Freewheelers Board Meeting
Meeting Minutes for 5/30/06
Spartanburg Library

6:30-8:30 PM
Presiding: Marly Divver

Board members in attendance:
Patti Moran, Rick Darwin, Jim Brown, Richard Dillard, Andrew Danfy, Jeff Cook

Members in attendance:
Tom Divver, Mike Bonner

Marly read Roberts Rules of Order concerning nominations from the floor and closing of the nominations. These rules were followed for nominations of 2006-2007 Freewheeler officers and for closing the nominations on 5/25/06.

John Bryan was unable to attend the meeting due to health issues. Marly reported for him. The Park Rangers postponed the post Mitchell meeting due to vacations. Therefore, John was unable to report back concerning this meeting. Another meeting with the Rangers and Blue Ridge Park Service should be called within the next three to four weeks. John will notify the Freewheelers Board of the results of that meeting.

John will make sure that the jerseys are delivered on time next year. Late delivery creates all sorts of problems that we do not need. We will use larger envelopes so that everything will fit in the envelope (including the jersey).

Because of the number of bags that were left over after the ride, both at Mitchell and Marion, we will look into having baggage labels with the rider number printed that will attach that to the bag handle. We will include these in the registration packet. We also would like work on organizing the bags better at the top.

A MAJOR problem that was encountered this year was the large number of personal sags at the top of Mt. Mitchell. Approximately 80% of these individuals were Freewheeler members. This does not speak well of us as a club. The rangers do notice the cars and riders getting into these cars. The Blue Ridge Park Service is determining whether any events will be held on Saturday in the future. One factor in their decision will be the number of personal sag vehicles that traveled to the top. It was discussed that next year we would publish that we are not allowing sags at the top of Mt. Mitchell. All of the Board Members were in favor of the following: If you have a personal sag at the top, YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO RIDE MT. MITCHELL THE FOLLOWING YEAR. This will be enforced.

The Board Members will try to think of other ways to facilitate the bus problem over the next 6 months. Some ideas that were expressed were: Could family members ride a bus from the Folk Art Center and ride up from there? Could we have Marion bus ticket sales cutoff two weeks before the Assault?

We also need to communicate that the Tom Johnson campground parking will be open from ___ to ___ the day before the ride in order to park their vehicles ahead of time. The charge for this will be $____.

Mike suggested that we need to have a cutoff time for each rest stop on the way to Marion. Could we have more entertainment at Marion (band, door prizes)? This might encourage family members to remain in Marion rather than travel to the top. We need to have an informative sign posted at the expo concerning registration and packet pickup and bus ticket sales and chip pickup and baggage drop off.

Richard Dillard will ask Mayor Barnett to write a note stating how much he appreciated having the Assault on Mt. Mitchell on Saturday this year to the park officials.

What defines a large event? We need to ask the parkway people to clarify this stipulation if necessary. If we do have to have the Assault on Friday, we will request that it be held in June.

Jim Brown suggested the following opportunities for next year:

1. Timing chip people must be on time next year. If that is a problem for them, we could look into having Gene Dixon doing the chips next year. Andrew Danfy has the contact information if needed.

2. Perhaps it would help to have vendors pay a fee (with some exclusions).

3. Continue having DVD sales of the event as we get a percentage.

Could we get a name sponsor for Mt. Mitchell? If so, we need to make sure we keep our nonprofit status.

Could we raise the application fee for the Assaults? Marly stated that John is in favor of raising the cost to $75 or $80.

Comment was also made that it would be nice to have Steve Yetman in attendance as he gets a lot of the feedback from Mt. Mitchell.

Richard Dillard got a note from Blue Ridge Outdoor Magazine requesting names of competitive couples that cycle together. He will get a clarification of what they mean by “competitive”.

Respectfully submitted,

Patti Moran

Secretary