tourist

There is a meeting scheduled on this day to see if the Frisco Cycling Club can be revitalized. I have no official involvement. Just an FYI.

kevinmcdade

Do you have any more information regarding this. I would love to help bring that club back to life. I would gladly change my USCF membership to the Frisco Cycling Club. It would also depend on what the kits look like

tourist

I haven't asked about it, just saw the flyer hanging on the bulletin board. I ask what the deal is.

kevinmcdade

I will plan on being at the meeting on the 20th.

RD Olivaw

Any updated info on this? I'd be interested also.

tourist

I talked with one of the RBM gents today. The goal of this meeting is to get the Frisco club a little more involved with the general riding population as well as the Velodrome and track racing. They want to add rides on a regular basis for the local road riders, not to the level of the PBA, but along those lines. Sounds good to me.

RD Olivaw

Cool - I'd love to see some organized road rides in the area. I hate having to drive all the way over to Plano or down to Richardson to get some variety outside the RBM Sat. mornin ride.

kevinmcdade

I feel that RBM Frisco should offer different rides for riders of various skill levels. They should also have some longer rides. Most riders go to other club or different location rides to get more miles in on a Saturday/Sunday morning.

RD Olivaw

for sure.. Basically offer a bunch like the Richardson shop does.. But the first problem is getting enough people out there to fill up all those rides. Or maybe offering the variety would attract the people.. Dunno.

kevinmcdade

If they offer the different rides, I'm pretty sure people will come. There is always enough people at different skill levels for at least two different groups. Of all of the people who start the ride there, how long does the group stay together. I've always thought that ride should be broken up into two different groups.

RD Olivaw

They did just that for the last couple months of this last season.. It wasn't advertised on the website though. It was the same route, just slower. But personally I don't care about the slower rides - I want some faster and longer options, like at Richardson.

lotek 

When Frisco store opened there were Sat. am rides modeled after the
rides at the Richardson shop. I think Tom scouted out all the routes.
the mid range ride was a nice 32miles (?) at just above conversational
pace.
One of the problems was that the ride leaders (Tom usually) had
to be back to work and I'm guessing they just didn't have time.
I'd be interested to see the Frisco Cycling Club revitalized.
I'll be at the meeting. thanks for the info.

Marty

kevinmcdade

One thing that the Frisco Cycling Club can attempt to do is get people other than the store workers to lead the rides. If being shorthanded at the store is what is preventing longer rides from happening, look for volunteers to lead the rides out. I brought this up on a couple of different occasions and even offerred to volunteer. There are so many longer routes that can be taken from that location.

Something else to attract more riders...NO DROP. Stress this and practice this. Make sure no rider is ever left behind. When I was a new rider, I got dropped on their ride and limped back in on my own more than one time. This made me go out and look for rides/clubs that wouldn't abandon me while out on a ride. Getting dropped and left for dead will discourage anyone.

RD Olivaw

Agreed. And in addition we need to attract the advanced riders who want a fast ride and consider getting dropped as appropriate punishment

When I'm out at Richardson, that is one of the things that motivates me to go deep into that pain zone. Because the alternative is trying to figure out where the hell I am

kevinmcdade

I agree. The Richardson ride and the OAS rides make me do things that normally can't do on my own

The more advanced, faster rides should be join at your own risk. There also needs to be rides, fast and slow, that are no drop. Everyone is not going to have great rides where the legs and lungs work perfectly. On the ocassion where you just don't have it, it's good to know that someone will make sure you make it back to home base safely. I've been on the giving and receiving end of this situation. A couple of weeks ago my rear brake pads were rubbing my rim and I didn't know it. This wore me out FAST. The ride leader made a point to backtrack and ride back with me. Even after figuring out what the problem was, I was just too worn out to keep up with the pack. Behavior like that is what keeps me coming back.

RD Olivaw

Good point.. That sounds nice. On the front about organization and identifying ride leaders, we should look talk at the meeting about putting a web site togehter. A long way back I got into a conversation with the people that run the superdrome club and site about doing this. It ended up not coming together, but I bought the www.friscocycling.com domain just to make sure it didn't get snatched up - so we have that if needed.

tourist

How was this? I got roped into a business dinner I wasn't planning on.

RD Olivaw

It was pretty good. More people showed than I expected to see - probably 10-15 including the staff. And I know that there were a handfull of people such as yourself that planned on attending, but couldn't.

Discussion centered around future plans are for the club, raising money for a kit, and getting a website together.

kevinmcdade

I meant to make it but it totally slipped my mind. I'm glad there was a good turnout!!! I really hate that I missed it.

Just out of curiosity, why would money need to be raised for kits? In most clubs the members pay for their own kits. I know PBA, PACC, Matrix, Mirage and Pirates all have kits/jerseys that are paid for by members. I wish someone would buy my kits for me.

dl613

Maybe to check interest and to make sure they don't get stuck with the initial order limit? Thoughts?

kevinmcdade

Collect deposits and only order for those who are interested. Maybe order a few extras to keep in stock for future members.

RD Olivaw

Apparently it's not as simple as that.. For one thing, the clubs you are mentioning are already well establshed with large memberships and probably sponsorships. The Frisco club is pretty much starting from scratch with next to zero membership dues in hand to cover a decent sized order.

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I'm guessing the orders have to be in some sort of bulk in order to make it cost effective. So piecemeal ordering isn't the way to go. According to the club president, a typical kit order starts at around 5k and goes up to 7k on the healthy end. It all depends on what is part of the kit. I'm guessing just a simple jersey would be a lot cheaper.

But with all that said, it sounds like it wouldn't be very difficult to raise the needed money in sponsorships.

kevinmcdade

That makes sense. Keep us updated on the progress of this club.

lotek 

Damn, I missed it. I hate crisis time at work. . .
are there going to be follow up meetings.

Marty

RD Olivaw

Yes - I think the next one is planned for March 30th, but I haven't seen anything official on time/location. I think they want to rotate it around between RBM, the superdrome, and maybe one other place.

The RBM Frisco saturday morning ride will be the place to get info until the website is up.