SORBA Chattanooga race directory Michael Long has been named director of mountain bike racing for the Tennessee Bicycle Racing Association, where he will help coordinate mountain bike competitions statewide.
After successfully setting up the Chattanooga area's first mountain bike race series, Michael Long is taking his skills statewide.
Long, who helped develop and run the four-race series for the Chattanooga chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, has been named the new mountain bike race director for the Tennessee Bicycle Racing Association, where he will work with race organizers statewide and USA Cycling officials to promote mountain bike racing throughout the state.
Long said that his friend Michael Edens from Nashville, who had previously held this role at TBRA, asked Long to consider bringing his experience to the statewide organization.
"After a couple of days of deliberation and looking at my schedule, I decided to give it a go," Long said. "It's basically another way to further my personal goal of improving mountain bike racing in Tennessee, and eventually in the Southeast.
"I don't see this as just a state-only thing; I see this as a way to improve mountain bike racing in the Southeast."
Long helped develop the Team SORBA Chattanooga organization and this past year put on the Pick Your Poison XC at Booker T. Washington State Park, the Raccoon Mountain Super D & Endurance Time Trial on the Raccoon Mountain trail system, the Night Shift race at Enterprise South, and the Lula Lake Land Trust 5-Points 50 on Lookout Mountain.
Long will continue in his role of putting on these races for SORBA Chattanooga, but he will now be able to offer his expertise to race organizers throughout the state and make sure they meet the rules and regulations required to be sanctioned by TBRA and USA Cycling.
"I won't be putting on more races personally," he said. "For all races in Tennessee that want to be USA Cycling sanctioned, all the mountain bike races have to go through me. I'll work with (race organizers) to find an appropriate place on the calendar because we can't have conflicting races on the same day."
Long has participated in mountain bike racing for many years throughout the Southeast, and he feels he can help bring new races onto the schedule and make existing races even better.
"I did a lot of the TBRA races a few years ago, and the races run from being really well run to just OK run with just the minimum of preparations," Long said. "With the experiences I have riding in those races and putting on my own successful races, I can lend my experiences to other promoters and make sure they're thinking about certain things to make races better."
Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner