As a club that supports safe group ride practices, the Ride Ambassador Program is core to our philosophy. A Ride Ambassador is assigned to each club group ride. The ambassador’s role is to ensure everyone feels welcome before, during, and after the ride and gets back safely. Ambassadors do not need to be in the A Group. In fact, expect to act as a “mid-sweep” and fall back to wait up for anyone who got dropped. Our goal is to avoid anyone from having to ride alone unless they choose it.
The Boulder Cycling Club has over 200 rides on the calendar for this season which will translate to our members being completing over 5000 individual rides. That is a bunch of rides and riders and we need your help with this ambitious schedule and are looking for volunteers to help lead our rides.
SAFETY CONTINUES TO BE OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY! AT THE SAME TIME, WE STRIVE TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE FEELS WELCOME AND HAS A GOOD TIME BOTH DURING AND AFTER OUR RIDES ! READ ON TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN HELP AND BE REWARDED FOR YOUR EFFORTS.
This year, we are ALL IN committing more than $2000 and lots of new energy to our Ambassador Program. We are looking for up to 25 volunteers to each lead 8 to 10 rides this season (that is only a little more than one ride a month). This year’s ride ambassadors will earn an $80 credit from us that can be used on our Steamboat or Moab trips, kit orders, or special events. In addition, many of our sponsors will also give you a free post ride beer (or credit) when you lead and/or sweep. Furthermore, before the season is in full swing, we will hold special training sessions for our ambassadors covering topics from Club etiquette/goals, safety tips and reminders, routes, and an exclusive professional-led group riding skill clinic…with food and beverages to follow.
Being a ride ambassador is easy and fun. We ask that you welcome everyone, announce the route(s), help organize the different ride groups, and ensure that the ride rolls out on time. You will likely ride with the last group out on the road (or gravel) and make sure that nobody gets left behind. That’s it…easy peasy and we will have given you the training and skills to do it. Furthermore, board members and other ambassadors will be right there by your side to help out with announcements or whatever you may need.
Still not sure? First, if you don’t like speaking in front of the whole club, no problem! Just let us know and one of the club’s board members will be happy to give the pre-ride talk and introduce you as the ambassador for the ride. Second, the club has published all of our weekly rides in a downloadable format, so there’s no need to memorize every turn on the route. Third, you choose the rides you are volunteering for that fit your schedule and, again, on average, you are only choosing one a month. If schedule conflicts arise later, you can easily trade or find a replacement among the other 25 ambassadors. Finally, if the $80 credit and the free post-ride beers are not enough of an incentive to sign up, remind yourself how welcome you were on your first rides with us. Those were and are volunteers who greeted you, introduced you to new routes, kept you out of harms way, and shared beers and laughs with you. Please pay it forward…you will be glad you did.
If you have further questions or want to learn more, feel free to reach out to Jerrod Hohman.