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?
Thanks again. Please
remember to like Southern Maine Cycling Club on facebook so you can stay up to
date on all the goings on.
