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Bend / Redmond Bicycle Club Guide

A practical guide to using the Bend / Redmond Bicycle Club website, understanding Guest and Member modes, finding rides, connecting with other cyclists, and participating in the growing cycling community across Central Oregon.

Welcome

What Bend / Redmond BC Is

Bend / Redmond BC is a new bicycle club for the greater Bend, Redmond, and Sisters area. The club welcomes adult bicyclists of all ages, genders, abilities, and experience levels. Whether you ride a road bike, mountain bike, hybrid, touring bike, commuter bike, e-bike, gravel bike, or another style of bicycle, the goal is to create a welcoming place where riders can find others with similar interests and riding goals.

The website is intended to become the central meeting place for the club. It gives riders a way to discover rides, share updates, post cycling resources, connect with other members, and help grow a local riding community across Bend, Redmond, Sisters, and nearby areas.

Purpose of the Site

The main purpose of the site is to help riders find other riders with common skills, riding interests, and experience levels. Over time, the goal is to support regular group rides in each geographic area while also giving members access to favorite routes and ride opportunities in nearby communities.

For example, Redmond riders may discover favorite Bend or Sisters routes, while Bend and Sisters riders may learn about Redmond-area rides. The long-term goal is to develop ride leaders in each region who can organize and plan group rides on a regular basis.

The club may also support informal, unscheduled meet-up opportunities when members want to ride together outside the regular schedule.

Guest vs Member Mode

Guest Mode

Guest mode is the basic public view of the website. It can be viewed by both members and non-members. Guests can see the most recent bicycle club activity, including the three most recent rides submitted through the website and the four main activity cards.

Guests may view the cards and follow public links, but they cannot add or edit club content.

  1. Group Ride Schedule — Shows the current ride schedule for the Bend / Redmond Bicycle Club.
  2. Club Notes — Displays current member notes, announcements, and ride updates.
  3. Bicycle Club Rides — Shows recent rides submitted by members. Members can manually enter ride information or add ride statistics from cycling services such as Strava and Ride with GPS.
  4. Community / Leaderboard — Connects riders through the website guide, membership information, leaderboard, cycling links, event information, and member stories such as bucket-list rides or favorite routes.
Guest mode is intended to help visitors understand what the club is about before registering or becoming more involved.

Member Mode

Member mode gives registered members and organizers additional tools for participating in the club. Members can add and update content in the four activity cards, submit rides, add photos, and include links to ride services such as Strava and Ride with GPS.

Members also have access to a Rider Statistics Report that provides ride metrics such as speed, distance, heart rate, and power statistics. The report can be exported as a downloadable CSV file for personal tracking or review.

Organizers and ride leaders can use these tools to keep schedules, notes, ride details, and community updates current for the club.

The Four Homepage Cards

The Bend / Redmond Bicycle Club homepage is organized around four primary activity cards. Together, these cards provide scheduling, communication, ride tracking, statistics, and community resources for the club.

1. Ride Schedule

The Ride Schedule card allows ride leaders and organizers to publish scheduled group rides for the club. These rides may include recurring weekly rides, special events, or informal meet-up opportunities.

Typical examples might include the Wednesday Cardiac Kids Group Ride, Friday Evening Casual Group Ride, weekend gravel rides, or seasonal mountain bike rides.

Ride information may include:

Over time, the Ride Schedule is intended to help riders discover regular riding groups that match their interests, fitness levels, and preferred riding styles.

2. Club Notes

The Club Notes card provides a place for members to post updates, announcements, reminders, and special club information.

Examples may include:

Club Notes are intended to provide a simple communication area for keeping riders informed about current club activities and local cycling opportunities.

3. Bicycle Club Rides

The Bicycle Club Rides card allows members to submit information and ride statistics for their recent rides. Ride information can be entered manually using the website form or imported from popular cycling platforms and devices.

Supported ride sources include:

Submitted rides may include ride statistics such as distance, elevation gain, average speed, moving time, heart rate, cadence, and power information depending on the available source data.

Ride submissions automatically contribute to both the monthly club Leaderboard and the Rider Statistics reporting system.

The goal is to provide members with a way to track their riding activity while also helping the club build a shared record of local riding accomplishments and experiences.

4. Community

The Community card serves as the club’s shared information and resource area. It contains links, stories, announcements, and other information intended to help riders stay connected with the cycling community.

Community items may include:

The Community card is intended to grow over time as members contribute stories, events, resources, and information that support the broader cycling community across Central Oregon.

Membership

How to Register

To create a website account, begin in Guest Mode and click the Register link in the top navigation bar.

The registration form will appear. Complete the form by entering:

Passwords must be at least 8 characters long and contain:

After completing the form, click the Register button. A verification email will be sent to the email address you entered.

Open the email and click the verification link to activate your account. You may then log in as a member.

Your website login email will be your master email address with the number 44 appended to the end.

Example:
youremail@gmail.com44

If you experience registration problems, use the Contact Us link located at the bottom of the website.

Website Registration vs Club Membership

Registration on theFocusOnLife is required to create your website account and gain access to Member Mode features. However, website registration by itself does not automatically make you an official Bend / Redmond Bicycle Club member.

To become an official club member, riders must also complete the club membership application form and liability release.

The membership form is available through the Join / Membership Form link located near the top of the Community card.

Why Membership Matters

Membership helps build a stronger and more connected cycling community across Bend, Redmond, Sisters, and surrounding areas. As membership grows, riders gain more opportunities to participate in organized rides, discover new routes, improve fitness, and connect with riders who share similar cycling interests and experience levels.

A growing membership base also helps the club develop regional ride leaders, expand recurring group rides, support local cycling events, and maintain useful community resources for riders throughout Central Oregon.

Club membership encourages participation, accountability, communication, and safety while helping riders become part of a welcoming and active cycling community.

Whether your interests include road cycling, gravel riding, mountain biking, touring, commuting, fitness riding, or casual recreational rides, membership helps create opportunities to ride more often and connect with others who enjoy cycling throughout the region.

Leaderboard

What the Leaderboard Tracks

The Bend / Redmond Bicycle Club Leaderboard provides a monthly summary of member riding activity submitted through the website. Its purpose is to encourage participation, celebrate consistency, and help members stay connected with the broader cycling community.

Ride information submitted manually or imported from services such as Strava, Ride with GPS, Garmin Connect, and supported .fit or .gpx files may contribute to the leaderboard totals.

Depending on the ride data available, the leaderboard and related rider statistics may track:

The leaderboard is intended to recognize participation and encourage healthy cycling activity across all experience levels rather than simply competition.

Riders of all abilities and riding styles are encouraged to participate. Consistency, enjoyment, exploration, and community involvement are valued as much as mileage and speed.

Privacy Controls

The website includes privacy controls that allow members to decide how much of their ride information is visible to other users and visitors.

Members may choose whether their rides and leaderboard participation are publicly visible. Some detailed ride statistics may remain private even when summary leaderboard information is shared publicly.

The club encourages riders to respect the privacy and preferences of all members when viewing or discussing ride information.

Public Leaderboard Opt-In

Participation in the public leaderboard is optional. Members who wish to appear on the public leaderboard must enable the public leaderboard option within their member profile settings.

Members who choose not to participate publicly may still use the ride submission and Rider Statistics reporting tools for personal tracking.

This approach allows riders to benefit from the website’s ride tracking features while maintaining control over their personal activity visibility.

Ride Posting

Members may share rides with the club in two primary ways:

  1. Submitting rides through the Bicycle Club Rides card
  2. Posting ride stories through the Stories feature

1. Submitting Rides

The Submit Ride button on the Bicycle Club Rides card allows members to add ride information and statistics to the website.

Rides may be entered manually using the ride form or imported from popular cycling platforms and devices.

Supported ride sources include:

Manual Ride Entry

Manual entry allows members to quickly record ride information without uploading a file. Members may enter details such as ride title, distance, elevation, average speed, moving time, and ride notes.

Manual entry works well for casual rides, shorter rides, indoor rides, or rides where a downloadable file is unavailable.

.fit and .gpx Downloads

Members may also upload ride files downloaded from cycling services and GPS devices. The recommended format is a .fit file, which typically contains the most detailed ride information including heart rate, cadence, and power statistics when available.

.gpx files are also supported and may be useful for route tracking and basic ride information, although they sometimes contain fewer ride metrics than .fit files.

In most cases, .fit downloads from Strava, Ride with GPS, or Garmin Connect provide the best overall ride statistics and reporting detail.

Submitted rides may contribute to both the monthly Leaderboard and the Rider Statistics reporting system.

2. Posting Ride Stories

Members may also share memorable rides and cycling experiences through the Add Story feature available from the Member page.

Stories provide a more personal and visual way to share rides with the club community. Members may add:

Stories are intended to help members discover new routes, share cycling experiences, and inspire other riders throughout the community.

The combination of ride submissions and stories allows the website to function both as a ride tracking system and as a growing community archive of local cycling experiences.

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