Rbc minutes Wed June 4, 2014

RBC Minutes                            Wed – June 4, 2014

 

Board Members Present:  Ed Robichaud, Ken Thompson, Erin Murphy Schultz, Jeff Major, Dave Shomette, Bobby Anderson, Lisa Mackem

 

Committee Heads/Guests: Barb Lytle, Craig Clark, Dan Scrafford, Chris Harris

*These are also posted on the RBC Website under Membership Information, Board Meetings, Board Minutes.

 

Topics:

1. 
   Finances
   

There have been few expenses since last month, and RBC has received Paypal fees for century registrants. Ken will find out rates to invest in a CD ladder with $20,000 of staggered rollovers.

 

2. Training Rides

Dan and Chris talked about training rides. Dan will join with Lifetime Fitness again this year to lead a series of century training rides on Sundays. The first three of these rides (June 15, 22, 29) will focus on safety (how to ride in groups, how to ride in a paceline, etc.) These rides will start at 9 am from Herndon. Dan, Vince, Chris B., and Chris H. will lead the rides. Ride announcements will be sent to all RBC members, as well as century registrants who are not members. Nonmembers will be told they will need to join RBC after one ride if they would like to continue riding with RBC.
Chris will also lead a series of rides on Wednesdays that will focus on group riding skills. Chris has a specific agenda for the Wednesday rides that he provided to the Board. He will cover riding in groups, techniques for better riding, basic bike maintenance (no ride that day), and preparing for a long ride. He will also discuss the Wed. topics on Sunday.
Ken said to expect different groups on Wed. and Sun. When Ken led a Wed. ride, the riders were beginners – they needed ride leaders to stop at the top of hills and wait for them. Their maximum distance was about 15 miles.

 3. Century Preparations

Century signups to date = 232. Barb is assembling volunteers, and Dan stressed that we need more volunteers. Dan said that Minnie can make a board so that people can sign up, which Ken said would be helpful to have available. Erin suggested using Signup Genius. Barb said that people should mention the century on rides and see if people are interested in volunteering. If they are, we should send Barb their email addresses. (Barb said we should not try to take riders away from the century by asking for volunteers, but there are volunteer opportunities that would still allow people to ride.) Jeff said RBC should send weekly announcements through Vertical Response and include in the announcements that we need century volunteers. Dan said that experienced people (board members) should manage rest stops.
Staff for rest stops so far: Chris B. (need one other) is managing Ashburn; John and Lisa Hamilton are managing Hamilton; Erin S. and Jeff M. are managing Lovettsville; Lisa and Eric Mackem are managing Old Mill. Round Hill is vacant. Minnie S. and Ed are managing RTC.
Chris H. will do bike maintenance at Hamilton, although he will be competing with Bike Outfitters there if they show. Chris said he could also ride along the route and offer help along the way.
Bobby will order the snow cone machine for Old Mill. Ken will order food from GHB (they donate bread; we order cookies.)
Dan’s final meeting with RTC is on June 20. The century route on the WOD has been approved.
BAH can’t sponsor riders in the century, but individual riders can sign up through the website.
Dan asked the Board if we should use LARG again this year. We have always used them in the past, but maybe they are obsolete now due to cell phones. Barb said that LARG has a good triage system and can coordinate quickly. Bobby said they are better organized than we will be about getting out important information. The Board decided to continue using LARG.
Ken will call Bob McCann (who has always allowed us to use water from his house near Hamilton) but Ken thinks he might have moved. Ken has contacted Capital Party Rentals and will contact the t-shirt people. Ken said that water bottles are paid for and in storage
Dan will call the Loudoun Volunteer Rescue Squad. We have approval to use the Lovettsville Community Center as we did last year. Dan will contact Silver Diner. Rest stops will have the same food as last year, with no need to order Gatorade, since we already have enough. Dan also will get portojohns and will contact Ashburn Fire and Rescue about using water and trash cans. Dan will contact Randy about the Leesburg Police and paying the Leesburg Park fee (Randy is coordinating the route.)
At this time, RBC is not using Performance Bike during the century because they have not been responsive in the past, but Ken said they are starting to be more responsive and reaching out more to the community.
Chris H. suggested using stencils for our century directional arrows to make them easier to see. Jeff also supported using stencils this year. Craig said that stencils would make the arrows uniform and easier to recognize. However, Dan said that it takes longer to stencil and people don’t like doing it. We also need marks after a turn (so riders can confirm they are on the correct path.)
Barb asked if there was a need for a volunteer meeting before the century. Attendance was poor at the volunteer meeting last year. The alternative would just be to do the volunteer century ride the week before the century. The Board agreed that we could eliminate the volunteer meeting and just have the volunteer century ride.

4. Meetup Rides

Barb uses our meetup license to schedule impromptu rides. Anyone can set up a ride and note the date, time, and type of terrain. Ken, Barb, and Erin are the meetup administrators. Ken said that meetup invitations go out to all RBC members. Barb said that when people sign up through a meetup invitation, they don’t always use last names, but Ken said that they have to say who they are and whether they are an RBC member. Chris H. said that all rides should be on the RBC website so that people will check for them there, but Ken said that the meetup rides are not intended to be RBC rides, and don’t involve RBC insurance – therefore, they should not be on the website. The meetup groups should be slightly separated from RBC. Barb asked if only members should be included on the meetup, or should the meetup rides be open to anyone. Ken said that we have denied RBC members through the meetup, and the rides could be located anywhere. The Board decided to re-name the meetup rides (so it is no longer an RBC meetup) and limit invitations to RBC members and guests of RBC members. Chris H. also suggested adding a question to the meetup invitation asking how the rider heard about the group. Ed said that we generally get 10-15 riders on Tues-Thurs rides who are not members (so it would be logical that non-members also come to the meetup rides.)
5. Volunteers Needed – Regular and Special Projects

Ken sent an email earlier to the Board stating that a second-grader from a homeless family had his bike stolen on Bike to School Day, and asking that someone or a group of people from RBC help him by buying him a new bike and helmet. Dan said that we could buy him a bike at Target, REI, or possibly Bike Lane (they have some inexpensive bikes.) Craig said he could write a check. Erin said she could take care of the kid and bike, possibly with a used bike from a friend. She will find out the kid’s size and call friends to see if anyone has a bike to donate.

In general, Ken said that we need more volunteers for Bike to School Day. This year, only Ken and Ed were at Terraset, where there were about 200 kids biking. Erin worked alone at Forest Edge where there were about 70 kids.

 The next meeting will be held July 2 at 7 pm at Reston Library, meeting room 1.

           

Meeting Adjourned.