This is intended to serve as a general summation of our program, as well as an outline of all the tangible benefits that ride leaders get.
ERTC's Ride Leader Program is intended to ensure that all of our "Core" Rides - ie. rides that we have identified as being rides that we feel are important to the diversity of our membership, have competent ride leaders who know the route, know what to do in case of an emergency, and are able to direct people who wander too far outside of the ride's stated speeds and goal. With nearly 200 members, I believe we can manage to put on a diversified menu of rides, and manage good attendance for all. Ultimately, it is our goal to have 2 ride leaders at any of the rides, as we believe that all rides will run smoother, and be better prepared for the unexpected, with at least 2 people on deck for all rides.
Our Core rides include:
Monday Women's Ride
Tuesday Intervals
Thursday Hill Repeats (Both Routes)
Fridays at the Track (day TBD)
Saturday Shootouts
Saturday Tempo
Saturday Lite
Sunday Tempo
Sunday Lite
Sunday Gravel
If you have participated before, you will know that we have developed general guidelines and documentation surrounding expectations and procedures and you will gain access to this when required. Corey Prefontaine, our Ride Leader Captain, will assist you with any implementation and also provide feedback on any general ride planning, as well as any member of the executive team.
Generally speaking, you are not required to develop your own routes, as we have developed plenty of "Stock Routes" that you can choose from, and the intent is for you to lead a ride that you want to do yourself, instead of "working" for the club. To that effect, we ask more for a general commitment to leading rides, instead of meeting a minimum number of rides. Lead the rides you can, or the rides you want to do. We do ask that if you have been leading a ride regularly, that you tell us in advance if you want to stop, take a break, or have other plans.
With that out of the way, let's go over ride leader bonuses. These aren't intended as "pay" as we are self funded and can't afford that, but think of it more as a Thank You for the additional emotional labour that being a leader entails, over and above being a regular member.
You have access to a personal Ride Leader Budget. This has a total base amount of $450. We will pay for anything you want, cycling related. Accessing this is easy. Buy the thing. Send me the receipt. We pay you back. Some nuances:
We don’t gate this behind any minimum number of rides (this is also really hard to keep track of, on a volunteer basis), but remember you are spending money collected from your fellow members. If you are a new leader, I ask that you go with your best judgement on how many rides you have led before you start charging the club. Buy the thing first.
Some items are important / required to lead rides. As such, we’ve decided to incentivize that you spend your budget on them. How this works is that these specific items don’t count against your personal budget as much. Noting that we still have to pay for this stuff out of club funds. The items below are the things that we would like to incentivize or require you to get.
Coaching Development Courses - We would love if every ride leader was at least NCCP Community Certified, as it provides a good base for dealing with groups of people, as well as common pitfalls and things to look out for with a cycling context. You can find out more about the NCCP program in a cycling context here: https://cyclingcanada.ca/get-involved/coaches/coach-education/ and you can check out when upcoming NCCP Courses are held locally here: https://www.albertabicycle.ab.ca/aba-home The first level is approximately 14 hours of online and in-person training, with the in-person part delivered on weekends. The cost for this level of coaching is around $100-150. Coaching will be incentivized by having the cost count 50% against your budget. For example, if cost of the course was $150 retail, then getting the course with your budget would count $75 ($150 x 0.5) against your budget, leaving you with $375 to spend on other things. You are welcome to take your coaching development further, with courses at a higher level, or outside of the NCCP system, with all further courses similarly incentivized.
ERTC Kit - Every ride leader is required to have at least 1 set (Jersey and Shorts) of current design kit. This does not mean you need the latest one with an up to date sponsor list, as sponsors are ever evolving and we recognize that getting 1 set of new kit every year (or even half year as we add / subtract sponsors throughout the season) would blow out most of your budget. This means at time of writing, 1 set, top and bottom, of the Rogelli, Black and Yellow “Gold Ribbon” design. You don’t also have to wear ERTC kit every single ride that you lead (also very silly, especially if you lead / attend multiple rides a week). ERTC Kit will be incentivized by having the cost count 75% against your budget. For example, if a jersey and shorts was $250 retail, then getting ERTC Kit with your budget would count $187.50 ($250 x 0.75) against your budget, leaving you with $262.50 to spend on other things.
Strava Premium - Having Strava premium is important to make and share routes, and disseminate the routes easily within our club. As a ride leader, it is extremely recommended that you make and share routes beforehand (if it is not a “stock route'“) so that people are able to navigate themselves if they are at the front of the group without having the ride leader or someone else in the group yell turn directions, or if they somehow lose contact with a ride leader. Our standing recommendation for most of our rides that all participants are able to to download/know the route, or be otherwise be comfortable with navigating themselves back to the start. Of course, our goal is for this not to happen. Your life as a ride will be much easier if you post the route. To this end, Strava will count at 75% against your budget. At time of writing, Strava Premium is $105, so will count at $78.75.
Lighting - Lights help you see and be seen. Lighting is mandatory this year, however we will leave which lights you buy up to you. Counts at 75%.
All other items are 100%. Want a new helmet? Shoes? Race Entry? Brake Pads? All good. Buy it. Send me the receipt.
Please keep track of your own spending. We will periodically review spending but in general, we’ve tried to make it easy for you to keep track of.
2. You have access to the GART Program. GART stands for Great Athletes Ride Trek and is a partnership with Trek and Hardcore Bikes to offer our ride leaders significant discounts on ALL Trek and Bontrager products including bicycles, coupled with local bike shop support for these bikes from Hardcore Bikes. As these discounts are significant, we’ve decided to gate these behind an evaluation period for incoming new ride leaders. Again, evaluation doesn’t have a set minimum number of rides, and is more weighed on your attitude and suitability for leading rides, and not bailing on rides you previously committed to leading without prior notice. Either we think you are great for leading rides with ERTC, and we want you to continue and gain access to GART, or it doesn’t work out and you stop leading rides (and that’s OK! Not everyone has the confidence, skillset, or frankly put, the willpower, to ride lead). We will evaluate in June, and again in the Fall. We recognize that this can be a significant draw to becoming a ride leader, however cannot guarantee this program for future years. When becoming a ride leader, you should ask yourself “would I still be a ride leader without this program?” Some more details below.
All the leaders from the previous year are included already and can immediately access the program.
The discounts on items will vary with all items being at least 30% off and have the potential to be higher, based on the items.
Not sure if you qualify or not? If you’re new, you probably can figure out yourself before the club evaluates if you felt the rides you led felt good or not, and barring any major attitude/commitment issues you’ll be fine. That being said, we will let you know if you are a new ride leader.
All the usual crash replacements, warranty, and risk-free trial applies to all items.
You can access these discounts like so:
Figure out what you want on the Trek website. When planning for price, subtract 30%. Your actual price will be lower than that.
Call/Email Hardcore Bikes to get them to tell you the actual price, once you’re reasonably sure you want the item.
Order through Hardcore bikes prior to the order cutoff date. The date will be published via slack and email, and evaluation will occur in advance of the order date.
Come in to HCB to pay for your item.
Items should arrive within a week or too. Come into the shop when they call/email you when it’s time to pick up.
If you intend on getting GART for bikes or for parts / accessories, please note that it is a one-shot order and you put an order in by the deadline. The order does not go in until the deadline, and you'll be notified when your discounted items come in. If you go into Hardcore Bikes hoping to walk out with a discounted item that day, you will be disappointed.
Some conditions and restrictions:
If you get a bike, you are required to own at least 1 set of the ERTC Jersey / Shorts with the Trek logo. Again, it is silly to require you wear that 1 set for every ride you lead/attend. This kit qualifies for the incentive.
You can only get 1 bike per year, and you cannot sell the bike for 2 years.
Discount is not available for mountain, hybrid, townie bikes.
3. You have access to a service program at Hardcore Bikes.
More on this later!
4. You have access to other exclusive discounts.
Also TBD, but I am always working on stuff for you guys!