Ride Captain’s Corner May 2015

Ride Leader Development Program

Our mission for 2015 is to increase the number and the quality of rides: more rides – safer rides – better rides — for all of our members.

The stronger categories in terms of the number of rides for 2014 were B-star, B, and C-star; those groups represent 75% of the total rides for BTCNJ. But many of us started our journey with BTCNJ at the lower pace categories. Every month, new members join our club and many of them start their cycling adult life riding with the C and D groups, and we would like to promote an increase in the number of rides and the number of Leaders for them.

We are working on a new incentive program for training new leaders for C and D categories:

1. We want to invite all members willing to lead and/or co-lead C and D rides to contact us at [email protected] before May 17th.

2. Those members without experience leading rides will have the opportunity to participate in orientation sessions at the end of May for each category. In those sessions, we will introduce them to experienced Ride Leaders and share guidelines and suggestions about the task of leading a slower paced ride. In addition, we will do a demonstration ride showing typical situations and discuss how to deal with them.

3. We want to invite all current Leaders to post a C or D ride; if you need help finding suitable routes on our database of cue sheets or if you have questions about the specific characteristic of the rides, you can contact us at [email protected].

4. For May, June, July, and August only we will offer a special point awards bonus as follows:

a. Every current Leader and Co-leader will be awarded 2 points for posting a C ride, and 3 points for posting a D ride.

b. Every new Leader and Co-leader will be awarded 4 points for each of the first two C or D rides they effectively lead (ride completed and sign list submitted to [email protected]).

c. Every current Leader who volunteers to train new C or D Leaders will be awarded 4 points for the first C or D ride they effectively lead (ride completed and sign list submitted to [email protected]) listing the new leader as Co-leader.