SUPERMOON CYCLING

The pitch:

The organization's goal is to make road cycling in Austin safer, more inclusive and more accessible. Supermoon Cycling will contribute by:

• Increasing accessibility for beginners & intermediates by emphasizing ride safety - pay leaders so more turn out, guarantee more leaders per rider, spread leaders more evenly and strategically throughout the group, bring a support vehicle (scooter, moto, pedicab) to every ride, plot more regular bailout options, plan leading & trailing groups, provide emergency aid/mechanic phone numbers, coordinate with the full moon so we can roll earlier, with moonlit pre-dawn visibility, to avoid heat and fatigue related injuries.

• Increasing inclusivity through partnerships. We aim to be a functionally 100% pass-through non-profit. Every cent donated to Supermoon will either be directly given to a ride leader the day of their ride, used on freely distributed ride supplies like tacos/salt/sugar/ice/caffeine, or will be donated in turn to another small Austin cycling organization with roots in both the cycling community and a different community that is currently underrepresented in Austin cycling. Apart from ride leader and ride facilitation costs, our operating budget should remain essentially non-existent. We also plan to host fundraisers to raise money for those same local cycling orgs.

• Establishing access by promoting, daisy chaining and supporting specific community-based rides will be an emphasis from our first week of full operation in 2024. Hopefully we can sustain weekly rides so there are more opportunities for beginners & experts looking for community specific cycling.

• Practicing inclusivity through rotational leadership. This organization will be run by a non-profit board, a steering committee and ride leaders. It will not, can not, be the typical Austin 80%+ yuppie/old white boys. The most engaged ride leaders will be elected to the steering committee and the most engaged steering committee members will be elected to the board. At first, the board will be anchored by folks with a decade+ of bike policy experience and the steering committee will be anchored by folks with years of experience as an Austin ride leader or mechanic. That said, there will be a max term of 5 years on the Supermoon board. I will step down from the board by 2025, from the steering committee by 2026 and from ride leadership by 2027 to set the tone from the jump. The idea is to have leaders rotating up through steering and board positions and then back down and out. That way, we give as many folks as possible a chance at running a non-profit, chairing a board, facilitating a steering committee meeting, etc. Organizing a corporation or collective isn't nearly as hard as it seems from the outside looking in and I'd love to give folks an inside look so they can start their own more comfortably. Not to mention, by rotating, there is no disconnect between boots on the ground and the board in the clouds - they'll be the same people, just a few years apart.