Fresno Cycling Club - October 2024

Rough Draft

October 2024

THE PREZ SAYS.....

     Greetings fellow Fresno Cycling Club members wherever you may be. It's cool to note that we have members not just in the Central Valley but on the coast, in the mountains, and even out of state. We appreciate all our members and enjoy it when you come back to join us on rides. 

     These past few months we have been doing some things a little different by having our monthly birthday rides and having event signups for those and various other rides. It seems that we get a better reaction from having events than we do just posting rides on the Club calendar. So, we will continue until it is no longer effective. We encourage any of our members who have a great ride idea to propose it to any of the Board members especially the ride Coordinators Joe Cassinerio and Henry Pretzer, we love to try new things or even old rides that we haven't done in a while.  

     We had a great turnout of riders for the Labor Day / September Birthday ride. It was a lot of fun having the various ride levels from A to D. The October Birthday ride will be on Saturday, Oct 19, 2024, so all of you October Birthday folks sign up for the ride and we will have a great time. We will be finalizing the details at our board meeting on October 2, and sending all active club members an email invitation.

     One of the Annual Events that many of our Club members enjoy is the San Luis Obispo Club's Lighthouse Century with the Start/Finish at Morro Bay High School. If you have never done this ride, it follows the coastline on Highway 1 from Morro Bay to north of San Simeon with the Century riders taking a ride through the mountains via Old Creek Road out of Cayucos. This year’s ride was great, the weather although overcast most of the day was comfortable. It was great to see so many of our club members participating in the ride, I noticed many with their Club kits and several with their Killer Bees kits, both very identifiable. Of course, many were wearing their Lighthouse Jerseys both new and older. This year’s jersey was cool looking. I was amazed at how many of us did the Century, 75-mile and 65-mile rides. I heard some also did the 65-mile gravel ride. I would guestimate that there were 100 or more Club members there. There were also riders from the Kings County Velo Club (Hanford and Lemoore) and the Southern Sierra Club (Visalia). The after-ride meal was something new for this ride and it was delicious, basically something like a "Chipotle" bowl with chicken or pulled pork, with several optional add-ins.  

     This riding season is nowhere close to being over, with 100+ temps predicted for the first week of October and 90’s the second week, we still have a lot of good weather to ride in. Especially with the Grizzly ride coming up on Oct 5th, the Bass Lake Powerhouse Double Century on Oct 12, 2024, the Monthly Club Members Birthday ride on Oct 19th, and the Tour de Femme and Club Picnic on Oct 26, 2024. This will be a busy month for riding, so make sure you keep your bikes in great operating condition. 

     Our Club is in its 62nd year of existence, I was only 11 years old when it was started in February of 1962. Many presidents of the club have come and gone, as well as board members, volunteers, and club members, but they managed to keep the club membership alive all these years. Over the years the club has promoted many rides and riding events to give our membership activities and challenges to meet their bicycling goals and ambitions. What started as a racing team club has morphed into a predominantly recreational club trying to meet the needs of all levels of riders from beginners to experienced riders. Our past and present leaders have left an indelible mark on the club’s legacy with the creation of events such as the Kirch Flat Century (34 years), the Climb to Kaiser (45 years), the Bass Lake Powerhouse Double Century (19 years) and more recently the Everyone Loves Raymond Gravel Rides (6 years). The Fresno Cycling Club has garnered a strong reputation for hosting exceptional, well-supported, challenging, and enjoyable events. Our successful events over the years have allowed us to hold down the cost of membership, help cover the cost of the liability and injury insurance, provide Portable Toilets at key rider destinations, invest in our community bicycling infrastructure as well and support other bicycling-related groups and initiatives. Help us continue to keep this great club going for years to come by getting involved in a leadership or volunteer position.  See more information about this is the Leadership Nominations section below.

     On Thursday, October 17, Advocacy Coordinator Tina Sumner has put together an important membership meeting dealing with the issues of safe streets for everyone. I encourage as many members as possible to attend this meeting. The Fresno County Council of Governments (COG) is soliciting recommendations from the public and who better to comment than cyclists?   

     See you on the road, in the gravel or in the dirt (MTB). As always, ride safe and ride legal. The life you save may be your own. 

The Prez
Dennis Ball

HELP MAKE OUR STREETS SAFER!  ATTEND OUR CLUB MEMBERSHIP MEETING, THURSDAY OCTOBER 17TH

The Fresno County Council of Governments (COG) is requesting transportation needs and ideas from the county’s citizens. They want to hear from the Fresno Cycling Club regarding cycling infrastructure.  Our club membership meeting in October will host COG staff so we can present our ideas and needs for cycling infrastructure.  In addition to the COG staff we will have representatives from the City of Clovis, City of Fresno and Fresno County to tell us about upcoming infrastructure projects.

Please plan to attend.  It is important that the government representatives see that we are interested in the future plans for cycling infrastructure.

October Membership Meeting

Thursday, October 17th

6:00pm

Clovis Transit Center

785 3rd Street

(Refreshments will be served)

LEADERSHIP NOMINATIONS FOR 2025

     To continue our success as a thriving bicycling club and community we must keep our leadership positions filled with passionate committed volunteers. In keeping with the Club’s By-laws, we must open all our elected positions for nominations during October. The elected positions are  

  1. President
  2. Vice-President
  3. Secretary
  4. Treasurer
  5. Newsletter Editor
  6. Advocacy Coordinator
  7. A/B Ride Coordinator
  8. C/D Ride Coordinator
We also need volunteers to fill open appointed positions as well:
  1. Membership Coordinator
  2. Volunteer Coordinator.
  3. Ride Leader Coordinator (new position) 
  4. SAG Coordinator 
  5. Kirch Flat Coordinator 
  6. Climb to Kaiser Coordinator 
  7. Bass Lake Double Coordinator 

     For the elected positions you can nominate yourself or have someone nominate you by sending an email to secretary@fresnocycling.com. To apply for one of the appointed positions send an email to president@fresnocycling.com or secretary@fresnocycling.com. These are all Board member positions. As a Board member, you’re committing to attend the monthly Board meetings and perform the duties of the position and other duties as required. The appointed positions can be filled immediately, and the elected positions take on their duties at the first of the New Year January 1. For position duty descriptions go to: FCC_ByLaws2015.pdf (wildapricot.com). 

     Voting for Board positions will start in November and the results will be announced at the Christmas Dinner on Dec 1st. Please feel free to contact a Board member if you have any questions.  

BASS LAKE POWERHOUSE DOUBLE CENTURY, OCTOBER 12TH

     What do you do when riding 100 miles is no longer challenging?  You sign up for the Bass Lake Powerhouse Double Century.  The 2024 BLPDC takes place on Saturday, October 12th, and is an easy 200 miles with only 10,000 feet of climbing.  If that isn't enough to motivate you, keep in mind all of the great rest stops that makes FCC events legendary.  The first 100 miles takes you up and around beautiful Bass Lake.  The second 100 miles takes you out to Pine Flat. Click the link above to register today.   

TOUR D' FEMME AND MEN/FCC CLUB PICNIC, OCTOBER 26TH

     For 2024 we are combining the Tour D' Femme with the Annual FCC Picnic.  Therefore, we have changed the name for this year to the Tour D' Femme and Men.  The TDFM takes place on Saturday, October 26th. The ride will begin and end at Clovis Hills Community Church (this is the same location as last year's club picnic when the club picnic followed the Padyakan Ride)

     Registration is now open!  

A group of FCC members helped Dorothy celebrate her 80th birthday with a ride out to Wonder Valley for lunch.  A total of 69 miles round trip. Way to go Dorothy! 

TOLLHOUSE CENTURY - RIDER REVIEW WITH JILL LAWLEY

     FCC Member Jill Lawley completed the 2024 Tollhouse Century Ride.  Before you say, "Good for her, but that's too much climbing," you need to know a little about Jill.  Jill and her husband Richard are both good riders who can set a fast pace on the flats but from my point of view, they have worked hard to avoid climbing.  Jill's first trip to the Backside of Millerton was September 2023 during the Padyakan Ride.  Her first ride where she made it all the way to Prather was January of 2024 (the first training ride for the Tollhouse Century).  

     Prior to training for the Tollhouse Century in January of this year, Jill's longest cycling events had been the 103 mile, 2,500 feet of climbing Tour d' Palm Springs and the 75 mile, 2,000 feet of climbing Lighthouse Ride.  Those are nice rides, but certainly not in the same league as the Tollhouse Century with its 7,500 feet of climbing.  

    Now let's hear from Jill.

     The 2024 Tollhouse Century was my first time at the event. It was around the middle of December while on a Killer Bees ride three of us started talking about doing the event.  We planned to start training in January because it was already so close to Christmas.  As we all probably remember, training this past winter and spring was tough because the skies would be clear during the week and then rain on the weekend so we could not stick to our original training schedule.  Our first training ride was to Prather and after that, we tried adding miles and more climbing each time we went out.  

     The only part of the course we did not ride in training was the section from the top of Tollhouse to the rest stop in Shaver.  That part was tough, especially after going up the Old Tollhouse climb. I think that's why I would say arriving at the Shaver Lake rest stop was my favorite part of the event.  It was so tough, but very rewarding to make it there.  It was great to see all the Killer Bees working the rest stop.  

     While all the climbing was tough, the most challenging part was getting back to the finish line in the heat. We finished around 4:00 and it was over 100 degrees by then.  A lot of the training rides were in cooler weather so I wasn't fully prepared for it.  Descending from Prather down to Millerton Store you could really feel it start to heat up.  I think I would do this event again because it was one of the toughest challenges I've ever completed, and it came with a great sense of accomplishment. 

     If someone wanted to do the Tollhouse Century next year, and they don't have a lot of climbing experience, I would say start training now, and train as much as possible. It's a tough one.  Make sure you are acclimated to the heat.  And since I was told I have to rate the rest stop snacks, I would give them a 4 to 4.5 on a scale of 1 to 5.  If they had Payday bars I would have given them a 5.  Although, to be fair, I've never been to a cycling event where they had Payday bars at the rest stops, but it's still a good idea.

A FIRST TIMER'S GUIDE TO COMPLETING THE TOLLHOUSE CENTURY.  

     Hopefully, you read Jill Lawley’s story above.  My contention is if you are comfortable riding to Prather and you completed a Metric Century ride in 2024, you can complete the Tollhouse Century in 2025.  While you may think of yourself as “not a climber” completing the Tollhouse Century is possible.  To do so, I highly recommend beginning your training now.  If you cannot complete the first round of Base Training this fall, you could start in January. As with any physical endeavor, it's always best to get medically cleared by your primary physician before you begin training.

     The sample schedule outlined below is set up where you ride for three Saturdays and then have a “recovery week”.  This is standard in many training plans.  In the real world, you cannot plan for every week because of rain and things that come up.  You will see in January through June there are specific Saturday dates for training.  Dates not mentioned are recovery or off weeks.  In addition to the rides outlined below, you will want to ride an additional 2-3 days per week.  These are shorter rides from 40-90 minutes. 

     October – Mid-December: Base Training Round 1.  Complete 6 to 8 rides over an 8 to 10 week period where each ride you gradually increase the amount of climbing.  The final ride of the base training should be a minimum of 3,000 feet of climbing.  If you can get to 3,500 or 4,000 feet of climbing, even better.  For one example, you might start at 1,500 feet and increase the climbing by 300 feet each time until you reach 3,000 on your final ride.  The target date for the final ride is either the first or second Saturday of December.  Note: it is difficult to find rides exactly 300 feet apart in elevation gain.  You just want to follow the basic idea of adding a little more climbing to each ride.

     January – February: Base Training Round 2.  01/11 – 01/25 Complete three rides starting with 2,000 feet of climbing and adding 500 feet each week.  Your final ride of January should be 3,000 feet of climbing.  02/08 – 02/22 Complete a second ride of 3,000 feet of climbing before adding 500 feet to the two following rides.  You should now be at 4,000 feet of climbing.  If you find adding 500 feet of elevation gain per week is too much you may need to cut it back to 300.  By the end of February, you do want to reach at least 3,500. 

     March – April: The First Rides of Tollhouse.  03/08 – 03/22 During this stretch you will want to complete your first fun trip on the Tollhouse-Auberry Loop.  The other two weeks of March you will complete 4,000 feet of climbing and then 4,500.  The order of the rides does not matter.  04/05 -04/19 same idea as March.  Two training rides where you complete 4,500 and then 5,000 feet of climbing plus another fun trip around the Tollhouse-Auberry Loop.

Tollhouse - Auberry Loop from Park-n-Ride · Ride with GPS

     May – June: The Final Push.  05/03 – 05/10 On these two Saturdays you want to complete rides with 5,000 and then 5,500 feet of climbing.  05/17 Things get serious when you complete the Watts Valley and Tollhouse-Auberry Loops from the Park-n-Ride (54 miles and 5,900 feet of climbing). You get Memorial Day weekend off before your final two training rides on 05/31 and 06/07.  05/31 you will want to target 6,000 – 6,500 feet of climbing over 80-85 miles.  On 06/07 it is another trip to Watts Valley and Tollhouse-Auberry Loops, starting from Shaw & Academy (78 miles and 6,900 feet of climbing).

S/A to Tollhouse - Auberry Loop · Ride with GPS

     06/21 Tollhouse Century 2025.  You Are Ready!  

FCC BOARD MEETING

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024   

6:30 PM

Me N Eds Victory Grill

4010 N Cedar Ave

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

Your Membership Renewal Date:

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FCC 2024 EVENT CALENDAR

  • Bass Lake Powerhouse Double Century – Saturday, Oct 12 (Register)
  • Tour d' Femme and Men/FCC Club Picnic – Saturday, Oct 26 (Register)
  • FCC Christmas Party – Sunday, December 1st 

SUBMIT YOUR CLUB RIDE PHOTO FOR THE ROUGH DRAFT

     Have a group picture from a recent club ride?  Submit it to editor@fresnocycling.com for a future edition of the Rough Draft. Please include the date and the destination of the ride.  See the picture at the top of this newsletter as an example.

BIKE MAINTENANCE BY RICHARD LAWLEY

Grease is the word, is the word that you heard, it’s got a groove, it's got a meaning

     Let’s face it, if you were around in the late 70’s to the early 80’s there’s no doubt in my mind you sang that title to this article (or went back and sang it now).

     If Danny Zuko rode a Dogma F, that shop scene in the 1978 movie, Grease would’ve looked like your local bike shop and not an auto shop class.

     Annual maintenance on your bike will not only make your bike feel smoother, move quicker and roll quieter, it’ll also make it last longer. Friction is the number one killer when it comes to moving parts and the solution is Grease: or grease since we’re not talking about the title to the aforementioned blockbuster movie. If you hear a squeak or a grinding noise anywhere on your bike, it’s past due for some lubrication and you are damaging parts.

     But what, when, how, who… That’s a good question and I’m really glad you asked. Of course, I’m all about learning to do the work on your bike yourself, but there are a lot of folks that don’t feel confident to do so, and that’s perfectly OK. At least once a year your bike needs a spa-day just as much as you do after three days in Disneyland with five toddlers and treating it to one will make you both so much happier.

     The things you should do annually are not limited to this list, but certainly should include:

  • Full inspection
  • Brake cables replaced or brake fluid flush and fill
  • Shifter cables replaced (if not electronic)
  • Headset disassemble, clean, and repack
  • Bottom bracket disassemble, clean, and repack
  • Wheel hub and Free hub disassemble, clean, and repack
  • Bar Tape replacement (if worn or new cables are installed)
  • Remove the seat post to clean, check (prevent corrosion), and retorque
  • Deep clean and replace chain if needed
  • Check for proper torque settings on all bolts

     If you stay on top of the wear on your bike components, your bike will last so much longer and will be safer when out riding on the road (or dirt). Using the proper lubricants on your bike is very important. WD40 should NEVER be used on your bike. Use the correct lube for each application; they’re made specifically for that application.

     Treat your bike like an investment and take care of it. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I’d want to happen is to be Stranded at the Drive-in, Branded a fool.

Richard Lawley

LOOKING FOR FCC RIDES??

    The following is a list of FCC ride groups and locations to find FCC Rides.

FCC Website

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COMING UP IN THE NOVEMBER ROUGH DRAFT

Winter Training Ideas, Part 1.

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