Scenes from the Wabash River Ride
The Wabash River Cycle Club has been keeping the rubber side down since 1978. Focused on promoting cycling awareness and safety, this club tries to offer a variety of group activities throughout the greater Lafayette area for cyclists of all ages and skill levels. This past weekend the club held their annual Wabash River Ride and BBQ that lead cyclists down a 35, 50, 72, or 108 mile route.
This was my second year participating in the Wabash River Ride and let me tell you, it was a blast. If you have never ventured down the roads around the Wabash River that take you west of town, you have been missing out. The scenery is some of the most beautiful the Wabash River Valley has to offer and the roads are quiet enough to keep from scaring away the casual rider.
SAG stops are a must on longer sponsored rides like these, and the WRCC has provided some of the best. Sponsors like Great Harvest Bread Co. and Pleasant Acre Farms as well as some hard working club members provide some awesome treats to keep riders fueled. Local shops like Hodson’s Bay Bike Shop, Virtuous Cycles, and People’s Brewing Company offered special discounts to early registrants, which was a nice bonus this year to the registration price. The price of the ride is fair, though as the route follows much of my normal riding routes, I always find it a little tough to swallow. Still, it goes towards a good cause. The WRCC teamed with Food Finders Food Bank and donated a portion of the registration fees to feed the hungry masses. You can’t complain about that!
The Wabash River Cycle Club is a staple of the area and does provide a great resource for aspiring cyclists. However, after interacting with them for a good year or so, I find that they tend to seem a little resistant to certain areas of cycling culture. Before I make anyone angry, I think it is totally acceptable to have a club focused on leisure riding, or only certain aspects of cycling as opposed to just promoting all there is to promote for cycling. My concern is that the WRCC doesn’t really specify only certain aspects of riding that they support, and as a fan of some of the types of cycling they do NOT seem to support, I find this off-putting. I have seen people reach out to the club from fixie groups, Bike Polo squads, and even aspiring racers, and all seem to be met with a slight bit of disdain. I know that even starting a mountain bike group within the club has been a bit hard. As an example, I have the privilege of working at a place where several folks ride their bikes to work. Most days there are at least 5 bicycles parked in our lot. I also happen to know that in my building there are a couple of ride leaders for the WRCC that walk past these bikes (even passing by me dressed in my kit while they are dressed in theirs, both of us clearly on our way to ride) without so much as a “hello.” Call me crazy, but if I was a leader in a group that supports all things cycling and I worked in a building with people that obviously loved cycling, I would at least stop and say hello sometime and tell them about my club. There are also the plethora of times I bump into a group wearing their WRCC jerseys whilst out riding and am given a bit of a cold shoulder. It really isn’t so much of a bad thing I suppose; it just means there is some opportunity for another club in this town (more to come on that later)! Like I said, it is totally acceptable to make a club that only is into promoting some types of cycling, but as the cities only club (currently) it would be nice to see a little more of a welcoming feel from this group. I would encourage anyone who loves riding to not be so quick to judge others. If they are riding, then you have something in common, so say hello! The WRCC doesn’t do a great job of advertising themselves locally so being nice to riders might be a good start at improving membership (not that they need to, they are a vast club with plenty of friendly and knowledgeable riders).
But I digress; the Wabash River Ride is a fantastic event. It’s certainly a challenging ride at some of the longer distances, offering well over 2,000 feet of climbing. The shorter distances still provide a great time for those that aren’t ready to take on a century or something like it. I would highly recommend everyone get out and try it next year. Not only is it a blast to share the road with so many other bike lovers, but the support of SAG cars and stops to help with food and breakdowns (and crashes) makes it a family event not to miss. Regardless of if the WRCC wants me there or not, I fully intend on riding this event as long as I can. Next year maybe I will put together a band of daisy-duke wearing fixie riders to crash the scene and show that we can hang with the big boys. I’m sure they would welcome us all just as well!
I feel like you had two unrelated stories in here. I did like both stories. That said I wish that they were either separated or weaved together thematically.
You are totally correct, Mike. I hesitate in directly talking about the WRCC in its own article because I don’t want my opinions to be misconstrued as attacking the club or that I don’t appreciate their work. I felt that commenting on it here would keep the tone more positive. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw some future articles on other clubs sprouting in the area…
Aaron, I’m in the WRCC, and I have been leading rides this summer. I’m sorry if some of your experiences with the club have been less than positive. I’ve never felt like the club riders have given the cold shoulder to any other cyclists we’ve encountered during a ride. On the contrary, I’ve witnessed a majority wave and smile at other cyclists. Occasionally, we’ve even had a non-member join a ride and go along with us for a portion of the route. In my experience, the club riders are happy to converse with someone new in this situation. Keep in mind, there is no club rule barring loners or curmudgeons so not everyone is a Chatty Cathy! Of course, I’m not riding at the top of the food chain in terms of speed . Maybe some of the faster groups are loath to interrupt their training by socializing (just speculating here). I’m not trying to negate your experience, I just want to say that my experience is that the club riders share a certain sense of fellow feeling with other cyclists.
As far as incorporating different types of cycling in the club, I think that the people who are interested in fixie groups, polo squads, racing, et cetera have to be the ones to drum up interest. I mean, you probably shouldn’t expect recreational riders like me to suddenly demand that the club support racing when most have no interest in racing. But… if enough people in the club (new or existing members) expressed enthusiasm, I suspect the club would support other cycling endeavors. As a recreational rider whose cycling needs are being met, I don’t even know what kinds of support these other cyclists would want. Do they just want to organize and publicize training/matches/races via the newsletter and yahoo group? Can’t the fixie groups just ride with the rest of us? I guess what I am saying is that what you perceived as disdain might simply have been apathy. If enough club members expressed interest in other types of riding, I think the club would be happy to support those activities.
This has all been just my opinion based on my experiences. I do not hold any official position with the club.
I do hope you have more pleasant experiences in the future if you encounter WRCC members on the road! Happy riding to you. And I hope you continue to enjoy the annual Wabash River Ride!
Hi Melissa, thanks for reading! I hope you will pass this article on to the club. I totally appreciate you coming to their defense. It’s nice to know the club has some opinions of their own on some level. I think what I was trying to say was that for a club whose mission is “to promote cycling in the area” they don’t do a very good job. They may enjoy riding, they may even be friendly to most people, but they don’t promote cycling. Promotion in my mind means that, the fixie riders, or polo clubs, or racers, shouldn’t need to be the ones who come to the club, the club should come to them. Being a promoter of cycling, I spend time with a variety of different groups, and have done my part to try to get the WRCC involved in their events. The problem is that, there is no good way to actually contact anyone in charge at the WRCC. Sure if you are a member there is the archaic list-serve, but if you aren’t a member, your options are quite limited: email someone on the website or try the facebook page (by the way the only reason there is a facebook page is because I created it to hopefully address this exact problem). Of course, all this is assuming that when you decide you want to be an active cyclist in the area that you have even heard of the WRCC, which most haven’t… I have tried emailing questions, posting to the facebook wall, and even sending facebook messages about the Wabash River Ride to senior members, with little to no result. You need only scroll through the posts on the WRCC facebook page to see what members and leaders seem interested in. I post a link to a local cycling event that isn’t directly sponsored by the WRCC and no one says anything, but someone posts a picture of a few members out riding and the community gets active. If the group is just about being a friendly club that likes to ride road bikes and count mileage, then call it that. As the only promoters of cycling in the area (officially) the club should have representation at every cycling-related event, tents at Mosey, someone who actively and regularly talks to people on facebook, someone who answers email, and in general… promotes cycling. The other option is to just change the mission, which would be a lot easier.
Anyways, I’m glad you enjoy your time with the club and I hope you enjoy your ride!
A couple of comments. I’ve been active with the WRCC starting back June 2011.
Lamenting the lack of use of the Facebook page which you started seems contradictory. The members of the club have established forms of communication which is what people use.
The listserve does not require club membership. Anyone can join the listserve by punching a button on the main web-site. Not everyone has a Facebook account but most everyone has email so the listserve, while archaic, actually is a pretty effective tool for people to keep up with last minute ride changes or non-calender rides that pop up.
Other local cycling events are strongly supported by the club. The CASA 2012 fundraising event for instance or the ‘ride your bike to work’ event were both heavily attended and promoted by the club. Other area rides like RAIN, Pumpkenvine, Sunstroke 74, Hilly Hundred, Horsey, etc always are double listed on the calender, have ride leaders assigned, and transportation and social events coordinated through the club.
I’m curious which sort of cycling events you feel are not being promoted?
As far as the comment that people would not know the club existed, most people moving to the area just would Google ‘cycling Lafayette Indiana’ and the main WRCC web page is the first link Google pops up.
I’ve often needed to get a hold of people in the club and I’ve found my emails promptly answered. There is a ‘contacts’ link on the main web page that lists all the main people in the club where by category, it’s easy to link up with the appropriate club board member.
I’ve been involved in other clubs as I’ve moved around the country and my own experience with the club has been that this is one of the better clubs around.
It is true that the club does not market via a presence at non-riding events. Also, the club does not typically cross-market bike racing type events. The club does indeed cater mostly to the recreational cyclist looking for group rides. There used to be more mountain bike oriented rides. The main leader for the mountain bike rides is not available as much any more to do so. But the club is not opposed to mountain bike rides, just lacking anyone to step up to that plate at the moment so to speak.
Sorry you’re not feeling the club is responsive. This has not been my experience.
Again, I appreciate that people are disagreeing with my interactions with the club. I would prefer to be incorrect on this one, as a promoter of cycling myself. Thank you for reading and for commenting! The point I am continually trying to make is not that the club is a bad club, it is that “promoting” anything requires you to do just that, promote. A poorly advertised list-serve, website that is rarely updated outside of a calendar, and the fact that there are events that take place that the clubs own members don’t know about leads me to believe that the club is not really promoting anything.
Let me put it another way, I enjoy beer, I even talk about it sometimes when people ask me if I would like a drink. However I would not consider myself one who “promotes the drinking of beer”. I just like beer! All I am trying to say is that if the club is just a cycling club that likes cycling, then say that and I probably won’t judge as harshly. I’ll be the first to say (again) that I’m sure not everyone in the club is only interested in one type of cycling and that I’m sure not everyone in the club has a negative or elitist attitude.
There is a bike polo group that happens to meet a couple times a week because they like bike polo. If they suddenly created a non-profit organization with a yearly fee to be a member, and a mission statement that includes the words “promote cycling” I would expect them to do more than just have fun playing bike polo and I would likely write similar statements about that group.
My goal in all of this is not to attack the club, which as I said in my reply to the first comment on this post, is why I didn’t write a whole article on the subject (though now I am considering it). I simply wanted to point out that the mission statement of the club is either a misrepresentation of intentions or is at least far from being achieved.
By the by, in large bold print on the WRCC website it says with regard to the listserv “It is only open to dues-paying members.”
Aaron,
First of all, on behalf of the Wabash River Cycle Club, I’d like to express my gratitude for your kind words regarding our annual Wabash River Ride, and am pleased that you had a positive experience. Conversely, it is disappointing to hear you had a less than optimal experience with the WRCC during your one club ride. Perhaps you could look at the calendar and join us on a few rides while the season lasts: there are lots of rides with varying speeds and destinations.
I also appreciate your advice that we reach out to a greater variety of cyclists. I would point out that besides road rides the WRCC also offers mountain bike and gravel road rides on a regular basis, and encourages and recognizes bicycle commuters in a variety of ways. While we don’t have a fixie ride per se, fixie riders are certainly welcome, and some do occasionally participate. If you know of fixie riders that would like to post special rides on our calendar, we would be more than happy to oblige them, just as we would be happy to oblige bicycle polo players or any other group of cyclists. It really is important for us to be inclusive, in every sense of the word.
I agree with you that it is important for the WRCC to play a positive role in the community and to represent the interests of all cyclists. Any suggestions that you may have as to how we might better accomplish this would be greatly appreciated. The e-mail addresses and phone numbers of all club officers, board members and a variety of other active members are readily available on our website. We have a great many friendly and generous cyclists in the club; it really is a great group, and I would strongly encourage you to get to know us better.
Howard Grabois
President WRCC
Hi Howard,
I’m glad to see you personally getting interested in this conversation. I would be happy to provide you some ideas on how the club could work on directly promoting cycling in the area more. I will email you directly.