GREETINGS CLUB MEMBERS AND FELLOW BICYCLISTS

Well the new year is underway and it has started out fantastic. We had a great annual New Year’s Day ride. There were over 125 riders that braved the cool, dry weather to make the trek from Willow & Nees to the Lost Lake rest stop and beyond. It was a beautiful sunny day and the rest stop was staffed by members of the Board and the Killer Bees ride group. This is a great traditional annual event that the Club has been hosting for an untold number of years. 

The 6th ANNUAL 17 MILE DRIVE RIDE

Another great ride for members in January was the Annual Monterey/Pacific Grove 17 Mile Drive Ride, hosted and led by members Jim and Janet Lucido. This year there were 29 riders that came to ride. We lucked out with the weather between rain storms and had a beautiful ride on Saturday. We had planned on offering two rides: one more challenging than the other (a little more climbing involved). It turned out that everyone wanted to do the more challenging ride so we all stayed together. It was great to see everyone challenging themselves by doing the more challenging ride. Everyone had a great time. Thanks to Secretary Janet and her husband Jim for hosting this annual event.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

Board Meeting: Feb 6th, 6:30PM.  Sequoia Brewery. Champlain & Perrin, Fresno.

Member Meeting: Feb 13th, 7:00 PM.  Steven's Bicycles, Willow & Nees, Clovis.

JANUARY BOARD MEETING CANCELLATION

For the first time in 7 years we had to cancel a scheduled Board Meeting. The January 2019 meeting was cancelled due to many of the Board members being either sick or still out of town for the holidays. Since we weren’t going to have a necessary quorum, I made the decision to cancel it. Even though I had laryngitis and couldn’t speak, I was still going to attend. But, once I learned of so many others that weren’t going to attend, I was happy to cancel it. We will be back on track for the February meeting on Feb 6th.

MONTHLY MEMBERS’ MEETINGS 

If you didn’t make it to the January Members meeting, you missed a couple of fun presentations by Nancy Dooley and Hilton Osborne. Nancy shared about her recent tour of the California Coast from Santa Barbara to San Diego. She had some great photos and had some fun stories about the events on the ride. Nancy is a veteran Touring Bicyclist; she has been doing a tour or two a year for several years now. She prefers to go with the type of tours that have great support. 

Hilton Osborne in his mid 70’s has been doing all kinds of rides the past several years. He has done everything from Century and Double Century rides to self-supported tours and his most recent adventure, a trip to Thailand. He was very informative and gave good insight for anyone wanting to make the trip to Thailand. He shared a lot of great stories and was very entertaining. Hilton told how inexpensive it is to travel in Thailand, and how friendly they are to travelers. Besides him, several of our club members have traveled to Thailand over the past few years. There are a few club members, Richard Hoff and Ranay Franklin, who spend much of their time there now bicycling around the country. Could there be a Club Tour to Thailand in the future? I am sure Hilton, Richard or Ranay could help arrange it if there was enough interest.

We had stopped holding monthly Members’ Meetings this past year, as the Board felt there weren’t enough members who attended to make them worthwhile. But, I feel it’s time to bring them back and see if that perception has changed. Of course, not all of our members are into attending meetings but for those who aren’t into social media the monthly meeting is their opportunity to connect with other members of the club and keep abreast of our activities.

The February Member’s Meeting will be on Feb 13, and Club member Dr. Tony Molina will be our guest speaker. He will be sharing some of the experiences he had touring across Europe last summer. I’ve been told his presentation is fantastic. I look forward to hearing about it. I feel these presentations are great as they show the vast possibilities we have available to those of us who love Bicycling. By sharing their experiences, we can either live vicariously through their experiences, or we can learn how we can enjoy them for ourselves. Come out and have a great time at the meeting. There are snacks and drinks available.

RIDE LEADERS

What does it take to be a qualified FCC ride leader? It takes an experienced rider, someone who has a grasp on the safe operation of their bicycle, and has been doing so successfully for a period of time. Someone that can repair a flat tire is helpful and someone with the patience to deal with various personalities and abilities of riders. We are always looking for ride leaders of all abilities to lead rides from levels A through D, with A being the easiest rides to D be the hardest and most challenging.

Leading rides is not that difficult, it just takes someone to be responsible for setting up a ride by establishing a route, a pace, a date and time to meet, giving the approximate duration of the ride and be certain that everyone is accounted for at the end of the ride. It is also helpful to learn how to report an accident for insurance purposes should someone be involved in one during the ride. Usually one of our current ride leaders or our Ride Coordinators (Henry Pretzer or Devin Bovee) will mentor anyone who wants to be a ride leader. 

RIDE GROUPS

Have you found a ride group you like?  There are currently ride groups of all sizes as well as all ride levels. 

• In the “A” category there is the “A” Train Ride and the “Social Train Ride”; 
  
• in the “B” category there is the Tuesday/Thursday morning rides led by Nancy Dooley and Ken Herrington, the Killer Bee rides led by Joe and Kelly Cassinerio, Diana Millhollin, Cody Hill, Michael Stevens, Gia Parker, and others; in the C category is again the “Killer Bees” led by Kelly and Gia; 
  
• then there are the C/D categories with the Velominati Ride group led by Greg Schoonard and Jeffery Simpson, and the Mountain Men/Women Ride group led by William Ewy, Amy Ivanoff, Jeffery Simpson and others. 
  
• Then there is the Steven’s Bicycles, the Sunnyside Bicycles, and the RubberSoul Bicycles  rides with various ride levels offered. 
  

Most of these rides appear on the FCC Ride Calendar on a daily, weekly and some monthly schedules.

PAY TO RIDE EVENTS

There are some great paid events coming our way. 

• The Blossom Ride is coming March 2, 2019, 
  
• The Cal Classic is April 6, 
  
• The Kirch Flat Century is May 4th, 
  
• Climb to Kaiser will be June 22, 2019, 
  
• The Grizzly Century will be on Sept 14, 2019, 
  
• The Bass Lake Double Century on Oct 12, 2019, 
  
• The Hammer Ride will be Oct 19th. 
  

There are a lot of rides to choose from and those are just the local rides. The Wildflower Century will be April 27th, and the Light House Century will be on Sept 28th. 

Find us on the web at www.fresnocycling.com or find us Facebook and get plugged into one of the ride groups.  Start your training for the big events! 

That’s all I have for now. See you on the road!

The Prez, aka Dennis Ball  

LOCAL BIKE SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS

 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

   The Fresno Cycling Club is a group of some 800+ cyclists who enjoy bicycling as recreation and sport. As a club we seek to offer cycling events and activities that span a spectrum of cycling interests. Club rides are scheduled year round and range from novice level to 200-mile expert rides. We protect the rights of cyclists by following local, state, and national affairs as they concern cycling. Club members receive a monthly newsletter listing ride schedules and other information of interest to cyclists.  Don't wait another minute! Join now! Welcome to the Fresno Cycling Club.

Questions or Comments on this newsletter?  Let us know! editor@fresnocycling.com 

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