Virtual Cycling Club
 

Do any of you have experience with a virtual cycling club?
The idea is to connect, create a network, community, for local cyclists to exchange route tips and actually have a self managed club for scheduled-planed rides and ad-hock (key feature!) rides.

The members, in addition to regular (human operated) cycling club members we are all familiar with, can be the many cyclists in my area that are not part on my or any club.

Any opinions, experience setting something like this up, how to market this, what tools used to develop this (an online ride schedule db with a forum capabilities similar to this once, subscription, push email, etc.)?

The main reason for the post is to solicit opinions and/or criticism.

I'm more of an interactive learner, so I would better understand everything you said if there was a working example. But, it sounds like a great idea.

I look at the BF regional forums as a virtual cycling club. Espically the SoCal regional forum. No officers, no dues, no newsletter. Just lots and lots of rides.

That's it.

I guess you can do this in a free-form TEXT based like this BF but I was looking more at a database oriented, list of members, rides, schedules, routes to choose from, sign-up, attendance, ride populatity, special events calander, etc.

Have you had a look at bikejournal? It's a journal, but it has some of the stuff you've mentioned.

http://www.bikejournal.com/

Not only is BF what you want- There are some forums within it that have virtual rides aswell. All grades of riders- In various parts of the world- all doing a particular ride for a particular reason on the same day.