Tuesday, January 12, 2010

January Club Meeting

Executive Meeting
Jan. 11, 2010
7 p.m.
Present:
Ray Wagner   Andrew Brown  John Bernard
Peter Schwirtlich Kent Duncan  Chuck Sinclair
Carmne Wakeling (host)
Ray presented the CVCC 2010 Annual Activity Plan for discussion and
finalization. The final version will be posted on the “Blog”. Most of the
discussion centered on defining the club mission and aligning activities
with club member support to bring the club goals to fruition.
The club priorities will continue to emphasize local road competition and
fitness. The club will provide ongoing support for: the Comox Cup Series,
the Time Trial Series, Support BCMasters through inclusion in the Club
Omnium, Group rides, lead-out for local running events, the YANA Century
Ride, and several socials.
For 2010 the club will continue to investigate the feasibility of supporting a
Downtown Criterium, organization of a 200K club Fondo in September, a
Spring Learn-to-Race Camp for beginning and “C” level racers, growth of
support for Junior Develpment Program. Maximize the marketing of these
activities which includes attracting out-of-town participants to our events
and our club.
The discussion then moved on to focussing on specific brainstorming
goals:
Spring Learn-to-Race camp. After discussion it was felt that bringing in
an outside “expert” for a weekend session might provide the impetus to
new riders and even experienced riders. This would take the pressure off
local club members and provide a framework for the club to provide week
follow-up sessions. Emphasis is on beginning racers for the CC Cup level
“C” whether they are Junior or 50+. Marketing will be through the Blog,
local shops, word of mouth, and schools. The CVCC will actively pursue a
contact, arrange a date and time, establish costs, and begin advertising
the event.
Website: Discussion was held and currently we will investigate the
ownership of the URL: Comox Valley Cycling Club.ca and the remaining
life on the ownership agreement. Further the CVCC will look to redirect
searches to the Blog that Doug has organized.
Promotions: The race and club events will be posted to both local
papers.
The CVCC will also look to providing a promotional video for Channel 4
through Shaw Cable.
The CVCC will pursue getting article into the local In-Focus magazine.
Boomer Jarret also does a Valley Promotional brochure and he will be
contacted to see if he would take some photos of club events or club
racers for inclusion in the brochure.
Provide a notice board with club activities for all bike shops. This will
replace the tri-fold used in the past.
Send minutes and club information to past members
Hold roller race demos at the mall or local events.
Use the club trailer for long group weekend ride events to carry equipment
to or from an event start.
Socials. Carmen will continue the Tim Hortonʼs support for all races and
will hold several social ride and feed functions. Dates to be determined.
Jerseys: It was raised that the some club members need new kit. If we
simply reorder from last year there is no extra charges since the colour and
layouts are set with Pactimo. If we wish to order new items or change the
original order there may be an extra minimal charge.
It was pointed out that the Jerseys are a $0 item to the budget and have
required considerable time and expense to the club and members to carry
a large stock. Therefore club kit orders will be cost +10% and require a
50% downpayment.
If we order from Pactimo again, there is no minimum required but if we add
new items there are some requirements. Socks require min. order of 50
pair. A jacket may have minimum because we did not order jackets last
year. We have 5 people interested in a high tech aero skinsuit which is a
new order but the min. is 5. An order breakdown and cost will be readied
for the next Exec. meeting.
Race Calenders: Although unable to attend Doug Merrick submitted the
road race calender with points scoring. Andrew Brown presented the TT
calender which will follow last years format with 4 courses and 4 races a
month.
Discussion focussed on the scoring for TTʼs. It was felt that the current
system penalized riders who could not attend a majority of the races. An
alternative was suggested based upon time. There will be 16 TTʼs over the
season. A rider would have to compete twice on each course to qualify for
the overall. The riders placement would be determined by adding their
fastest times on each course. Therefore over the season as a rider
improves their overall time for the 4 courses would decrease. This was
suggested so that riders then feel they have a valid shot at the overall even
if they cannot attend the majority of the TTʼs.
Andrew Brown suggested that he and Doug need to hold a meeting before
the next Executive meeting to fill in other details and present the final
calendar for the Feb. meeting. Kudos to both of you because we are way
ahead of the game. The greatest challenge is completing the dates
because CyclingBC and BCMasters do not have their draft calendars
posted.
Next Meeting Feb. 22nd 2010
Location: TBA

Friday, January 1, 2010

December Meeting

Executive Meeting
Dec. 21, 2009
Present
John Bernard Doug Merrick James Ram
Kent Duncan Chuck Sinclair Peter Schwirtlich
Ray Wagner Carmen Wakeling John van der Vliet
Brainstorming ideas for the following:
Communications: a.Mail out newsletter or fact sheet
1. Develop a Club Phone Tree
2.Post Bulletins at local Bike Shops
3.Website needs to be more current or up-dated
4.Newspaper submissions more consistent
5.Send club events and reports to both papers
6.Get something on the local community channel
7.Use trailer in local Events and Parades
8.Get a feature in the InFocus (local) magazine
Events: a. Bring-A-Buddy Ride
b. Jun/High School race/ride event a la Shawnigan Lake Schools race.
c. A mini Fondo
d. Learn to Race/Ride Camp-a Weekend edition
e. More Social Rides and group rides for “C” levels
f. More Ride postings so the word gets out!
g. Trailer Rides so that people know they can load their bike into the trailer and get it hauled back to the
finish or even the start on a long one way ride.
h. Have a CVCC Events Board in each local shop for prominent viewing.
i. Hold Roller Races in various locations or at club events
j. Adopt a Highway so that we have a local event and the Dept. of Highways posts our club sign on a section
of the local roads i.e. Headquarters.
k. X-C day jointly with x-c club
Volunteers: a. All racers do some volunteering possibly a voucher for a free entry.
b. Offer some training or safety advocacy for volunteers at races
c. Should we look at a Volunteer Coordinator position?
Finances: Peter and Ray went over the financial statement for the club and presented the form for the Gaming
Commission Annual Report.
Motion: Accept Annual Financial Report
Moved: C. Sinclair Seconded: Kent Duncan
Passed: Unanimous
Website: The website is under review
Fees: Ray reported that he conducted a questionnaire and received a few responses to a variety of questions.
Club fees seem to be set at a happy medium for the respondents and most are happy with the race fees. Discussion
was held concerning the hiring of a coaching service for riders and juniors as an added benefit. There would be an
added cost either through fee structure changes or user fees. We will look into CyclingBC clinics or “how to” from
other clubs such as the Strathcona Nordics.
Club Kit: Should we pursue a new kit?
Pay as you go?
Sponsorship? To help defray costs
Gran Fondo: For those not familiar with the idea, a Gran Fondo is an organized LONG ride. Typically 100 km or
more. We have been approached by the Randonneur Club in Victoria to help with the organization of event stations in
Campbell River, Gold River, and Woss lake. The randonneur is a Gran Fondo to the extreme. Ken Bonner (Victoria)
is organizing a 1200 km event over 6 days and needs people to be at the event stations to punch riders cards and maps.
Ken has also asked if the CVCC would host a shorter Brevette (200 km). These are very organized and structured rides
with stations, rider maps, and punch cards.
Race Schedule: Doug went over his race schedule and after discussion the number of events will be scaled back and
revision will be posted check Doug’s Blog for this news < http://comoxvalleycycleclub.blogspot.com/>
Crit: Andrew Brown has been in contact with the Downtown Business Association to organize a criterium on closed
streets in the city core. So far an informal committee
(Andrew, Peter, Ed Schum, Chuck) have met to flesh out ideas and necessary supports. The next step is to make a
presentation to the city and the CVCC to ensure all parties are on board. A DVD presentation was demonstrated to the
Executive. This could also be a template for club advertising using DVD’s on local TV to promote the club and club
events.
Next meeting January 11th 7:00 pm @ Carmen Wakeling’s residence 2766 Rennison Rd.