| ROUTT COUNTY RIDERS NEWS ~ FEBRUARY 2010
"We unite all bicyclists in Steamboat Springs and Routt County to create a fun, healthy and safe bicycle friendly community benefitting local citizens and visitors alike." |
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Paul Strong, RCR Treasurer, reported that Routt County Riders currently has $11,515 in the bank and have received $330 in 2010 membership dues.
Paul spoke to the IRS the day of the meeting and they reported that our 501(c)3 application has not yet been assigned an agent. This means that we are still looking at some time before we will be approved. |
BOARD OF DIRECTORS UPDATE
The Routt County Riders Board of Directors currently consists of four members: Robin Craigen, President, Lisa Shafer, Vice President, Paul Strong, Treasurer, and Scott Schlapkohl, Secretary. The Board would like to begin the process of adding five new members for a total of nine. The terms would vary between one and two years for each seat.
The Board is now accepting applications for these positions with a deadline of February 15th. Applications can be found at www.routtcountyriders.org and anyone is welcome to apply. The responsibility of a Board member is to steer the general direction of the club as well as focus on RCR's overall goals. Votes taken at Monthly Meetings would be by Board members only, requiring a quorum at a Monthly Meeting for a vote to be taken on any issue.
Below are the requirements of Board members:
- Attend at least 50% of RCR monthly meetings in addition to any RCR Board meetings and the Annual Board retreat
- Serve on at least one committee
- Volunteer for a minimum of three RCR events per year
- Must be a current paid/active member
There will also be an advisory board formed shortly after for those who may have a conflict of interest such as being a government employee or official.
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BICYCLE FRIENDLY BUSINESS (BFB) PROGRAM
The Bicycle Friendly Business Committee is working on an all inclusive packet to provide detailed information to local businesses on this program. The goal is to have this completely launched by the end of the month!
The BFB program helps business plan for how they might participate in cycling related events and help achieve community cycling goals at the same time. It also enables businesses to extend the reach of their support for cycling events or projects into a year-round message.
This will be a great opportunity for businesses to contribute to the many RCR events, support the cycling community and be recognized for the partnership. If you have a Bicycle Friendly Business get in touch about enrolling in the program. Volunteers are needed for this committee. Please contact Jackie if you are interested. |
COMMUNITY GARDEN
Chris Tamucci from the 2009-2010 Leadership Steamboat Class presented their class project for this year which is a community garden in Steamboat Springs. This community garden will be downtown and the group is seeking ideas for bike racks at the garden. The group is interested in possibly having two bike racks donated or made from a local company or artist. They estimate that these will cost approximately $500 each. Please contact Chris if you have ideas or are interested in donating. |
Patrick West is part of a group organizing Steamboat Velo, a new local racing club. The group is very early in the stages of organization and are still working on pulling together a final concept, but Patrick wanted to make the cycling community aware that this is happening.
Patrick explained that they would like to be an independent organization, but would like to be affiliated with Routt County Riders. He plans to keep RCR posted with details on their progress as they have further information.
RCR President, Robin Craigen, commended Steamboat Velo for their ideas and desire to establish a competitive cycling team and cycling events organization of which RCR would most certainly be interested in being a supporting partner.
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 DOWNHILL / FREE RIDERS / GRAVITY MOUNTAIN BIKING
Aryeh Copah secured the website www.freeridesteamboat.com and has a committee working on the website. They plan to set it up similar to a blog, but also have information in regards to freeriding around town. They have plans to include educational pieces and an area for volunteers and donations. Aryeh hopes to have the site up and running within two weeks.
As reported via e-mail, Bob Vanderbeek dropped off a packet to the Forest Service that included an Adopt-a-Trail agreement from from the Jackson Ranger District on the Bridger-Teton NF. There was other useful information in the packet including a map of more of a comprehensive vision for bike trails, and a draft proposal for a trail off Hwy 40 from the west summit, utilizing portions of the old Hwy 40.
The Forest Service is interested in developing a partnership with Routt County Riders to improve biking opportunities on the forest. One of the reasons the Forest Service is looking for this support is to help minimize the unauthorized trail building on the Forest. In order to do this, we need to work together to provide these opportunities, and to educate people. Forest Service regulations require the forests to respond to illegal activities. In this situation, as we all know, if the Forest Service is to shut down exisitng trails on Buffalo Pass, without providing other opportunities, new "renegade" trails will be built. The Forest Service would rather work with people instead of shuttting things down, and creating a war.
Currently, the Forest Service can't build any new trails on their own. For this year, they have received funding to maintain approximately one quarter of all of the trail miles. Luckily, they have a partnership with the Timberline Trailriders, who through state grants, helps to maintain motorized trails on the district. The Forest Service needs help on other trails, and if any new trails are developed, there needs to be a strong partner willing to do the heavy lifting, and support over time. The Forest Service's emphasis for the next 2-4 years is dealing with the bark beetle mortality. New recreation projects are low priority.
The first step for the Forest Service is to develop a more global MOU (Memorandum of understanding) with RCR. Also, work to develop a master plan of potential trails. As this gets bigger, there are more interested folks, it gets more complex, potentially slowing progress on a specific project, but overall it will be a better product.
As far as specific trails, last summer it seemed to be the Ski Area, then dealing with authorizing the Buff Pass trails, and now there is a proposal for Rabbit Ears Pass. Once some agreements are in place on the longer term goals and objectives for the community and Forest, then we can start thinking about developing specific trails. Before the Forest Service can entertain an adopt-a-Trail agreement for construction and maintenance for the draft proposal presented, some more ground work needs to be done.
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ROUTT COUNTY RIDERS WEBSITE
RCR is currently in the process of overhauling the Routt County Riders website. Exec. Director Jackie Brown and RCR President Robin Craigen are now entering content from the existing website to the new site. There is still quite a bit of information that needs to be created and Jackie and Robin are seeking the help of committee heads. The new website could be live within the next two weeks!
This new design will offer a content management system, which will allow quicker and easier updates to the website. New features will include an event calendar, photo gallery, RCR blog, improved online membership registration, committee updates, cycling forum and more!
We will continue to inform everyone with progress as we have additional details. We are looking for members who can contribute to building and maintaining web content. |
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BIKING DESTINATION TASK FORCE
The Biking Destination Task Force have another meeting scheduled this week. At this meeting they plan to review all of the master plans that have already been created and possibly revise. The group is also working to schedule a visit from an IMBA representative to speak to the group. Grant Fenton, the Task Force Committee Head, described that there is momentum and a unique opportunity that exists. They are hoping that the entire group can combine forces and move forward.
The initial objective of this Task Force was to bring community decision makers together to create a vision and purpose to move forward on the idea of developing the potential of Steamboat as a biking destination. This task force includes representatives from the City, County, BLM, Forest Service, Ski Area and Routt County Riders. Please contact RCR Executive Director, Jackie Brown, if you are interested providing input and she will pass the information along to the Task Force. |
STEAMBOAT RIDE - 4 -YELLOW
David Nagel, Committee Chair, was present at the meeting and discussed recent progress for this event. He discussed that sponsorship is a major focus for the group right now. They are celebrating that Radio Shack is a major sponsor as well as several local sponsors. The Steamboat Ski Resort has committed a lot of money and people and are even looking into adding a concert component. Volunteers are another major focus right now as they will need to recruit quite a bit of help for the event. The planning committee is working with basecamp software in order to document their progress and hopefully duplicate the event in the future.
The Livestrong Ride has been renamed Ride 4 Yellow to avoid identity conflicts with the Livestrong Foundation. Event planning is moving along and latest updates can be seen at the event website www.ride4yellow.com.
Because this event is being organized by RCR members the Forest service approved the use of the Dumont Lake Divide Trail leading back to the Ski Mountain. The Ride 4 Yellow committee is meeting once a month and continues to progress with planning. Many community members and businesses are involved and contributing significantly to this effort - especially Steamboat Ski Corp who have provided incredible support with media and communications and event logistics.
Sponsorship is a major focus at this time. Radioshack has signed on as a National Sponsor. Additional sponsors include Trek, HoneyStinger, Cocacola. Local sponsors are currently being approached.
Click Here for full sponsorship information.
The Ride 4 Yellow Committee which is a subcommittee of Routt County Riders is always looking for additional help.Please contact Committee Chair, David Nagel, if you are interested in serving on this committee. |
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GRANT WORK
Grant Committee Chair, Johanna Hall, reported that the Yampa Valley Community Foundation has a grant with a recreation component coming up quickly. She is looking for ideas for the grant. The grant does require matching funds which could be made up of money or in-kind donations.
Ideas discussed for this grant included two trail re-routes on Howelsen as well as possibly funds for the Buff pass trails. Johanna requested that detailed proposals be sent on both ideas and she will move forward from there.
Please submit your Grant Project Ideas to Johanna Hall by emailing information to: johannafleck@gmail.com.
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2010 ROUTT COUNTY RIDERS JERSEY
The 2010 RCR Jersey design is shown above. Robin, the RCR President, proposed that a "Ride for Yellow" band be added to the sleeve of the jersey in support of the Livestrong event in August. This idea was unanimously approved and we hope to have a new draft of the jersey for the next meeting. Fifteen of the thirty spots have been sold to date and the deadline to purchase a sponsorship is March 8th. This jersey will run for the 2010-2011 seasons and should be available in early May.
There is still space available! Please contact Jackie Brown for information. |
| MEMBERSHIP REPORT
It's that time of year when you can renew your membership for RCR, or join this great organisation.
The membership committee is focusing on membership plans for 2010. There are currently 54 paid memberships for 2010.
Memberships for 2009 are now expired and you can sign up for 2010 membership which is due buy June 1, 2010.
Please contact Jackie to join or find out the status of your membership to RCR. Online registration is available on the Routt County Riders website. When you join you will receive a confirmation via e-mail - additional members benefits are under discussion.
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SPRING BIKE FESTIVAL (formally known as Bike Swap)
There was no new news reported regarding plans for the event at this meeting, but Katie is still moving forward with the event. Scott Schlopkohl reported that he secured two donated bikes from the city auction for use in some way at the event. More details to come in the upcoming weeks.
Save the date for Saturday, May 8th for the 5th Annual Spring Bike Festival! The event will be held at Olympian Hall and will feature new events and activities. Ideas include the bike swap, food, drinks, games for kids, bike safety, a bike shop expo, free-ride FYI, music and much more! Katie Lindquist, the Bike Swap Coordinator, has began work on this event and is looking for volunteers to assist with planning.
If you are interested in joining the committee for the Bike Festival/Swap, please contact Katie. |
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STEAMBOAT TRAIL MAPPING
Vice President and Mapping Committee Chair, Lisa Shafer, reported via e-mail that they have secured the software and are now beginning to play with it on the computer. They are still waiting on some trail information from the USFS and he has solicited some help from the county and city GIS departments for trail information.
The committee is still working on pulling together a list of trails. Keep in mind that these trails are sanctioned trails by the city, county and USFS and BLM. They are not wish list trails or trails that are going to be built this summer. If we KNOW a trail is coming this summer then we can discuss putting it on the 2010 map.
The next steps include getting a layout of the map to figure how how many rides can be included as well as hitting the pavement to sell sponsorships for the rides on the map. we have and how many rides will fit. The goal is to make this happen within the next month to 6 weeks.
The goal is that the retailers/guides could sell the maps in their stores so when we approach them about sponsoring a ride we can let them know that they can also sell the map to make a bit money back on their investment! The map would retail for roughly $10-15.
Gavin Malia will be taking over as head of this committee starting in February. |
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BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY RENEWAL
The committee for the Bicycle Friendly Community renewal has been established and have been meeting regularly. Committee Chair, Janet Hruby is working on a draft and will have more information soon. The application is due August 3rd. |
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RCR Socks
Robin Craigen, RCR President, presented the idea of purchasing Routt County Riders socks to retails in local stores as well as use as gifts or member favors. Feedback from the members present was that the socks would be very popular and sell well. Robin plans to do some research on a few different companies for purchasing the socks, but the ideas seems favorable. |
Next RCR Meeting
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
5:30pm - 7:00pm
Bud Werner Memorial Library
Library Hall Meeting Room |
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Please contact us with any questions or if you are interested in the Routt County Riders organization, membership or volunteering. Also, RCR jersey's are still available to members for just $55!
Jackie Brown
Routt County Riders |
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