RIDE CALENDAR ISSUES

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:39 am

For a few days (this is August 6, 2007) I've been meaning to post something in the Forums to try to stimulate discussion about the role of the online Ride Calendar and it's relationship to what's printed in the Bikeabout. This morning's email provided the perfect motivator. An August 12 ride was canceled. On one hand, no problem. It takes like 5 seconds to update the web page ride calendar and another 5 seconds to post the story Henry sent in on the home page. On the other hand: not so fast. What about people who don't have web access or just don't check the page very often? When we print the Bikeabout and say a given ride will start at a given place on a given date at a given time can people rely on it or not? If a ride leader cancels shouldn't he/she have the responsibility to find a replacement? Or if he/she can't (some kind of family emergency say) shouldn't the ride coordinator for that pace or even the ride committee?

I don't know the answers to any of those questions. I have opinions but as I say I was intending to post anyway on this topic. Because last week I received some emails. There is a ride leader who is having rides added to the ride calendar on the web page after the Bikeabout deadline. "Let them look on the web page" seems to be the attitude. And at a discussion at a recent ride this was apparently backed up by some newer members who said they just use the web page anyway.

Again, I will refrain from voicing my opinion but here are some facts you should know before commenting. The web page ride calendar was designed to work in conjunction with the Bikeabout. The format that you see when you get a report is similar to what gets printed and, in addition, when the Bikeabout editor "draws down" a report she has additional options to suppress, for instance, hypertext links, that make no sense in a printed format. And there are only a couple of handfuls of people (18 to be exact) who can enter and edit rides and they've all been thoroughly briefed to make the ride calendar as consistent as possible with the Bikeabout.

And just a reminder: to get a ride in the Bikeabout you need to have it planned towards the beginning of the previous month. So, for say an August 20th ride you need to know probably by about July 10. Then the ride goes to the ride coordinator for your pace who enters it on the online web page. Then about July 15 the Bikeabout editor pulls the report and sends it for printing. There is usually a couple days slack for last minute edits but that's an approximate schedule.

So what should we do? Keep in mind that if you are reading this you are probably at the "high" computer end of MHCC members or perhaps just a registered member of this page who hasn't even bothered with MHCC membership. So what should we do? Insist on near 100% consistency between the Bikeabout and calendar? "Near" because we clearly would not want to keep an error that somehow got thru our edits into the Bikeabout. Or, just use the Bikeabout as a baseline and let people add rides after the deadline. Or, scrap the ride listing in the Bikeabout.

Here is your chance to speak up. The Board is meeting in September (see event calendar for schedule) and I'm sure this will be discussed. Most likely no change will be fully implemented before the 2008 riding season but what you say (and what you don't say) counts.