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

[Crankin]

We have tons of local clubs that have arrows painted on the roads around here... sometimes there are so many arrows, it's confusing. Personally, I hate them. DH once "arrowed" a 50 mile ride for AMC and said it was an experience he will never repeat. Three hours of spray painting. I really don't get why they are needed. Even if you don't use a GPS, the Ride with GPS site allows you print a cue sheet (which I do in some cases). Generally, people here have cue sheet holders to use on big, organized rides, where, even I can read the directions while riding. I have been on 2 smaller, more local charity type rides this year, similar to what you are planning. They put up brightly colored signs with arrows at turns. The key is, to make sure they are taken down in a timely fashion. Towns don't like it when the signs stay up for days, weeks, or even months! But, from what I've heard, they dislike the road arrows even more.

[tulip]

Chalk might be a better solution than paint. You can get powdered chalk, put it in old water bottles (lots of them), fill up your panniers with the chalk-filled water bottles , ride the route and mark the turns. Be sure to mark the turns clearly, indicating before a turn that a turn is coming up. Also mark the straight-aheads if there's a questionable intersection.

The chalk will actually turn to a kind of glue in light rain, but a downpour will wash it away. It's a great solution because it is not permanent and therefore does not (usually) require permission from authorities. You can use different colors for different routes.

Bike Virginia uses small arrow signs that are quite effective. They have many volunteers to man intersections--typically participants who get free or reduced entry fee.

[rebeccaC]

Chalk might be a better solution than paint.

We used spray Krylon marking chalk to mark the routes of a couple of centuries I volunteered to help with when I was in college. I assume it's the same thing surveyors/public works use. It's not permanent but lasts a few weeks even in light rains. We also thought it gave us license to write a few burma-shave type encouraging riding sayings on the roads

[ny biker]

We have tons of local clubs that have arrows painted on the roads around here... sometimes there are so many arrows, it's confusing. Personally, I hate them. DH once "arrowed" a 50 mile ride for AMC and said it was an experience he will never repeat. Three hours of spray painting. I really don't get why they are needed. Even if you don't use a GPS, the Ride with GPS site allows you print a cue sheet (which I do in some cases). Generally, people here have cue sheet holders to use on big, organized rides, where, even I can read the directions while riding. I have been on 2 smaller, more local charity type rides this year, similar to what you are planning. They put up brightly colored signs with arrows at turns. The key is, to make sure they are taken down in a timely fashion. Towns don't like it when the signs stay up for days, weeks, or even months! But, from what I've heard, they dislike the road arrows even more.

Many people either don't know how to follow a cue sheet or have trouble riding safely while looking at a cue sheet.

There are all sorts of arrows and turn markings on the roads in southern Maryland, left over from organized rides. I assume the local government folks don't mind them, because I know the groups that hold rides in that area work closely with them.

[OakLeaf]

DH once "arrowed" a 50 mile ride for AMC and said it was an experience he will never repeat. Three hours of spray painting.

Fifty miles in three hours??? That's SUPER fast. It goes way quicker when one person drives and another paints ... and especially when sight lines are long and shoulders wide so it's easier to find a place to pull off ... and most of all when sight lines are so long that the driver can drop off the painter where the first arrow goes and pick them up after they've walked to paint the last one at each intersection ... but still. Our teams typically get about 10 "mph."

As far as printed maps ... yes, they're an invaluable backup, but I almost never see anyone with a handlebar bag on a ride in the last 15 years (except for those who are fully loaded for touring - and even then it seems to be the very last piece of luggage people put on, after they already have front and rear panniers and a tail bag - which makes sense, since they tend to throw off steering so much), so it means pulling the map out of your pocket at every single intersection. That's for someone who either has young eyes or multifocal lenses. Me, I have to pull out the map *and* my reading glasses, and that means stopping. Nope. I don't look at a map on an organized ride unless I'm pretty sure I've already missed a turn.

[Crankin]

It may well have been more than 3 hours, but it was ugly.
I do have a plastic cue sheet holder that velcros around my bar. Not part of a handlebar bag. When I lead AMC rides, we are required to give out the sheets (although we provide a link to download to GPS, it's not required). Some people use a clothespin to hold it (?), and others just follow. We are required to keep people together, with no one left behind. That's why we screen. However, when we do the 2 annual rides we lead, it's show and go. Some of the people should not go, if you know what I mean. The cue sheet is important here; these people are not going to be using a Garmin. For a charity ride, obviously, that's not going to happen. I print my sheets in a larger font, front/back if necessary. I *never* look at the maps that have been provided on some of the rides I've done, as you can't really see anything.

[shootingstar]

It depends how this ride is handled. If the priority is to start off en masse together as a group or in manageable waves of riders, and the ride is on alot of roads vs. path, then might be more need for tighter controls and directions. Even with road barricades at certain intersections, which requires for the big cities where I've lived, a permit from the city.

As an option, each wave/group of riders have a lead rider (from the cycling organization) and at least 1-2 sweeps at the back of each group. These folks wear safety vests to be clearly identified. This might be an option especially if the ride includes children.

Such bike rides are at least, several hundred people, in the 3 cities where I've lived ...each city over 1 million people. Frequent use of spray can paint on pavement, just sends the wrong message (to me) after seeing beautiful outdoor artwork graffitied with paint, etc.

I suppose the other option, is to design a route that is in a more quiet, isolated area. If you do that, and since this is the first ride in the area of many women and girls, get your local media out to cover this one.