To all MAF RIDE LEADERS,                                                1/5/2021

Happy New Year to all MAF Ride Leaders and a big thank you on behalf of MAF for stepping up to take on this important responsibility.  You are the main reason why this club is so successful. Jay Marowitz put together these statistics for the past year that is not bad for 2020 and looking forward to a better 2021:

Total rider miles = 236,041 (sum of # riders x ride length)

Total rider climb = 10,470,927ft or 1983 miles

FYI – miles to the moon = 238,855

For your safety talks at start of your winter rides please include care crossing railroad tracks, black ice, and how to handle aggressive drivers.

So far we have D+ and C rides covered but I am reaching out to our C+ and B ride leaders to please consider putting in more C+ and B rides.

Main reason for this message is that last night at the Board meeting it was decided over the next few months to let ride leaders experiment with how they lead rides as long as they stay within MAF guidelines spelled out in the Pace and Terrain Information on the MAF website. You can specify a range of pace for your ride, you can decide to lead the ride from the front as long as you have a coleader sweeping, you can designate occasional regrouping, or you can maintain the status quo.  As an example, I refer you to Valerie Cole’s ride on Friday.  It is important you specify how you plan on leading your ride in the comments section of your ride and email your riders before the ride to make sure they reviewed your comments.  The reason why we decided to do this is that we are always looking for ways to improve our club and to address your concerns.  Looking forward to feedback from you and other ideas you may have.

Stay safe, ride safe and Happy New year,

Ride Coordinator

Manny

To all RIDE LEADERS,                                                       12/7/2020

Hope you all are well and staying safe.  As we all know we have been experiencing an upsurge in Covid-19 cases in the United States as well as New Jersey.  At tonight’s MAF Board meeting it was decided to reduce the rider limit from 15 to 10 and rides at same starting point need to be spaced by at least 30 minutes.  Ride leaders can still set their limit from 4 to 10 and space their rides by more than 30 mins.  These guidelines are in line with those set by BTCNJ and PFW and are put in place for the safety of our riders and their families. Since there will be less riders on a ride we need you to continue to put in rides as you have been doing.  The last thing the Board wants to do is prevent riders from riding.

As ride leaders please set the proper example by wearing your mask not only at rest stops but at the starting point and please social distance. MAF has many start points so I am asking you to try different start points to minimize number of riders at a start point.  Try and keep the number of rides from same location to 2.

Although there is an upsurge in Covid-19 cases there is light at the end of the tunnel with the new vaccines. We have had a great and safe cycling Summer and Fall so lets continue this into the Winter. 

Stay safe and ride safe,

Ride Coordinato

This weekend looks like a great weekend to ride.  Weather looks great so you can put away your ski clothes from last Sunday.  Fall foliage is peaking in our area, especially in the northwest corner of NJ and that is one reason I picked the Belvidere ride.  Kittatinny rides should be hitting peak fall foliage.

I noticed many riders on waiting lists for several of our rides tomorrow.  Here is an opportunity for ride leaders to step up and back up the primary ride so everyone has a chance to ride.  If a C+ or B RL from my ride wants to take over my ride and turn it into a C+ ride, I am willing to lead a C ride at 9:15am.

Finally with Covid making a resurgence please continue to follow the MAFW Covid guidelines.  Make sure everyone has a mask and hand sanitizer.  Social distance and I encourage everyone to wear their mask at start and end and at rest stops.

Ride safe,

Manny

To all ride leaders,

DENVILLE RIDES-The repaving work is complete for the section of Kinnelon Rd. between the Kinnelon Borough border with
Booton Township and Fayson Lakes Rd. The repaving of the section of Kinnelon Rd. between Fayson Lakes Rd. and Rt. 23 is on-going, and
expected to be complete by the end of this week. No work has been performed on Fayson Lakes Rd., and not sure if any road work is scheduled this year.  Thanks to Robert Goodheart for this update.

EMAIL TO YOUR RIDERS-In case you don’t know if you go to “My Rides”, select one of your scheduled rides and then select “Update Rides”  you can then email your riders with any special last minute messages.

RIDE LEADER AWARDS-Over next few days please update any of your rides from last month so I can determine who is eligible for ride leader awards.  You need to have led 10 rides from Oct 1, 2019 to Sept 30, 2020.

ASSAULT ON BEAR MOUNTAIN-I wanted to do the Bear Mountain ride but the road to top of Bear Mountain is closed due to Covid. There are other roads in Harriman closed.

FALL FOLIAGE-Now is the time for those fall foliage rides.

Ride safely,

Manny

Thanks,

Manny