Valley Futures

Mad Bikes has been re-born as the Mad Bikes of Waitsfield, under the auspices of the town of Waitsfield.  The following is the minutes from the first official meeting of this newly formed committee.  We will publish then on this blog.

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Mad Bikes of Waitsfield Steering Committee
Meeting  Minutes, August 26, 2008, 7 a.m. @ Three Mtn. Café
Present:  Laura Brines, Liz Weller, Troy Kingsbury, Peter Lazorchak
Absent:  Bobbi Rood, Sue Frechette, Kari Dolan
1.    Progress Report:  6 Mad Bikes are “out there.”
a.    Special thanks to the volunteer bike maintenance by Dave at Stark Mtn. and David Cain.  We are so grateful to both of them for their willingness to continue to help repair and maintain the bikes.
b.    Bike baskets have been put on most of the bikes. Thanks to Peter!
c.    Clip on bike flags seem to have been removed/broken on most of the bikes.
d.    Bike stickers are on all the bikes.
e.    Bike Guidelines have been attached to all of the racks with green flags in the Irasville district.
f.    Troy, with the help of his son, plans to paint 4 or 5 recently donated bikes.  Once the bikes have been tuned up, stickers & baskets add- ten bikes will be actively in the fleet.
g.    Peter has numbered the bikes, and is keeping a log of all the bike expenses, where bikes have been found, etc.
h.    We agreed to try to sell one of the used bikes that is in very good condition on Craig’s List  and the money from the sale will go towards future bike maintenance costs.  We hope Dave Cain will put the ad on Craig’s List.  Thanks, Dave.
i.    Need more helpers:  We hope to brainstorm a list of local bike enthusiasts who we can invite to help tune up bikes.  Next summer we hope to have Mad Bike volunteers sign on for a week, during which they patrol Irasville and “tune up” bikes in need.  This will be organized similar to the system the Valley Garden Club has in place to take care of community gardens in the summer.
2.    Bike Storage:  Liz is pursuing “in town” storage for the bikes, so far no luck.  We hope winter storage for the bikes and racks can be in Dave ? barn in Duxbury.
3.    Who is riding the bikes?  We hope to take photos of users enjoying the Mad Bikes, and perhaps interview them to see how they are being used.
4.    Presence at the last Farmers’ Mkt:  Liz will look into this.  We had a table at the beginning of the summer, so it seems appropriate to have one at the end of the summer.  Our hope is to get folks to sign up: to help tune bikes, to participate in a “bike tuning clinic” to be held during Valley Walk & Roll Week ‘09, to raise awareness about the bikes, to sign up for bike riding classes, etc.  Ring a bell and give treats to folks that ride a bike to the Mkt that day… other ideas?
5.    Research the Putney Community Bike Program:  Mike Ketchel says they have a similar program, with green milk crates on the bikes instead of baskets.
6.    Forward any Mad Bike stories, photos, questions or ideas to lbbrines@gmavt.net.
7.    Next meeting date?  To be determined.
Adjourned:  7:45 a.m.  Minutes by Laura Brines

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