jppe

Another Charlotte Motor Speedway Time Trial Series in the books. Hooray!! We had our 6th and final event for 2012 Wednesday night. It was a perfect night for riding and we had a few PR's and one additional Category Track Record Wednesday night.

Our events are 10 miles on Charlotte Motor Speedway which is 7 laps. We start in April and do one event a month through September. We have our own timing system where we record both start and finish times plus splits. The start and finish line are on pit road and the lap timing box is located on the main track. We use the lap box to make sure riders to the correct laps and to keep people honest. Yes.....unfortunately we had a few people that attempted to outsmart the system. We have a very heavy investment in our timing system-they are not cheap.

It takes a small army of volunteers to put on each event. Out main functions are registration, track setup, timing, track monitoring, start/finish line operations, holders, track take down, Bike Mechanics, EMS, etc. The volunteers come from members of the Carolina Cycling Time Trial Association which is made up of local Bike Clubs and Cycling Teams. There is a good bit of time spent away from the events on stuff like registration, reports, website, email communications to participants, awards, chip rental, track rental, etc.

I'm on my 4th year as President.

We use internet preregistration but also allow onsite registration but have tripled the onsite price to encourage preregistration--that greatly reduces the labor onsite.

Some riders own their own chips but I rent chips from a company in Utah for those riders who do not own chips. We have built our own database and records system that provides us all the reports you will see on our website. We have tons of data in the database since it has probably close to 10 years of events stored in it.

Past years we have given out medals. However a lot of the winners never ask for their medals so I always had a lot left over. So this year I've done plaques with our logo on the top. Wednesday night I gave out plaques to those that placed in a top 3 in their Category for the series (best 4 times out of 6 events), Track Records in their Category (I think we had 8 this year which is a LOT) and for Personal Records. I will have the plates engraved and mailed to those who have the plaques..........so there is still a little more work to do, well maybe a lot.......what was I thinking.

I also need to convene a Board meeting to review this past year, see if everyone has the energy to do it again next year and to provide proceeds back to the community. We are incorporated and are a 501c4 not for profit organization. Last year we gave enough $ back to the community to exceed the $100,000 plateau over the 7-8 years we've been in existence.

I suspect we have helped a few of the local bike shops with the sales of TT equipment over the years??


Here's a link to our website:

https://carolinatt.org/v4/

I enjoy cycling and I suppose I'm doing this so others can enjoy themselves in a unique cycling venue. How are you volunteering and giving back to the sport????

OldsCOOL

I like to recondition bikes and give them away to kids that do not have one. Presently, autumn is settling in so the operation is a bit stalled but will again pick up in the spring.

Juha

For me, cycling is not a sport, it's my primary means of transportation. Consquently, "giving back" is different. I'm active in issues related to bike infrastructure and laws. If a co-worker asks me a bike question, I try to answer and encourage them to give bike commuting a try. I help friends and occasionally strangers too to fix their bikes.

I'm not a cycling club member nor do I see myself becoming one. Not my cup of tea.

qcpmsame 

I volunteer to work at races and such so the riders can enjoy the day and be able to compete or ride without worry. I'll do anything the club, West Florida Wheelmen, asks of me so these events can go off without needs for people.

Bill

bruce19

I'm not sure how I would define giving back to cycling. But I am part of a club that participates in rides to benefit local non-profits like Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Camp, WAIM (Windham Area Inter-faith ministries) food kitchen (this years ride raised over $50K), and other local groups. I've also tried to help new cyclists by giving them saddles, stems and jerseys (any stuff I have and don't use) to get them started.

ctpres

Make all my Strava rides public to show others tested bike routes. Not much I know - but I figure every little bit helps.

leob1

I volunteer at an organization the repairs donated bike and sells them, the proceeds of which goes to a local charity. We sell 2000+ bike a year. and about that many are too far gone and are sold as scrap, after being used for parts. I work primarialy as a mechanic. Some days I'll move 4-5 bikes from the 'donated' area to the 'sales floor' in a 3 hour shift. Other nights it'll be 1 bike. It depends on the condition of the bike, it's initial quality(cheaper x-mart bike are much harder to fix than quality bike shop bikes), and how many other people need help\instruction. Since it's an all volunteer operation, there is a vast range of skill level. Some folks need more help than others. And EVERY person that volunteers is nice, so it makes going there always a good time.

BluesDawg

I started and am the president of the bicycling club in my town. I publish bike routes all around the area. I lead recreational and awareness rides. I make up the routes for the two charity rides the club puts on each year. I was the go to guy for any bicycle question at the company where I worked and to some extent for the community. I meet with City, County and State officials to promote cycling. I attend statewide cycling advocacy summits to make contacts and learn how to promote cycling. I work for cheap as a bike wrench and salesperson.

Not much.

VertigoFlyer

My wife and I donate time and effort to Cycle the WAVE. WAVE is an acronym for Women Against Violence Everywhere. Cycle the WAVE is an annual bike ride for women based in Issaquah WA and raises donations to support non-violent causes for women. We provide website design and support for CtW along with photography of the event itself. The website can be found here: https://cyclethewave.org/.

CtW is working to expand their events across the nation. Boston is the first one to occur outside Washington state. That will be next year.

We have also donated old bikes to Bike Works in Seattle WA. They take old bikes and teach kids living in urban areas how to maintain and enjoy their bicycles. It's a really cool way to re-purpose an old bike!

It feels really good to give back to the community!!

TheHen

What a timely question. Tomorrow we are putting on a free supported century ride in Eugene, OR (107 miles, 8700 feet climbing). We have two folks who will man food/water stops and one of them will follow the last riders to make sure everyone gets in okay (no cell coverage over 3/4 of the route). We're buying all the food, including ice cream, and are paying for the fuel for the two support drivers. This is just a pilot run, next year we will advertise extensively and seek out sponsors so that we don't break the bank.

Of course we get to enjoy the ride as well. We're leaving from the start point at 5:00 A.M. with a can of spray paint to mark the course. We also did this for the century that the local club put on this year, but we marked theirs in advance so we could be out on the course directing traffic where needed during the event. (And we don't even belong to the club.)

Hermes

I was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Northern California Velodrome Association, a non profit organization, that administers

lhbernhardt

Years ago, I put out the newsletter for our provincial cycling association. I had also worked as a commissaire in the 80's before I became old enough to do masters racing. Nowadays I turn up at the Friday night races at the indoor velodrome and turn the lap cards and ring the bell (these duties are actually MUCH more difficult than they sound! One moment's inattention and the lap count is thrown off, or the riders fail to hear a bell on the last lap!). I imagine that at some point, I'll be one of those "old guys" who shows up at the track to lend a hand and maybe offer advice if it's asked for. Just like those old guys who were at the track back when I was first starting out; guys who raced back in the 30's on the North American 6-Day circuit, with a wealth of knowledge that had become outdated, and a lot of wisdom that never goes stale.

Luis

tony2v

I'm the Director of Information for my racing club G.S.Adams Ave Bicycles. I volunteer at the Fiesta Island Time Trial Series, I'm in charge of setting/tearing down the start house and whatever else needs to be done. I've been helping the coaches with the Monday Velodrome Adult classes for 5 years. I'm currently helping the ladies with the Women @ the Track series getting more women riding/racing the track.

Hermes

Lap cards are hard but the most difficult task (besides scoring a points race) is calling lap times in pursuit. One must stand at turn one and time off the start line. As the racer(s) go by, you have to time the lap, read the time, convert it to two digs before they get to turn one and scream it to them as they go by at 30 mph.

GlennR

I work races including triathlons, running and cycling.

I also tech others simple bicycle maintenance.

az_cyclist

Earlier this year I agreed to be co-leader of a chapter of the Arizona Bicycle Club. There is a certain amount of work to scheduling rides and ride leaders. Also, was a ride marshal for the Ride for the Cure last spring.

lhbernhardt

This is actually not that difficult. And here is some useful information if you're ever spectating at a pursuit, or to impress your friends. What happens is this:

- the rider will be racing around the track, trying to do the ride as consistently as possible (this has been show to be the fastest way to ride a pursuit, rather than "front-end loaded" - the fast splits at the beginning, then holding on for dear life - or "negative splits" - start off slow and increase speed later). So the rider will be given a schedule of splits to adhere to, such as, "after the 1st lap (this usually takes 3 or 4 seconds longer than the subsequent laps), try to do 23.6 second splits."

- the coach then starts the clock on the gun, then when the riders come around after the first lap, he or she takes the lap split.

- if it says "24.9," he yells out the two numbers beside the decimal point: "Four Nine!" The rider now knows he'd better pick it up!

- the rider knows that this means 24.9, and NOT 34.9or 14.9 for obvious reasons. Unless he punctured or broke a chain or something, in which case timing would stop.

- sometimes the coach might also move forward or back depending on lap splits or overall schedule. If the lap was too slow, or the rider is down on the schedule, the coach might walk forward (against the rider), even to the point of where the rider is reaching that particular time in relation to the schedule. The idea is the rider wants to "push" the coach back. But most coaches who had been trained or who had worked with Roger Young will use the two digits method.

- note that you need to use a clock that gives lap splits. If you had to calculate the split based on overall time, then, yeah, it would be very difficult!

Luis

dalameda

I started cycling again earlier this year because a fellow Rotary member wanted to put together a cycling team to ride at area charity events. It was the best thing I ever did. We ride and support the other charities(primarily other Rotary Clubs in the Bay Area) Since March I have ridden more than a dozen rides, most of them metric centuries. In addition to the Rotary rides I also make a point of riding in local cycling club events like the Marin Century and the Napa ride. In addition to supporting the charities that sponsor the rides, we collect donations from local club members for every mile we ride(they made that commitment when we were only doing short rides, and have lived to regret it as we have gone on to mostly riding metric centuries. Next month will be the first Century.) So far we have collected over $5,000 from local members that are then given as scholarships for low income students.

In November members of our club in Alameda till be traveling to Arizona to join other Rotarians from around the world at the Tour de Tucson perimeter ride. The Tuscon Rotary Club is coordinating the involvement of 200 Rotarians to ride together. We will be raising over $200,000 which will all go towards the fight to end polio. After being engaged in the fight for the last decade, there are only a few incidents occurring each year, and it is highly possible that this $200,000 will end up being the last piece needed to end polio forever. Being able to do that through cycling is a great way to show the good side of a sport that is sometimes troubled. If there are any Rotarians on this group (and given the demographics I am sure there are) you can sign up for the Ride to End Polio at https://ridetoendpolio.org/ Hope to see you in Tucson!

chasm54

I help out with coaching some kids who are aspiring racers, and occasionally officiate at races as a marshal or line judge when I'm not racing myself. And I volunteer and am on the board of a local charity that refurbishes discarded bikes and sells some of them, cheap, in order to fund donating others to people in deprived communities here and in sub-Saharan Africa. It's been running almost six years and we recently received our 10,000th donated bike.

jaywbee3 

I repair donated bikes and give them away through the local soup kitchen - 50 or 60 in the last 2 years.

RonH

I did most of my "giving back to cycling" during the 3 years I was employed by the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign (now called the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition), the 5 years I was an LAB certified cycling instructor (till I retired), and the 3 years I worked as a mechanic/sales at Intown Bicycles.
Now I give back with money when I register for charity rides.

Bikey Mikey

Helped a guy with a flat--I had a pump, he didn't. Gave a tube to another cyclist.