'Bruno,
Thank you for sharing this information. This is the second year that we will be sponsoring the
Oblate Trail Ride in the Rio Grande Valley. Your information will be most helpful.
Kind regards,
Brenda Nettles Riojas'

Open letter to ride coordinators.

I have been riding in organized rides for more than 20 years. During this time, I have experienced every kind of ride. Most all rides have had their good parts. Some have been great and, of course, some not so great. The best way to make money off of these rides is make a commitment of at least 3 years, give the riders what they want and wait for the profits to come in. There are tons of rides out there. The ones that really take care of the riders, in spite of profits, are the ones that survive, and grow. Since many of your costs are fixed, building a returning rider base is the key to cash. You should be able to wait a couple of years for a big return.
I know of several rides that spent as much as they made in their first year. They put on a great ride, but were disappointed with the profits and so dropped the ride the following year. Then I get a hundred E-mail from riders the following year, wondering what happened to the ride.
Anyway, your best source for information is local ride coordinators. I would find out which of them have been around a few years and have experienced rider growth, then, do what they do. This letter should be about 50 pages, but I will keep it simple. Here is a list of the things that I have learned.

Two things define the goals of both rider and coordinators of every ride. The riders want a great ride and the coordinators want to make money. That's about it. The challenge for the coordinator is to give the rider what they want and still turn a profit. In order to do this the coordinator should devise a 3 year plan.

• A good ride must have:
  • 3 routes with accurately measured distances with a well defined start and finish line and a timely start
    • 10 miles
    • 30-40 miles
    • 60 miles
  • Safe, well maintained roads
    • Safety means Police traffic control at all dangerous intersections
    • Volunteers at rough railroad crossings and bad potholes etc.
  • Signs! there is no such thing as to many signs
    • Large easy to read
    • Posted at every unsupervised turn
    • Indicate distance to rest areas (i.e. "Rest area one mile, Finish line 3 miles...2 miles...1 mile)
  • Enough Port-A-Cans to provide clean, short-wait access
  • Rest stops every 10 miles. These should have:
    • Healthy snacks (bananas, oranges and cookies are the standard. You must supply these)
    • Water
    • Sport drink
  • SAG support.
  • This is people that ride along to offer mechanical help and rides for dropouts and their bikes. The riders should have the direct phone number to the SAG Wagon in case they need it.
  • Ambulance service. At least 1 ambulance in the middle somewhere. The riders should have the direct phone number to the ambulance in case they need it.
  • Escort service with HAM radios. This is usually provided by a local motorcycle club.
  • A T-shirt
  • Goodie bag
  • Call it a Ride, not a Race
    • This may sound trite, but if you call your ride a race, don't be surprised if you only get a few riders. (see below Races vs. Rides)

This is the bare minimum. If you do not offer this, your ride will not survive a second chance. Cyclists spend a lot of money on their sport. They will gladly let you have some of it, year-after-year, if you provide the above without fail. However, They might migrate to another competing ride if it offers more perks. I have been on one ride that was dangerous with 2 serious injuries and they ran out of water, AND they didn't have johns at one of the rest stops. Everyone was angry. At the Finnish line, they served hot-dogs. The ride was canceled the following year, yet I received a bunch of e-mail lamenting it's demise... Hot-dogs, go figure. Here are things that can give you the edge on your competition:

• A great ride will have:
  • A great start and finish line. This will have:
    • A big banner
    • Music, preferably live. There are many bands/DJs that volunteer this for your charity.
    • Food at the finish. If you can't find a BBQ team that will volunteer, there are people that will do it for cost.
    • Showers
    • Seating with tables
  • Great rest stops
    • Cool snacks like fig Newtons, cookies, melon, candy.
    • Music
    • Shade in the hot months
    • Chairs
    • Coffee!
    • Mechanical tent
    • First aid support
    • Signs showing where you are, how far to the next rest stop and the finish lines.
    • A Police Officer to protect the riders entering and leaving the area. One that knows not to yell at your riders is critical. There are few things that will run off your riders like a cop that yells at them when they are exhausted.
  • Parking
    • You can have a great ride, with a lot of support, but you must provide adequate parking.
  • Races vs. Rides
    • If you have a ride and a race, they must never intersect each others path. Leisure riders view racers as "Race Nazis." Racers view leisure riders as "Lolly-gagging-mobile-roadblocks." If you r race is on the same day as your ride, create a distinct starting place where the two will not co-mingle Also, be aware that your racers may be finishing at the same time as your shorter distance riders. No one wants a group of racers hurtling to a finish line at 35 MPH into a group of children and short distance rider

These are the basics. So, how do you find the resources to make this happen? Let's assume that you are wanting to have a ride for your local charity. Where and how do you gather volunteers, food, tables, music, Police, EMS services and on and on? Here is a very short list of where to find your resources:

• Volunteers
  • Finding volunteers within your charity should be the first place to look. These will be be your back bone labor force. After this, seek the help of other organizations.
    There are many groups that will help. Most have there own agendas that are very dissimilar to yours but you can mesh well with each other. The Boy/Girl Scouts can earn merit badges for charity work and will often work a rest stop for you. Contact the local Council. Churches will often provide their parking lot for a rest stop and will work it too.
    Fire Departments often will provide care in their districts. Etc.
• Start, Finish, and Rest Stop Locations
  • Start and Finish
    A great Start/Finish location is one that allows easy, safe in and out access with ample parking. Some places to consider are large office, or retail centers that are closed on the weekends. These companies often gladly let you use there location if you list them as a sponsor and leave the place as clean, or cleaner then it was when you arrived. Try to find a parking lot sweeper company that will donate their services. You can secure this place for years to come, if you follow this advice.
• Rest Stops
  • When you lay out your route, locate businesses, restaurants, Churches, etc. at @10 mile intervals and ask them for their help. List them as a sponsor and make a follow up visit to double-thank them. People love to help and it may secure their help for the following year. As with the Start/Finish, it is imperative that you leave their facility cleaner than when you arrived. See "Volunteers" for how to get the labor to run a rest stop.
  • Try to get each rest stop to have a theme. Then give a reward to the best decorated, or most original, etc. just be sure that their is a nice reward for each of your rest stops. Remember, the name of this game is, "We want their help for the following years."
• Police
  • Mostly, this is a paid assignment and it is not cheep. Contact your local Police Union for information. Here is a word of warning. Small towns often have their own Police Force. You must notify them that your ride is going through their jurisdiction. No joke. I helped with a ride a few years back that ran into this very trouble. The Mayor of the town could not make a turn because the riders kept cutting in front of his car. So, he called the one cop on the payroll and he shut the ride down. We managed to sweet talk the Mayor and get him to allow the ride to continue. This could have been avoided had the town been notified and the local Police Officer hired to guard this intersection.
• EMS (Emergency Medical Services)
  • All of the better rides have enlisted the services of a private ambulance service. This is expensive, but ambulances roving around during a ride can be a lifesaver, literally. An industrious volunteer could go along the route and often enlist the free help of the local volunteer fire departments. It just takes a lot of work. It is possible though and will reduce your costs.
  • Place the EMS number on your road signs and on your hand out maps. I have not seen this yet, but it should be the standard. I can think of few things worse than witnessing a wreck and having to wait for someone to notify an ambulance. Simply placing the EMS phone number along the route could reduce the time for advanced life support to arrive, thus greatly increasing a victim's chance of survival.

These are just a some thoughts. I will be adding to this from time to time. Please feel free to write me with your Thoughts.

Bruce "Bruno" Marshall
www.BicycleTexas.com