Things You Need to Know Before Joining Us

We’re a group of bicycle riders who live in or near Barre, Vermont. With the support of Vermont Bicycle Shop we’ve created a casual and loosely formed “club” to organize bikes rides within our community. With the help of Vermont Bicycle Shop we’ve got this great webpage and a dedicated group to help facilitate friendly and comfortable access to bicycling in Vermont.

Is there a membership sign up?
Kind of. When you join us for a ride you will be asked to sign a liability waiver (click here). We don’t pay dues or keep a members list, our goal is to create a community of inclusivity and remove as many hurdles as possible for people to join us. When you join us for a ride be sure to present your confirmation email to the ride leader. You will get a sticker to put on your helmet or somewhere easily visible on your bike.
You can also stop in to the shop at anytime to get your sticker as well, in fact, bring your bike or helmet in and we will put it on for you!

You can join our facebook group, or you can simply check this website for rides information and more. Signing the waiver is required before you can join us.

Are there any requirements to ride with the group? Yes! We do have a few rules, and we also have a few things we strongly encourage:

Some rules for joining us:

  • Everyone must wear a helmet.
  • Carry an emergency contact card or paper with you on your bike.
    https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/National/m4240194_ECCard.pdf
  • Everyone must follow safe riding guidelines and the laws of the road for bicycles. (If you aren’t sure you can always ask).
  • Everyone must be able to self sustain the safe working order of their bicycle. We’re friendly and glad to help with many things. We may not have the right tube if you get a flat, we also don’t want to hold the group up and spend an hour in the parking lot fidgeting with some part either.
  • Sometimes lights are required, be sure to check, we’ll make sure we mention it. If you aren’t sure, always bring lights, most of us use lights no matter the conditions.
  • Study the route and have good knowledge of the terrain before joining the group for a ride. Feel free to ask questions to any of the ride leaders or other community members if you are unsure. We want to make sure you’ll have fun, and we’re ready to help you find the right ride.
  • We require our ride leaders to stick to any published routes for group rides, unless otherwise noted. This makes it easy to monitor if a ride doesn’t return on time and many places in Vermont do not have cell service, and some places even have GPS blackout zones, in the rare instance of a significant incident we may need to drive the route in order to find riders.
  • If you need to leave the ride early, or want to turn around and head back we ask that you be able to contact us and a significant other or friend, we like you to do this both when you turn to head back and when you get back to your vehicle/home/the ride start safely.
  • A cautious respect for riding with motorized traffic. We love to find routes with no cars whenever possible, we also love to exercise an abundance of caution when sharing the road with cars. Interacting with motorized vehicle users in any way other than very friendly and positive is strictly prohibited. Obstructing any other users of the road in anyway is strictly prohibited.
  • Leave no trace. Take anything you brought with you home with you, snack wrappers and old tubes and more should all come home with you.

Some good ideas and strong encouragements:

  • A flashing rear light and a flashing front light.
  • Snacks!
  • Some kind of simple fix it tools. There is usually an experienced cyclist or bicycle mechanic on the ride, if your bike needs any kind of special tool to adjust things like the seatpost, or the brakes or take a wheel off, be sure you have it with you.
  • A flat kit is always a good idea and should include a spare tube, at least two tire levers, a frame pump or CO2 pump and cartridges and a patch kit.
  • A cell phone and a card with emergency contact info on your persons or bicycle.
  • A cautious respect for riding with traffic. We love to find routes with no cars whenever possible, we also love to exercise an abundance of caution when sharing the road with cars.
  • Familiarize yourself with the route and bring a cue sheet or a map with you.

To help save some time at the start of the ride you click here and sign to sign the liability waiver, present your confirmation email to the ride leader at the beginning of the ride.

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