December Board Meeting Minutes

Here are the board meeting minutes from December, if there are omissions or things that need fixing let me know.

Valley Mountain Bikers Board Meeting Minutes, Friday, Dec 2, 2011

The Board meeting was held at Doug Pinkerton’s. Board members in attendance were:

Doug
Eric
Greg
Kris
Rich
Scott

Members in attendance were:

Lori Pinkerton
Rob Lichtenwalner
Mike Kuhn

The meeting was called to order at 7:40.

RACE PROPOSAL STUFF:

Rob L and Mike (who promoted races mainly in Marysville etc), came to talk about racing in the area.

Some ideas, maybe the club has not been interested in events:

Good way to show off trails, and bring in cash, maybe $500-$1000 / event.

Time trials – easier to run, less trail damage w/out mass starts, easy way to test the event waters. (What kind of commitment? Probably run with just our blessing – he’d do the race with 6-8 people. How many racers? Depending on advertising, it could be 80 up to several hundred people. At Sals, small is better, parking is the weak link. Insurance, admin would be handled by Mike. )

A Relay Race, maybe at Trex? Maybe a four-race series at different parks in the Valley. (Location is open? Yes? Time frame, maybe March? Mike feels that would be better for his schedule.)

Another option: Mike could be a sounding board for our own event planning.

Trans-Sylvania, proceeds (eventually) to benefit trails. Associated plan: a traveling Mountain Bike Weekend (camping, beer, trailwork), different venue every year, with input from the local clubs for ride leaders etc.

Lehigh University would be a good venue: possible camping, beer, etc, probably best for a non-race event. (Non-race is perceived as less risky by land managers & insurance.)

A New Jersey bike organization approached the VMB over a mini-enduro race series. They have two race venues, and they asked us if we would want to have a race or two here in PA. (Would we be interested? Possibly, there has been some talk about this, but this format often needs more manpower: 15-18 people on day of race.)

Late March / early April, simple time trial format (vs the mini-enduro, which is a similar format but more gravity oriented and is also more attractive for non-competitive types – Mike would prefer the TT but could do the enduro format as well).

Cost? For the TT, probably $20. (Timing and scoring issues become more complicated with the enduro, maybe a pro timer which would add costs. The enduro would consist of several 10-12 minute timed sections, Sals would be good for that. Enduro, $40 registration.)

Note: “Event” brings out more volunteers than “race.”

Issues? Trail damage? Would something later work better? (Probably not, people aren’t jonesing to race later in the season the way racers might in March, there will be less interest.)

Maybe a fall thing? Maybe a contingency course for bad weather conditions, and maybe a race in the winter.

For a TT at Sals in late March, maybe 80-100 people (100 cars) we’d need St Luke’s for parking. We need to have our permissions/permits ready before advertising.

Preliminary Consensus: TT at Sals, in early March. Further investigation is needed before a final recommendation can be made.

(First aid? Ambulance on site? Probably for a fee/donation.)

We can see how this ties in with the Jersey guys at the next Membership meeting.

Trailwork Idea: Idea from Rob L: he has a Lupine Piko demo light, the person with the most trailwork (or general volunteer work) logged will win the light. (Or, membership drive idea: most membership referrals gets the light.) There could be some tweaking of the contest rules.

(Meeting break)

NEXT ITEM: UPCOMING ELECTIONS
Voting occurs at the meeting, only a majority vote (ie 50% + 1) wins. We will follow Robert’s Rules of Order if necessary for run-off votes.

SPECIAL MEETING RECAP

Online communication is hurting the club in various ways, we should do more in person.

Add a sticky “volunteers tab,” with guidelines for volunteers and sign-up sheets.

The “do’s and don’t” list might be updated, we should keep the website open and free.

Motion: ask Bob for required first name & last initial plus zip code. Maybe talk to Bob about options.

TREX

About 9 months ago, Trex was floundering, Scott stepped in temporarily to help finish Phase 1, which is almost done, and the next step is to get new trail leadership to step up. Someone has to be the final decider, someone in charge.

The halfpipe-type stuff was a distraction, and may have sustainability issues; what we need is distance ie trail mileage.

END