Thanks to everyone for coming out to our first meeting of 2013

It was great to see some familiar faces and some new ones. If you couldn’t make the meeting, don’t worry. All the items that were covered and handed out are here for you. Plus, I’ve put together a little recap of what we talked about.

We discussed Southern Maine Cycling Club striving to create a fun and motivating environment for its members. And how in 2013 the club will be working to continue developing a strong sense of community, providing many opportunities for development, and making sure members just plain have fun.

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP
We discussed the benefits of membership including
·         Membership cards. Every member will receive a personalized membership card that will entitle them to discounts service at Gorham Bike and Ski in both Portland and Saco. Those discounts and benefits include:
o    10% off bikes and accessories, year round. Your discount can be applied to special orders of non-stocked, and currently out-of-stock bikes and accessories. Plus you’ll always get free shipping on special order bikes and accessories.

·         Monthly Member Meetings with free learning opportunities. Topics being considered for this year (If you have suggestions, please let us know):
o    Bike Fit
o    How to dial in the suspension on your mountain bike
o    Nutrition for cyclists
o    Stretching and flexibility for endurance athletes
o    Have a suggestion for a topic? Email dave@gorhambike.com

·         SMCC Facebook page and club blog with the ability to post ride recaps, updates, and pictures. The blog will be a bit longer in coming, but the facebook page is up and running: www.facebook.com/southernmainecyclingclub.

FUN EVENTS
Then we discussed some of the fun events the club is planning for 2013. The dates and details for most are still up in the air, but the short list, no particular order, is:
·         Season Kick-off Pancake Breakfast
·         Year-end BBQ
·         Club Championships (details to come)
·         Winter outings
·         Have a suggestion? Email dave@gorhambike.com


GROUP RIDES & RIDER DEVELOPMENT
We had a very constructive and open conversation about the group rides. What was clear from the discussion was that so many want to have our Saturday Ride going strong in 2013. There is a clear need to a fast yet safe Saturday group ride that allows all the participants to get in a good workout. I reinforced that the clubs major Sponsor, Gorham Bike and Ski, is making a commitment to ensure that there will a representative from the shop there each Saturday to open the doors for using the facilities and making sure that everyone had what they need. Graham Wellman, GBS’s Service Manager, will be the ride “leader” more often than not.

I also talked about there being a developmental component to the ride. That may take the form of a B ride. But whatever form it takes, we all agreed that it was important that those who want to learn to ride in a group, or just improve their group skills and fitness should have an opportunity to do so. One of the goals is SMCC is for its members to be develop skills and confidence so they can enjoy riding more.

As it stands right now, here are the group rides that are on the schedule.

Tue
Wed
Fri
Sat
Tue. Nite Mountain Bike Ride. 6PM. Different meeting place each week – Biddeford to Pownal.
Wednesday Nite Road Ride (Saco).
6PM.
-GBS Saco-
Friday Morning
Coffee Ride
Year-round (weather permitting), 7:30AM
-GBS Portland-
Sat. Morning Ride
April-Nov 7:45AM
-GBS Portland-

DUES and CLOTHING
Club Dues and Clothing are outlined below. As a tie-in with our “race team”, SMCC will adopt color blocking that mirrors the Base36 cycling kits. You can see a comp below. One nice perk this season is that if you order a jersey and pay in-full by 2/28, the club will buy you a pair of shorts or bibs! You can follow this link to pay your dues and order clothing online: https://www.bikereg.com/Net/18567.

·         Yearly dues are $20
·         Clothing will be made by Louis Garneau.
o    Jerseys will cost $75
o    Shorts = $75
o    Bibs = $85.

ADVOCACY
Another good discussion we had was centered around advocacy. We all felt it was important that if we want riding to be better in Maine, than we need to take an active role in making that happen. Paul Neihoff recapped his experiences at the Bike Summit in Washington, DC this past summer. Then he talked about how there is a gap that has existed between performance riders, the racing community and advocacy groups, like our Bicycle Coalition of Maine 9BCM). But he was happy to report that there seems to be a shift at the highest level of the sport amongst professional, and that more pros are making advocacy a big part of their agenda. Paul is going to get back to us as to how SMCC can participate in this discussion moving forward. Fred Robie, a BCM board member, had some good input and ideas of how we could work together with the BCM.

We got done later than expected but we had some really good conversations. So it was worth it. The bike fit discussion was postponed to a later date.

Questions?
If you have any questions, please email Dave Palese at dave@gorhambike.com.
Thanks again. Please remember to like Southern Maine Cycling Club on facebook so you can stay up to date on all the goings on.