In the spirit of year end retrospectives, I thought I would take a moment to summarize what our organization has accomplished in 2010. I’m grateful to the Board of Directors and to all the club members who have stepped up and contributed to an active and thriving club. We should all be very proud, as I’ve received numerous compliments throughout the year from other athletic clubs, out of town visitors, ride participants, elected officials, and grant recipients on the great work we do as a nonprofit.
To begin, we completed an ambitious touring schedule under the direction of Mike Finger. This schedule saw the growth of several regular riding groups, including our Tuesday/Thursday Training Rides, the OWLS, the SlowSpokes, Wednesday Night Women’s Ride, the Sunday Nice ‘N Easy, in addition to our regular Saturday schedule. We had more cyclists riding in more rides than at any time in our club’s history—a truly exciting development to be a part of. And our major invitational ride and primary fund raiser, the Ride Across Indiana (RAIN), under the direction of Joe Anderson, saw its most successful year ever with over 1500 registered participants from around the country. We hope interest continues to build for all these riding groups, as word gets out and our club continues to attract new members of all skill levels. My thanks to Mike and all the ride leaders who consistently step up, know the routes, and make sure we roll on time.
Our new website went live this year thanks to the design efforts of Klaus Rothe and the programming efforts of Ron Brown. I attribute the growth in interest of our club largely to our new online “look” as it is attractive and the content stays fresh. New links continue to be added and we’re hoping to make more improvements in the coming year. Mark Napier’s online registration tool has also been an important factor in promoting membership, as it makes joining quick, safe, and convenient. Mark’s data then goes to Membership Director Tammy Berger, who efficiently processes our nearly 300 members. The Bloomington area has thousands of bicyclists, and it would be great if we could continue to build our organization. As our numbers increase, so does our influence in terms of advocacy for needed infrastructure. As more of us ride, we can better demonstrate safe and courteous riding habits to new riders and motorists alike. I’m grateful Tammy is up to the job.
Our Advocacy programs have never been better under the direction of Ron Brown, as he continues to monitor the activities of various governmental agencies and lobby for the rights of bicyclists. Ron recently met with the Monroe County Highway Director Bill Williams and Williams agreed to put Ron’s idea for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge across SR 37 near Menards into the county’s long-range plans. We feel this was a major accomplishment and it is my hope that the BBC can be a major player in improving the bicycling infrastructure in and around Bloomington. These kinds of improvements will help all of us, regardless of whether we ride for simple exercise, recreation, transportation (or some combination of all three). Other local officials have also expressed interest in Ron’s vision. I’d also like to thank Jean Smith of Bikesmiths for representing the BBC on INDOT’s Citizens Advisory Council for I-69. Jean organized two advocacy rides and urged members to weigh in on proposed road closures due to freeway construction in southwestern Monroe County. The BBC Board passed a resolution back in October requesting accommodations for bicyclists at proposed closures so that we can continue to have access to the rural areas that make cycling enjoyable.
We are also fortunate that Safety and Education Director Chris Tietz was selected to serve on the City of Bloomington’s Platinum Task Force, which is a group charged with coming up with recommendations for how Bloomington can win a Platinum designation from the League of American Bicyclists. Bloomington graduated from Bronze to Silver this past year. The BBC was instrumental in that effort, and we will continue to be an important corporate partner in the city’s efforts to become Gold or Platinum. In addition to the BBC Board and the city’s Platinum Task Force, Chris has also recently been elected to the board of Bicycle Indiana, the statewide advocacy group that our club belongs to.
As many of you know, we’ve seen some important organizational changes to the BBC this past year. Back in May, the Board decided that the interests of the club were best served by severing the historic relationship between the BBC and TRIRI by the end of 2010. The split into two separate entities has now been completed. We became aware of some important legal considerations throughout this process that nonprofits need to be particularly sensitive to, and as a result, the Board has implemented a Conflict of Interest Policy that should offer additional protection to the entire organization. We’ve updated our insurance policy to include Directors and Officers Liability, in addition to our general umbrella policy that every organization of our size needs. We secured a business line of credit to improve accounting safeguards, while at the same time simplifying our finances and club expenditures. The Board created a cash reserve account and also a large grants program that will allow our club to target projects for funding that we think would make significant improvements to local bicycling infrastructure. We hope to see lots of member input when the time comes to identify and fund these future projects.
The RAIN Committee has also re-organized, and is now being chaired by Vice-President Mark Villanova. Our 2011 Ride Across Indiana will mark the 25th anniversary of this signature event. The new RAIN Committee consists of Mark Villanova, Klaus Rothe, Beth Plale, Jennifer Miers, Jim Schroeder, John Connell and myself. We’ve made great progress towards next year’s event scheduled for July 16th, with a fabulous jersey already designed, a new lunch vendor (Holy Smoke Hog Roast), and we anticipate registration opening up very soon. The success of this event will depend on lots of BBC members stepping up to volunteer and/or ride. Please contact us at rain@rainride.org to volunteer.
In 2011, we’ll continue to pick up roadside trash, set new strength records, ride farther and faster than we ever thought possible, fund bicycling initiatives and generally have a great time. Happy New Year, everyone!
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