Happy 5th Anniversary Muddbunnies!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MUDDBUNNIES!!!

To say, “I can’t believe we’ve made it this far” would be a lie. Of course we did! With the many dedicated and devoted women involved with the club and the company, it’s no wonder that we happily celebrate our 5th year.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the many women involved in making this organization the success that it has become.  Special thanks go to the following:

The original 4 members: Jennifer Crawford, Syd Kjell, and Michelle Santos. Oh yeah and me too, Ryan Petersen.

Thanks also goes to a handful of long-term members who’ve been with us since we were a mere yahoo group: Susan Sheldon, Tina Yiu and Veronica Kacinik.

Our first (unofficial) board of directors: Aimee Dunn, Susan Sheldon, Veronica Kacinik, Tina Yiu, Nina Parr, Dorothy Lueke and Diana Walker.

Muddbunnies was founded by me, Ryan Petersen in 2005, shortly after I had started “north shore style” mountain biking.  I  wanted to join a women’s mountain biking group and realized that there wasn’t one so I decided that I would start one myself.

The first four members met weekly to ride the local trails.  I wanted more.  I knew there were a ton of women riding yet why weren’t they riding together? So I created an online Yahoo Group for the women I was wrangling together, where they could go online, connect and ride bikes together.  I literally stopped women on the trails and in the parking lots and had them memorize the ridiculously long url.  Soon enough, through the amazing power of word of mouth, there were more and more women signing up.

After almost a year, Syd suggested we fundraise so we could realize our goals of becoming an officially recognized riding club. She suggested we make a sexy calendar…and so we did thanks to the talent and hard work of Danielle Baker who provided the majority of the photos and editing. Big props go to all of the models who participated in this great project. Who knew then that it would give us the “superstar” status that it has! And thanks to everyone who purchased the calendars, because of you we were able to become a Cycling BC recognized riding club!

As we were creating the layout for the website the idea of the bunny skull logo came to me and with help from friend and artist, Ron Sombilon, (he created the gradient, 3D effect) the famous logo was born.

In 2007, it was time to have a more official website than a yahoo group.  I acquired www.muddbunnies.com and I began posting away. This website quickly became an online women’s biking community where there was information about women in mountain biking, product reviews about women specific mountain biking products, as well as information on how to meet up with the club.  An online forum was included with this site where anybody could join and create a forum name, and chat with other women who share the same passion for the sport.

Also in 2007, Muddbunnies Riding Inc was incorporated.  As a business, I began able to make clothing, run clinics, and start the process of trademarking the logo.  At this time I was still running the club that was getting bigger by the second!

We had on going Learn To Ride clinics, race clinics, BMX clinics, a race team including club members and sponsored riders: Aimee Dunn, Judy Garren, Britney Boychuk, myself and South Africas, Joanna Pedderson. The girls had podium finishes at Crankworx and throughout the BC race circuit!

We were in various magazines including Pedal, Dirt Rag, Mountan Bike UK, Mountain Bike and online articles on Pinkbike.com and NSMB.com. Oh yeah and we got the COVER of the North Shore Outlook! We were filmed for a segment on Shaw TV and made an appearance on the hit HBO series, the L Word. We were EVERYWHERE!

In 2008, I called the women who were actively participating in Muddbunnies Club activities and held the first ever Annual General Meeting.  I realized that the club was getting much too big for me to run myself so I decided to get a board of directors elected to run the Club side of Muddbunnies.  My vision was to have Muddbunnies Riding Club be a separate entity and become a not for profit society.  At the AGM, the board members elected were:

Ryan Petersen – Club Owner
Aimee Dunn – President
Dorothy Luebke – Vice President
Tina Yiu – co-treasurer
Diana Walker – co-treasurer
Nina Parr – Secretary
Susan Sheldon – Membership
Lindsay Cox – Membership
Jerusha Millar – Member at Large

During 2008 the club grew even more, having a total of 76 members!  For the 2nd annual AGM in 2009, the board decided to define 8 roles for the board of directors.  The 8 board positions created and members were elected to fill these rolls:

President – Aimee Dunn
Vice-President – Dorothy Luebke
Director of Corporate Relations – Ina Hunt
Director of Communications – Tina Yiu
Director of Events – Veronica Kacinik
Treasurer – Diana Walker
Secretary – Susan Sheldon
Member at Large – Jennifer Clarke

Shortly after the 2009 AGM, the Muddbunnies Riding Club was officially incorporated as a Non-Profit Society.  The society has a Constitution and By-Laws, and is incorporated under the Society Act.  The official name of the club is “Muddbunnies Riding Club (BC)” – not to be confused with the incorporated company called “Muddbunnies Riding Inc.” The club continued to grow, and had a total of 106 members in 2009.

Muddbunnies Riding Inc continued to support the club, having clothing made for members, as well as maintaining the webpage, which the club actively uses to organize the weekly rides, and that the members actively use to meet other members for riding buddies.

In 2009, I decided that I needed a partner to run the company and decided to bring Diana Walker on board to help with the organization and day-to-day details of running a business. As Diana had been actively involved in organizing the club into what it is today, and had a good understanding of the values, goals, and mandates of both the club and company, it made perfect sense to have her on board.

In early 2010, Diana officially signed on as a partner in Muddbunnies Riding Inc.
The company is continuing to actively support the club with promoting through the website creating merchandise for the club’s members, and having an online community where the club and its members can meet.  The club continues to focus its efforts in ensuring weekly club rides are happening, for all levels of mountain bikers.  The club is active in the biking community, putting on trail maintenance days, and volunteering for any and all mountain bike related events.

The club and company will continue to grow together, continually cross-promoting one another. We recognize and appreciate the value in each other and the common goal is the same: get more women on bikes!

Ride hard! Get Dirty!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqlt0M9FikE

How long have YOU been a Muddbunny? Have a good story? Post it HERE