All,
I hope you had an excellent summer on and off the bike. The end of summer is near and the best season for bike riding is right around the corner. Hopefully everyone had an opportunity to get away with and without your bike and are recharged for the fall season. In case you are wondering where I have been – I took a fall on a gravel ride and took the handlebars to my face and split my upper lip. Like a good boxer, I got up finished the ride then got sent to the locker room for stitches. I looked like the “Joker” for a couple of weeks but now all is well, and I am back on the bike and yes, the bike is fine.
Now a couple of serious items.
- I have received a couple of complaints from solo bike riders and drivers. The solo bike riders state that we are not providing clear warnings when we are coming up behind them. Let’s make sure to announce that we are coming up on the left when we are passing of club members or solo riders to avoid startling them. It’s the proper and courteous thing to do. As for drivers, a couple of individuals felt obliged to complain about the club riding two three deep in the swamp. I always assume it must be some other club, but let’s make sure we are riding single file when there is traffic. Last thing we want is an overzealous driver trying to teach us a lesson which results in a terrible accident like we saw in Arizona last year.
- Some of you may have heard that the club had a ride leader/ride participant issue in the second quarter. Although we are a bike club, we are family and family have quarrels from time to time. The Board takes safety seriously and we appointed a separate independent panel to evaluate the situation and provide a recommendation to the Board. In the end, we provided a formal warning to all individuals involved with the threat of a future suspension or being kicked out of the club if we continue to see such egregious behavior. Let’s make sure that any quarrel is not in the public domain as we have to protect the club brand. In these situations, the parties should have a one-on-one conversation a day or two after the event that caused the issue. I generally find a cooling off period is best for both parties otherwise emotions get in the way. If the one-on-one conversation does not resolve the matter than bring it to my attention and I or my designee will work with the parties to resolve. As in all bad things good things come from them. We are working on a Ride Leader/Ride Participant Code of Conduct that we will share with you all later this year. We have not determined how we role this out at this time but stay tuned.
Fun Stuff
Labor Day is around the corner. Weather permitting, I am planning a Washington Crossing Ride for this glorious holiday. I will put in a place holder a C ride, but we can break it up into different classifications if we get enough people. If you are around and not traveling, please join us for this wonderful ride. If we get enough people, we can have a pizza party or make Linda bake desserts for us all. Only kidding on Linda but Pizza or something else is possible.
Fall Picnic. We are currently looking for a location for the Fall picnic. Once the location is locked down, I will send a note.
Good or Bad Idea – you decide. I was down at the shore this weekend and while I was riding, I was thinking we should have a beach day in September once all the Bennies are gone (oh wait we are the Bennies). For those who do not know what a “Bennie” means – it’s an affectionate term by the locals for individuals that come down and overwhelm their towns to benefit off their beaches. September is the best time of year at the shore – don’t tell anyone. You can get into restaurants and there is no traffic. The beach is empty, and the water is at its warmest for the season. My bike loop is about 20 miles and is relatively flat except for wind that can make it feel like you are riding uphill if it is strong enough. Let me know your thoughts – individuals can do one, two or three loops to get in a metric century if they feel inclined to do so. I had some head wind today and average 15.7 without much effort. We can park outside the park and enter for free on our bikes or park in the park where there are bathrooms, showers etc. If there is enough interest, we will look into it and set something up. Feel free to respond back to this email with your thoughts.
Regards
Joseph Reo
MAFW President
