Site Help for Ride Leaders

First off- thank you for volunteering, people like you make this club great.  Ride leaders get a lot of personal satisfaction helping other riders in the club.  They also will be given free PCH Randonneurs membership for the next year.

Volunteering to lead a ride

Every year in late summer the RBA sends out an email to all potential ride leaders asking them to add their proposed rides to a master schedule (Google document) for the upcoming year. You will be invited to a Zoom meeting at the end of August to discuss scheduling for the upcoming year.  We have to submit our ACP brevet schedule to RUSA by 9/30 of the prior year. Non-ACP brevets (RUSA brevets) can be added to our schedule anytime.  If you want to host a ride next year, please contact our RBA (currently Kerin Huber) via email or Google Groups.   
For those of you who want to try being a ride leader, but are hesitant, I suggest leading a shorter ride (100k or 200k brevet) and using a route that is in our RUSA-approved library of existing routes.  This would be the best way to get a feel for what is involved in being a ride leader, but without a hugh time committment.  Just contact Kerin and we can put a ride on the calendar for you.

 

New Ride Leader Tasks:

Once the RBA adds you to the system as a ride leader, you will be sent a welcome email with the subject line "Thanks for Being a Ride Master".  This email will contain your user name.  You will need to establish a login password.  Click on the link that says Request Password so that you can create a password.  Don't worry, if you ever forget this password you can easily reset it- see instructions below.

Reset your password

  • On the home page, click on the orange Club button near the top of the page and select Club Administration. This takes you to the login page.
  • On the Login page, click the Change/Reset my password link
  • On the password reset page, enter your email address as your user name and click the [Request Reset] button
  • You will receive an email from ridestats that contains a link. We use two-part authentication for security
  • Click the link (it will expire in 24 hours)
  • In the page the link takes you to, enter your password twice. It must be at least 8 characters and contain a digit and an upper-case character.
  • You will use the same steps to reset a lost password
     

Completing your profile

  • Click on the orange Club button near the top of the home page, then click on Update/Renew membership
  • Enter your surname in the text box then select yourself from the drop down list
  • Click the [Request Update/Renewal] button
  • You will receive an email from ridestats at gmail dot com which contains a link
  • Click the link to go to the Update Membership page
  • Review and correct information as needed
  • Click [Update Details] when done.
     

Permission to publish your contact information

Even though you are a ride leader, we will not publish your contact information without your permission. But it is very helpful if members of the club can see a link to your email and your phone number on the webpage for your ride so that they can contact you.  To give permission, follow these optional steps...

  • On the home page, click on the orange Club button near the top of the page and select Club Administration. This takes you to the login page.
  • Login if prompted
  • In the left menu, click the house icon and then click User Preferences
  • In the user preferences page, check next to email and telephone number. This allows them to be displayed in the ride calendar so your riders can contact you.
  • Note the email is obfuscated, which makes it very difficult for evil bots to scrape your email address off our web page and spam you.

 

After registration has closed

You need to print customized waivers after registration has closed. Don't wait until the last moment - printers have a knack for running out of ink at just the wrong time.

Printing waivers and rider lists

  • Use Chrome as your browser for best results printing the waivers.
  • On the home page, click on the orange Club button near the top of the page and select Club Administration. This takes you to the login page.
  • Login if prompted
  • From the menu bar, click the [Calendar and Rides] menu, then click on [Club Schedule] 
  • Use the search tool to find your ride.  Make sure the starting and ending dates span the event you want to print waivers for.
  • Click on the [View/Edit] button (eyeball icon) for your event.
  • Under the [More Actions] menu, click [Ride Day/sign in]. The sign in sheet and the waivers will be here. 
  • To print the sign in sheet, click the [Print Sign in] button.  To print the waivers, Click the [Print Rider Waivers] button, then [Print All Waivers]. 
  • Do not reduce the font size on the waiver.  They will be two pages- either use double sided printing or staple two pages together.

 

Emailing all the registered riders

You have the option to send an email all the registered riders.  This is handy for sending them any last minutes updates, reminding them about parking information, encouraging them to be on time to the start, etc. 

  • On the home page, click on the orange Club button near the top of the page and select Club Administration. This takes you to the login page.
  • Login if prompted
  • From the menu bar, click the [Calendar and Rides] menu, then click on [Club Schedule] 
  • Use the search tool to find your ride.  Make sure the starting and ending dates encompass the event date.
  • Click on the [View/Edit] button (eyeball icon) for your event.
  • Under the [More Actions] menu, click [email riders] button
  • Using the drop-down menu at the top, select all riders to be recipients, or you can select a specific few.
  • When your email is ready and you've selected the recipients, hit send.  You will also receive a copy of the email as ride leader.

 

At the start of the ride

Your most important task at the start of the ride is to get a valid signed waiver from each rider before the start of the ride. See instructions above for how to print waivers.  These waivers will be customized for the event and for each rider.  Do not allow multiple riders to sign the same waiver. Being at the start 30 minutes before the event begins should give you time to complete all paperwork. Bring a clipboard and spare pens.

A few minutes before the ride starts, gather the riders around and let them have any last minute updates such as road works, predicted weather, etc. A bullet list on your clipboard helps.

Do not allow anyone to start before you officially start the ride. This is grounds for a DQ.

If you have registered riders who have not shown up by the time the ride starts, RUSA rules allow them to start up to one hour late.  After that they are DNS.  If you are not going to be able to wait for late riders, you should mention this in the pre-ride letter.  I usually include a statement such as "If you are not present at the starting time, and you have not called or texted me, I will assume you are DNS."

 

When the event is over- Entering Ride Results

Collecting Electronic Proof of Passage:  Riders must submit proof that they completed the route.  Most riders will send you a URL to a ride track on either RWGPS or Strava.  Some riders may email you selfies that they took at all the controls.  Riders can also use the eBrevet app on their phones (an electronic brevet card).  If they check into all the controls using this app, they will get a certificate of completion that they can send to you.  Whichever of these three methods they use, it is your job to check these materials over to verify the riders ompleted the entire course and went to all the controls.  When you have all the results collected and verified, follow these steps:

  • On the home page, click on the orange Club button near the top of the page and select Club Administration. This takes you to the login page.
  • Login if prompted
  • From the menu bar, click the [Calendar and Rides] menu, then click on [Club Schedule] 
  • Use the search tool to find your ride.  Make sure the starting and ending dates encompass the event date.
  • Click on the [View/Edit] button (eyeball icon) for your event.
  • There will now be a [Enter Results] button.  Click on this.
  • Be sure you have all the riders' finish times gathered.  You can't stop the results-entering process in the middle and come back to it later.
  • Set Final Outcome to Ride Completed.  Enter any comments if you want to.
  • Click [Next]
  • For each rider, enter the ride's status (finished, DNS or DNF) from the dropdown menu.   Enter the rider's finish time in 24 hour clock time (e.g. 17:35). The website will calculate ride time.  All the riders should be on the list, but if not, you can add them on this page.
  • Click [Next]
  • Double check your results!
  • Click [Submit Ride]
  • The results have been saved to Ridestats.  You are done!  Your RBA will handle the RUSA submission and paying any insurance fees.
  • You can either just hang onto the signed waivers (for a year), or get them back to the RBA (either by mail or in person at a ride in the future).
     

Financials

You will be reimbursed by the club for any ride expenses, if you have any.  Send the RBA an email with a list of your expenses and receipts   To submit your receipts: please scan them and submit them in pdf format to Kerin.  You will be reimbursed for your expenses either with PayPal, Venmo, or a check- whichever you prefer.