Recreational Rider Organization
What would the non-racing members of the UCVC like to see this year?
Some of you will recall last year's efforts to put a little more structure in place for the non-racing side of the club. This included some regular Friday morning social rides, some mechanical clinics at my shop, a couple of well attended meetings, endless email threads, the Points Ride series, and a UCVC-paid trip to the Apple Cider Century.
There are a few considerations this year. First, 100% of the club leadership is focused on racing -- this is to be expected, since organizing a collegiate racing team (not to mention a major race) is a huge undertaking that requires a lot of time. But this means that there isn't anyone specifically tasked with organizing events and infrastructure for recreational riders.
Second, the club membership is very large -- over 90 members and growing! But for many folks, membership so far has meant paying a fee and buying a kit and then going off to ride the path solo. I know that's OK for some, but some folks have asked for more.
Third, this will be an important year to really activate the membership and get everyone involved because the club's funding is very likely to be reduced over the coming years. And in a time when corporate sponsorship is waning, external funding will be very scarce. And so it will take the involvement of more than a small core if the club's activities (and therefore budget) expand.
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I'm not an officer of the club, but do end up talking with a majority of the members through the nature of my job. Personally, I think the changes over the past couple of years have been really productive and have made the UCVC the envy of other local collegiate clubs. But there's still plenty of room to improve.
Here are some of the areas where I see the need for improvement:
Recruiting & PR
It's mystifying to me, but I regularly meet cyclists (and long time Hyde Parkers) who have never heard of the UCVC but are looking for a group to ride with. We also have a very talented pool of racers who get very little visibility for their accomplishments. It's been brought up many times before, but a sustained marketing campaign for the club will bring in new riders, which is never a bad thing.
Kit Availability
This is always the most difficult thing to deal with for cycling clubs. Designing and distributing the team's kit is a thankless, time consuming task. Some folks experienced sizing problems this year (although I hear there's work being done to fix this) but overall the feedback has been very good on the new design (the basic design will hopefully stay consistent for a few years now). But there's a need for extra clothing year round... for riders who crash/tear theirs, for new members, and ideally -- just to sell to parents/alumni as a fundraiser. Of course, this requires all sorts of planning, a bit of capital, and a mechanism to distribute and handle finances. One way in which I can help out a little in this regard is to stock peripheral gear that would coordinate well with the kit.
Rides and Events for Recreational Riders
Last year's Points Ride was a great start, but we've lost some of the leaders. Granted, there are a couple of informal group rides & email lists here on the south side that cover this type of riding... but not everyone is necessarily welcome on these. The Points Rides were great because they were open access and run by experienced guides. It's very difficult to have racers run these rides, and a few of the folks who would otherwise be running the rec rides have kind of matriculated on to much faster training rides.
Mentoring for New Riders
I came up in a club environment that was very hierarchical, and it would be kind of nice to see a bit of that flavor within the UCVC. Coddling new riders pays off because it provides a painless and easy way to get into club riding and/or racing and after a couple of years, the newbies will become the ones who provide the mentoring, completing the circle. There are many ways to do this, and it does kind of happen in an informal way within the UCVC -- but it can always improve. I would think that access to training and mentorship would be a significant draw.
The Triathletes
I hate to admit it, but there are far more triathletes in Hyde Park than pure club cyclists. Not only is this a huge untapped pool of potential racers, but it's in everyone's interest to socialize this community by getting them involved (even tangentially) in the UCVC; handling clinics, group rides, and just plain old social networking. But from a typical triathlete's point of view, the attitude right now might be: Why join?
Deals & Discounts
This type of stuff is always welcome, but I'm not sure whether it helps with recruiting and/or activating a dormant base. A lot of clubs tend to waste a lot of time negotiating and handling group buys and "pro deals" instead of rides/races/clinics, but I'd be curious as to what the thoughts are.
Some of you will recall last year's efforts to put a little more structure in place for the non-racing side of the club. This included some regular Friday morning social rides, some mechanical clinics at my shop, a couple of well attended meetings, endless email threads, the Points Ride series, and a UCVC-paid trip to the Apple Cider Century.
There are a few considerations this year. First, 100% of the club leadership is focused on racing -- this is to be expected, since organizing a collegiate racing team (not to mention a major race) is a huge undertaking that requires a lot of time. But this means that there isn't anyone specifically tasked with organizing events and infrastructure for recreational riders.
Second, the club membership is very large -- over 90 members and growing! But for many folks, membership so far has meant paying a fee and buying a kit and then going off to ride the path solo. I know that's OK for some, but some folks have asked for more.
Third, this will be an important year to really activate the membership and get everyone involved because the club's funding is very likely to be reduced over the coming years. And in a time when corporate sponsorship is waning, external funding will be very scarce. And so it will take the involvement of more than a small core if the club's activities (and therefore budget) expand.
***
I'm not an officer of the club, but do end up talking with a majority of the members through the nature of my job. Personally, I think the changes over the past couple of years have been really productive and have made the UCVC the envy of other local collegiate clubs. But there's still plenty of room to improve.
Here are some of the areas where I see the need for improvement:
Recruiting & PR
It's mystifying to me, but I regularly meet cyclists (and long time Hyde Parkers) who have never heard of the UCVC but are looking for a group to ride with. We also have a very talented pool of racers who get very little visibility for their accomplishments. It's been brought up many times before, but a sustained marketing campaign for the club will bring in new riders, which is never a bad thing.
Kit Availability
This is always the most difficult thing to deal with for cycling clubs. Designing and distributing the team's kit is a thankless, time consuming task. Some folks experienced sizing problems this year (although I hear there's work being done to fix this) but overall the feedback has been very good on the new design (the basic design will hopefully stay consistent for a few years now). But there's a need for extra clothing year round... for riders who crash/tear theirs, for new members, and ideally -- just to sell to parents/alumni as a fundraiser. Of course, this requires all sorts of planning, a bit of capital, and a mechanism to distribute and handle finances. One way in which I can help out a little in this regard is to stock peripheral gear that would coordinate well with the kit.
Rides and Events for Recreational Riders
Last year's Points Ride was a great start, but we've lost some of the leaders. Granted, there are a couple of informal group rides & email lists here on the south side that cover this type of riding... but not everyone is necessarily welcome on these. The Points Rides were great because they were open access and run by experienced guides. It's very difficult to have racers run these rides, and a few of the folks who would otherwise be running the rec rides have kind of matriculated on to much faster training rides.
Mentoring for New Riders
I came up in a club environment that was very hierarchical, and it would be kind of nice to see a bit of that flavor within the UCVC. Coddling new riders pays off because it provides a painless and easy way to get into club riding and/or racing and after a couple of years, the newbies will become the ones who provide the mentoring, completing the circle. There are many ways to do this, and it does kind of happen in an informal way within the UCVC -- but it can always improve. I would think that access to training and mentorship would be a significant draw.
The Triathletes
I hate to admit it, but there are far more triathletes in Hyde Park than pure club cyclists. Not only is this a huge untapped pool of potential racers, but it's in everyone's interest to socialize this community by getting them involved (even tangentially) in the UCVC; handling clinics, group rides, and just plain old social networking. But from a typical triathlete's point of view, the attitude right now might be: Why join?
Deals & Discounts
This type of stuff is always welcome, but I'm not sure whether it helps with recruiting and/or activating a dormant base. A lot of clubs tend to waste a lot of time negotiating and handling group buys and "pro deals" instead of rides/races/clinics, but I'd be curious as to what the thoughts are.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Hebda on -
J - great post and great thoughts. I do like recreational riding, but I probably fall into the racing and triathlete category. Here are some of my thoughts on a few of the topics you brought up :
Kit availability
I agree that it would be great to have some spare kits around for people who need stuff throughout the year to buy. Could we do some sort of fundraiser to raise money that could help support the extra inventory/stock? Maybe a 50/50 raffle. Not sure if this is too aggressive, but if we could get 40 people to each sell 10, $10 raffle tickets and gave away half, we'd have $2,000 to cover some extra inventory from year to year. Not sure if that's possible though...
Recreational riding
With 90+ people, I would believe there is a need/desire for more recreational riding. Would it be worth creating some type of "recreational riding chair" position that would be held by somebody who would help coordinate the recreational riding efforts for a year?
Mentoring
I love this idea. Having gone through my first racing season knowing basically nothing, I learned a ton from Jesse, Aspen, you, and all of the other guys who had been around for a while. I'd be happy to help pass on what I picked up to others next year (though I still haven't figured out how to not get dropped).
Triathletes
As a triathlete myself, I personally think that many triathletes don't come out because they're a bit intimidated. First, a lot of folks I know (including some of those in my program at UChicago) only have a tri bike - no road bike. They're not sure whether they'd be able to bring their tri bike on group rides (even if they didn't ride in the aero bars). I think others may also just be unsure how well they'll be accepted - I read a lot of tri and cycling forums and there are always people on both sides giving grief to the other group... That's just my perspective though... May not be the case for everybody!
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Permalink Reply by Stitches on -
To address some of the questions/thoughts/ideas that have been brought up:
- We actually do have a recreational riding chair, but as of late we have been in the market for a new one. Last summer this job was headed by Jeremy and Joe, who would take turns leading the saturday points ride. This weekly recreational ride focused on bike basics such as learning handling skills, confidence, building up endurance/health, and enjoying the outdoors. At the end of the year the club sent a small contingent of recreational riders to the apple-cider century. We are hoping to have a similar spring/summer activity this year which would ultimately target a fun ride like the ACC in the late summer or fall. And of course the friday morning rides are always well attended and fun.
- In the past we have purchased extra of jerseys, but I believe this was typically only to fill up order minimums. We did have success selling these jerseys in the spring; but ultimately I have a bag (small as it is) of jerseys from last year that the club was unable to sell. But, to ameliorate this problem we are currently doing jersey orders bi-annually. We are planning to make a spring/summer order in the weeks following monsters of the midway- so if you need more jersey stuff please keep an eye out for it.
- on mentoring, firstly, you can only get it by showing up to activities, but as J has suggested I do think this type of environment has developed a little in the UCVC. I see younger riders (like Liz, Dan, and myself) passing things we learned in our previous year on to the new racers this year and I fully expect to see them pass it along to the new riders next fall. This is certainly something we should focus on as it is very important but I do want to suggest that it is something that is actively "brewing" in the club, maybe just not to the extent that we would ideally have it.
- Triathletes are in our club and could become a very important part of club activities. It is an excellent suggestion to try to make Tri-specific activites.
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Permalink Reply by Robert on -
I joined recently as a recreational cyclist who might do the occasional competition. I often cannot meet in the mornings during the week. I'm hoping for more rides on the weekends. I would be happy to try and help organize but my limited experience cycling and with the club has me a little hesitant to offer just yet.
I'm happy to hear that the cycling kit will be offered soon. I was just about to buy some cycling clothes but will hold off for now.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Kallo on -
Thanks for getting this going J.
The points ride, originally started by Francisco, was a really great idea in my opinion -- and that's an opinion informed by a whole slew of miles spent doing/leading them. At their best, they were fun long rides on the weekends mixed riders of varying skill levels (mostly) to the benefit of everyone involved. The points schema was fun, it got people out riding, and the rides provided another activity for UCVC riders.
If we decided to start these up again, I think the biggest question to be answered is how they'd be called/led. Because of the nature of the riding group (i.e. potentially people unfamiliar with routes etc) the rides definitely lent themselves to being led as opposed to being more of a free-form thing. If we go with that model again, we have to come up with a list of people willing to lead these. In my opinion, that list ought to contain at least 5-6 names or the whole thing is in danger of not working.
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