The Rough Draft
A Monthly Update from The Fresno Cycling Club  - December 2017

The Prez Sez...

The Central Valley - a Cycling Mecca

When your passion is bicycling, you can’t find a better place in California to live than the Central Valley. No matter what type of bicycle you ride, there are areas to satisfy. Every mode of bike travel, from trails around town, to the country and foothills, and roadways everywhere. Some with fun routes into the nearby foothills and some with challenging climbs in the mountains, often with bike lanes or nice shoulders. Couple the superb areas to ride with some beautiful weather and you have a winning combination to satisfy many passionate bicyclists. Being centrally located also makes it rather easy to access other great riding areas on the coast and bay areas.

Fabulous November of Cycling

Talking about beautiful weather, this November allowed for some great bicycling. Ride leader Ken Herrington took a group on his annual American River Parkway ride, reporting back about having a fabulous time. Lori Cherry put together another great ride in the Brevet Series, Henry Pretzer led another All-Roads Ride, Ann Heiniger led a great foothill ride, the Killer Bees led by Joseph Cassinerio had some great rides, as well as all of our other ride leaders. Thanks to all of our stalwart ride leaders who continue to bless the Club members with many ride opportunities and options.

Another year as the Prez

Over 6 years ago I was asked by then-Club President Ron Quitoriano if I would serve as the Club’s Vice President as then-VP Don Warner was stepping down. His pitch was that it was an "easy position" and that all I had to do was to put together the Annual Christmas Party. I thought that seemed easy enough, why not? I had just retired from the Fresno Police Department and figured I would have plenty of time to put together this one event. Little did I know that Ron’s plan was to retire that next year after having served for over 4 years. He also hadn’t told me that the VP position was automatically next in line for President. Well, it has been 5 years as President for FCC. I have a great group serving as our Board of Directors, which makes my job as President easier. I have to say I have enjoyed serving as the Prez and look forward to at least another year at the helm. 

Looking back on 2017, I can say it has been a fantastic year of bicycling for our club members. It would be interesting to tally up the total miles ridden this year by all of our members. There have been so many great accomplishments this year, the many metric, century, and double century rides. The numerous bike tours both guided and solo. The Silver State 508 raceby several of our members. The out-of- country rides covering countless miles. And the many local, daily, weekly and monthly rides of the FCC ride calendar. Not to mention all of the miles of racing by many members. I suppose it could be done if everyone would list their total miles for the year on the website. We will work on that. Start tallying your miles.

The Prez - AKA Dennis Ball

Veterans Appreciation Ride

The Fresno Cycling Club had the pleasure of honoring our Veterans with a Veteran’s Appreciation Ride, created and hosted by Diana Millhollin and her crew of volunteers. The ride raised $2,500 to support the Veteran’s Honor Flight program. The ride was such a success and greatly appreciated by our local veterans that they encouraged FCC to make it an annual event. The Club also participated in this year's annual Veteran's Day Parade. It was a great opportunity to showcase our Club with nearly 50 riders participating in the parade. It was such fun to be a part of something so big that honors our veterans.

VP Michael Quiroz and the Christmas Party

Talking about the Annual Christmas Party, it’s that time again, this year on December the 17th, 5 pm at the Clovis Veterans Memorial Building. As Vice President for the past 4 years, Michael Quiroz is putting on his last Christmas Party as VP. After 4 years of serving as VP, Michael has decided that since I am not leaving the President's spot yet, he will give someone else a chance to serve as VP. When Michael became VP, I decided that the position should have more duties than just the annual Christmas party. Since then, Michael helped by being the Ride Director for the Annual Kirch Flat Century, helping with the monthly members meeting and many other Club events and activities.  Thank you, Michael, for all you have done. 

Make sure that you are signed up for the Club Christmas Party, as seating is limited!  Check out www.fresnocycling.com for more info.

Retirement of Nick Paladino

After 20 years of serving as the FCC Advocacy Director, Nick Paladino has finally decided that it is time to pass on the Advocacy baton. We cannot thank Nick enough for all the time he has invested. Over the years, Nick has been attending a variety of meetings at the local and state levels of government, tracking and advocating for more dollars to be spent on bicycle safety and infrastructures. He has been a driving force responsible for many of the Bike Lanes, Bike Routes and safety measures we enjoy today. He has served on many planning committees and has played an integral role in the decision-making processes for the distribution of transportation funds. He has served on the Board of the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) since its inception 15 years ago, and has also served on the Fresno County Bicycle Coalition (FCBC). I could go on and on about all that Nick has helped accomplish for the Bicycling community over the past 20 years and more importantly what he has set in place to occur over the next 15 to 20 years. It is with great gratitude, and yet sadness, that we honor the retiring of Nick Paladino as FCC Advocacy Director. We will miss him at the monthly Board meetings (although we welcome his continued attendance anytime!). His wealth of information has been invaluable to our Club. 

New Year's Day - Remembering Diana Herrington

Looking ahead, the New Year’s Day ride for 2018 will be entitled the Diana Herrington New Year’s Day Muffin Ride. This ride is so named to honor the legacy of Ken’s beloved wife, Kendia’s mother, friend to all, past FCC president, mathematical genius, caterer of many FCC functions, and baker of muffins and breakfast for the annual New Year’s Day Club ride. It would take a book to document all of the accomplishments of Diana.  She was truly a wonderful fun-filled person with a passion for life and the bicycling community. Come and join us this NewYear’s Day.

Ride Calendars

With the growth of social media, it's become quite a challenge to keep a list of all of the ride options for FCC members!  The Ride Calendar in the printed monthly Rough Draft used to be the "go to" place for rides, but with new rides coming on all time, that calendar is outdated when it's released!

Please check out the FCC website www.fresnocycling.com for the latest information on published rides.   However, please also check the Facebook pages for the various "subgroups" (FACT, Killer Bees, All-Roads, etc.) for their rides. (Links to their Facebook pages are on the FCC website).

For those still adapting to the digital world, here's a list (current as of Nov 30th) of the Weekly and Non-Repeating Rides for December:

Weekly Rides for the Month of December

Non-Repeating Rides for the Month of December

(Editor's note: a New Year's Goal is to find a way to keep a current list of all the rides in one place!!)

Annual FCC 17 Mile Drive (Monterey) Ride

Join us on Saturday, January 13, 2018, at 10 am for this fantastic Club Ride! We’ll meet at Pine Acres Lodge, 1150 Jewell, PacificGrove. For more information, check out the FCC website at www.fresnocycling.com .  The Ride Leaders for this event are Janet and Jim Lucido 360-1921.

2018 Board Member Election – First all-electronic election

I want to thank all our members who took the time to take part in our first all-electronic Board of Directors Election. Even though the board members were running unopposed for their respective position, the election is a necessary process for the Club. This year, we utilized Election Buddy to administer the election. It provides a no-hassle method of election, allowing all members to participate via email with an anonymous ballot. Once we set up the ballot, Election Buddy handles the rest: sending out the email notifications and reminders and calculating the votes. The more participation in the election (over 45% of Members voted!), the more it validates the active membership of the Club. - DB

Why Club Membership for all Bicyclists

I have yet to hear a valid reason why any passionate bicyclist would not feel the need to be a member of the Fresno Cycling Club.Even if you don’t want to ride in groups, you benefit from the activities of the Fresno Cycling Club. I have heard others say they don’t want to be a member because, “they don’t want to have to follow the Rules of the Road,” or “they don’t like riding in groups,” or “it’s not their thing.” Whatever your reason, if you are a passionate bicyclist, why wouldn’t you want to support the efforts that make bicycling safer? We advocate for safety, better bicycling facilities, safer and better roadways, better traffic laws, and more fun activities on bicycles.  Your Membership in the Fresno Cycling Club does all that and more. It is our mission to promote safety for bicyclists and motorists alike, and the bigger our collective voice, the more those who make the decisions will listen to us. We currently have a sustained (dues-current) membership of 700+ members. Imagine the voice we could have if we had 5,000 sustained members!  I know of clubs that have upwards of 10,000 members (granted these are two big cycling communities: Seattle and San Francisco). The fact is that Fresno County has a large bicycling population and yet, there are many who have never heard of the Fresno Cycling Club. The point is that whether you’re a member of the Club or not, your actions are a direct reflection on all bicyclists. Granted, we aren’t all perfect, and we don’t always follow the letter of the law: however, it reflects poorly on all bicyclists when a few are not following the rules. When bicyclists are disregarding the safety of themselves and others by not following the rules, they put everyone at risk. Keep this in mind as you ride two or three abreast in the roadway, casually strolling along chatting, or a group rolling through a red light or stop sign in front of other motorists. As members of the Fresno Cycling Club, we want to be a voice for a positive impression of bicyclists, promoting safety and the following of the laws. - DB

Upcoming Club Meetings

Website Updates

We hope you all are enjoying using the new FCC Website. Our Webmaster, William Ewy, has done a great job of getting it up and running in the new format. We can now handle all our club business on the website. Our memberships, new member signups and renewals are all handled at the FCC website. You can even indicate that you want auto-renewal which takes the guess work out of keeping your dues current. We can conduct all our event registrations on the website, which makes it easy for members. When they log in, the registration gets populated with all their member information, making the registration process a breeze. This also does away with the on-line event fees, saving our members and event participants money. We are barely scratching the surface as to the capabilities of this new site, so we look forward to making other aspects of the site available in the future. 

If you have not checked it out lately:  www.fresnocycling.com

Looking to find some Biking Buddies?

FCC is making every effort to provide riding options for riders of all abilities, interests, and time commitments.  Some members already have their "group" that they ride with, but many others may not, and don't know where to look.  Here's a current list of some of our groups.  Please check out www.fresnocycling.com for more information!!!

The A-Train. (A-level rides).  The A-Train focuses on new riders.  Matching up these new riders with more experienced members of FCC, everyone's a winner!  Why not increase your skills and enjoyment at the same time?
The Killer Bees. (B-level rides).  The Killer Bees calls themselves a "transitional" group.  Those that have mastered A-level rides can "move up," but more experienced riders also ride along for the camaraderie.  While some riders may at times go faster than typical B-level rides, The Killer Bees make sure to watch out for the needs of all their riders.  (Please note, these Bees tend to eat well after rides!)
All-Roads Riders (road/gravel/dirt).  Following a growing trend of exploring beyond the paved road, these folks will generally ride off in areas where traffic is not a concern, and the scenery is great!

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 a 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