass seems to be pretty strict about it, but if you're a nice guy, team player, ride and race a lot, they'll bend the rules slightly to keep you onboard. Is that what you were looking for?


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## funknuggets (Feb 4, 2004)

*Kind of...*

yeah, I didnt know if there was some sort of template. We are just having to hash out some stipulations as a result of a firestorm over at another local team where money, sponsorship, and politics are involved, inevitably ending up with someone getting more or less pressed off of the team he created. Weird.

Plus, we are just really trying to get our ducks in a row as we have been quite haphazard in years past.


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## Troyboy (Feb 3, 2004)

*Yes*

and all the squads are different, sponsored riders are different from non-sponsored riders who can still get fees and travel as well, etc.. 

I'm not willing to discuss it as I have no absolute knowledge other than my own situation. I do have some good guesses to the baselines for all the different levels, etc.


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## lonefrontranger (Feb 5, 2004)

*Every team I've ever raced for or managed has had one*

Here's why: My current team, Boulder Women's Cycling, has a roster limit of 15 riders. On a team this size, it's hard for all (or even most of) the important stuff to get done unless every member chips in their fair share. None of us are pros, in fact the majority of us are Cat 3/4 Masters. However, our contract helps to guarantee we all have a vested interest in making a worthwhile contribution. 

2004 marks my lucky 13th season of racing. I've managed two teams and raced for four others, and they've been a diverse lot. 

Every team I've raced for has had some version of contract / rider agreement (usually also coupled with some form of accident release waiver) that I've had to sign conditional to joining the team. Each contract varied according to the needs and focus of the club/team drawing it up. The bigger male dominated shop teams I've raced with were a lot less strict than our current BWCT contract, but that makes sense to me as these sorts of clubs usually have a larger pool of warm bodies to draw from for the administrative crappy work. The year I raced for Louisville Velo (a goodish sized, mostly men's 3/4/Masters shop team), I signed a rider agreement at the beginning of the season which was one of the "I hereby agree to show up for club rides, work the club's race, that I won't pee in public or tick off local drivers, and won't sell sponsor's schwag on the grey market" style of etiquette briefs. My very first team (and best reason I'm still at it thirteen years later) was a gigantic citywide roadie concern with a phenomenal mentoring philosophy, two excellent coaches who were disciples of Walden himself, and well over a hundred members ranging from a DIII pro who raced in Belgium to Cat 5s whose only interest was to do Tuesday night club crits. They were my first introduction to racing, and rider contracts, and their contract was pretty formal and primarily involved keeping their considerable sponsorship schwag deals intact. I also spent a very worthwhile season racing with a MTB shop team of six Sport racers who were laid back in the extreme, yet we all still signed a rider agreement, probably something along the lines of "I will not smoke my teammate's stash while he's in the Port-o-Let" (okay I'm kidding, but you get the idea). I didn't have reliable access to a vehicle that season but in interests of our team focus of getting every available teammate to priority races, one of the guys was always willing to swing me a lift, I'd reciprocate any chance I got, and we all wound up racing nearly every weekend from March through October. 

The point I'm rambling ever onwards at is that size doesn't matter, communication and cooperation (i.e. working as a honest-to-god team instead of a bunch of cats wearing the same ugly shirts) is what counts. 

Cooperation, unfortunately, does not grow on trees. In order to foster it amongst your typical collection of Cat 3/4/5 aggro roadies, some variation of the iron-fist-in-velvet-glove style approach is indicated. Team spirit is something which should be nurtured and encouraged, yes, but a clear definition and understanding of the consequences of being a wanker is healthy as well. When everyone involved in a group effort has clear grips on their guidelines and expectations, that only helps to promote cooperation. 

IME many amateur cycling clubs/teams suffer from the same phenomemon: Everyone is super gung-ho to sign up and commit to anything in January and February so they can get their claws on any available booty up for grabs. However, in June and July, when crunch time hits, it's a different story. The title sponsor is screaming for bodies at events to justify all the goodies they've ponied up, the web site hasn't been updated in three months, a newsletter hasn't been published in four, and only 2 (out of 30 needed) volunteers are confirmed to corner marshal and run registration at the club's rapidly approaching Seventh Annual Tour de Office Park. So the club president sends out a desperate cry for help... and hears crickets chirping. Upon confrontation, the membership comes up with every excuse under the sun for why it just couldn't get done, i.e. "it's my grandma's cousin's dog's family reunion..." et. cetera. 

In the case of BWCT, especially considering the usual thirtysomething female's lifestyle constraints; if we didn't mandate a clearly outlined contract, a team this size would implode via lack of commitment.

In February of each season, we finalise our roster and at that point everyone signs a contract. The content is discussed and agreed to in open forum, and each rider's contract is drawn up so that the distribution of tasks is fair and agreeable to all. 

To enforce the contract, each rider deposits funds at time of signing to the team account. This represents equity against completion of tasks jointly agreed to in the contract. Come October, each rider either gets the whole deposit back to go Xmas shopping with, or else they and the team president review the contract together and agree *in writing * why said rider got "dinged" a percentage (or all) of the amount for stuff they flaked out on. We balance this with a reasonable dose of common sense. For example if you change jobs and move out of town, we probably don't expect you to fulfil. If you become injured and are out of commission for some time, we might not enforce the entire racing commitment you agreed to. I've been with BWCT for three seasons, and everyone seems content with the arrangement. We've had no difficulty retaining riders from year to year or filling our roster each fall / winter. Bottom line: if a rider isn't comfortable with signing the contract, then we're probably better off without each other.

We have 2 tiers, "race" and "club". The race tier gets significantly deeper discounts, more free stuff from sponsors, and more leeway from doing administrative stuff like managing the team bank account, updating the website, keeping the calendar, leading our advocasy group rides, etc. In return, they are required to do quite a few more races and be more involved as sponsorship liasons and public ambassadors for the team. This only makes sense as they're the higher level riders getting the results that the sponsors, media, etc., are interested in talking about. 

Hope this all helps to explain why a well-written contract / rider agreement is sort of the glue that holds a club together.


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## xcmntgeek (Aug 24, 2002)

*If you're getting sponsorship $$ from companies...*

then yes- there should be a contract. 

The mtb team I race for is a pretty serious Jr Devo affair. We got some cash from a big company and so we signed contracts. Now, they don't give us any money (salary wise) but cover race expenses. Our's are simple- they simply say that we will always recomend our sponsors products, wear a helmet, wear the team kit on all team rides/prerides/races and conduct ourselves in accordance to the fact that we are representatives of our sponsors.


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