Whether you run event like a charity ride, a large cross country ride, a club century ride or bicycle touring operation you must have risk management plan and rider education is a critical part of that plan. As a ride organizer you are bringing together riders of unknown and varying abilities so it makes sense to provide your riders with as much education about bicycling as possible. Being able to educate large numbers of event participants about bicycling will greatly add to quality of your event and the effectiveness of your risk management plan.
When you look at all the risks associated with a bicycling event none stand out more than injury to the participant. Whether it is due to a collision with a car or another bike, surface conditions, dehydration or over exertion an injury can have serious and costly implications. Because bicyclists are such a varied group you have no idea what the skill level of the participants really are. Many organizers confuse the ability to ride long distances with the ability to safely ride in the road with traffic or in groups. To better protect your organization in the event an injury results in litigation it is important to have a rider education program. The better educated your participants are about bicycling the safer your event will be.
To educate large numbers of people about bicycling League of American Bicyclists certified instructor, Mark Horowitz, LCI 371, has made his course “Bicycling is More than Balance” available on DVD and online,with the course text available as downloadable e-book. This provides your organization with a a variety of ways to provide your registrants with the bicycling information they need to solidify your risk management plan and reduce your liabilities.
Learn to Bicycle has three different options for delivering the training to your registrants and helping to reduce your legal liabilities. All options include the downloadable course manual “Bicycling is More than Balance”.
DVD
This option works best for rides that mail sponsorship or ride information to their participants prior to the ride. This option gives your registrant the most flexibility on viewing the course. They can either watch it in TV or on their computer.
The cost of this option varies depending on quantity ordered. For this option to reduce mailing costs the DVD packaging can be redesigned for “green packaging” with yours and Learn to Bicycles artwork.
Online
This option provides your registrants with the ability to download the course and all associated downloads and view the course on their computer. For this option a license is purchased which provides access to the courses password protected page. You can link to the course page from your website.
The cost of the license varies with with your needs.
DVD and Online
Combining the DVD with the online access works best for rides that mail registrants information prior to the ride. This option gives your registrant the most flexibility in viewing choices. The DVD cost will vary with the quantity ordered. The license fee will be added to the cost of the DVD. For new rides Twenty-five cents will be added to the cost of the DVD: all other rides would fifty cents per DVD for the online license.
Registrant Testing
In addition to providing bicycling education Learn to Bicycle can provide testing to track if they have viewed the course or read the text. Using a nationally recognized written test Learn to Bicycle provides a testing service that will at minimum assure that the participants have a basic understanding of traffic operations, road positions, tire repair and bicycle handling skills. By providing an incentive, such as credit towards the ride jersey, you can increase the number of registrants who take advantage of the course offering.
Test pages can be made to look like your website and users can link back directly back to your website. Test results can be e-mailed to multiple e-mail addresses.
