GPC is all about riding — thus, leading rides is one of the most important volunteer activities in the club. More information on leading GPC rides is on our ride leader tips page and our ride guidelines page.
We award one ride leader credit (RLC) for each ride led on behalf of the club, and for certain other activities. Eight RLC's will earn a club jersey, club socks, or other valuable premium. In order to be fair and consistent, we adopted the following policy for awarding ride leader credits.
1. Credit is given only for rides that are published in the Wheel Truth, not for rides added to the web site after the fact, and not for impromptu rides.
2. Credit is given only when leaders actually ride in the ride. Simply handing out a route sheet or “making arrangements” is not sufficient.
3. A substitute leader (or co-leader) may receive credit
if the originally listed leader (or co-leader) is unable to lead the ride.
However, co-leaders may not be added for credit after a ride is published
in the Wheel Truth.
The exceptions are:
(a) Rides in the Novice and Century-Prep Series:
Additional, unpublished, co-leaders may be added with the approval
of the Ride Series Coordinator.
(b) The Second Saturday Ride:
Leaders are not published in advance but are designated by the ASSR coordinator.
(c) The Wednesday Ride: Leaders are not published in advance.
(d) Special circumstances agreed upon by the Ride Coordinator in advance.
4. A valid sign-up sheet entails two riders (members or not) per leader. Therefore, if the ride is a two-leader ride, four additional riders must sign up. If not enough show, the leaders must decide between them and specify on the sign-up sheet who gets the credit.
5. Ride leaders have 12 months to collect 8 credits with the first ride setting the anniversary date. If the end of the 12th month following the anniversary date arrives with less than eight credits collected, only the first ride credit is lost, and the next ride date becomes the anniversary date.
6. If the route is not already available on the GPC website, send the route sheet or map in electronic form if available to <Webmaster at grizz dot org>.
7. Multi-day tours receive a credit for each day of riding, but not rest days.
8. Co-listed rides with another bicycle organization still require a separate GPC sign-up sheet for credit and insurance coverage. A copy of XYZ's sign-up sheet is not legally a substitute for GPC's.
9. Credit is given for timekeeping at the ITT.
10. Credit is given for hosting a GPC monthly meeting.
11. One credit is given for volunteering at the annual Grizzly Peak Century. Two credits are given for serving as a Century Coordinator. This policy is in effect starting with the 2009 Century.
12. If two rides appear separately in the listings, or if one listing covers multiple rides (for example: the SSR, or different pace groups for the same route), each leader should obtain and carry a separate signup sheet.
13. If an old ride sheet is submitted that falls in the period of a previous ride premium that has been awarded, that premium will not be recalculated using the ride sheet submitted. If the submitted sheet is more than one year old, the ride will be considered expired for ride leader premium credit.
14. Clinics as Rides. Leaders may offer clinics on bicycle skills such as flat tire repair, basic user and field repair, traffic skills, descending skills, etc. Administratively, such clinics are treated as rides: They are listed in the ride calendar (send listings to the Ride Coordinator) and one credit is awarded provided they meet other applicable criteria, such as at least two signups. To receive credit, clinics must be on a subject that is specific to bicycling (not a subject that is shared with other sports or activities); must last at least one hour; and must provide a written handout.
15. CPR Certification. One credit is given to any member who shows current CPR certification. You may earn up to one such credit per year, and one such credit per CPR certification. To receive this credit, send a copy of your CPR certificate to the Ride Leader Credit Officer. The date of the credit is the date the certificate was issued.
Remember to send in your sign-in sheets. If you have any questions, ask the Ride Leader Credit Officer: e-mail <LeaderCredits at grizz dot org> or see the officers and contacts page for additional contact info.
Policies 1-10 and 12-13 above were discussed and adopted by vote at the regular club meeting of 13 August 2008, with a preliminary discussion at the regular meeting of 9 July 2008. Most of the policies were already in place for a decade or more; they were printed in (nearly) every issue of the Wheel Truth. Some were added, or clarified, at those two meetings.
Policy 6 was further revised at the regular club meeting of 12 November 2008, again on 14 October 2009, and again (to its current form) on 11 November 2009.
Policy 11 was adopted at the regular club meeting of 8 July 2009, after being proposed in the June 2009 Wheel Truth (page 2).
Policy 14 was adopted at the regular club meeting of 14 April 2010, after being proposed at the February 2010 meeting and in the March 2010 Wheel Truth (page 4). It was clarified at the club meeting on 13 July 2011.
Policy 15 was adopted at the regular club meeting of 13 April 2011, after being proposed on the gpc-talk maillist on 21 March 2011. It is intended to encourage club members to learn CPR.
A current list of outstanding ride leader credits is available here.