Club activity suggestions.
 

Hello Everyone! I just joined the forum in hope to get some advice/ideas. A good friend of mine owns a LBS. His dad started the business 45 years ago and my friend is in the process of transitioning the business to a more modern and competitive shop. They have recently moved to a great location and have picked up a few new product lines. They have always been the bmx and comfort bike shop and now they are really starting to gain traction with the MTB and road riders as well. This year we started organizing group rides two nights a week and have been fairly successful in growing the group. We see new faces every week and the core riders never miss a week. Our problem is this. We are located in the Midwest and with that we get Midwest winters. We intend to continue our weekly rides throughout the winter but those rides will likely be spin classes with the occasional out door ride. We want to keep the group excited and growing during the winter months so we are looking for some ideas to give us a reason to come out every week. Some of our ideas so far are spin classes, basic maintenance courses, safety and etiquette training, cycle movie nights (Quicksilver and Breaking Away!) and the occasional beer. What else can we do to keep the members excited? What fun and creative things have you guys seen or done to help with the winter down time? All suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
Thank you,
Justin

Preferable to spin classes would be computrainer sessions. Some shops have a bunch of computrainers set up and hooked to a computer and big screen TV. Participants bring their own bikes and the LBS will store them if so desired. It's also a source of revenue as they charge for it. I think one shop charges $20 a session and runs 8 sessions a week that usually fill up. With 10 stations that'd be up to $6400/mo, which would be a nice supplement during the slow winter season. This also attracts some of the more hard core competitive riders who might be influential in the area and be good for your business in general.

Failed to make note of it the time (literally was on my out the door), but welcome to General Cycling from Introductions.