Century Road Club Association

1898: Charles P. Staubach, an officer in the 8th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard, founded the CRCA and served as its first president.
US Bicycling Hall of Fame

1984: Nelson Vails took silver at the L.A. Olympics. In a 2014 interview on BikeNYC.org he talks about how he started racing:

" ...I worked as a messenger Monday through Friday and rode amateur races on the weekend. I started riding with the Century Road Club Association and eventually met people like Lenny Preheim...and an older gentleman named Fred Mangoni... They helped coach me and build my career. I’d race at (Queens) Kissena Velodrome on Thursdays and then at the T-Town Velodrome in Pennsylvania on Fridays. Eventually that training and support led me all the way to the ’84 Olympics in Los Angeles."

1991: Members of the G.S. Mengoni team.

"This was taken around 1991 by John Issendorf. We're standing in front of the Brooklyn Bridge. George and Ricky Hincapie were on the team as well as a few other very good riders. I was the team mechanic. IIRC George turned pro the next year." -Jamie Swan

2011: Mr. John Issendorf and Mr. Fred Mengoni at the CRCA Mengoni Grand Prix. In 1980 Fred Mengoni started GS Mengoni in New York which eventually became a powerhouse team in US Bicycle racing. Among its alumni are Steve Bauer, George Hincapie and Mike McCarthy. The Mengoni Grand Prix (in 2016 named the Hincapie Grand Prix in Honor of Fred Mengoni) is CRCA's longest running open race. 

Photo/Marco Quezada

1926: Lou Maltese earned glory in June 1926 with a 100-mile national record in a race from Union City, NJ, to south Philadelphia. The next year Maltese set a 25-mile record in Mount Vernon, NY. In 1929 he turned professional to race motorpace events against pros like Victor Hopkins... A member of the Century Road Club for 50 years, he organized thousands of cycling events. He was a director of the ABL of A and the USCF.

A familiar refrain for generations of restless riders standing on the starting line, typically with the summer sun striking like a hammer on an anvil, was the cry of officials pleading for the Century Road Club Association’s Lou Maltese. “Where’s Lou Maltese? We can’t start this race without Lou Maltese!”

US Bicycling Hall of Fame

2004: Jim Boyd recognized for service to club with park bench. Jim Boyd joined the CRCA in 1981 after riding briefly with the NYCC. In 1989 he was appointed to the first CRCA Board of Directors, formed when Lou Maltese retired from running the club full-time. He served on the board continuously until 2003, taking on several roles including: Communications Director, Membership Director, newsletter editor and President. Upon his retirement from the board in 2011 Jim told nyvelocity:

“The strength of CRCA is in its members, people who come from all walks of life. And it is meeting and talking with you over the years that has been most satisfying to me.”

Photo/Chung Chiang

1912: Joseph Kopsky, a CRCA racer, set the 150 mile record, and competed at the Stockholm Olympics. His team returned with a bronze medal from the road race.

US Bicycling Hall of Fame

1937: Doris Kopsky, Joe's daughter, won the first ABL of A National Women's Championship. She was also the New Jersey State Sprint Champion in 1937, 1938 and 1939. Doris describes her experience at races in a 1993 University of Florida interview:

"…you sat there and waited.  If you were lucky and it did not rain and it was a fairly decent day, you were fine.  If it was cold and windy, you sat in the car and waited because there was no shelter.  The starter was a guy with a gun.  It was not a gun like they use for starting races now that are not real guns.  It would be a real gun.  He would shoot a bullet in the air and “hooray” – the race would start.… There was no ambulance or police protection.  The trainers took care of their own people.  They were the ones who came up and brushed you off and put a bandage on if you needed it.  And sympathy was merely a word in the dictionary somewhere in the S’s…."

Classic Cycle

1931: Vincent Seifred raced his bike for a paycheck from 1931 until the start of WWII. As a professional bike racer Vincent wasn’t a superstar but he was always in the mix, tearing up the boards of all the famous east coast velodromes.... Over the years Vincent raced for all of the big east coast clubs including the Gotham Cyclists, the Empire City Wheelmen and the Century Road Club of America.

Classic Cycle

1913: An early sub-team takes to the road. From the New York Times:

"The first team in the handicap bicycle race from New York to San Francisco started at 1pm yesterday from City Hall. Their schedule calls for a trip of forty-seven days. In the presence of a number of officials of the Century Road Club Association Walter Wiley and F. J. Scherer … began their long journey. 

Before starting the President of the Century Road Club Association … handed Scherer an open letter from Mayor Gaynor wishing the riders good luck and a speedy and safe trip."

Photo/Bain News Service