Corrie and I where there at the Corps parking lot ready for a crowd. The weather was not the best for the Easy Does it sort of rider though. I had told several biker wanna be’s about my ride and there seemed to be a lot of interest but we had only one new rider show up, besides Corrie, Bill Arnold and myself.
Our new rider heard about the ride last weekend at the St. Patty's run. Keith Kopischke heard about the run as I was encouraging his wife Mary to join us. Keith is not a runner but he has been riding a recumbent for years along the levy, while Mary runs. Keith was fine with our plan to ride to Asotin and back. I had my newly developed TRC ride leaders' tip sheet,(Which will soon appear along with links to a couple of other rider-leader tip pages on the coordinator page membership forms, and my new bike safety book mark along with the TRC sign in sheet. I was ready.
I handed Keith a membership form and had him sign in, followed my TRC ride leaders list of items to cover and off we went.
I have found that these easy does it rides do bring in new people, often they only show up for one or two rides but it is worthwhile to have this option.
I struggle with offering the easy does it rides in the summer when we’re off on rides out of town, but I think our idea of offering the rides early in the season and having someone committed to leading a group of new riders is important to bringing in new riders.
The ride to Asotin is not a hard ride and you do have to be slow and careful for all the walkers but it still offers a chance to talk with your fellow riders. Come to find out Keith and Mary did one of the Bike and Barge tours in Holland last April.
Boy did my ears perk up!! Their tour was two weeks starting in Amsterdam and ending in Amsterdam at the height of the tulip season. They had a cabin on the barge that they slept in and each day the barge would drop off the group to bike three different routes, with tours, museums stops, lunches etc. all planned for the group of 20 of so riders. He had great stories to tell about the different riders, tulip festivals and rides, food stops, bike friendly Holland where everyone rides, kids, workers, pregnant ladies, ladies in dresses and …. High heels!… no spandex, no clips, no helmets, lanes and stop lights… for bikers etc, etc, etc. WoW, sign me up!
Unfortunately we came to the Asotin cut off and he had to be to a lunch date so Keith had to say good-by. I did invite him to come to one of our board meetings to tell his story and show off a CD he has of pictures of his tour. Keep your eyes out for an invite to one of our board meetings!
Corrie, Bill and I continued on our Easy does it ride up Asotin Creek and back with Bill heading home and Corrie and I having a well appreciated lunch at Taco Time. Our first Easy Does it ride was a success, low turn out but still fun was had by all. We’ll hope for more riders in April.
