Event Planning and Marketing: Big Ring Cycles
Creating memorable cycling events for Big Ring Cycles was a cost-effective way to market this local, independent bicycle dealer and to build a stronger cycling community. I organizied and marketed a wide range of events for Big Ring including small hands-on tech clinics, informational seminars, demo days, fundraisers for local non-profits and two annual signature Big Ring events that have positioned this retailer as a leader in the bicycle community.
I established Ride Like a Girl, the first Annual Colorado Women’s Ride Day in 2017. This event brings together women riders of all levels for a day of women-led road and mountain bike rides, food and drinks, presentations and connecting. From the big pieces like city permits and food vendors to the small details like chilled handtowels for the returning riders, I managed all components including recruiting vendors, speakers, and ride leaders as well as creating all marketing and outreach within a very limited budget. Over the three years of the event (the fourth year was canceled due to Covid-19), attendance grew from 75 riders to 128 and this event, as well as Women’s Tech Clinics I coordinated, established Big Ring Cycles as a shop that supports women’s cycling.
As fat bikes became increasingly popular and a potential growth market for Big Ring Cycles, I worked with fat bike enthusiast Matt Barnett to develop a ride series for Big Ring Cycles. To introduce this type of riding to more cyclists, we hosted a series of rides with demo bikes available. As the community became more established. we created the first front range fat bike race, the Staunton Blizzard. I coordinated with Jefferson County Open Space and Staunton State Park Rangers, organized food and drinks and used online channels, social media and email campaigns to market these events. Sales of fat bikes at Big Ring grew exponentially.