Freeride Update 11/16/8

In this post:
- Freeride posters, t-shirts and patches available!
- Upcoming closed dates
- Meeting recap posted
- Forwarded message from Montpelier Bikes, seeking bike ambassadors and
input on bike parking

SHIRTS AND STUFF!
We recently traded a bike in return for screen printing, and received some
really great posters and shirts. We’ll get pictures up to the blog soon.
They are available at the shop, and are $4 for patches, $8 for posters and
$12 for shirts (all printed on clean used shirts of various sizes).

UPCOMING CLOSED DATES
The shop will be closed on Thursday, November 27, as well as Thursday,
December 25 through Thursday, January 1. Come get fenders and lights
beforehand!

MEETING RECAP
Thanks again to the wonderful members who came to our member meeting last
month to help us brainstorm some future directions for Freeride. Some
notes from that meeting have been posted on our blog, accessible through
our website (www.freeridemontpelier.org).

FORWARD FROM MONTPELIER BIKES
Freeride is passing along the below notes from the Montpelier Bikes
project.  Freeride will pass along occasional notes from this project -
but if you would like to get the full scoop, directly, please ask to be
added to the Montpelier Bikes email list by sending a message to
montpelierbikes@gmail.com  — this list is for announcements only, and
tops out at 1-3 messages per month.  More information about Montpelier
Bikes is at http://montpelierbikes.blogspot.com

MONTPELIER BIKES SEEKS INPUT ON BICYCLE PARKING – Take the 10-min online
survey by Dec. 1
Volunteers from the Montpelier Bikes project recently completed an
inventory of existing bicycle parking in the capital city. For a summary
of that inventory, please see http://montpelierbikes.blogspot.com  The
good news is that Montpelier does have a fair amount of bicycle parking;
the bad news is that most are old-style, “wheelbender” racks.  Meanwhile,
bicyclists especially in the downtown business district, lock to trees,
benches, and trashcans.  Where should new racks go? Please take the online
survey at:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/74033/bicycle-rack-locations-montpelier-vt

BICYCLE AMBASSADOR PROGRAM SEEKS INPUT
Bicycle Ambassador Programs engage community volunteers in promoting
bicycling awareness and safety.  Bicycle Ambassador programs are up and
running in communities around the country including Chicago, Illinois;
Seattle, Washington; and Boulder, Colorado — where 20% of commuters go by
bike!  Bicycle Ambassadors might teach bike safety at block parties or
community events, help a new bicyclist get comfortable with a route or
equipment, help distribute flyers, supervise a bike parking corral at
public events, or simply be a role model by responsibly riding around town
(in a low-key uniform such as a t-shirt) talking to other bicyclists and
motorists.

The Montpelier Bikes Project is planning for Spring 2009.  What should a
bicycle ambassadors’ program look like here?  What information do
volunteers need to be effective Ambassadors?  What research do we need to
do before rolling out a program?  Winter is the time to plan, so you are
invited to a brainstorming meeting at Montpelier High School on Monday,
December 8, 6:30 pm in Room 105.  More info at
http://montpelierbikes.blogspot.com/2008/11/bicycle-ambassadors-planning-meeting.html
- or send along ideas via email if you prefer to montpelierbikes@gmail.com

REMEMBER LIGHTS AT NIGHT – AVOID POTENTIAL $55 FINE
With the recent time change, bicyclists are reminded to use lights at
night – don’t get caught in these fall evenings without them!  A white
front light is required by state law, as is a rear red reflector.  The
fine is $25 plus fees, totaling $55.  While Montpelier Police are mostly
issuing warnings – they may ticket repeat offenders, as it is indeed a
matter of safety.  You can also help combat road-rage against bicyclists
by using lights.  One reason motorists get upset at bicyclists is when we
do unpredictable things — such as being on the road at night without
proper lights.

For a reader-friendly scoop on all the local, Montpelier bicycle laws -
please see: http://www.goinggreenvt.com/Montpelier/MontpelierBikeLaws.pdf

If you would like to be added to the MontpelierBikes email list – please
just email montpelierbikes@gmail.com

Member Meeting “Minutes” 10/6/8

Note from Colin: I’m sorry this took a month to get out. I was psyched about a lot of the ideas we kicked around, particularly about generally promoting bike culture in the area. Of course, if you are excited about helping with any of these projects, please volunteer with us!

Freeride Montpelier Member Meeting Minutes

10.6.8

Attended by 9 members, including the steering committee.

Minutes assembled sloppily by Colin

The agenda of the meeting was loose discussion about Freeride, hopefully to come up with some plans for the winter and beginning of next year. This is a hodgepodge of notes following some of the basic ideas in the conversation:

- Visibility remains a problem, including physically being able to find the shop. A bright sandwich board with an arrow was suggested.

- Part of our mission is “promoting bicycling in Montpelier and surrounding communities”. How can we be doing this beyond providing space and education through service during shifts?

• Rides, classes, starting a ride contact list, posters/flyers…
• Improving our bike hauling capability towards showing what is possible
• Promotional videos such as how to get to Freeride and some basic tutorials for bike work or Montpelier-specific riding. It was mentioned that we may be able to use a bike-mounted camera from the schools, and that Onion River Community Access (ORCA) offer the use of video/editing equipment to nonprofits, and that there are digital video tutorials on the web.
• Focusing on bike culture vs. car culture, changing the norm with a growing movement and increasing numbers.

- Freeride has been relying on volunteers to do organizational work as well as staff the shop or take on random tasks. We talked about volunteer recruitment, how to bring people in. It was mentioned that when most people first start to volunteer, it is helpful to have very specific tasks that they can choose to take on, with plenty of support. We also realized that few people have been volunteering for regular shifts, and decided to encourage people to do this in order to learn mechanics and perhaps be able to take on a shift of their own in the future.

- We discussed bike safety for a while, and came up with ideas of how Freeride might promote bike safety. It was mentioned that we are saving up funds to make a helmet order, anticipated next spring/summer. Here are some of the ideas:

• Safety/rules of the road workshops. They could also be small parts of other workshops. A volunteer could assemble information about the existing workshops that other organizations are putting on to be advertised by Freeride.
• A volunteer could do research on bike safety and assemble a resource manual for the shop/website, or tags for the bikes we sell (such as 5-7 biggest “watch out for this” tips)
• We could analyze what went wrong in the stories of real bike accidents. One of our members works at the Berlin hospital and may be able to get information on these cases.