Bike group

[FredS]

I have been thinking of starting a bike group in my town, does anyone have suggestions on how I should start and any thing I should know before I start?

[Bill]

Here is something I pulled up off of a Yahoo search for ya, but seems pretty close to what you asked... http://www.bikeleague.org/action/creategroup/ .
Sounds like an awesome fun idea, and it would make new friends .

[FredS]

Thanks Bill I just took, it is a lot more than I thought about.

[RobAR]

Hey Fred! That link that Bill gave is great guidance once a 'group' evolves into a 'club', with members paying dues, doing advocacy work (trail-building, kids bike rodeo's with the local police or a church, etc), and other things.
Don't let all of that info overwhelm you. If you only start with 4 or 5 ppl, make a weekly, or even monthly, ride schedule and do your best to stick to it. Soon, others will notice and you'll have 3 more join your little circle. Make it something to look forward to. Say, we meet at 4:00pm every-other Friday, ride from X to Y and back to X, then eat at Joes Pizza. If you have a LBS, spread the word there of what you're doing. Local Fitness Clubs are good, too.

Search out new routes. Keep it interesting! Before you know it, you'll be back to thank Bill for that link. Yes it can be work but, it doesn't have to be. A lot of ppl are 'planners' and just love to set other ppl's schedules. Vote that person in as Secretary!

All YOU have to do is plant a seed and nurture it until the tree is 6 feet tall. Then, it will probably be an entity of its own.
Trust me - a well organized bike club is a blast to be a member of but, it does take dedication. Not only of the officers but also the members.

Do it, Fred. Just do it!

[JohnV]

I'm working at Coca-Cola until I retire again (and for the last time) and I'm trying to get a bike group started with employees due to the fact that we have way too many obese employees. I'm trying to get Saturday rides for both family groups and advanced groups involved. Coca-Cola went for the idea, but it takes a long time to actually get things going. The biggest issue is liability. Anyone that goes on these rides is going to know that they must meet some minimum criteria and are responsible for their own safety. However, since this is a company sponsored event, they are having the company attorneys go through everything with a fine tooth comb to see where they stand on the liability issue. It is something that you will have to consider when forming a bike group.

The group that I am doing my Saturday rides with now, is an informal group and they don't have any officers or by-laws. They just meet at the same time and place and off we go. Again, everyone in the group assumes full responsibility for their actions while riding. They are also very strict about breaking the rules of the ride. If you break the rules, you won't be allowed to join them on future rides.

Good luck with getting your group together and enjoy the ride.

[Jordan300]

MEETUP.com has some cycling groups that I have been to. If you create a group you can then post that group on Craigslist and Facebook or where ever to get some attention.

[FredS]

I have talked with some of the people I work with, we are going to start with just the 4 of us and then place an add in a local newspaper to get more members later. So no starts our little bike group.

[Jordan300]

Thats a good idea. 4 people is a good sized group though. As long as all 4 of you are at the same riding level. If you start brining people of different skill levels the faster and better riders do a lot of waiting for the group to catch up.

[FredS]

2 do longer distance rides than me and one other rider, but right now I have put everything on hold do to my son being born, hopefully tonight.

[JohnV]

Congratulations on the new family edition! Yes, they do seem to become a priority over almost everything else when they are born. You must already know you are getting a son, but let me tell you, a daughter is just as special. The only problem with daughters is that they know how to manipulate daddy way before a son does. I have one of each (both adults now) but my daughter sure knew how to put on the charm and get to daddy.

[FredS]

I know that, I have from the first wife a 37 year old sep-daughter, 35 year old sep-son, with wife #2 I have a 5year old sep-daughter, 2 year old son and now a newborn son. OOOHHHH what a tangled web I have!

[momule]

One thing you might think about is talking to your local town's mayor, tourist information group, parks department, YMCA, or coffee shop owner. Try to be an organizer and be ready to tell them why your idea would be in the communities best interests....and it really is too !!

You could start your rides at the coffee shop or end it there. You can pitch your idea to the community as being a route that rides through the towns commercial district or along quiet century house streets, you can pitch it to the YMCA as an adjunct to their goal of exercise.

Make a flyer that you can put up around town, maybe even on your local cable community access channel. The be prepared to stop riding like you usually do so that you can do a community/club thing. Develop two rides per week weather permitting and by all means look into the MeetUpGroup thing online......it is wonderful for this kind of grassroots stuff. Be ready to do something like we do here: a Thursday evening "noone left behind" ride for the general population. This is a ride that accomodates any rider of any skill or age and it is usually around or less than five miles. As the organizer, stay with the slow group and encourage them and take pictures of them riding and then post them to your new MeetUpGroup page (the MeetUpGroup thing is free by the way). Everyone likes to see themselves on a page on the internet right? This is easy stuff to get people to commit to.

For the more hardcore riders that you might have and know you might bring them in as collaborators on this project. They will have to be given a ride also so make it a Saturday morning ride with routes and roads around your town that they know. Again, this is where MeetUpGroups comes in handy as you can map out routes and allow others to map out ones too. As the administrator of the MeetUpGroup you will solicit input from the community and change your plan to fit what the people want to do on their bicycles. Most of us are followers and like to ride with other people, leaving the organization to others....you will also find some who want to be organizers so let them do the work. Don't get hung up on being the leader of anything.

By the way, if you do have a core group of friends that like to ride then have a party at the park for them with BBQ and beer and bikes and in the middle of it present your idea for a club. Then when you get a volunteer, maybe a best friend, hold them to the organizational aspects of the whole thing. Above all don't be discouraged by slow numbers joining.....I promise you that you really don't want to be the boss of any of this stuff but if you don't initiate it, it won't ever happen.

In my little town we started one just like you are describing. What happened was that a local guy got laid off and started a bike shop. He sells bikes and started the group for a way for his customers to ride together. The old hands really do stay back on Thursday for the newbies and on Saturday mornings, due to the information being available there is now a short ride and a long ride for those hard core bike folk....but they all start off together.

Hmmmmm.....here is the link to our group out of MeetUP. There are links there back to the bike shop. These are all very different people but they all share a mutual attraction to bike riding: http://www.meetup.com/REVOLUTION-CYCLES

Best respects,
Pat

[RobAR]

momule. I got u PM. Reply sent. Let's ride!

Fred. You didn't? You DID? You Rock! Congrats!

[FredS]

Thanks for the thought momule, I have talked with city hall and they have been trying to get a bike rout in town, but I had not thought about a start/stop place.

[FredS]

Ok, I have set the first meeting of the Bowling Green Bike Riding Group. We will meet at the Bojwling Green city park on April 15th at 6:30 pm and then take a short ride after the meeting.

[JohnV]

Way to go Fred...I'm still waiting for confirmation from Coca-Cola to start mine.

[momule]

(04-07-2011, 08:31 PM)FredS Wrote:  Ok, I have set the first meeting of the Bowling Green Bike Riding Group. We will meet at the Bojwling Green city park on April 15th at 6:30 pm and then take a short ride after the meeting.

Got your message Fred... Congrats on the new group !!!! I doubt I'll drive up from Washington for a 1.5 mile ride but I'll be thinking about you folk. Hey, even if you get limited attendance at first just hang in there... if you build it they will come !!

[FredS]

Yes it is a very short ride, but I don't know who will show up and how big a ride they are capable of doing so I keep it short and as I learn there ability I will set up longer rides. I will keep you informed on how thing go.

[FredS]

Had the first gathering of the Bike Riding Group that I am trying to start. Just wished that more people would have came by to enjoy the bike ride, but we just had 2 (one other and myself) plus a city police officer who just happened to be patrolling the park and made one around the park with us. Hopefully next month we will have some more riders with us.

[Bill]

Glad to hear you guys' groups are getting on track ! The start is always slow but as word of mouth spreads people will get more interested. With gas prices rising again I forsee more and more people riding bikes.

Anyways congrats !