Looking for input on creating an annual community ride/event for girls and women

[azfiddle]

Hi ladies! I'm looking to your thoughts and experience on creating an event here that will be geared toward women and girls.

Last year I joined a new women's cycling group called Team Soul (we are sponsored by the Kia dealership, thus, the reference is to the Kia Soul). We have been finding our way and figuring out who and what we are, but one thing we would like to do find a way to impact the community. Since we are not really a race team, though a few women race, but more of a club, we thought one thing we could do is develop a "signature event" that would be open to women and girls, to encourage them to get out and ride. We thought about having a short length (5-10 miles) and a moderate length (30-40) miles. We were thinking of contacting the local Girl Scout Council, YWCA etc to try get them to partner with us. I think we can get insurance through our membership with the League of American Bicyclists.

We don't yet have a firm plan- we are still looking at a possible route, date, and what kind of things we need to think about, since none of us have organized something like this. I am guessing that 100-200 participants might be our goal.

Things on the list to consider (in no particular order, off the top of my head): route, signage, aid stations, contacting local officials to arrange for any necessary permits etc, finisher medals, advertising, bike patrol or SAG, waiver forms, costs/fees....

Other thoughts: maybe we would be able to help Girl Scouts get their bicycling badge through the event, maybe have it the Saturday before Mother's Day...

That's about where we are. I don't know how much time we need to plan ahead and I'm sure there are zillions of things we haven't thought of, but any thoughts are welcome!

Thanks- Sharon

[rebeccaC]

You can get the insurance you need for permits and liability from the League of American Bicyclists. The saturday before mothers day sounds like a perfect idea!!! Hoping your ride brings some good memories and fun for lots of girls!!!!

I'll pm you the name and email of the woman who’s the outreach coordinator for the Greater Az. Bicycle Association in Tucson. She may be a good source for networking in your area and the logistics of their century and shorter rides.

Great idea Sharon!!!!!....with lots of work involved

[OakLeaf]

At the moment my head's still reeling from our ride falling apart ... but I'll get ahold of our task list and shoot it to you if that would be helpful. It sounds like a great idea, just be aware it will take a LOT of person-hours to pull it off, and even if you rely on a handful of people to do the groundwork, you'll still need a lot of warm bodies to do road painting and food stops. Plan on starting initial preparations a good six months ahead. Find out what the deadlines are for any annual and quarterly event calendars. Good luck!!!!

[ny biker]

Our club just had its annual century. We had 80 volunteers. That included route marking, manning the rest stops and post-ride picnic, on-site registration and sign-in, directing cars in the parking lot before the ride, driving SAG vehicles, etc. A small group of people put a huge amount of time into managing it, including determining the route, writing and printing cue sheets, managing pre-registration, advertising, buying food and beverages, coordinating with the people at the rest stop locations and ride start/finish, coordinating volunteers, getting permits, etc.

[azfiddle]

Thanks for the suggestions - keep 'em coming. Rebecca, I had already planned to contact GABA :-)
Since we're mainly doing shorter distances, it should be easier than a century, but it is helping me to see that we will need to recruit a LOT of people to help, since we are a small organization.

[Skippyak]

Are there no other womens rides done in your area that your group can help with before re inventing the wheel? There seem to be quite a few around here. The big one here is little red, a victim of it's own success LOL, then there is goldilocks and wonder woman, these rides are also 100s though. I think if yours is just an intro for new cyclists, you don't get experienced cyclists interest which is counterintuitive really. I think you should think about your audience and if it is served already. I dunno about there you are, but here any given weekend has competing events. We have winter where I live though LOL.

[Catrin]

It is also good to recheck the markings the day before. We have had trouble with locals obscuring the markings...provide a good map with street names.

Indy will remember a ride in southern Indiana we did a couple of years back where I fell behind everyone and got very lost. I had a map, but it was poor and had very few street names. Thankfully I came across a lone cyclist who was able to get me back on track. There were enough riders that the 2 leaders had no idea I wasn't there for some time. It was an adventure... thankfully I like adventures. Provide good maps

[OakLeaf]

It is also good to recheck the markings the day before. We have had trouble with locals obscuring the markings...provide a good map with street names.

+1 on good maps. You have to zoom in pretty far to get all the road names - insets can help - also starting with a Gazetteer, if you can even find one of those any more, rather than online mapping that makes its own decisions about what level of resolution to show road names at. A link to the route ahead of time will allow those who have GPS to download it and both have the most accurate mapping, and save you some money on printing.

As far as markings getting paved over, it's a good idea to contact the County Engineers several months ahead of time in all the counties you'll be going through - and the Township Trustees if you'll be using township roads - to find out about road construction plans. Markings getting paved over, but having nice fresh reasonably cured pavement road on ride day, is one of the less disruptive things that can happen if you don't do your routing with road construction plans in mind.

If you have enough volunteers who don't have daytime jobs - either via shift work or retirement - we much prefer to mark on weekday mornings. That makes for MUCH less traffic to contend with, for one thing, but it also means club members who are not familiar with the route can pre-ride all the routes the weekend before the event, and return with feedback so you can tweak any markings and maps.

[Catrin]

Our problem wasnt markings getting paved over, but spray painted over by vandals

[azfiddle]

The whole concept of the painted streets is still a bit foreign - and eye-opening. My experiences with organized rides include two big local rides: El Tour de Tucson and Tour of the Tucson Mountains, which are big enough to have police at intersections, and the rides put on by a couple of Tucson organizations- GABA (Greater Arizona Bicycling Association) which uses the roadside signs. When we get to the point of deciding the route, that might help us figure out if we need to paint streets.

[shootingstar]

Painting streets seems like a huge effort ..for 1 ride.

I've never seen a bike ride in the cities where I've lived, with painted streets just for the event. And I've lived near cycling areas where certain roads get closed off for major rides..and runs.

[OakLeaf]

Every ride in our area marks the routes. And the one I did in Texas, too. How else can you let the riders know where the route goes? Not everyone has GPS, people can't be constantly checking paper maps, and it's pretty easy for someone to miss a turn and get off track if they have to check their map at every intersection.

Only the biggest rides have enough riders that there is a constant stream of riders and all you need to do is follow the person ahead of you ... unless you're the lead rider, which is not a problem I've ever had - but how do you show the lead rider where to go? And when I say "enough riders," I'm talking over 3,000 on *each* route, which obviously is not something the OP wants to attempt her first year out. Anything smaller you're going to have lags where groups of riders and single riders are separated far enough that they can't see the next group, and need to find their own guidance. And the big ones still mark their routes - even TOSRV!

[shootingstar]

I see signage posted and use of volunteers at various points, Oak. I've been on local self-guided rides myself on streets and path combination.

Most interestingly, in large guided rides for over 100 riders or more, I see high school students or older, usually paired in 2's at various points. (I know in some schools it goes towards their volunteer work efforts..especially for established non-profits.)

Use of spray on paint is incredibly rare. Just not a common practice in our neck of the woods: not surprising since municipalities have to deal with rules etc. and if some routes run through lovely looking neighbourhoods...near where I've lived, the routes do go through expensive areas.