President's Column
The Bully Pulpit (usually known as the President’s Column)
Dear Fellow Members,
Please forgive the rather long column this month but I felt the need to address something which has long been on my heart and that is the subject of club friendliness.
We are ambassadors.
As a member, this is your club - you are the club as are we all. And as such, whether we know it or not we are ambassadors of the club. The question is, are we doing a good job of representing the rest of us, the club? When guests, visitors and new members come to a club ride they are putting their trust in us. I know many of us can think back to the first time we came to a club ride, be it a SAW ride or another club. Remember how uncertain you felt? You may not have known anyone there, didn’t know how it worked or what was expected of you. Would anyone talk to you? Ride with you? Show you the ropes so to speak? Visitors to our club rides feel like that all the time, and they put their trust in us to help them overcome those anxieties. At each ride we have about thirty minutes at the most to have a positive impact on them before the ride begins. And how they are treated during that brief time will most likely determine the quality of their experience with us. Granted at almost all rides, during the pre-ride briefing, the starter will ask if there are any visitors. That’s good, but by that time no one really has much time to talk with them before the ride begins. How much better it would be if the ride starter has already met them and introduced them to others.
What can I do?
Be alert: Look for people who are standing around by themselves. That’s a good indication that they might be a visitor. If you’ve been coming to our club rides for awhile then you may very well know most of the regulars, so look for the people you don’t know.
Take the initiative: Usually visitors are uncomfortable and shy. They hesitate to barge up to someone and introduce themselves - that whole fear-of-rejection thing. Be friendly - we all can do this. An easy thing to do is just go up to them and say something like: “Hi my name is Bill." (though it might be more effective to use your own name) “I don’t recall if I’ve ever met you.” Trust me, no one is going to rip you if you’ve met before - they probably don’t remember you either and we’re all bad with names anyway.
Learn some basic stuff about them: How did they hear about us? Are they local? From out of town? New to town? How far do they want to ride and about how fast they like to ride. Don’t worry about getting all their biographical information in three minutes - you can get all that during the ride, but this will get them and you started and then please, please, please . . .
Introduce them to others: Once you have a sense of the ride they’d like to do, then introduce them to others who might be riding their distance/speed. In many cases you won’t know this, so at least introduce them to the ride starter, any board members or anyone one else at all. “Hey Bill. I’d like you to meet Sam, he’s riding with us for the first time.” The more people who greet them and visit with them, the better. It naturally makes people feel more comfortable - “Hey, these guys are nice! I can relax now and enjoy the ride.”
Be realistic: Just because you greeted a visitor does not mean you are obligated to take care of them from that point on, you can still ride your own ride. But please try to help them find someone to ride with. It may mean that the visitor will have to slow down their ride to hang with someone else and that’s fine. If they start out with slower riders, they can make the decision to leave the group and ride ahead if they wish. But it is absolutely demoralizing to a visitor to come to a club ride thinking that they are going to meet and ride with others and then get dropped and be totally alone. If they wanted to be alone, they certainly didn’t need to go to a club ride to experience that.
The worst case scenario for you: The worst thing which could happen to you, is that you might decide to sacrifice this one ride, this one time for the good of the visitor. I can’t tell you the number of wonderful people I’ve met because I’ve led no-drop rides or just befriended a visitor instead of riding my own ride. Had I not done so I would have robbed myself of the treat of getting to know them.
The worst case scenario for them: likely is what happened to me at my very first Wheelmen ride - nobody talked to me and I got dropped. I finished the ride thinking poorly of the club. Nonetheless I knew that there had to be some friendly people in the club (VERY true - lots of them) and it would just take time and perseverance on my part to meet them. Unfortunately, many people are not a obstinate as I am so a bad initial experience may well be their last with us. So what? You might ask. So what if we frost people. There are other clubs and groups in town they can ride with. Very true. I’m not into club growth just for the sake of bragging rights. But it breaks my heart, as it should yours, when people tell us of a bad experience they or someone they recommended to us had at a Wheelmen ride. A lousy report damages the reputation of all of us and does nothing to promote cycling in general.
It’s easy to greet and be friendly to members of our own peer group, everyone does that. The mark of any good organization (club, church, business, etc.) is how well they treat their guests. Which of us, when guests come to our home, do not greet or talk to them the entire time they are in our home? No one in their right mind would even consider committing such an affront, most certainly no self-respecting Texan would. We have a standing invitation open to all visitors to come to our house (club) at least 104 times a year. What kind of hosts will we be? How well we do this is the most significant barometer of the health of our club, not membership numbers although logically one follows the other. The more welcoming we are, the more our membership rolls will grow. Conversely an organization which fails in this key area runs the risk of losing members and becoming irrelevant.
Please don’t think that I’m implying that most of our members aren’t friendly, on the contrary the club is made up of many, many wonderful people who go above and beyond in reaching out to guests, visitors and new members; I hear about them all the time. But this attitude needs to be true of all of us. Being an ambassador for the Wheelmen is our privilege and responsibility. Now in our 45th year let us all do all we can to ensure the club stays true to the founders’ vision and continues to be the type of club that we can all be proud to represent.
Bill Blackford
Vote for our new logo
Earlier this week, you received an e-mail about our decision to change our logo. If you have not voted, please vote here.
SAW Summer Picnic
Mark your calendars for June 11th. Once again the ride will begin at Pickrell Park in Schertz and afterwards we'll have our summer picnic. Your families are welcome to attend. Check out our website for more details. This year we’re offering 24 and 37 mile no-drop rides. There is no charge for members and their families and invited guests.
New Executive VP: Ray Rodriquez
In April, Kelly Sile stepped down as Executive VP and in May the board appointed Ray Rodriguez to fill the vacancy. Ray has been a member for three years and has served as an instructor in the Rider Education Series and most recently as lead instructor for the 2016 spring class. Ray is also serving as the Rest Stop Chairperson for the Reading & Riding 100. By day, Ray is the Chief Strategy Officer for Camelot Education.
Please join me in welcoming him to the board.
Reading and Riding 100: Early-bird Registration
We are joining joining with Each One Teach One of San Antonio (EOTO) to put on a fund-raising ride to benefit EOTO. EOTO is a non-profit, adult literacy organization dedicated to help under-educated citizens learn the basic life skills in order to live more productive and personally satisfying lives.
This new ride, Reading and Riding 100, will take place on Saturday, September 24th, at Canaan Land Ranch.
The registration fee is currently $45 through July 31st. You can register on active.com or via a registration form.
Help get the word out. Check out the website for details!
Bicycle Education
Congratulations to the graduates of our March Road Riding 101 Class:
Karin Calhoun
Laura Cavaretta
Lisa Coburn
Stacy Foremski
Erica Garcia
Kate O'Donnell
Clarissa Pearson
Craig Pearson
Ken Pope
Polly Smith
Contact Cliff Hickel to inquire or sign up for the next class, which starts on September 10th, 2016.
