30 rides. That’s what I need to organize this year from Bike Attack for ALC 7. 30 rides-whcih need to be interesting to my fellow TRLs, accessible to my new riders and challenging enough for my returning cyclists.

The last few years, whether leading rides from Bike Attack or helping with other rides, I often scrambled to get other rider leaders to assist or to figure out rides.

This year, I decided to get organized in a big way. I figured out how many rides I had to lead, where we could go, how many pit stops that we would need, etc. Then, I decided to not push the restart button in January and keep us progressing through the whole year. This will give us a chance to get longer rides in sooner. We can hit 50 mile in March rather than in April.

Also, last year I paid over $300 in parking tickets for cyclists. Bike Attack paid for parking tickets as well. Why? Well, the Bike Attack staff “feeds” the meters while we are out training. Sometimes, a car would get missed or not enough money would be collected and I would be making out another check to The City of Santa Monica. Argh. So-a multi-form approach:

• A laminated sign to post with the dollar amount to contribute to the parking fund
  
• A sign-in sheet with make, model, etc. of each car
  
• Placards rather than tiny stickers for the dashboards
  
• A cup to gather the quarters for the meters
  

This all goes in to a binder, along with waivers, safety speech, handouts…It’s all in one place. Finally.

And this year-no car. I am cycling down to the start. An extra 14-15 miles each way.