The building and maintaining of a vibrant mountain biking community takes many individuals and groups. It starts with small communities and builds into a national pastime. Locally we rely on our bike shops to be the heartbeat of our sport. They have the tools, local knowledge and desire to help the sport grow. Knowing this we have made a huge push to involve the local shops in the UVMBA. Many of the local shop employees already road with us or sponsored their own rides. Now they are ready to join on even more by offering current card holding UVMBA members discounts at their shops. For this second push we have 5 local shops that are participating: Omar and Bobs, The Bike Hub, Mason Racing, EMS and Drummand Cycles. We are very lucky to have such a great set of shops that are so close to us. Here are the discounts that are being offered from the shops: Mason Racing Will honor a 10% discount to all members on everything but labor on the bike side of the shop. Omar and Bobs - Will honor a 10% discount to all members on everything but bicycle purchases. The Bike Hub - Will honor a 10% discount to all members on everything but labor. EMS - Will honor club members 15% off cycling items, 20% EMS cycling items and 10% off bike labor. Drummand Cycles - Will honor a 10% discount to all members on everything but labor. Of course the final discount and decision will always be at the discretion of the bike store. They reserve the right to leave this agreement at any point during the year. The discounts will be reevaluated at the beginning of each bike year. So now Im sure you are jumping into your car (or on your bike) to get these amazing cards. And you are asking where do you get these cards? All of the shops have them for sale. Just ask the guy behind the sales counter or at the bike counter. In addition, they are available through members at group rides or just send me an email and I will find you and hand it to you! The prices have remained more or less the same from last year, but we added a student option as well: Individual - $30 Family - $50 Student - $15 In addition to the discounts, UVMBA membership has many other benefits. Being part of such a great group of folks in the Upper Valley General Swag (stickers, t-shirts, etc) Trail Maintenance and Development o Tools o Wildlife/Botany assessments o Wood for bridges Support for the National Mountain Biking organizations (IMBA) Access to map pages on the website (in the works ) And so on Last year we had 30 paying members, this year we are looking to double this. If you have any questions and/or ideas please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for helping to promote such an amazing sport in the Upper Valley. I will have cards with me at the meeting and ride tomorrow. Cheers, Brian Riordan [log in to unmask] 59 Union Village Rd Norwich, VT 649-7060