January - February 2009

The Ride that Changed My Life ( and maybe yours? )

When I got out of college a bit over twenty years ago, I found myself going on a bike ride, listed by the "Bicycle Committee of the Metro New York Council of American Youth Hostels (AYH).”

The ride was simply entrancing. I didn't know that it was just "the standard Piermont ride", going up on 501 and returning via Tallman Mountain State Park and 9W. For me, it was an amazing experience ­a long, scenic bike ride on lightly trafficked roads, no pressure to ride at a specific pace, occasional stops to catch my breath and to hear brief history tidbits about the local area, and a pair of friendly leaders who put everyone in the mood for a wonderful time.

That ride changed my life ­I realized that I had to spend more time on the bike, and more time riding with other people. I began going on club rides nearly every weekend. Those rides took me to many fascinating places that I never would have found on my own. And not long afterwards, I signed up for the leadership class, so I could provide that same experience for others.

It's twenty and a few years later, and I've just been entrusted with a new leadership post, namely President of the 5BBC. Although we've changed dramatically since 1986, we're still in the business of running day rides and showing people how to bike around the NYC area with a dozen or two friends for the day.

But in order to stay in that business, we need to adapt with the times. For 2009, the Club will be focusing on these priorities:

1. Outreach ­since the Club's first steps towards independence from AYH in 1990, our historical weakness has been in recruiting new members. We need not only to increase our membership, but even more important, make outreach and recruitment a routine, ongoing effort.
   
   
2. Leadership ­there's an old saying that "good leaders train their own replacements.” We need to get more volunteers involved in running the Club's business, and promote them through the ranks. With your help, I hope that a majority of the current Executive Board, including myself, can happily step down two or three years from now.
   
   
3. Montauk Century ­the success and growth of this annual event has also caused strife and burden within the Club. Finding volunteers to manage the ever­increasing workload has been getting more difficult every year. It will be a real challenge to address this, and we'll need all the help we can get.

Sincerely,

Ed Ravin
President Five Borough Bicycle Club