VMBA Chapter Start Up

You and your friends love to ride and you've got some great trails that you'd like to protect.  Maybe you are looking to build some great trails, but don't know where to start. Maybe you want to start an after-school mountain bike program for local kids.  Or maybe you just are looking for friends to ride with in your area.  What do you do?  Start a Vermont Mountain Bike Association Chapter!

Step 1 - Start Talking
Contact VMBA and let us know that you want to start a chapter. We will assign a board member to help your group and speak at your meetings. We will continue to support your chapter throughout the process.

If you have a local bike shop, talk to the owner about getting involved and ask if you can use the shop to help organize a meeting. Pick a date, time and place that will hopefully work for most of the folks you want to attract, usually a weekday evening at an easily accessible spot. Town offices, schools and local businesses will often lend space at no charge. Post a notice in the bike shop and other places bikers are likely to see it. Contact your local paper and ask to be included in the calendar or outdoor section. Make sure to give plenty of advance notice. They may even ask you to write something about it. You will certainly get a better turnout if you include a pre-meeting ride and maybe some food into the event.

Step 2 - Organize and Prioritize
Now that you have a bunch of like-minded folks in one place, it's time to figure out what issues are important in your area. Do you need to focus on landowner relations or is education your primary goal? What about trail maintenance? It is likely that several things need to taken care of, so ask volunteers to take charge of your key priorities. It's really easy to get overwhelmed with the enormity of accomplishing all your objectives right away, so set smaller more attainable goals and start email and phone lists to help move projects along in-between meetings.

Step 3 - Maintain the Energy
Agree on a mutually acceptable, easily remembered date and time for your next meetings. Remember to continue to advertise in the paper and other highly visible locations to keep attracting new folks and to remind current members of upcoming events.