17 replies to this topic

[Craig]

How much does the GORC membership want the Moonlight Ride Program in St. Charles County Parks (SCCP

[B-unit]

I'm willing to help with this project. Let me get to a computer and I'll put up a full reply.

[TTM]

How about Open park nights or extending the park hours til 10 generally so night riding can happen all year?

[gengen]

I am interested in helping out.

[muleskinner]

PM sent

[yurmom]

quote:

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Originally posted by TTM
How about Open park nights or extending the park hours til 10 generally so night riding can happen all year?

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"Like"

[Craig]

After contact with several GORC members, I've put the following together in the hopes of answering some common questions. 1) Are there any statistics to see what parks and or dates seemed to be most successful? Here's what I dredged up from my memory, as I don't have immediate access to the participation numbers.

• Broem in November, 2010 had 30+ riders. It was helped by temps in the 50's, and a Cx race @ Mt. Pleasant Winery earlier in the day. Broem's ride in June, 2010 only had 12-ish riders, but it was still 94*F when the ride started.
• Bangert's December event usually has 35 ~ 40 riders, but last year's was the same day as Team Seagal's CxMas ride, and a lot of the potential Moonlight Ride peeps did that instead. We still had around 12 people, tho. Semi-interesting factoid ... each Bangert ride has had temps in the upper 20's to low 30's, and last year was the first time we had less than 35 people.
• The 1st visit to Matson generated a lot of chatter, but we had crappy weather in the spring - overcast, 40*F temps, strong wind - which kept all but the Bike Patrol's fearless leader away.
• Quail usually has a strong showing, but it also has paved trails to ride.
• We've intentionally never visited Klondike for this program. Too much possible "excitement" at that location.
• As far as successful dates go, I wouldn't schedule anything before June. That still gives you 7 possible dates, and allows you to visit 2 parks twice. Leave Bangert until December, when it's unlikely to be under water.

2) Will we need to fill out one special use permit or multiple permits? If GORC puts together a schedule, they will only need to fill out ONE Special Use Permit. 3) How many would need to be responsible for each ride? That's up to whoever decides to run the program. It's doable with two people, but three or more is better. 4) Would these still be guided, or would the riders be on their own? Again, you (GORC's membership) get(s) to make that decision. We usually have several people who don't know the trail system at each event, and previous riders have said a guide makes their experience more enjoyable. (NOTE: We use the 1st Sunday style No-Drop format. Your guide may have to adjust their speed to that of the slowest rider.) 5) Do we have to account for everyone at the end of the ride? I'd have to check with SCCP's on this, but think it would be wise to plan on it. It's easy, as long as someone is back at the lot checking names off as they finish. 6) How do we coordinate which date we want to have a ride on? I suggest that someone act as GORC's Moonlight Ride Rep. Nominate someone for the position, volunteer yourself, etc. That person can have as many or as few responsibilities as they wish to take on. This entire structure is up to the GORC membership, and they get to decide how to operate things. Please keep the questions coming, and Mike or I will do our best to provide some answers.

[ohearl]

I've only been able to make a couple of these, but I think scheduling them a few days before the full moon makes more sense. This puts the moon higher in the sky for more light. Unless, you ride after midnight.

[B-unit]

Just a quick thought on this... Sharing the heavy lifting on this with some other organizations might benefit everyone. If GORC alone is responsible for providing manpower to staff these rides, it's likely that some or many just won't occur because our members may have other obligations (I know in the past that sometimes Mike and Craig had spent the daylight hours doing various tasks for the club and then spent their entire evening running a Moonlight Ride... that's some exceptional dedication from exceptional individuals). BUT, if we were able to get the bike shops of St. Charles to "adopt" a Moonlight Ride date that they were responsible for staffing (maybe "sponsoring" would be a better marketing term) and maybe SLAMB and SLAG each took one, we could cover the calendar better without over-extending our people. I understand that there isn't too much time left to submit our proposed schedule to StChuckCo but i'm just trying to brainstorm up a few ways to lighten the load. If I understood Mike correctly, it shouldn't be too difficult for different entities to get the special use permits necessary to run (and promote as their "own") a Moonlight Ride, right? I love those Moonlight Rides and I hate to see them die. They're our ONLY opportunity to night ride those parks. Mike and Craig have put in more than their fair share of work for these to happen in the past. I'm willing to help out to keep them going so that other people can have the opportunities for cool and special night rides like Mike and Craig provided for me. Without the support of rangers and parks personnel however, just having like 3 or 4 GORC members or Patrollers to cover all of these events is never going work. These rides need 3 people apiece minimum (lead, sweep, and trailhead/clipboard/headcount guy). We're going to need a lot of commitments from a lot of GORC volunteers OR we need to get some outside help like I mentioned before (assuming we want to cover the calendar as in years past and not have these reduced to a more spotty and random-type event that just happen every now and again). Also, just as an aside, I'm going to borrow a tactic widely adopted by my co-workers and "volunteer" someone else while they ain't lookin'... Congratulations, Luke N., you just got "volunteered". [}:)]

[newportl]

Hey-o! I'm in for helping on these - I've really enjoyed them and I don't want to see them go away.

[B-unit]

Thanks, Luke!

[msmodo]

Totally makes sense for SLAMB to do this. Not sure how many night riders we have but I don't think it would be a problem at all to staff some, all of the rides. Jerry is in and is already talking it up. I can help contact parks, set things up, etc. whatever you need. Hopefully, I'll get a light some day soon too.

[yurmom]

I can't make them all, but I will volunteer to help with up to 2 rides next year. Cameron P.S. How responsive have St. Chuck parks been to maintaining regular after-dark hours - for unorganized rides?

[Muddragon]

Since several folks have asked about keeping parks open in the evening for night rides, this was tried several years ago in St Charles County Parks and several folks abused the priviledge by not being off the trails after 10pm. This causes great issues for the parks department as they have to make sure that no one is injured or stranded on the trails. More people and other agencies have to be called in for the searches. The sign in sheets and someone present to monitor the folks on the trail, relieves the Parks department from the need to conduct extensive searches. I don't see this changing in the future?

[TTM]

Thanks Mike. Didn't intend to hijack the thread. The rest of this is by no means directed at you or other GORCsters personally. Consider this message from a trail user on an open forum. I have heard this topic discussed during many conversations at dusk as we are being urged to leave the park as it closes at dark. Note - All of the Rangers have been very courteous. WE STILL WANT EXTENDED PARK HOURS. Parks that close 30 minutes after sunset are useless to at least 80% of us. Who has time to even Ride/Walk/Drive to a park by Sunset with daylight savings time? Today Sunset is 4:55PM. The gates are closed in the AM until around 7 so that leaves zero access time before work or after for the typical work week. Note to SCCP: We have come to build and enjoy the parks, not destroy them. Trail users presence typically deters vandalism and other less than favorable activities. I think that a simple use at your own risk statement would apply at dark as it would during the day. Thus eliminating the need to secure each gate. County Police can drive through the parking lots should there be additional need for security after normal park staff operating hours. Simply, we just want to use our parks after dark.

[mjj29er]

I'd be up to helping out at a couple.

[Big Jim Mac]

Good lord, why not just put on the lights and go ride? ;-)

[TableTop]

As long as I'm in town, I'm always up for a moonlight ride!