At the club meeting last month we had a lively discussion about what the club does well and what we can change to do better. A lot of ideas about improved marketing, types of rides, having events closer to home, more involvement with the velo, etc. In the area of marketing and communication, the idea of changing the name of the club was brought up. During the meeting (and after) several people tried to Google "bicycle clubs near me" and LWA was hard to find if it was there at all.
So after 70 years, it is time to give the club a bit of a facelift. "Wheelman" is a very old (1800s) name for a bicyclist but it is not really used today. It also projects to the outside world that we are a male only club, which we are not. We've also been refered to as only fast riders and racers, which we certainly are not. The board would like to keep the history associated with the name Lehigh Wheelmen Association (LWA) while projecting to the outside world that we are a friendly and inclusive bicycling group.
To help with this, Donalee Frary has put together a survey for club members to fill out. It's quick and painless. We'd like to get input from the club members while we work on the legal issues around the name change. Please click on the following link and fill out the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YTFYW2R
The board will be reviewing this input, along with the legal and logistical issues, to extablish the best path forward.
Carl Zvanut