New to the Forum here & A Friend & I are intersted i

[Ironbike1]

Just thought I would give a little about myself first.
I ride most of all the trails in hudson valley, I live about 5 minutes from Vassar so I spend a lot of time there. My friend & I ride just about any trails we can. Mostly Vassar but we have been to Sprain Ridge, blue Mt. (just for the Festival), Stewart (as often as we can), 909, Hyde Park (I am also about 5 minutes from there) & other trails we have heard of.
I currently have an 06 ironhorse Team se that is more or less a custom bike at this point my friend rides a trek 8000.
We have been tossing around the idea of joing the club that you have as we are interested in group rides & giving a helping hand in cleaning any of the trails that we can.
I downloaded the apps: but I am just wondering if there is anything else anyone could share with me about the club, other then what is listed as Membership perks.

Thanks
Aaron

[Tim845]

I'll take a stab at your question.....
My understanding of the main perk the club offers is a chance to network with like minded and intentioned fellow riders. With that in mind, hopefully people can get more out of cycling in the area and be on hand when oppurtunities arise to improve the local trail experience. We think its valuable to quantify the number of people the club represents so that when the powers that be make decisions that impact "our" riding areas, bikers will have a voice. As far as perk$ go, the club's worked with local shops in the past to get a modest merch discount, though i dont think theres something like that currently. I think we're all proud of the club getting social services 30 (new) bikes and helmets each of the last few years to hand out to underpriveleged kids.
Tim

[raybag]

I think it was the great Tommy Schneller who said; "Ask not what Fats in the Cats can do for you, but what can you do for Fats in the Cats".

Tim really hit it on the head that getting mountain biker numbers up is a key way to forward and protect our sport. As past President of the club I happened to be on point when the new DEC Catskill Park Master Plan draft came out. Unfortunately it had a definite anti biker slant to it. With the clubs numbers and quickness we were able to mobilize a lot of concerned cyclists and have our voice heard. The results. although not finalized by the state yet, were very positive.

Last year for our annual Christmas Parade of Lights ride we were able to "adopt" a few local needy families and made special stops along our route. We towed BOB trailers loaded with gifts for the children, and envelopes with grocery store gift cards for the parents. Put this alongside our 30 new bicycles and helmets we donated I think even the Grinch himself would get a warm fuzzy.

So without going blah blah blah for too long, I would just say that this is a great club to be involved with and that the rewards, although perhaps not always tangible, would be many.

Thanks and we hope to see you on the trails soon.
RayBag

[shizzle]

Yea, what he said
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Dont ever look at my name in vain- ODB