So You Want to Be a Bike Club Member or Leader?

"Virtue is its' own reward."

One of the great things about a couple of bike clubs I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of is the involvement of a significant part of the membership in bicycle activism. The first thing that struck me about the Las Vegas Valley Bike Club when I joined several years ago, was how one or more of the members seemed to be into almost everything pertaining to bikes in the area, be it trails, carriers on buses, bike rodeos for kids, international or national touring, eating, supporting local coffee shops, outreach, and the list goes on and on. It’s not just a group of folks that throw there leg over a top tube (or their butts into a sling saddle, I get dinged every time I fail to include our sisters and brothers on recumbents) but a group of activists that not only practice and love the sport, but are giving something back to it on a daily basis.

This brings me to a common dilemma that is faced by almost every great bike club, what about the rest of the membership?. You know, the people that joined to ride occasionally when it fits their schedule, the weather is nice and they remembered to get their flat tires fixed. In other words, normal people. The ones whose eyes glaze over when you talk to them about gear ratios, your last trip up the Tourmalet, or permissible slope ratios on multi-use paths.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency in some clubs, (not this one of course) for the “hard core” membership, the 5-10% that does all the work, raises all the money, plans all the rides, writes and publishes all the newsletters, to view the rest of the membership as a bunch of uncaring slackers. This is both unfortunate and unfair.

Here’s why it’s unfortunate, but first, all you hard core volunteers out there, repeat after me, “Virtue is it’s own reward.” If you don’t think that the work you are doing on behalf of cyclists (or whales, owls, the rain forest, the ozone layer) is in and of itself worthwhile, unaccompanied by the praise and adulation of the public at large, then stop doing it. Long hard experience has taught me that if I plan to put in lots of hours planning and running the rest stops for the next club century, I better plan on patting myself on the back and maybe, if I’m really lucky, getting a couple of kind words from a couple of other hard workers in the club. Mostly I’m going to hear about how the peanut butter tasted funny, the bananas were too ripe (or green) and why didn’t I do something about the weather? If you know all that going in, it helps to mellow you out during those trying times. You do the job because you know you can do it well (maybe better than anyone else) and it gives you great pleasure to contribute a job done right to a club and sport you love.

The unfair part is that the vast majority of club members, the ones that don’t work tirelessly to support the club, are doing just what they signed up to do. They want to ride their bikes on a pleasant Saturday or Sunday with other convivial people that enjoy cycling. If more was expected of them, we should amend the membership form to read, “ Dues are $20.00 (and we require you to work a minimum of 200 hours per year on projects someone else did last year and will tell you, when you are done, how you could/should have done it better)”. Last time I checked we just required members to pay their dues and follow the rules.



Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to the main thrust of this article, the rules. Some are pretty simple, “A helmet is required on every ride.” . Others, that are second nature to those of us who have been riding for a while, will be a little more unfamiliar to the newcomers. Rules like, stop at Stop signs, ride on the right, (but not too far right), point out hazards on the road to those behind you, don’t signal right and go left (a particular peeve of mine, see this scar?) and bring stuff to fix you own flat and at least make preliminary motions that you’re going to do it.

Of course the best way for new riders to get all of this basic stuff is to attend a Road I class by a qualified League of American Bicyclists Instructor (mandatory plug) followed by a gentle mentoring program by other riders. The worst way to learn (the way I was taught) is to be yelled at when they didn’t do one of the above or any of a thousand other arcane bicycle rules.

The Road I and kind mentoring approach works. I’ve seen it work many times. On a personal note, my own sweet wife never really got into cycling until we did a ride with the “Deuces Wild” group. She had attended a Road I class but it was the kindness and helpfulness of other cyclists in that group, plus the fact that she had such a great time, that sold her on tandems.

So be kind and gentle to the new rider/member. Welcome them, encourage your club to offer periodic Road I classes, don’t drop them on rides and remember that you had to learn all this once too. In doing so, you’ll be doing a lot more than just making life pleasant for them, you’ll be making it a lot safer. Studies have shown that regular club riders have a much lower rate of crashes than non-club riders. If that new rider actually enjoys riding with the club, they may start to ride regularly. Who knows, they may even want to do more and become “one of us”.