Impromptu Rides

Click Here for the Impromptu Rides Website

RBC Impromptu Ride Center Website Use

RBC welcomes visitors! Please join our rides and enjoy the splendor of the Rochester area from your bicycle.

Finding a ride

Click the “Find a Ride” tab. It’s as simple as it sounds. Choose either “Show Impromptu” or “Show Calendar”. Any dates with Impromptu Rides already scheduled will be shown in GREEN ink on the calendar.

• Click on a GREEN calendar date and all scheduled day rides for that date will appear in the “Rides Found” box.
• Click the name of a ride for details. If it’s a ride from the RBC map set, a map will appear showing the location of the ride start.
• RBC scheduled calendar rides also appear on the app. Those rides will be shown in BLUE ink.

Automatic email notification

If you would like automatic email notifications whenever an Impromptu Ride is scheduled, updated or deleted, simply enter your email address in the box at the bottom right side of the page and then click “Subscribe”.

Scheduling and leading a ride

Scheduling a ride to lead is quite simple. Here are detailed instructions to help you do this the first few times you decide to lead a ride.

• Only registered Impromptu Ride leaders may login to schedule rides. To register, become an RBC member (membership form here: http//:rbcbike.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/applicat.pdf) and then email impromptu ride coordinator Cindy Fleischer at cindyf1216@gmail.com to receive your password.
• Login using your assigned password. Your login will be your first name and the first initial of your last name. This is case sensitive. Your assigned password is all lower case. You are welcome to request a change in your assigned password.
• Choose a date that you would like to schedule a ride. Please schedule, update or delete rides at least 24 hours but no more than one week in advance of the ride start.
• Before scheduling, use the “Find a Ride” tab to see if any rides have already been scheduled. If three rides have already been scheduled for that date you will not be able to schedule another ride on that date. If only one or two have been scheduled, check the characteristics of the rides that are scheduled to be sure that your ride will differ significantly from the others.
  Rides on a given date must vary significantly in average speed, terrain, start location, distance, or time of day. The goals are to schedule rides on the same date that meet a variety of riding interests and to gather riders with similar interests together rather than split them apart.
  If your ride is not significantly different than those already posted, join the ride that is similar to yours and post yours on another date.
• To encourage wider ride leader participation, please limit your ride postings to one per week.
• If you are scheduling a ride from the RBC map set, type the number of the ride into the “RBC ride” box. Click “enter”. All the ride characteristics will appear in the appropriate boxes.
• The normal ride start will show up on a map. If you wish to change the ride start, this is fine, but the map will then disappear.
• If you are posting a custom route you must manually type information in all boxes except “RBC number”.
• Click and choose a date from the calendar that will pop up.
• Click and choose an average speed range from the drop-down. Average speed is an important determinant of who will choose your scheduled ride, so make your guess as close as possible.
• Note that the social aspect of these Impromptu Rides is more about the attitude of the riders rather than the food we share. Though not required, adding a food stop is always a nice addition to a ride. You may choose something to type into the “Food” box. It can be anything you like, possibly a stop at a local ice cream shop during the ride, a tailgate or lunch at a local restaurant after the ride. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!
• Choose your name from the “Select ride leader” drop-down so contact information will be associated with the ride.
• The “Notes” field is for any additional information you’d like to share, for example a geologic, historical or architectural structure of note along the route. Or, if you are scheduling a custom route you’ve created this is a good spot for ride cues.
• Click “Schedule”. If the ride schedules successfully, you will receive a message immediately.
• You may also wish to consider posting a “Combination Ride” with another ride leader. These are rides that are held in conjunction by two ride leaders, usually for combined group social interaction at the end of the ride. They will be posted on the website as separate rides. They have the same starting point with different average speeds but are planned to end at approximately the same time. This can be accomplished by:
  • Different length cuts of one route
  • Different routes with the same starting point
  • The same route with different starting times

Updating or deleting your scheduled ride

To update or delete your previously scheduled ride AT LEAST 24 hours prior to the ride:

• Login
• Go to the “Schedule a ride” tab
• Choose the ride you are leading and you wish to change by clicking on it
  Make changes and click “Update” to update or “Delete” to cancel the ride.
• Please try to minimize the number of times you make updates. Bear in mind that every time you update and resubmit your ride, an email will be sent to people who subscribe to emails from the site.

Impromptu Ride Leader Information

Just another RBC ride

• Impromptu Ride leaders begin rides, with a few exceptions noted below, the same way as all other RBC rides. Please refer to the Rochester Bicycling Club Ride Leader Guidelines for more information.
• At the conclusion of the ride mail the ride log sheet to:
  Brad Jensen: , 62 S. Estate Drive, Webster, NY 14580
• Please consider buying a booklet of stamps and a box of envelopes so that you can keep track of how many you use to mail ride logs. At the end of the season you may request a reimbursement for this expense. If you prefer, contact the Impromptu Ride coordinator to be mailed stamped, addressed envelopes for this purpose.

Just another RBC ride…but a little different.

• You have the freedom to choose the day, time, average speed, starting point and route you wish to lead and can post it on the Impromptu Ride Center within the guideline noted above.
• These rides have an incorporated social dimension. It may include food, but mostly it’s an attitude. There are many ways that food may be a part of your ride posting:
  • Food during the ride – a stop at a bakery, an ice cream shop or a convenience store…anywhere the leader chooses
  • Food after the ride – ditto above – perhaps lunch at a restaurant or a tailgate back at the cars
• Ride leaders may know something about the area through which the ride takes place – historical facts, geologic information, architectural information – and can share it in the pre-ride talk as well as point features out as the ride progresses.
• Impromptu Rides are not “no-drop” rides, but we try to stay together. In the pre-ride talk, please:
• Please note to riders that
  • You will attempt to stay within the expected average speed that was posted, although unexpected daily weather conditions can affect the average ride speed.
  • If needed, any leading people in group will wait at major intersections or at the tops of hills for the rest of the group to re-convene.
  • Any rider may choose to leave the group in order to keep a faster pace as long as the rider informs the leader at the time she chooses to ride ahead.
  • You will count the number of riders before starting the ride and after each “re-grouping” in order to be sure all riders have caught up.
  • If someone is concerned that he or she may not maintain the average ride speed, see if the rider has a ride “buddy” who will keep him or her company for the remainder of the ride while the rest of the group rides ahead. Alternative, that rider may choose to bike the route more slowly or truncate the route.