6.25 Meeting Minutes

With 6 in attendance, the meeting was relatively quick, but not at the expense of its thoughtful discourse. We stuck to the agenda, which was

• announcements
• updates from teams
• dialog on steering decisions
• discussion on ladies’ night
• planning

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Next Wednesday, July 4, there will be no shift. Not necessarily because we are patriots.
• We’re up to 49 members!
• Thanks to Matt and everyone else who helped and came for making the Bike Geek event hip to be square.
• July 11 is when the House is convening to decide whether they should override the governor’s veto of the recent energy bill. VPIRG has ideas of how to show your support for a secure energy future. You could, of course, also go to show your support for the Governor’s veto.
• One of our neighbors, Davi (Dabi? he stopped by for only a minute), has a reggae show on WGDR (91.1 fm) on Thursdays from 2-4. He said he would plug us, so if you needed another excuse to listen to reggae, there it is.
• Remember, Benefit Concert July 19th. I got a sneak preview of the poster and it is AMAZING.
• There will be a public pillow fight on the state house lawn on July 28 at 3pm. Bring a pillow!

UPDATES FROM WORKING TEAMS

• Web team: This awesome blog was set up. Myspace account soon.

DIALOG ABOUT STEERING DECISIONS

• It was noted that the alcohol/drug policy wording should specify illegal drugs. It will go back to the steering committee.

DISCUSSION ABOUT LADIES’ NIGHT

This discussion focused on the question of whether Ladies’ Night would better serve its purpose (of promoting shop and skill accessibility to genders otherwise less represented in mechanical fields) by allowing only people who identify as women or trans to use the shop during that shift. Below are many of the concerns that were brought up during the meeting, and before and after. No decision has been made on this, and Ladies’ Night remains open to all, at least for now.

• To limit the shift may help people get involved who may otherwise not, particularly survivors of abuse by men in positions of authority.
• If our goal is education and sensitivity, it may be good to keep the shift open, so more people can be in this setting where understanding gender dynamics is explicitly important.
• A limit may accomplish what it was adopted for, and potentially be removed at that point, if that better serves the shift’s purpose.
• An officially closed shift may conflict with Freeride’s stated mission of tolerance.
• Our other shifts may be effectively closed to people, unofficially, because of any number of things inherent to those shifts.
• There are not many shifts, so limiting one may sufficiently limit the accessibility of Freeride to the people barred from that shift.
• A good idea may be to get a general idea of whether this setup would meet the needs of many people in the community.
• However Ladies’ Night is set up, its purpose is part of the mission of Freeride, and all shifts, events, and workshops should be safe and aware spaces.

PLANNING

• We formed 2 teams: a workshop team and a public relations team. Join one by emailing the first person on the list.
  • Workshop team
    • Robin
    • Stan
    • Greg
  • PR team
    • Andrea
    • Morgan
    • Colin
    • Robin
• Stan will put together a basic list of what to check on a bike.
• Colin will start work on a poster that will help acclimate and orient people visiting the shop for the first time, especially about head mechanics.
• Andrea will look into how to get into the parade.
• Stan expressed an interest in going for rides. Other’s have, too. Maybe you should talk!

Freeride at Langdon Street Cafe Geek Week

Langdon Street Geek Week – Freeride Bike Clean!, originally uploaded by SirStan.

Here’s a photo from our bike demo at Langdon Street Cafe’s geek week. After a five-or-so mile ride to the creemee stand, we met up at the cafe for a bike wash and a minor tune-up session. The event was definitely a success and it’s nice to see the community’s enthusiasm for the co-op continue to grow.

See more of Stan’s photos from Geek Week.

Confiscated Bikes in Barre

Hey all.

Just got word from a friend of mine who works for the city of Barre
that the city has about 40 confiscated bikes sitting in a house up on
Route 14. It sounds like we’d be able to take them away if we want
them. Interested? If so I should be able to set up a time to head up
there and check them out.

Greg

Meeting Agenda for Monday 6.25, 6-8pm

Next Monday, 6/25 from 6-8pm, a meeting open to the whole membership of Freeride Montpelier will be held at the shop. Here is an overview of the agenda:

- announcements
- updates from working teams
- open dialog on steering committee decisions (see below)
- discussion on ladies’ night, specifically whether it should be limited to women and trans people
- planning time for working teams, if needed

The steering team, which met yesterday, made the following decisions. Input, objections, questions, and concerns about these decisions are welcome by email at any time, but may be best served in dialog during Monday’s meeting:
- We will buy liability insurance from Poulos Insurance, Inc for $796 annually
- We will apply for a wholesale account with Quality Bicycle Products
- Our alcohol & drugs policy will read “Alcohol and drugs are not permitted in the space, and people using the space must not be noticeably intoxicated. This policy will be strictly enforced during shifts.”
- In order to become a head mechanic, one must already have been a mechanic on another shift, and the head mechanic for that shift will bring the request to the steering team, which will direct the process from there.
- Our policy policy will read “We intend to avoid superfluous policies.”
- Robin will be taking over as head mechanic on Wednesday nights from
6-8:30, Ladies’ Night

See you at the geek-out, or the meeting, or the shop, or the streets!

Benefit Concert

July 19th @ The Bethany Church (basement)
6:30 pm to 10:00 pm

Sh! The Octopus (Detroit Indie Rock)
How to Stay Alive in the Woods (NEK weird indie folk)
The Mountain Wolves (Montpelier’s favorite Mountain Goats cover band)
Plus more TBA!!!

Suggested donations $10 to $3 (or a bike/parts)…sliding scale.

Bicycles Faster Than Cars

Ever wonder what’s the fastest way to get around Montpelier?  The question was laid to rest today with a series of three races where bicycles were pitted against the automobile.  Two teams (experienced bikers vs. experienced drivers) raced on 3 different routes through Montpelier, ending at the “Way To Go Montpelier!” celebration at the Christ Church Pocket Park on State Street.

Here are the results:
·       Skip the Mountaineers mascot won the race on a bicycle with a time of 12:46 min.  Skip faced off against Mr. Froggy from Froggy 100.9 who was chauffeured in a red mustang convertible and came in at 14:51 min.  The race started at Christ Church Pocket Park.  From there, the racers picked up deposit slips at the Vermont State Employees Credit Union, then went on to Hunger Mountain Co-op before returning to the Christ Church Pocket Park finish line.  The race was close along Stone Cutters Way, with Skip taking the lead by using a shortcut through a driveway.
·       The second race paired Officer Andy Apgar from the Montpelier Police Department on a bicycle against Officer Mark Poulin in a car.  Apgar’s time was 8:11min—a full minute and a half faster than Poulin’s time of 9:49 despite Apgar’s politeness at the outset of the race when he let his opponent get in front of him.  Their route brought them from the pocket
park to Gesine’s to City Hall to pick up parking ticket envelopes and back.  This was a friendly race as both officers usually patrol on bicycle.  Neither officer had time to enjoy a pastry at Gesine’s though.
·       The final race began at Morse Farm and ended at the Christ Church Pocket Park.  Andrew Brewer of Onion River Sports proved their motto, “Muscles not Motors” to be accurate.  He beat Tom Williams, Branch Manager of AAA
Northern New England, although it was the closest of the races.  Brewer’s time was 7:10 min.  Williams arrived in 8:03 min.

The races celebrated the successful conclusion of Way to Go Montpelier, month-long initiative to encourage Montpelier residents, students and employees to try using alternative transportation.  298 Central Vermonters participated this year in Way to Go!.  Over the course of the month, 105,731 miles were not driven as participated tried alternative forms of
transportation or telecommuted from May 7-June 8.  Assuming an average fuel consumption of 22.5 miles/gal., 4,699 gallons of gas where saved for a total monetary savings of $14,050 (average gas price of $2.99 during the month).  An average vehicle emits 0.86 lbs. of CO2 per mile driven.  With this average, 90,929 lbs of the greenhouse gas CO2 were kept out of the atmosphere due to the efforts of participants.  While totals are not yet available, additional savings were achieved by students in Montpelier schools who participated in biking and walking programs this month.

Members’ Meeting June 25th

The next meeting, open to all members, to discuss policies and decisions, will be one week from today: Monday, 6.25 from 6-8 pm. It will be held at the shop. Sometime in the next couple of days another post will appear with an agenda, as well as some other pertinent announcements.

Here are some items that will probably appear on the agenda:
- Review of steering team decisions and process
- Planning classes/workshops for here
- Planning bike rides

Spencer

Road trip to Proctor?

I know this guy through bike forums who is moving, and has a bunch of project bikes to donate to the coop, but he doesn’t have a way to bring them up. Does anybody with a truck or a van have any interest and/or ability to go down and pick up the following bikes and parts? I count 6 complete bikes, a frame and some misc parts. He’s in Proctor VT (73.8 mi about 1 hour 37 mins according to google maps), and needs them gone by Sunday.
Anyone interested in helping out contact mattface@gmail.com

Matt

• Two Peugeots, both complete, one is ‘85 running but ruff.
  My occasional commuter. The other 70’s mixte, just needs TLC.
• A late 70’s Motobecane….complete, ruff , needs a chain, TLC.
  I rode it up until the first snowstorm of last year. Salt wrecked the chain.
• An ‘82(?) Panasonic 2000, chrome framer, Complete but ruff.
  Good parts or conversion unit.
• An ‘82 Schwinn World. Real nice for age, complete, a frontwheel tweak and TLC and its good to go!
• A ‘62 Raleigh Sport. Complete, OK and rideable, no second gear.
• Some misc. bars, seats an old 90’s era Schwinn MTB frame

Geek Week Bike Event!

Anyone interested in helping out with this, please email mattface@gmail.com

Here’s what I currently have planned so far for the Geek week event at Langdon Street Cafe on June 23.

• Meet at Hunger Mountain Coop at 1:00pm for a bike ride down the bike path to 3 mile bridge road, and back Rt. 2 with a stop at the Creemee stand.
• Arrive at the Cafe about 2:00pm For minor bike tuneups and a bike washing party.
• There will be a bike show and fashion with prizes awarded for geekiest bike, and also geekiest biking outfit. Dust off those vintage wool jerseys, and break out the spandex. Goofy shoes are derigeur
• A bike to be raffled if we can come up with something suitable.

Stuff I’ll need:
Cleaning supplies: Buckets, sponges, rags, dish soap, metal polish (can anyone lend this stiff to the cause)
prizes: I’m thinking a pink bike cap for the fashion show, and maybe a trophy made from used bike parts for the bike show. patch kits for the 2 runners up in each class.

Matt