by Vaughan Hunt | Sep 3, 2015 | Board Chair's Blog
Spring has sprung! With daylight hours quickly increasing now and the ‘fun ride’ season coming up, it’s time to oil your chain and get some more miles in to improve your fitness. It might not be time though, to ditch the arm and leg warmers, nor the raincoat, as we can expect the nasty weather to drag on a bit longer that we’d like.
Many of our younger members are already fighting fit though, and are busily preparing for the NZ Secondary Schools Championships which are run on an annual basis in the Horowhenua and Manawatu. Held at the end of Sept (in the first weekend of the School holidays), this is one of the biggest annual events in the local sporting calendar, and indeed the biggest annual cycling event in NZ. There are also plenty of parents and older riders who will be involved in the organisation of the event; volunteers who without we would not be able to provide top notch home ground competition for our children.
The success of our young cyclists over the last few years is testament to the work that the parents and volunteers put into the sport, particularly those involved in Manawatu Schools Cycling. We have regional, national, oceania, and world champions to show as a result! One area in which local cycling does not do so well however, is in retaining these youngsters as they transition from school to work or tertiary education. Indeed, Bike Manawatu has very very few senior/open riders, male or female and this is an issue we need to address if we are to be a strong cycling club. One way to address this is to ensure that we have enough racing opportunities for Senior riders. This means that we need to persist with organising club road racing events on a weekly basis for local riders, and provide other opportunities for the non-locals to visit and race.
In this context, I am to announce that Bike Manawatu is organising a new event on January the 17th which will attract elite riders from all over NZ and the oceania region. Called the ‘Gravel and Tar Classic’ it will have a prize pool of at least $15K, around half of which will be awarded to team-based results. The latter is to encourage the professional, semi-professional, and amateur teams which will be competing in the NZ Cycle Classic (now based in Masterton) to come to Palmerston North just prior. If you want to compete in this, you don’t have to be part of a team, but you can’t be involved in the team-based prizes if you’re not. You’ll need to be an U19, Open, or Masters rider to compete, and you’ll need a racing licence. We are toying with the idea of a cash prize or trophy for the fastest local rider and/or team. Stay tuned for more info.
At the same time, we don’t want to forget that the vast majority of BM riders are not racers, so we are also organising the ‘Gravel and Tar Gran Fondo’ at the same time. The course will involve riding on some gravel roads, but well within the capability of a normal road bike (and its rider), albeit with some good 25-28 mm tyres. We aim to have some very very good spot prizes (and more) for this fun event, so put the date in your diary and start practicing on a bit of gravel!
Lastly, it was saddening to hear of the recent passing of Averil Sheehan. Averil was a very friendly and active BM member who was always looking for another cycling challenge. She will be sorely missed in the Manawatu peloton.
Yours in cycling,
Steve Stannard.
by Vaughan Hunt | Jun 26, 2015 | Board Chair's Blog
The passing of the shorted day (longest night) is a yearly ‘watershed’ for me, as I know the dark parts of my rides will get shorter. The downside is that it stays cold here for another two months, although I can’t imagine it will get much colder than that last week or so. The recent rain and subsequent floods have stymied quite a bit of riding, in particular the Manawatu School Champs. These have been postponed until the 16th of August. Those of you competing or interested in helping/watching, stay tuned to Facebook (Manawatu Schools Cycling) for updates and details. Again much thanks goes to Mike Simpson and his team for putting this and other School events together on a regular basis.
One thing the Schools Cycling group have done well is their traffic management. Kudos goes to Mike Groube for his expertise and experience here. With the new Health and Safety legislation, councils are going to take a closer look at what we do, even if we are volunteers and it’s not our workplace. That means having appropriate traffic management in place for our events, which in turn means that more volunteers are needed to run successful and safe events.
Gabrielle and the others on the Events Group have put together a great road calendar for the rest of the year. We are going to need people to agree to help out for the above reasons. So, if myself, Gabrielle, or one of the Board members asks for help to run a race or stand on a corner, a positive response would be appreciated. We will be particularly asking that everyone who races helps out at least once.
Christine Christie has been working very hard on improving the value of Bike Manawatu membership. Stay tuned for some great initiatives and opportunities for our members. If you’re not currently a financial member, then you’ll be wanting to join!
Meanwhile, enjoy your riding, but make sure you can be seen, especially at night. Two rear and one good front light are a must and reflective patches are great additions. There’s no such thing as a cold ride, only cold clothing, so rug up and treat yourself with some good gloves and toe covers for comfort. A trick I use is to put a piece of plastic (from a good quality plastic shopping bag) down the front of my jersey over my thermal or second layer. It costs nothing and if I get too hot I can pull it out and put it in my back pocket.
Good riding.
Steve.
by Vaughan Hunt | May 22, 2015 | Board Chair's Blog
Last Sunday the Board sat down for their annual strategy meeting. This was an especially important meeting because all but two of the Board and new and, of course, Christine Christie has recently been appointed as our administrator/secretary. We have a Board with quite a diverse working and riding background so Sunday resulted in useful discussion and some good ideas.
Much of the time was spent talking about membership, how to increase it and how to ensure that it much easier to renew membership. In terms of the latter, we hope to be making some changes in the membership renewal process for 2016 – it’s a little too late to make these this year. In terms of the former, we will be improving our communication to members at all levels; juniors, through seniors and those racing, through to Masters and recreational riders.
(more…)
by Vaughan Hunt | Apr 3, 2015 | Board Chair's Blog
Club individual time trial (ITT) championships
The club ITT champs were postponed on Sunday due to the inclement weather. We had to make a call early in the morning to put the signage out, so a decision was made at 7 am when it was raining very hard and blustery. Unfortunately, the weather started clearing around 8 am and by 9 am it was a great day! Murphy’s Law… We will reschedule the ITT champs, so stay tuned for that announcement.
Club clothing
If you put a deposit on some Bike Manawatu cycling clothing then please contact Christine Christie to pay the remainder and collect your clothing. We ordered a bit more kit than was ordered to cater for those who might need clothing but had not ordered it. There are limited numbers of sizes, but talk to Christine to see if we have something that fits. Remember, if you are riding the National Road Champs, you need to wear a BM jersey and BM shorts (or plain black).
Board elections
As per the BM constitution, at the first meeting following the AGM, the Board convenes to elect a Chair and a Deputy Chair. Steve Stannard was elected as the Chair and Kelly Johnson was elected Deputy Chair. The Board welcomed new members Chris Sanson, Michael Groube, and Austin Smith. Please feel free to chat with the Board members out on ride with any ideas or concerns you have that they might take to the next Board meeting. It’s great that the Board is made up of a good mix of people with different areas of professional expertise, but who all love cycling and want to see BM progress.
by Vaughan Hunt | Feb 4, 2015 | Board Chair's Blog
Bike Manawatu requires an enthusiastic club member who can be the go-to person regarding when and where all cycling events relevant to BM members are. This volunteer role is really one of logistics and communication, requiring someone who is happy to keep a good handle on the activities which are available to our members. The Events Coordinator would need to be a good communicator, be willing to organise Events Committee meetings bimonthly, work with the members who organise BM track, road, and special events, keep the calendar up-to-date, and liaise with other clubs (not just cycling), Cycling NZ, and other local sporting bodies when necessary. If that’s you, please contact Steve Stannard on 021809597 or 3555009 or srstannard@gmail.com
by Vaughan Hunt | Nov 26, 2014 | Board Chair's Blog
Dear membership,
Glenys Taylor has announced that she will resign as Bike Manawatu (BM) secretary effective Jan 1st next year. Her strong organisation skills and endless hours working for BM and cycling in general will be missed by the Board.
She has been in the position since the inception of BM, during which time the organization has developed into one of the largest and most successful cycling clubs in NZ. Glenys has filled in on other roles when gaps have appeared, very often kept the local racing scene “afloat”. We will need a number of people to replace her!
Glenys is keen to continue her association with BM, riding her bicycle more, racing, and taking on commissairing duties when required.
The Board, in the interim, will looking to find a couple of people to whom Glenys can hand over some of her duties until a formal replacement can be made. If you or someone you know is interested in helping for a few months, then please talk to myself or another member of the Board.
Kind regards,
Steve Stannard
Chair, Bike Manawatu.
