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In order to try and raise a bit of awareness / encourage new members etc my (road) cycling club are looking at hiring a stall at the local Carnival this summer. We want to do something cycling related which will be fun and engaging rather than just standing there with pamphlets! I’ve looked at Rollapaluza/roller racing and like the idea of raising a bit of money for a local charity while we’re at it, but I’m waiting to hear about costs, insurance and electrical connection issues so want some other options to propose to the committee, has anyone done similar and have any advice or just have some suggestions which could be fun! Thanks
Inner Tube pumping challenge.
2 track pumps, a box of the cheapest tubes you can find, first person to explode their tube wins.
We just had a stand with a Wattbike, I think, and sold a few water bottles and caps. We were only a year old last summer as a club, but already had about 300 members*, it raised awareness rather than generated members immediately.
Be prepared for irate drivers wanting to complain about being held up by your club rides
*now over 400 members, though our first membership renewal cycle has just started, so we'll see how many renew. And soon to appear in Cycling Weeklys club ride feature.
Zwift sessions up Box Hill work well. I demo'd it at our Bike to Work week. You can do it on an iPad with a KICKR. Needs power, bit not a big TV.
Recumbent trike always gets people interested too, just wheel out odd bikes for people to "have a go".
Recumbent trike always gets people interested too, just wheel out odd bikes for people to “have a go”.
Need to try and avoid the have a go / odd bikes as there's a local cycling charity who usually wheel out a fleet of weird and wonderful bikes, which is why I was thinking about something a little more competitive!
Rollapaluza/roller racing is great fun (unless you have had a lot of beer).
been to a few bike events with it on. always gets the crowd excited.
At our university sports fayres we used to put a bike on a turbo with a speedometer and see who could clock the highest speed. It had the advantage that it required no power and people were on the bike for a maximum of 2 minutes.
we've hired a pedal powered smoothie maker before; just put apple juice and a few bits of strawberry and banana into the jug and whizz it up
We also had a penny farthing club a couple of years back... tied into the local council's HG Wells 150th anniversary (as we are from Woking, and he was a keen cyclist apparently) with members all in Victorian or Steam Punk gear. We did let people have a go at riding them but that mainly involved being held up as it's a long way to fall if you can't balance!
beware as others have said.... you will be berated by pissed up public for blocking the roads, and we had to keep our display of various types of bikes under lock and key and constant watch.
Couple of old rims tyres and tubes, quickest to mount tyre and inflate.
Or old rim and spokes, have a go lacing a wheel demo or have a wobbly wheel and have a go straightning it.
Two old bikes semi dismantled, quickest to put it together (bars/stem/seatpost/wheels).
Track stand competion
The problem with a lot of these things is they require a certain level of cycling knowledge and skill - track standing is hard, even for experienced cyclists, and most people don't know how to remove a tyre.
Pedal powered smoothie maker, bike on a turbo - anyone can do that, provided they can pedal.
Timed sprint is easy and engaging for people. How quickly can you pedal 500m?
All you need is a bike on a turbo (maybe a couple of bikes of different sizes with QR seat clamps) and a bike computer with a rear wheel sensor. Write up the leading times on a whiteboard so people can see what they are trying to beat.