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

The Prez Sez...

   Happy 56th Birthday, Fresno Cycling Club!  FCC has been around for a long time: John F. Kennedy was the US President in 1962, and the Schwinn catalog had a full range of bicycles priced under $100. The Schwinn Super Continental sold for $107 and the Schwinn Paramount race bike sold for $175. Things have changed quite a bit over the years. Now instead of 10 speeds, we have 22 or more. Instead of steel frames, we have carbon fiber frames and carbon fiber wheels. In fact, you can now have just about everything carbon fiber on the bike (except the tires). Instead of a $175 race bike we now have $12,000 race bikes. But after 56 years and many changes, riding a bicycle is pretty much the same. We still ride for fun, for exercise and for a challenge.

   The Fresno Cycling Club has its roots as a racing team, but over the years has morphed into the Central Valley’s largest recreational cycling club. Our mission today is to promote safe, legal cycling through our many cycling rides and cycling events. Our member ride leaders and event volunteers make this all come together every year. Our dedicated Board members help lead the Club and carry out the mission. 

   As we ride into 2018, the Fresno Cycling Club has big plans for some great riding, including: 

1. The Brevet Series will kick off this year with the Raymond 200K Brevet on Feb 24th, the first of 6 brevets that are scheduled. The other 5 are listed on the Club’s Website.
   
2. The Belmont - Academy Time Trial Series starts Tuesday March 20. These TT’s are free to members and $5.00 for non-members.
   
3. The Annual FACT Ride in April.
   
4. The Kirch Flat Century (Cinco de Mayo Century) will occur on May 5th this year. Registration will open soon.
   
5. The 42nd Annual Climb to Kaiser will occur on June 30th this year. Registration is open now. Register now to take advantage of the discounted rate of $95.
   
6. The Tour de Lakes will occur on July 28th. 
   
7. The Grizzly Century (probable date Sept 29th). 
   
8. The Bass Lake Double Century will occur on Oct 13th.
   
9. The Raymond Gravel Grinder (date to be determined).
   

   In addition to all of these great rides and events, our ride groups are posting all levels of rides on the Club website calendar as well as on our Facebook pages. 

   Remember we are all Advocates for safe bicycling by how we ride. Be courteous and be friendly: it goes a long way to give our sport a positive image. Ride safe and Ride legal. 

See you on the road, 

The Prez,  aka Dennis Ball

Ride Groups

Speaking of Ride Groups, our list 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 Nancy Dooley 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.

 First Ride of the Year

   It was great to see so many members come out for the Diana Herrington Memorial New Year’s Day Muffin Ride. Diana Herrington was a long time member (since the 70’s) and supporter of the Fresno Cycling Club. She served as President as well as other positions in the Club. She and her daughter Kendia enjoyed preparing food for many of our events including the Climb to Kaiser and the Bass Lake Double Century. They also prepared the snacks and goodies for the Annual New Year’s Day ride. I felt it was fitting to honor her by naming this year’s ride after her. This year, the weather was warmer than last, which allowed everyone to spend more time enjoying the rest stop at Lost Lake, as well as getting in some great extended rides. Thanks to Kendia for preparing the oatmeal and apples and to Ken Herrington, Board Members Diana Millhollin, Janet Lucido, Bill Reddington, Elida Gonzalez, and others for helping distribute the rest stop goodies.

Shop Talk with Devin

Go Long or Go Home - 2018 Brevet Series

   The 2018 Fresno Brevet Series is now listed on the FCC Calendar of Events and registration is open.  Please check it out on the Fresno Cycling web page. 

   Wait…  “Brevet?” Perhaps a little more information is needed. 

   A Randonneuring event is called a randonnee or brevet, and a rider who has completed a brevet of at least 200km (about 124 miles) is called a randonneur. 

   My goal in bringing internationally-accredited Randonneuring events to the Fresno region is that these events will give riders the opportunity and inspiration to challenge themselves like never before.  To pursue this epic challenge is to introduce the rider to a family of endurance cyclists locally, nationally and internationally that share this passion in a community of camaraderie and support like no other. 

   The next 1200 kilometer Paris-Brest-Paris (“PBP”), which only occurs every 4 years in France, will be held in 2019.  The PBP is a “grueling test of human endurance and cycling ability,” states Randonneurs USA (RUSA).  The PBP has evolved from its professional race roots in 1891, to become the timed randonee’ or brevet it is now for amateur endurance cyclists from all over the world. 

   Most successful PBP finishers have at least 5,000 miles of training in the Spring and Summer leading into the event, and they must complete a “Super Randonneur” series of brevets (200, 300, 400 & 600 kilmometer events) in the same year as PBP. 

   The Fresno Cycling Club will include longer brevets in 2018 and 2019, to qualify riders as Super Randonneurs.  While riding the series with longer brevets this year won’t qualify you for the 2019 PBP, it will give you priority for pre-registration and time slots as well as invaluable experience, riding further and longer than you thought possible. On a personal note, I have qualified for and gone to France for PBP three times and while I am no expert, I can tell you it is an experience like no other. 

   We are lucky to live in California where good weather and a variety of terrain and scenery make cycling here amazing.  California also has more established Brevet Regions than any other state.  When deciding to complete a whole series of brevets you can choose to do them in any region.  Fresno has hosted many American cyclists from other regions on our brevets, as well as some international visitors.  I encourage our local riders to not only participate in brevets here, but to check out the RUSA calendar for rides throughout the year in other areas.  Please feel free to call or email with any questions you have. 

Lori Cherry, RBA, Fresno, California

Double Century Rides

   There are members of the Club who have been doing Double Century Rides for many years. In fact, some of our members have done so many that they are in the Double Century Hall of Fame.  Richard Hoff has the distinction of having completed the most DC’s in the Club by completing 100 DC’s by 2010, with his total increasing to 150 by 2016. Other notables are Ron Quitoriano with nearly 100, Roehl Caragao with 100, Lori Cherry and Ranay Franklin. There are numerous other double century riders and I hesitate to list their names as I would probably miss some. The point is that we have a group of some serious riding individuals. This year will be no exception, so if you have ever been interested in trying your hand at a Double Century then contact me or any of the Board members and let them know of your interest. There will be training rides that will be conducted for the purpose of getting in shape for not only Double Centuries but also the Climb to Kaiser. 

Volunteers

   How does an all-volunteer club manage to sponsor fantastic events? It is accomplished through the efforts of fantastic volunteers. Where do those volunteers come from? They can come from various sources: family members of club members, civic groups, student organizations, volunteer organizations, but mostly they come from within our own membership. Our challenge is to not overwork the same willing volunteers and to try and spread out the workload. So that volunteers don’t feel left out, the Bass Lake DC provides a Volunteer ride over the same course, a week prior to the event. In an effort to encourage more volunteers to step forward, we will making an effort to provide more volunteer rides as well as activities for our volunteers. If you know of groups who are willing to help out please contact any of the Ride Directors or myself - The Prez.

Order Form for FCC Club Jerseys, Shorts, Etc., from Voler

   It's time to update your riding wardrobe! Until February 4th, the following link will be active, by which you can order new Club Jerseys, Shorts, and Accessories from Voler.  They will basically be the same as the current design, with a few minor changes on the back.  Orders must be placed by February 4th, and they will ship at the end of February.  

Time Trial Series

   Our Belmont - Academy Time Trial Series will start on Tuesday March 20. There will be a series 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.

New Rough Draft Format

   We’ve been switching the Rough Draft to a digital format over the last few months.  The exciting thing about the new format is that we are not limited to the amount of content or pages we can have. As such, we will be adding new features in coming months, such as articles on Advocacy by the new Advocacy Director John McCracken, as well as tech/ride talk by Devin Bovee. 

Ride Calendars

   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).

Upcoming Club 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