Bike-o-ree idea

[scotteg83]

As District Program chair, I've been tasked with getting our District more active, and get the troops to WANT to attend district events.  I came across a patch from a friend that showed we did a Bike-o-ree in 1987.  Now off course, he doesn't remember anything about it, so he wasn't much help.  But it did start me on some ideas.

 

First thing first, are their any special Safety issues or guild-lines I need to follow?  I am thinking of either getting together with our local skiing mountain and seeing if we can make a camporee there, and have mountain biking as the big event.  Rentals through the ski place, as needed.  Get some local bike shops to setup bike inspection stations.  Get some Merit badge councilors to get them started on the bicycling merit badge.  I have connections with the ski place (former scoutmaster of my troop).

 

The second thought, is to also have Road biking, and plan a loop trip to start/finish at the event.  But what extra would I need for that?  I could reach out to some local charity rides (there's plenty) to see what safety requirements they go through, but I didn't know what BSA requires.  Personally, I would think it would be "easier" to do mountain biking at one location then take on the responsibility of taking Scouts down the back-roads of Maine.

 

Let me know what you know, and if you have any more ideas.  If all go well, this wouldn't be until Spring 2020.

 

YIS

Scott

[RememberSchiff]

I have been surprised by the number of scouts who do not own a bike and if they do, they have out-grown their bike. With renting , you will likely be required to rent a helmet too.  All should have helmets. And then there are the logistics of transporting bikes.  It can work at the unit level say for a trip to Nantucket or Acadia, but the activity does not scale well.

My $0.02

[Jameson76]

Do you have any rails to trails in your area?  Those can facilitate longer "road" rides without worrying too much about traffic.  We do a weekend campout at one near us (start is less than 1 hour away).  Over the years we have ridden in sections,  The scouts ride lengths of 25 to 50 miles in a day.  An out and back can work really well, save the time and trouble of shuttles.  Once they did 70 miles for the weekend.  We have looked at Mt Biking, there is a state park about 45 minutes from us that has a 9 - 10 mile loop, still developing that one.

Scouts need helmets.  Some additional gear for Mt Biking.  Have a some chase bikes with first aid and repair tools.

[MattR]

Biking is fun. That said, with 200 people doing it at the same time there are issues. You do want some training about riding in groups on roads with cars. If not around cars then off road. You don't want everyone doing the same ride at the same time (but by patrol, staggered would work).  I have noticed that a lot of scout's bikes are in poor shape. Bad brakes, rusted chains, derailleurs miss aligned. A great opportunity to learn some bike maintenance before the campout, and it would also help sell the campout.

[SSScout]

Google is your friend.  ** Check with the local County Highway Department, ask about their "Cycling" program, if they have one.   

**League of American Bicyclists   https://www.bikeleague.org/  (used to be League of American Wheelmen)  have a program called Smart Bike, kids taught bike safety, etc. 

** Effective Cycling was THE program at one time.  Here is the Wikipedia about it...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_Cycling    

** Even AAA has a Bike Safety program you can hook up with.   https://midatlantic.aaa.com/traffic-safety/bicycle-safety#  

 

[Recycle]

On 1/24/2019 at 7:48 PM, SSScout said:

Google is your friend.  ** Check with the local County Highway Department, ask about their "Cycling" program, if they have one.   

**League of American Bicyclists   https://www.bikeleague.org/  (used to be League of American Wheelmen)  have a program called Smart Bike, kids taught bike safety, etc. 

** Effective Cycling was THE program at one time.  Here is the Wikipedia about it...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_Cycling    

** Even AAA has a Bike Safety program you can hook up with.   https://midatlantic.aaa.com/traffic-safety/bicycle-safety#  

 

A League of American Bicyclists Cycling Instructor (LCI) can offer suggestions for activities, provide training for either the scouts and/or for adult volunteers, or even customize one of the League's Smart Cycling programs for your group.  A list of LCIs in your area can be found at
https://bikeleague.org/bfa/search/map?bfaq=

then click on your state, and expand the League Cycling Instructor tab.