Greetings, Friends.

I’m pleased to announce that another MAFW exclusive event has been added to the website calendar. 

As we are all contending with the cold weather, let’s get ourselves ready for the springtime cycling season. We are pleased to announce a special lecture and presentation to our members, entitled “Strength Training for Cyclists”, presented by Paul Coviello, PT, DPT, owner of Summit Physical Therapy, a Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedic Physical Therapy and a committed cyclist as well. Many of you may remember that Paul gave a lecture at our annual November meeting, is a corporate sponsor of the Ramble, and has treated a number of MAFW members for their physical therapy needs.

Paul’s lecture and demonstration will be presented at his Summit location, 60 Morris Turnpike , Suite 2W, Summit, NJ 07901 ( entrance to parking lot is across the street from Benihana). The event will be on Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 4:00 pm. Space is limited for this event, only 15 members can be accommodated. Please sign up on the calendar on the club website. Refreshments will be served.

Kudos to Jeff Sperling and Paul Coviello for making this event happen for the club!

Keep an eye on your email as we plan to add more educational events in the coming months and watch for the kick-off for our monthly “special treat” rides once the weather warms up.  And if you have suggestions for informational/educational presentations please email me.  Let’s all contribute to add more value and fun to club membership.

Stay safe and stay warm.

Best regards,

Michael

 

 

Here’s some exciting news to help warm you during this cold spell!   1. The Morris Area Freewheelers Winter Party takes place on February 1, 2025 at Fairchild Fire Company, 2 Burnham Rd., Morris Township from 6-10 PM.  Come out and party with us.  And if you have a significant other, don’t let him/her miss out on the fun.  It’s BYOB and there will be music.  Sign up on the calendar page on the club website.   2.  Save the date and plan to attend POP’S WINTERFEST 2025 on Janurary 28, 2025 from 6-8:30 PM.  Prizes and giveaways!   Pop’s Bike Shop, 34 E. Main St., Somerville, will be hosting a rep night! Company representatives from Shimano, Lazer Helmets, Niterider lights, Kuat car racks, Garmin, Continental tires, Skratch Lab nutrition and more will be there as will company representatives from Giant, Haro, and Dahon bicycle companies!   Come by and meet their new in-house Chiropractor Kate Denker, as well as Zachy Christodoulou from Yoga Odyssey!   Pop’s will have product demos and tutorials, new product introductions, as well as prizes and giveaways. SUPER special POPS WINTERFEST event pricing on a large range of road, mountain, and hybrid bikes with savings of 20% to over 50% on select models!  POPS will be offering parts and accessories specials from 20%-90% on a huge range of products from presenters listed above, as well as Muc-Off, Pearl Izumi, Elite indoor trainers, Cannondale, Tifosi Optics, Wera tools, and many others!   Pop’s will be accepting donations of used bikes for Ridewise, its partner here in Somerset county, that helps local people in need of transportation alternatives. Drop off that old bike that you no longer need, and we will refurbish it to be given to a local person right here in our local community.   Also, a portion of the proceeds of this event will be donated to aid victims of the Los Angeles wild fires. We will also be accepting donations that will go directly to help those in the bicycling community in California that need our help.   RSVP by email at repair@popsbikeshop.com.   Stay safe and stay warm.   Michael

Greetings, all.

A few updates to share:

1. The Trek inspection scheduled for 1/18/2025 has been postponed due to lack of interest but will be rescheduled at a later date.
2. The Board has approved an incentive for club members who recruit new members.  Any club member that recruits 3 new members will receive either a MAF jersey or a $50 gift card.  Names of club members who recruit 1 or 2 new members will be entered into a drawing for a MAF jersey or a $50 gift card.  The club’s IT Coordinator will  add a question to the new member sign up to capture who was the referring member.  The program runs annually from October 1 through September 30 and is retroactive to October 1, 2024.
3.  Don’t forget to sign up for the club’s winter party that will take place on February 1, 2025.  If you didn’t receive the email invite, contact social@mafw.org.

Stay safe and have fun.

Best regards,

Michael

I am sad to say that I have just learned that longtime MAFW member Bill Zalan lost his battle with lymphoma on Thursday, January 9.  Bill took up cycling to complement his running and prepare him for triathlons.   He had great success as a runner and a cyclist, and enjoyed many days of riding with MAFW.  He enjoyed the company of MAFW members on the Bon Ton Roulet and Bike Virginia.  He joined a People Cycling trip, going most of the way across the US, and then paralleling the Rhine River from Switzerland to Amsterdam.   In addition, Bill tried his luck with triathlons, and competed up to the Ironman distance.  

Funeral services will be at 10:00 am on Saturday (January 18, 2025) , St. Ladislaus Roman Catholic Church..  213 Somerset St.  New Brunswick  NJ 08901
There will be a reception at the Hungarian American Athletic Club (233 Somerset St. New Brunswick NJ  08901) immediately following.

Bill was the longtime companion of former MAFW  President Liz Jennison.(drlizjen@gmail.com)

An informal gathering celebrating Bill’s sporting life (running, biking, hiking, skiing) will be held on Sunday, January 19, 2025 from 1-4 pm at the home of Mike Falcone (14 Southwood Dr. Morris Plains, NJ)

Greetings, all.

I must have been so excited about the bike inspections that I forgot to tell you to go to “Calendar” on the club website to sign up.

And I’m leaving now to wash the egg off of my face.

Best regards to all.

We are pleased to announce the return of our highly successful free Trek Bike Inspections at the Stirling location. Safety is the number one priority for our members. We urge you to take advantage of this vital free service exclusively for MAFW members. For most of you, your bikes have probably not been inspected by a professional in over 12 months. Trek Stirling will provide a free comprehensive, no obligation written assessment of your bike. The inspection includes tires, frame and fork, suspension, drivetrain, rider contact points, wheel system, and braking system. Members can make their own decisions regarding where or how their bike should be serviced.

Demonstrating their continued commitment to MAFW, Trek Stirling is offering exclusive service pricing not available to the general public. Level 2 service will be discounted by $100 and Level 3 service will be reduced by $150. Note that this savings is greater than the savings that Trek is currently promoting for those services to the general public. If you have friends or family who aren’t MAFW members and their bike(s) require service, they can join MAFW and wind up paying less for these services than they would if they weren’t club members!

This event is scheduled for January 18 if weather permits riding. D+, C, and C+/B rides will be offered. Rides will be approximately 20 miles in length. Otherwise, inspections will take place on January 25 regardless of weather. If the weather is bad on the 25th, rides will be cancelled. Please note that you are not obligated to sign up for a club ride in order to have your bike inspected. C+/B riders should plan to arrive no later than 9 AM; C riders at 9:30 AM; D+ riders at 10:15 AM, and those not riding at 11 AM. Refreshments will be provided by Trek.

Be sure to sign up so we can provide an accurate headcount to Trek even if you sign up for rides on that day.

Have fun; be safe.

Michael Chenkin

Board Elections

As of this morning, approximately 20 % of the active members have submitted their votes and you do not even have to go to a polling station.  Your vote counts as we have multiple members running for several positions for the first time in club history. It’s not Trump vs Harris but its close.

Voting will close on midnight on Wednesday, November 6th and the results will be announced at the Annual Meeting on November 7th.  You can click the link below or when you are signing up for a ride tomorrow click the link on the top of our web page.

Voting is now open for the 2024 election of the 2025-2026 BoD!

MAFW Annual Meeting

Our annual meeting is being held on Thursday November 7th at 6:30 PM at the Morristown library.  Besides the sharing of the election results we will have a couple of great speakers with a Health and Wellness Theme and the re-introduction of the ride planning committee.

• Paul Coviello PT, DPT, OCS of Summit Physical Therapy will be discussing “How to reduce your injury risk on and off the bike”.   Paul is a key sponsor of the Ramble and multiple members use his teams’ services for PT and other pain management services.  He is an active bicyclist and understands the injuries we incur enjoying the sport of cycling. If you have a chance prior to the meeting check out his website and services.  https://www.summitpt-nj.com/
• Tim Sharpe one of our members with a specialty is sports nutrition.  He will be discussing how to use nutrition to maximize your ride.  Maybe he can provide me some pointers in how to lose weight.  Tim Sharpe is an adjunct faculty member in the post-graduate Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine program at the University of Western States and has a doctorate in acupuncture and Chinese medicine and an MS in human nutrition and functional medicine. He currently serves as the head nutritionist at the Institute for Human Kinetics. 
• Jay Marowitz will follow up these sessions with a discussion on the planned restart of the Ride Planning Committee

Please join us for this session. Please click the link below to let us know you are attending. 

MAFW Annual Meeting on November 7th at 6:30 pm

See you all on Thursday

Joseph Reo

MAFW President

 

 REMINDER! Remember the lunch and dinner MAFW Foundation benefit on Monday, October 21, 2024.  It will be held at the Gourmet Cafe, 136 Baldwin Road, Parsippany.  Ten percent of the day’s receipts will go to the Morris Area Freewheelers Foundation.  This includes gift certificates, takeout, etc., as well as meals. For 12:30 PM lunch reservations, contact Rob Greenberg, 973.557.3118/robdg01@aol.com.  For dinner, you’re on your own, and reservations are advised.  BYOB If you can’t make the date, treat yourself at another time. You won’t be disappointed the food is great, as is the staff There are more details in the September and October issues of the Freewheeler News and check out the gourmet Cafe’s website.

Just wanted you all to know that Rob Greenberg, our EMS squad coordinator for the Ramble, has arranged with the Parsippany Gourmet Cafe’s owner to donate 10% of his one-day receipts (for Oct 21) to the Foundation. It’s a highly rated restaurant and reasonably priced so join us for some good food and conversation.  Several people are going from the club, including me.  It’s open to anyone. If you’re interested, just let Rob know you are coming. Rob’s email and a link to the restaurant are attached below.

FYI the restaurant is near the Denville starting point if you want to get a ride in beforehand.
Gourmet Café (gourmetcafenj.com)

robdg01@aol.com

Hope everyone had an opportunity to enjoy the weather this week,

The 9/14/22 Denville Bike, Pizza and Beer ride joint ride with BTCNJ was a great success.  The weather was great, and we had approximately 65 riders roll out this morning.   We provided multiple rides with various paces so everyone could participate.   After the ride, we all met at the Diamond Spring Brewery in downtown Denville, and we utilized our ride leader celebration ride funding to purchase 18 pizzas for the hungry riders.    Everyone hung out and had a great time.   We also had some preliminary conversations, and we are looking to set up a similar event in October that will end at Burnt Mills Cider in Bedminster.   Stay tuned for further details

Next week we have two great events for you but first an important announcement.

I have received a lot of comments lately on the need for our bike club to modernize a little.  As to that matter, our existing bylaws do not specifically authorize voting using the Internet, and they also do not specifically authorize meetings using Zoom and similar computer applications. The Board believes that the bylaws should be amended to provide these authorizations, and we have prepared proposed bylaws amendments that would accomplish this.   We will be presenting these amendments at the upcoming picnic on the 22nd and will be holding a vote on adopting them.  If they are adopted, they will become effective immediately.  A small change to bring is in alignment with corporate standards in a post covid world.  To see the proposed changes please utilize the attached link.  MAFW-2022-bylaws-with-proposed-changes-V.-2.0

The two events next week are as follows:

Semi-Annual Trek Inspection Ride – 9/21/24

The previously scheduled date was cancelled due to excessive heat.  Many of you remember that last year we launched our first ever Trek Inspection Rides starting from Trek Stirling’s location. These events were very well received with all participants receiving Trek’s free safety inspection on their bikes. Trek will be offering a $50.00 discount on their level 2 service and $100 discount for Level 3 service, if needed. There will be refreshments, bagels, coffee and juices before and after the rides.  Trek will also have Trek Fest specials inside their store for members to shop after the ride. We are staggering the start times of the rides, so that Trek can properly inspect and discuss their findings with our riders. Parking will be in the Trek lot, next door at the Day Care Center, and along Main Street in Stirling.  Bathrooms are available in the store. Trek Service will be on duty at 8:00 am, so please arrive about 45 minutes to an hour before your ride starts.   Rides are now available on our website.

Annual Fall Picnic – Schooley Mountain Park – 9/22/24

The MAFW Fall Picnic will be on Sunday September 22nd, at Schooley Mountain Park in Long Valley.  For those that have not ridden out of the park it’s a beautiful location and the rides are fantastic as well. The picnic is free (and you can bring a guest).  We are looking to finalize the headcount for the fall picnic on Sunday September 22nd. Weather looks to be perfect as of this evening (low 70’s and partially cloudy).  The picnic is free (and you can bring a guest or potential new member), but please sign up using the form at the top of our web page so we know how many people to expect.    People whose last name starts with:

A-F	Please bring an Appetizer/Salad.
G-O	Please bring a Main Dish
P-Z	Please bring a Dessert.

There is a full ride schedule for the day of the picnic, with rides at all paces.  There should be a ride for anyone who is interested and remember to sign up for the ride you plan to do in addition to signing up for the picnic.

Keep Riding

Regards

Joseph Reo