The Northampton Cycling Club is excited to announce that it will use Link My Ride, a pre-ride organizational platform for mobile devices, as its ride management application.
Riders may download the app in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. We have complete instructions on how to create a free account, follow the NCC, attend NCC rides, download GPS routes, receive cancellation notices, and adjust your settings/privacy on the NCC’s Link My Ride page.
Why are we implementing a ride management application? There are many reasons, but here are the top seven:
- Organization: As our club is the largest it has ever been and as a volunteer organization it is challenging to organize. Link My Ride will hopefully ease many of the organizational burdens.
- Routes: For group rides, riders will be able to download the GPS file from Link My Ride to their Garmin, Wahoo, or other bike computer in advance or at the start location.
- Ride Cancellations: In past years, the ride cancellation process was arduous. We had to update the calendar, post on the website, turn on a website banner, update Facebook, update Twitter, and update Strava. With Link My Ride, we will be able to notify all the riders who have signed up for a ride with a notification to their phones. If a rider tries to sign up after the cancellation, they will see that the ride has been cancelled.
- Statistics: We want to organize club rides that members enjoy and participate in. Link My Ride will allow us to see attendance at the rides to see if we should make adjustments in the future.
- Community: The Link My Ride app allows users to connect with other riders. How many times have you met a great individual on a group ride, but forgot to get their contact info? With Link My Ride, you can see who attended a ride and may message them from the app.
- Creating Your Own Rides: If the group rides do not work with your schedule, Link My Ride allows you to post rides to the public and/or to specific individuals you follow. This is a great way to meet additional NCC members and riders in the community.
- Waiver Process: In the near future, we anticipate the ride waiver process will be built into the Link My Ride app. This will ease the process for our Ride Leaders to ensure that everyone knows the risks of group rides and has signed the waiver, especially for guest riders.
We will not turn riders away who do not use Link My Ride. That said, we highly encourage Link My Ride since will make life easier for the Ride Leaders and participants.
If you are not the type of person who enjoys tracking your rides, don’t worry, Link My Ride does not provide any information about how you rode. It is simply an organizational tool. If you do not want others to find you in the app, simply change the Link My Ride privacy settings described on the NCC’s Link My Ride page.
Our Google Calendar will still be updated, but the detailed group ride information will be in Link My Ride. For example, we will list the Thursday C+ ride on the Google Calendar, but cancellations (if needed) and route details will be on Link My Ride.
If a group ride needs to be cancelled due to weather or other circumstances, we will use Link My Ride. For at least the next few months, we will also have a website banner for those individuals who have not joined Link My Ride yet.
The Link My Ride app is relatively new, so features will be refined and expanded over the coming years. There inevitably will be growing pains as we get Link My Ride up and running for the club, but we are excited for the possibilities.
We are looking forward to seeing you on Link My Ride.
