THOR Annual Meeting

Saturday, I had two functions I could attend - SWIARC (Amateur Radio) flea market or the THOR (Trails Have Our Respect) Annual Meeting.  I opted on the THOR meeting and glad I did.

The first time I attended a THOR annual meeting it was in 2007(?).  The meeting was held in the repair part of a local bike shop.  There were about 8 attendees.

The 2014 version brought out about 40 members to talk about an advocate for dirt trails in the area.  Awesome turnout for a bitter cold day.  Thanks for the National Park Service for the use of their space. (See upper photo)

The meeting started with welcoming message and goals for the meeting.  Short reports offered by officers, committee chairs, and trail leaders.  Quickly the group got down to the meet if the meeting.

Currently, THOR is an affiliated club of IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association).  There was a video presentation about the benefits of becoming a Chapter of IMBA.  One complaint about the video - The narrator talked way to fast (missed about half of the words) and the graphics flashed in too quickly. 

Break-out groups were given the task of defining what they wanted the singletrack/mountain bike community would look like in 2020.  Many ideas were introduced for future consideration.  It gave an idea of the direction the club wants to take.   (see lower photo)

There was another break-out session where topics of Trail Maintenance, Social  Functions,  Fund Raising, and Strategic Planning/Development were discussed.  I was somewhat surprised that the largest break-out group (over half of the attendees) were in the Trail Maintenance discussion! 

There are high school cycling teams being formed in the Omaha area.  A representative of the high school cycling league spoke about the goals of the league and asked for THOR member help.  Another guest speaker was a representative from the Omaha Mayor's office.  He attended the entire meeting and made some remarks.

Meeting finished with nomination and elections of required club officers.  For those missed the meeting - Officers were re-elected for another term.  Roxzanne Feagan (Pres), Mike Farrell (VP), April Eyberg (Secr), Dave Neef (Treas).  Meeting ended at time,  The club trailer was in the parking lot available to dropping off metal for recycling.