I understand that my image of hand signals may have been missing from my email.  To find a list of hand signals as well as other safety topics, go to the MAFW website and select Safety Policy under Safety.  I recommend you review our Safety Policy as well as Bicycle Safety 101 that is also located under Safety.  I recommend you share these documents with other family members that ride. In my neighborhood it bothers me when I see kids riding their bikes to school and not following basic rules of the road.  No helmet, wrong side of the road, texting while riding, etc.  Maybe schools should do a short session on bike safety at start of the school year.

Ride safe, Manny

When riding in a group we should use hand and verbal communication to promote safety. Below is a set of standard hand signals I received from a fellow cyclist.  Verbal cues should also include stopping, slowing, car back, car up, car left, car right, hole, ice, rough road but never CLEAR.  

Several members of MAFW also belong to the Watchung Amateur Ski Club.  On Jan 26 we are running a bus trip to Elk Mountain and I listed info below.  Bus leaves 6am from the Hyatt Golf Course in Clark.  We still have a few spots on the bus so if you are interested please call me at 732-259-8990.

Thanks, Manny 

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INCLUDED IN THE TRIP

• Round-trip bus transportation• Breakfast on the bus***
• Après ski snacks on the return trip
• All-day lift ticket***

Note: Coffee, tea, etc. will no longer be served with the bus breakfast. Please remember to bring your own hot beverage of choice!

TRIP COST
$145 – Adults (18-64) – Members
$150 – Adults (18-64) – Non-Members
$125 – Seniors 65+ – Members
$130 – Seniors 65+ – Non-Members
$125 – Juniors (6-17) – ALL
(children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult)
$60 – Bus Only – Members
$65 – Bus Only – Non-Members

As MAFW Ride Coordinator I came up with my 2025 New Years Resolutions for Morris Area Freewheelers that I hope you share with me:

• Follow our club motto of Nobody Rides Alone and that includes the ride leader.
• Do the pace. 
• As ride leader I will sweep.
• As a rider I will regroup as necessary to keep the ride together.
• More slow rides backing up fast rides.  For example, D+ ride backing up C ride.
• Stop at all rest stops.

These resolutions are not only for when I am a ride leader but also when I am a rider.

Manny

I just want to share a key learning from an extensive study that Drew conducted from 50 recent MAFW crashes.   This is extremely important under very cold or hot conditions. If a rider feels that he or she can’t continue with the ride please have someone accompany the rider back to the start.   On a recent ride Vinny and I were leading a ride from Denville and were prepared to shorten the ride if rain and wind came earlier than predicted.   We kept the riders together and regrouped as necessary and were prepared to go back as a group.

 Key Learnings from the review would include:

• The data associated with the 50 incidents support the MAFW Club Motto that emphasizes that riding as a group is safer than riding alone.
  • All 50 reflect the support provided by other riders during these incidents.
  • 44 reflect situations that could happen whether riding as a group or alone … only 6 of the 50 involved rider to rider collisions.

With winter upon us I just want to point out the section of the Ride Leader Handbook related to weather as indicated below.  On New Years Day Vinny and I led a ride from Denville where they were predicting 40 mph gusts and rain.  We carefully monitored the weather and determined that wind and rain would hold off until end of ride.  In case the weathermen were wrong we had plans that we shared with the 15 riders to shorten the ride.  I swept and Vinny led and we kept everyone together with occasional regroupings.  We were able to complete the ride before the rain and wind.  

Happy New Year, Manny

Weather

If the weather is clearly inappropriate for riding (e.g., rain, snow, ice or extreme wind), you should cancel your ride. Remember that wind can be as dangerous as precipitation and ice; flying garbage can lids, tree branches, and other windborne debris can make riding hazardous.

If the weather is questionable – e.g., there’s a greater than 50% probability of precipitation, it’s extremely windy (wind gusts of 15 mph or more), it’s very cold (under 30 degrees) or hot (over 90 degrees temperature or RealFeel™) – it’s your responsibility to decide whether to cancel the ride.

I know that Steve has set this up as a bike ride tomorrow at Sandy Hook but if you want to just come for the seal and bird watching Steve said you are more than welcome.  However, he can’t promise you that there will be seals but there are other places to visit on Sandy Hook including the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, observation deck at North Beach, bird watching platform at 9 Gun Battery and a couple of museums. Families and dogs welcome to tour Sandy Hook but remind you our bike insurance only covers you if you sign up.  Thanks to Steve for setting this up.

This was posted on the Princeton Freewheelers Facebook page today and the message is don’t leave valuables in your car while you are riding: “Last Friday my car was broken into while my husband and I rode on the tow path from the Scudders Falls Parking lot in West Trenton. 2 credit cards and $$ were stolen from my hidden purse. – they used a tool to trigger my key lock to roll down the windows and it disables the car alarm. State Park Police told us it was most likely work of The Felony Lane Gang. You can Google it. This is an organized gang that targets certain places. The officer said now they are hitting up a lot of the NJ State Parks and look for bikers since they know they will be gone for a while. My break in appeared have several people involved. Since within an hour of us leaving they went over the bridge to Oxford Valley and hit, Best Buy, HD and Dicks all with in 20 minutes of each other. I did get a fraud alert from Chase but PNC never suspected fraud. The police are pursuing store cameras since they can use facial recognition. HARD lesson to learn but I did and won’t keep any possessions in my car again while biking/hiking, etc. I wanted to pass this on so people are aware. And it’s now creepy to know we were being watched!!”

Summit Physical Therapy/Trek Gravel event this Sunday in Bedminster and rides scheduled.  Rides will occur with or without a ride leader since ride leaders to be supplied by organizer.

Here is the link to the trek gravel event this weekend! Use link to register for event.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trek-bicycle-summit-gravel-ride-with-summit-physical-therapy-tickets-1079301743569?aff=oddtdtcreator

Paul Coviello PT, DPT, OCS
Owner at Summit Physical Therapy

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Stress and pain come together all too often. Check out this post to learn about how stress is affecting you.

https://www.summitpt-nj.com/
60 Morris Turnpike, Suite 2w
Summit, New Jersey 07901
Tel: (908) 598- 9009
Fax (973) 218- 9717

Tour Creation Guidelines-If you want to create a new tour, please follow the Tour Creation Guidelines.  Under Rides select More Ride Info to find Tour Creation Guidelines.  If your tour needs a new start point, please email the info to me.  If you follow the tour creation guidelines, we will do our best to activate the new tour in a timely manner but keep in mind we are all volunteers. You need to submit the RWGPS file, draft cue sheet and tour description.  You also get to name your tour.  If there is an immediate need to lead the tour, email me the RWGPS file and draft cue sheet and you can run this as test ride.

Dangerous Tours-At last night’s meeting the issue of dangerous tours was brought up.  If you think a tour is dangerous, please email me the tour # and reasons you think the tour is dangerous.  If there is a way to avoid the dangerous section let me know.  Recently a ride leader pointed out a dangerous section and he came up with a way to bypass that section.  The tour was modified to make it safer.   If the tour can’t be corrected we will make the ride inactive. Morris Area Freewheelers has a great tour library of over 1000 tours with a cue sheet for every tour.  We have a Cue Sheet Committee that not only creates new tours but also works to improve those tours based on your input.  As a member of MAFW you have full access to the library.  Other bike clubs value and occasionally use our library. Manny