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The Art of Negotiation for the Weekend Warriors

9 step program to get what you deserve

Team Me Me Me Professional cyclists negotiate for their contract to increase pay or just for a job in some cases. Blah blah blah. The real interesting negotiation is for rest of us "wanna-be professionals" weekend warriors who MUST negotiate each season, navigating through the complicated team dynamics of local clubs. The non-professionals make up 99% of the cycling population and the negotiation for the amateur cyclist has been largely ignored... until NOW.

First, let's examine the landscape of amateur teams and clubs in the United States. There are about 64,000 registered members and over 2100 licensed clubs of USA Cycling. That is an average of about 30 members per club. With the economy tanking and team budgets shrinking, that is a lot of people to compete against for very little pie. The fact is that competition is tough for the weekend worriers to get what they DESERVE from the teams and negotiation is the key to advancing one's package within the amateur clubs. Here is the 9 step program to get what you deserve.

  1. Win races. Nothing speaks louder than winning some races. It doesn't matter what category as long as you win. So what if you won a category 5 race with only 10 racers. Don't focus on the details. Keep touting about how you won a race at every team gathering. Let everyone know how you are a proven winner (no matter how long ago) and deserve every extra perks and reimbursements that team can provide.

  2. Act like you can win a race. Not everyone can win a race so the next best thing is to talk a good game. It doesn't matter if you never won or never will win a race. What is important is that you create a winning atmosphere around you whenever you are with teammates. So what if you get dropped at every local training rides. Remember that those are just training rides and have no correlation to race performance. You are a winner and negotiate as if you can win every race. You deserve more and more. Don't let your lack of physical talent limit your negotiation. It's all about your potentials.

  3. Act like nobody else can win a race. Make subtle insinuation that your teammates cannot win a race. The goal is to spread a doubt that even the faster teammates are not good enough and doesn't deserve more perks. This leads to more even distribution of stuff and more chance that you can get more. The message must be subtle but repeated at every chance you get. This means talking down your faster team mates and especially the alpha dog of the team. Do this during group rides, team meetings, emails, race write ups and blogs. The goal is to suggest that you deserve as much perks if not more than anyone else on the team.

  4. Anyone slower than you deserves less. After you prop yourself, make it clear to everyone that those who are clearly or even slightly slower than you deserve much less. Whatever they were going to get is a waste of precious resource and should be given to more talented athlete like you. Stress this point by reminding everyone how you dropped certain riders on the training ride and so forth. Or, stress how you finished ahead of them in even one race. Who cares if they were wasting themselves for the alpha dog and you sat in the pack the whole race. You finished ahead and you deserve more.

  5. Nickel and Dime. When the pie is small to split among so many, make sure you get every little crumb available. You many not get the free bike deal, but you can probably get a free water bottle. It may not seem like much, but get everything you can judiciously. Suggest that team should provide athlete's needs such as drink mix, water bottle, shoe insoles, stickers, anything. Then make sure you take as much as you can when they become available. This means taking double for teammates that don't show up for goodie meeting and so forth.

  6. Good old days. Everyone had a flash of greatness in the past no matter how trivial or long ago it may have been. Perhaps you pulled through a rotating pace line with an ex-pro. Maybe you were great in the 20's even though it's hard to zip up that xxx-large jersey in your 30's now. If you can't remember or don't have a good old days story, then make one up. The key is to emphasize how great you use to be. The past greatness is your leverage to get more stuff now. Everyone should give you your due respect and reserve the best for you.

  7. Repetition. There is a fine line between being a "pain in the ass" vs. being a "total ass". Repetitively requesting more perks is a pain in the ass but "demanding more or else" attitude can cross you over the line. The best result for negotiation comes when you ride the fine line and keep getting more without becoming a total ass.

  8. Golden Rule. Remember the golden rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules. If you have sponsorship connections or in charge of the money, then you are in the gold. Take advantage of your position and never give it up or share your insight with others. Just try to keep it legal at least.

  9. Hijack. When all else fails, take over the team and make your own rules. Then you can give yourself all the perks without anyone even finding out. The general rule of thumb is that you can screw the teammates at most 2 times before they all leave elsewhere so hijack with care.


Well, good luck with negotiation and hope these tips gave you some chuckles. Just remember what you are really negotiating about. Then ask yourself if it is worth risking your friendship and trust of people you enjoy riding with. If you are confused, just go out and ride.


Comments from Readers
johnny gofast 12/15/2008 7:46:46 AM
This is great! Very informative. No doubt I will use most of these items when I sit down with my team president at the end of the year. So far I've been content to ride for the t-shirt and the free water bottle. I also scored some tea from Peets Coffee (the coffee went to some perceived faster riders--but with your tools--I'm already formulating a plan to elevate me past those previously "perceived" faster riders. Though they're cat 2's and drop me incessantly, I crushed all of them up Mt. Diablo the other day. Ignore the fact that they were all off doing a flat crit somewhere).
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