A Letter from SDBC President Mike McLaughlin

June 10, 2020

Dear Friends and Fellow Cyclists,

I thought I would NEVER say these words during my presidency, but…sadly, we are cancelling the 2020 Barrio Logan Grand Prix.

BLGP was discussed at the June 2, 2020 Board of Directors Meeting. While we knew there are racers ready to race it, there were too many uncertainties to stage it. Mr. BLGP Ralph Elliott recommended cancelling saying, in his opinion, to put it on would lead to the biggest financial disaster in BLGP history. (It does cost $25,000 to stage and barely breaks even.)

Two key unknowns revolved around:

(1) securing a date agreeable to SDBC, the City of San Diego, the Southern California and Nevada Cycling Association, and USA Cycling. We were ready to stage it in early August, the City wanted late August, and SCNCA & USAC were talking November with heavy restrictions. And

(2) was how many racers would participate in November, and would we have enough volunteers?

The Board took no action but the “sense of the board” was to cancel. On Thursday, June 4th the Executive Race Committee (Graham Johnson - chair, Trish Bazan, and Tarol Warschauer of Brown Marketing Strategies) met telephonically. I was also on the call. The three discussed the issue and then voted unanimously to cancel the 2020 BLGP. I concurred. It was then referred to the Executive Committee for action.

On Friday, June 5th, the Executive Committee (me, Vice President Renee Robinson, Secretary Ed Leonard, and Treasurer Jerry Marion) + Executive Race Director Graham Johnson voted unanimously (5-0-0) to cancel the event. Board action was not required because it had given the Executive Committee full authority to take steps to deal with Club issues relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Board was notified on Friday.

The plan now is to stage the 2021 BLGP in April/May as in past years.

Be strong - things ARE getting better. The road awaits and we’re ready.

Mike

Mike McLaughlin, President San Diego Bicycle Club president@sdbc.org