I'm thinking of starting a bike club at my school

[happyare]

Howdy! My school has a parking problem and I want to start a bike club to help end it. I'm going to start out by attending a few environmental awareness meetings at my school to see if anyone is interested. Once I get support, I think I can start my club. Does anyone have any suggestions for starting a bike club?

[JayH]

What location are you in? California? (You mentioned the CA driving manual before). Perhaps contact a local grass-routes cycling group in your area.  In NYC, we have a group called Trans-alt (or Transportation alternatives) and they promote a lot of alternative transportation in NYC, be that bikes, walking, mass transit. But a group like that would have all the ammo you need to promote the environmental benefits of cycling as well as a practical "how to" guide to get non-cyclists to start cycling to work/school/play.  

Barring that, how about contacting a general bike club in the area or perhaps a good local bike store. All is a good place to start.  Tell us what part of california and perhaps somebody local can give you more local info.  I think it's awesome that you're starting a bike-to-school program at such a young age.  

I used to walk to school when I was young, but that was before I got into cycling.  

Jay

[danhicks]

Contact the League of American Bicyclists -- http://www.bikeleague.org/index.cfm .

They have coordinators in every state who try to encourage cycling, and will have literature and ideas for you as well.

Dan Hicks
danhicks@ieee.org

[happyare]

Specifically, I need a good name for my club. Does anyone have a guide for naming a bike club?

I could also use a great word to describe bicycles. I need something that says a bicycle is simple, fast, cool, lightweight. I'd prefer a slang term because I'm talking to typical teenagers, but I'd appreciate any help you can give.

One last thing. Once I get the club started, I'll need some fun activities that don't require money, can be done in a classroom, and are fun for teenagers.

Thanks for your guidance!

that crazy teenager,
Hapward Weird Annoying I. Are

[happyare]

I have wonderful news!

When I first got this idea, I was wondering if I would have enough time to execute it because I had so many other things to do including Odyssey of the Mind. My Odyssey of the Mind team went to a regional competition and did not make it on to the next level! My team was wonderful, but the othr teams were better. Personally, I see this as a gift from God. It's the gift of extra time to start my bike club. I'm really going to give this a lot of attention now.

OT- My whole Odyssey of the Mind team is behind me on this! We did problem number 2 (Go to www.odysseyofthemind.org to learn more. Veiw the problem synopsis) and our monster was a gas guzzler. In our dream, we learned a lesson fom Mother Earth not to be greedy about gas. In the end, A cardboard recycling truck towed away our monster and we rode away on cardboard bikes. My team might be able to use this performance for an Earth Day festival.Text

that crazy teenager,
Hapward Weird Annoying I. Are

[happyare]

I'm rather diappointed in my responses. Nothing seems to be for teenagers. Also, I E-mailed some of the website people and got no response. I'm getting better responses in my neopets guild for bicycling. :mad: I made the responses a competition for them. Is a competition what it takes to get good respones from you folks? I don't have any rewards to offer like I do on neopets, but from now on why don't you folks treat this like a competition? Any response is better than none. As my Odyssey of the Mind team learned last year, you will win the tournament if you are the only ones competing even if your entry isn't very good.

that crazy teenager,
Hapward Weird Annoying Dandelion I. Are

[1cycleguy]

As  far as naming your club goes, I would think it would best be done by your peers, or potential members. Like you said make it a contest that anyone can enter, and see if a local bike shop will foot the bill for a small prize.

On the subject of  activities I would recommend setting a long term goal (end of the school year) for a trip, or some other bicycling activity (a bike show, a race, or a bicycle stunt show). Then I would spend club meetings working towards the goal and having fun activities. Plan rides, fund raisers and raffles, get the local police to come talk about safety, a bike shop to sponsor a maintenance & repair clinic, do public service activities ( to build a favorable view of your organization in your local area),.

The key thing in all of this would be getting as many club members involved in setting the club goals and activities as well as an enthusiastic faculty sponsor.

1cycleguy

Michael Hanson
To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action.

This message was edited by 1cycleguy on 4-12-05 @ 9:20 PM

[DaveB]

I'm rather disappointed in my responses. Nothing seems to be for teenagers.

If you expect someone to send you a "Build A Bike Club Kit", you are going to be even more disappointed.  There is no such thing.

My first question is: are any other students interested in this bike club or are you alone?  If you have no others, preferably several others, your idea is probably doomed. Clubs typically start when groups of people with the same interest get together.

The LAB can help a small group grow and get organized but it can't force folks to be members.

[sunfisher]

Once the honeymoon wears off, here are some of the things I think
you'll find necessary:
1) develop a club charter and constitution.  Have it approved by the
charter membership.  You'll need this for...
2) incorporate as a 501c(3) organization (I believe that's the right
number).  This is non-profit/not charitable org.  Incorporation papers
should be available from your state's Sec of State.  Will probably run a
C note.  With the incorporation, you can get a Tax ID number, which
allows your club to...
3) open a checking account. This allows your club to ...
4) join the League of American Bicyclists, an organization which can
help your club do a number of things including get insurance for any
organized rides.

That's pretty much the minimum.  Now, one of the things you might be
able to do is to find a defunct club and find a way to revitalize it.  This
would give you access to a mailing list, a tax ID #, and potentially a
bank account.  You still have to verify that 1-4 above are taken care of,
but that's not a big deal.  What is a big deal is getting a newsletter
editor, getting a meeting place, and getting enough actiities together
to make the club a real thing rather than just a paper entity.

That's what it takes to start (or restart) a club, in my experience.

[1cycleguy]

Once the honeymoon wears off, here are some of the things I think
you'll find necessary:
1) develop a club charter and constitution.  Have it approved by the
charter membership.  You'll need this for...
2) incorporate as a 501c(3) organization (I believe that's the right
number).  This is non-profit/not charitable org.  Incorporation papers
should be available from your state's Sec of State.  Will probably run a
C note.  With the incorporation, you can get a Tax ID number, which
allows your club to...
3) open a checking account. This allows your club to ...
4) join the League of American Bicyclists, an organization which can
help your club do a number of things including get insurance for any
organized rides.

That's pretty much the minimum.  Now, one of the things ....

Which is why getting the school to sponsor the club would be a key factor in getting things up and running.

1cycleguy

Michael Hanson
To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action.

This message was edited by 1cycleguy on 4-12-05 @ 9:23 PM

[happyare]

I had my first meeting. My friend and I tried to recruit people by passing out flyers at the bike racks, but that didn't get anyone to join. The focus of our club is sovling the parking problem at our school. The name of our club is CVHS's Parking Solution. As for the club charter, that's all filled out and ready to be turned into the ASB for verification.

The deal with the amount of people that showed up is really funny. My whole odyssey of the mind team showed up. That's very unusual because it almost never happens at the odyssey of the mind meetings. Other than that, there were two more people there for the meeting for a total of eight people. The extra people were my best friend's friends. My best friend and I were the only ones who :cry: (I know that smiley isn't offered, but it should be) rode our bikes to school. I've been talking more to the people at the bike racks and they seem like they'll come to the meetings in the future.

The few people that were there brainstormed the name of the club and kinda voted on it. I was gonna have an icebreaker by asking people their favorite bike part, but there were no people I didn't already know, so it was useless. Besides that, one of my friends organized a ride around our local lake, but I coun't even think of going because I had too much homework.

that crazy teenager,
Hapward Weird Annoying Dandelion I. Are

[happyare]

My bike club meeting today went wonderfully. I had two members from the environmental club join. Our advisor had to go to a meeting, so we held our meeting outside the classroom. We discussed the idea of puclicity from the video production class and then we went to the bike racks. At my school, cars are a big deal and have gotten publicity from the video production and the school newspaper for being cool. Before this meeting, I had written a great introduction and conclusion for a letter to the editor on how cool the bikes on campus were. All I needed was some body paragraphs including some specific examples of cool bikes on campus. I brought my club to the bike racks and gave the two environmental club members some paper. The other members (my odyssey friends) weren't quite as interested in writing. Anyway, we wrote about the bikes for the rest of the lunch period. Sometime soon we'll assemble our paragraphs into a full letter to the editor.

that crazy teenager,
Hapward Weird Annoying Dandelion I. Are

[1cycleguy]

Well it's good to hear that your club is up and running. Of course when you are promoting bicycles, and your classmates are just in love with their cars; you will be in for a long uphill pull. I think if you stay enthusiastic, and focus on making cycling fun you will experience some success. Just telling everyone that “cycling is the right thing to do” may not be enough. The issues I focus on when encouraging people to ride rather than drive are:

How it can benefit them, and the community:
- Bike-to-Work Week is May 16 - 20, 2005 and Bike-to-Work Day is Friday, May 20, 2005.
- organize a bike ride or event that benefits a group or charity sick or homeless kids, cancer research, support for some worldwide issue that is near and dear to the hearts of your peers

That it's an easy way to get your workout done:
- will the PE department recognize cycling as part of the class requirements
- work to organize a health and fitness fair

Cycling can be fun as a competitive sport:
Check with your local LAW club

Make sure  the school and local newspapers know what your club is up to. You don't want your hard work to go unnoticed!





1cycleguy

Michael Hanson
To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action.