Page 7 - Whitehorse Wheels October 2020 issue_Classical

• at about the same time, we received the completed Volunteer Surveys from our members, and
were able to identify members who are interested in technology and storing ride routes
electronically;
• the idea of a Rides Database, embedded into the website, was born and happily Jacques was well
enough to send through files of ride routes. His knowledge has been preserved.
• the key feature of the rides database will be that ride routes will be stored AND retrieved;
accessible to ALL members of the club, no matter how low-tech or high-tech they want to be.
• The IT sub-committee’s inaugural meeting in February recognised the project could be eligible for
council funding. Ursula and Jennie attended an information session and wrote a submission early
March.
• March 2020 invited members to comment on what they like/dislike on the current website, want to
see improved/added, any suggestions at all;
• While other community groups had their potential projects derailed by covid, our website upgrade
project has become more important to our club as we connect by an online presence with
newsletters and zoom meetings.
• WCI’s Minor Community Grant application was successful, with $3,000 granted to employ a
professional website building company. Funding comments from Whitehorse City Council were:

◦ Cycling provides a range of health and well-being outcomes for community members. Council is
pleased to be able to award a Minor Grant to assist with the development of the Whitehorse
Cyclist website. Evidence of collaboration with organisations such as Cycling Victoria and
quotations for stated costs may have assisted this application.
◦ The ‘collaboration with Cycling Victoria’ refers to the reference in our grant application to data
from the Victorian Cycling Strategy 2018-2028, Transport for Victoria, 2017. Namely 60% of
constituents who are ‘interested but concerned cyclists’ would avail themselves to safe, local
cycling routes. We are inviting Whitehorse Council to have a link to our website (non-members
area), and for our website to promote safe, local cycling routes.

The rides database initiative:
• will be designed for use by all club members
• will include the Whitehorse Council’s EasyRides Program which is aimed at promoting cycling to the
public
A small team has been established for the ‘discovery and build stage’ of the new database using an
application called Ride with GPS. It is a Club-based rides database and route planning tool which we think
will benefit the club and allow us to gather all the historical rides (so we do not lose them) and quickly
develop new rides over time.
We are just beginning to engage with ride coordinators to get ideas and decide on the best way to setup
and use the system. It is early days but so far, we have loaded Easy, Medium and Hard rides (about 100)
into the system and can begin testing and cataloging them. It is all looking very promising and we are
happy with our progress.
We plan to provide training and ongoing help so that the club members, ride coordinators, ride leaders
(and whips) can get the best out it.
The IT sub-committee met last Friday to consider members’ input on improvements to the current
website, begin discussions on the scope and specifications of the project, and selection of a professional
website developer.
Jennie Ramage, Ursula Craigie and Ray Boyle.
____________________________________________________________________________

August 2017, Article in local paper ‘Hoganas’: Cyclists from Australia come to Lerberg,
Sweden - Karin Elandersson in Lerberg got an expected "unexpected" visit from 17 cyclists from Australia (Following
a presentation of the Swedish ride mid-September, Barbro forwarded this Newspaper cutting, translated for our
behalf)