Members, local mountain bikers and other trail users:
We need your skills and time to continue to support and open shared-use trails.
Genesee Regional Off-Road Cyclists (GROC) has grown substantially since its first years as Victor Mountain Biking Club. Thanks to the great community of volunteers from our local area and even beyond, we have accomplished some really great things. GROC has built shared-use trails and now is the steward for 4 parks in our region:
- Dryer Road Park in Victor
- Ontario County Park in South Bristol
- *Tryon Park in Rochester
- *Irondequoit Bay Park West in Rochester
*Because of GROC’s efforts, these are the first two out of the 21 Monroe County Parks to allow Legal Mountain biking, under a shared-use pilot program.
This summer GROC was honored to have been selected and visited by the International Mountain Bike Association Subaru (IMBA) Trail Care Crew. In addition to invaluable advice they gave us on trail design and building, at their club-care presentation they encouraged us to expand our board of directors and committees with new people and to find those who want to help outside that core group. New, enthusiastic members help prevent burnout and bring novel perspective, skills, and energy to the club. We are thrilled to already have 3 new board members added this year.
Some Stats:
- GROC has about 250 paying members and over 125 who have in some way volunteered their time in our parks.
- We run 2 great events, Fattire Festival and Burning Bike Festival and GROC members participate in many others
- 7,778 Volunteer hours recorded by GROC in 8 parks from 2008 – 2011 (majority are in Dryer Road, OCP, Tryon, West Bay)
- These hours, based on a national volunteer organization conversion factor would equal over $ 105,552 dollars in labor
We really would like to invite those who feel they want participate in shaping and growing the club to join the efforts in some way.
For GROC to maintain its high level of success and remain a vibrant organization we need to have new, enthusiastic people participate on the board and its committees.
Your contribution can be a project or support on a committee or join the board for a 2 year term.
Areas where GROC really needs help:
Currently we have 4 Board Positions Open.
What is expected of Board Members?
- A commitment to be present in person or by phone for 75% of the meetings is a requirement to maintain the board positions. We are moving to quarterly meetings so they will be scheduled far in advance.
- All board members should be supporting a committee in some way lending support for events or programs
Other ways you can give support:
- Volunteering - If you just want volunteer once and awhile on your favorite trails you can check out all out trail work day’s at www.mygroc.com/trailcrew
- Communications – news letters, emails, website and social networking
- Membership Drives—such as setting up the GROC tent at trailheads to inform people about what we do and to solicit them to join GROC. Believe it or not a large number of riders do not realize the effort being put into these parks by GROC. When informed, many join right on the spot.
Committee participation – the current committees are:
- Education—programs which teach safe, courteous mtn biking and improve riders’ skills
- Events—planning and running such annual festivals as Fattire Festival and the Burning Bike Festival; other events are being considered including a bike swap
- Advocacy—working to promote mtn biking and seeking more access to other venues
- Volunteer coordination
- Communication
- Trails— all aspects of designing, building and maintaining shared-use trails, represent GROC in your local shared-use trails like Whiting Road and Camp Arrowhead
- National Mountain Bike Patrol—be part of the group that “assists, educates and informs all trail users in order to enhance their recreational experience”.
- What are skills you think will help GROC? We are open to new people and new ideas
Please consider giving your time in some way we really want to expand outside the core group who have given years of their time to getting us where we are.
Please contact me directly if you have questions or any interest in helping in some way
Thank you and happy riding!
Jb
Jonathan Brown
President
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
585-356-9960
Subscribe to this comment's feed
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
