Submit Your Non-Club Event Rides for Mileage Approval
Long, long ago, when this club was known by another name, our executive board members determined to encourage our club members to venture out and try something new. Support another bike club or charity. Mingle with other cyclists who were not sporting our club jersey. Some of our members will NOT ride if they won’t see an increase in their cumulative club mileage.
How does this work? First of all, what are these “event rides” of which we speak? An event ride is something like our own Pioneer Century® (for which you also earn club miles because it IS a club ride!). You usually have to pay a registration fee to ride. If it’s a charity ride, you may need to raise additional funds for the specific cause. The organization provides rest stops and usually SAG (Support and Gear), and they hopefully draw in several hundred cyclists. We’ll get to some examples in a moment.
At the February 19 board meeting, your reps will review prospective non-PBC event rides and approve them (or not if they don’t qualify) for club mileage. You, as a member, must submit the event rides that you want on the ride calendar to the board prior to that meeting. ✎ The event ride will need a PBC “ride leader” who must ensure the ride gets on the ride calendar. You know the rule: If it’s not on the calendar, no mileage!
As the ride leader, you aren’t going to ride herd on all the other PBC riders at this event. Impossible! But you can set a start time at which some of you gather and head out together. As ride leader, you will collect the mileage of all the other PBC riders ELECTRONICALLY and turn it in to the statistician by clicking on a button after the ride. You’ll choose how long riders have to double back if necessary to modify mileage. Your road captains (Todd McCollum and Rob Schroeder) are available to assist ride leaders who are unfamiliar with the online sign-in and mileage logging procedure. It is simple, and they can give you instructions on how to be self-sufficient. Contact them at [email protected].
Riders MUST sign in online and correct their mileage, if necessary, after the event themselves. For example, if I sign in for Monster Cookie and give myself 62 miles but go do the ride and it’s raining and cold and I only ride 35 miles, then I go back to the ride calendar and CHANGE my mileage, so it’s accurate. Or if I decide not to ride at all, I go log in and CANCEL my rider sign-up. The ride leader will determine how long you have to fix things…… 8 hours? 24 hours? Long enough but not too long!
The policy is here to see if a favorite mileage-generating event can be on the list: Non-Club-Event-Rides-for-Club-Mileage.
The event ride CANNOT conflict with PBC events:
- Pioneer Century®, June 7
- Seattle to Portland (STP) Weekend, July 12-13
- Club Picnic, August 3
STP is a “club” ride. Since PBC contracts with Cascade Bicycle Club to provide the Finish Line for STP, we classify STP as a CLUB RIDE. So, CLUB MILEAGE for STP.
Only one event ride per calendar date:
- Reach the Beach, May 17 (already approved). The club offers training rides in cooperation with the American Lung Association for their cycling fundraiser.
- Gorge Ride, June 21 (already approved). The club usually honors our relationship with the Friends of the Historic Columbia River Highway. We either volunteer or ride.
So, no other event rides will be approved on May 17 or June 21. Otherwise, first come first served.
Other rides that have been approved for club mileage in previous years have been Monster Cookie, Strawberry Century, Northwest Tandem Rally, Ride Around Clark County (RACC), Providence Bridge Pedal, Covered Bridge Bicycle Tour, Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party (RSVP), and Harvest Century. New rides come on the scene all the time. Some rides have proven to be very challenging or very expensive or too far and not popular with many members.
Check out the internet and look for event rides, and either be the ride leader yourself or bring in a friend to do it. Then submit it to a board officer (login required) or road captain in writing with the name of the event, the date, the hosting organization, and who is going to function as the ride leader. You can also make a plea for your cause if you choose.
We limit the non-club event rides earning club miles to ten per year. Of course, you can ride all the event rides you can find, but you won’t necessarily get club mileage.
Finally, if the board doesn’t have ten rides by the February 19 board meeting, we will accept later submissions throughout the summer until we reach ten. You need to allow enough time for folks to get signed up though. Once we reach ten, we’re done for the year.
Ann Morrow, President