The Rough Draft
A Monthly Update from The Fresno Cycling Club  - April 2018

The Prez Sez...

Greetings fellow bicycling friends and members!

Happy Easter 

  Spring has sprung, and the bicycling is at its best. Nice mild temperatures, clear skies and longer daylight hours to ride.  Plenty of great places to ride and lots of great ride leaders to fill the calendar with rides of all levels!

“A" Train Rides Are Back

  For all you fair weather riders out there, now is your time to ride. With the longer hours we have started up the “A” Train Rides again.  This year it has been suggested that we provide a longer distance “A” ride for those who are transitioning from an A rider to a B rider. These are things we can do providing we get some interested Ride Leaders. If you’re interested in leading an “A” ride, contact either Devin Bovee (A/B Ride Coordinator) or Joseph Cassinerio (Killer B Ride Director). I would like to see the Club provide “A” level rides for beginners and those riders who want to ease back into riding after having been off the bike for a while. “A” rides are best if they are conducted in areas with available Bike Lanes and/or Trails. Mark and Michelle Locatelli also are providing leadership on the Social Train rides, which are longer “A”/“B” rides. Check the online Ride Calendar for our “A” Ride schedule.

  The Killer Bees, led by Director Joe will be providing training for Club Members who are new to bicycling. This will occur in some of the “A” Train rides. We’ve generally relied on Ride Leaders to give pointers to the newbies when they can. With more structure, the focus of these rides will be on training.  We hope to provide a better learning experience for our new riders. Check the Ride Calendar for scheduled rides.

Communicating With Members

  The success of any Club depends largely on the effectiveness of their communications with their members.  Our Club has relied heavily on the monthly Rough Draft Newsletter, monthly member’s meetings and email to communicate Club activities. With advances in technology, we now have more methods available to us. Those who are more technologically inclined have discovered that it is much easier to stay informed with the use of such platforms as Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and the new FCC website with its “live” daily ride/event calendar.

  The members of the Board have been discussing how we can determine our most effective methods of communication. We have found that the use of emails and the monthly newsletter are not as effective as they once were. Available statistics indicate that a small number of members open emails from the Club and fewer yet open the Rough Draft link. We are realizing that we are able to communicate faster and get feedback with the use of Facebook and Facebook Messenger. We understand that not everyone is on Facebook and so it is important to learn what meets the needs of all our members.

  That said, we want to hear from our members, to determine what is the best way to communicate Club information. In the next few weeks, we will be sending out a survey as to your preferences. Please respond and let us know your preferences. With the riding season getting into full swing, we want to make sure everyone has the ability to get involved and stay informed.

Monthly Member Meetings

  March was the last month for the structured monthly member’s meetings (which have been held every second Wednesday of the month). It was decided by a vote of the Board that the monthly meetings are no longer effective at getting members together to meet and have presentations or discussions. The monthly meetings have dwindled down to the same group of 20 to 30 members pretty much every month. 

  After a discussion at the Board Meeting, it was determined that the Club should try other methods to reach out to members and bring them together.  So, we will be trying some different methods in the next few months to see what works the best. Some of the things discussed were coffee shop meet-ups (either by bike or not), movie nights, as well are various ride opportunities that can provide connection. If anyone has an idea, please share with any of the Board members.

That’s about it for now.  See you on the road!

Cheers,  The Prez,  Dennis Ball

Upcoming Ride Events

The Kirch Flat Century

  Next month the annual Kirch Flat Century and rides will be held on Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, 2018. Register at: https://fresnocycling.com/Kirch-Flat-Cinco-De-Mayo-Century-and-Rides. The Kirch Flat has long been a great annual Club event, a time for all our members to get out and ride with one another. This year we will also be hosting a Volunteers’ ride for those who help put on the ride. 

The Climb to Kaiser

  The 42nd Annual Climb to Kaiser Challenge ride will be on June 30th, 2018. This year Grandfondo.com named C2K one of the Top 10 Best rides in America. Along with the C2K will be the Tollhouse Century and back this year, the Millerton Metric. You can register at:  http://www.climbtokaiser.com/.

The Tour de Lakes

  The Tour de Lakes, the annual Club member bike ride will be held on July 28th, 2018. Tour de Lakes is still free for members only, and is a popular favorite to get out of the heat in the middle of summer. Registration will be available in the coming weeks at: https://fresnocycling.com/Cycling-Events.

The Grizzly Century

  The Fresno Cycling Club is helping to bring back THE GRIZ - the Grizzly Century and Rides. This has been a popular Central California ride for nearly 25 years. The rides start in North Fork, noted for being the geographical center of California. Two years ago, a second century route was added with a gravel portion called The Grinder.  You can sign up for either one, the Griz or the Grinder. There is also a metric that goes a little past the Mile-high overlook (rest stop) and a Loop the Lake (Bass Lake). You can register at: https://fresnocycling.com/Grizzly-Century-Home.

Bass Lake Powerhouse Double Century

  The Bass Lake Powerhouse Double Century will be on Saturday October 13th, 2018. The FACT (Filipino American Cycling Team) and Ride Director Angelo Quitorio did a fantastic job on this event last year, as confirmed by rider reviews.  Riders commented that it was one of the best supported rides they had done. There should be a large number of FCC members riding the BLDC for Triple Crown credit this year (if those doing doubles this year is any indication). You can register at: http://www.basslakedouble.com/.

First Annual FCC Gravel Grinder

  The gravel grinder committee is working to put together the date and route for this event. Tentative in November 2018. Details will follow when secured. 

Where's the Ride Calendar?

   Please check out the FCC website www.fresnocycling.com for the latest Ride Calendar.   This gives a more accurate picture of upcoming rides, as it's updated constantly.  Please also check the Facebook pages for the various "subgroups" (FACT, Killer Bees, All-Roads, etc.) if you want to catch any of their rides. (Links to their Facebook pages are on the FCC website).

Club Jerseys and Other Swag

   The Voler Online Club order shipped out toward the end of March: just in time for all of the upcoming riding events. If you missed out on the order, there were a limited number of items ordered as extras. Also, future orders only have to meet a 5-item minimum with the Voler Online Club. Show your pride in Fresno Cycling Club by wearing your Club jerseys often (especially at events away from Fresno). 

Shop Talk with Devin

  Devin Bovee, the FCC A/B Ride Coordinator and manager of Steven's Bike Shop, also writes a blog for our website.  Check out Devin's latest blog posts on the website www.fresnocycling.com, or directly through this link Shop Talk w Devin.   

   He'll be providing more information and bike maintenance tips each month.  Check in now, for ideas on getting back in the saddle, installing new bar tape, washing your bike, gravel riding, and getting your bike set up tubeless.

Ride Groups

  Our list of Ride Groups is growing. It’s exciting to see our members have so many options to ride. The purpose of ride groups is to provide a way to connect with riders of like abilities and styles of riding. I encourage everyone to check out the various ride groups and ride with as many as you can, as often as you can. We are trying to provide more and more rides to accommodate as many ride schedules as possible. If you have a ride group that you like riding with that isn’t yet one of the listed ride groups, please contact me or one of the Ride Coordinators, Henry Pretzer or Devin Bovee to have your group added. 

  The current schedule for these, and other Rides, can be found on the FCC website: www.fresnocycling.com.  

• The Tuesday/Thursday morning Ride Group - Lead by Nancy Dooley and Ken Herrington. B/C rides
  
• The Diana Dean and Larry Allred Ride Group - B/C rides.
• The Mountain Men/Women - Ride Leader Tom Braner. C/D rides
  
• The Velominati Ride Group - Lead by Greg Schoonard and Jeffery Simpson. C/D rides
  
• The Killer Bees Ride Group - Ride Leaders Joseph Cassinerio, Cody Hill, Leon Thiessen, Michael Stevens. B/C rides
  
• The FACT (Filipino American Cycling Team) Group - Ride Leaders Angelo Quitorio B/C/D rides.
  
• The Steven’s Bicycles Ride Group - Ride Leaders Devin Bovee and Tina Kutzbach. A/B/C/D rides from their shop.
  
• The Sunnyside Bicycles Ride Group - Ride Leaders Vanessa and John McCracken. A/B/C/D rides from their shop.
  
• The Bike Shop at Woodward Park Group - Ride leaders Joshua Houssiere and James Zumwalt. A/B/C/D rides from their shop.
  
• The Rubber Soul Bicycles Ride Group - Ride leaders Jon Stewart and Helen Guenther. C/D rides from their shop.
  
• The “A” Train Ride group - A rides
  
• The Social Train Ride Group - Ride leaders Mark and Michelle Locatelli. A/B Rides
  
• The All-Roads Ride Group - Ride leaders Henry Pretzer and Susan Smith. B/C/D gravel and road rides.

Reminder:  see www.fresnocycling.com, including pages Ride Codes and Rules of the Road for a full explanation of the A/B/C/D codes above. 

Time Trial Series

   The next event in the Belmont - Academy Time Trial Series will be Wednesday, April 11th. The TT Series consists of 7 Time Trials, with the Tollhouse and Four Lane Time Trials to follow in September and November for a total of 9 TT’s. 

  Time trials are a fun way to test your endurance. It’s not just for racers, it’s for anyone who wants to challenge themselves and see how fit they are. It’s also one of the safest types of races as you are only racing against yourself and the clock. 

  The TT’s are a 10-mile race. This year we will have more categories, so come out and challenge yourself and have some fun doing it. These TT’s are free to members and $5.00 for non-members.

Upcoming Board Meetings

Bicycle Shops and Other Supporters

For many of us, eating and riding are the two major things in life.  We all rely on, and support our local bike shops.  These are the people dedicated to making sure that we can all safely enjoy what we do.  A few local restaurants go out of their way to accomodate cyclists.  Please be sure to support these folks, and tell them you are an FCC Member!

List of Bicycle Shops and other Supporters.

Other Items:

Click Link Below, or go to www.fresnocycling.com

• Ride Codes
• Rules of the Road
• Bicyclist Code of Conduct
• Membership Application

• Board Member List