THE PREZ SEZ....

Greetings fellow Club members and bicyclists.

Where has the summer gone? Here it is September and Fall is not far off. How is your bicycling coming along? Did you meet your cycling goals yet? We still have a couple more great months of bicycling weather, so be sure to get out and ride.

Board Meeting: Wed, Sept 4th, 6:30 PM, Victory Grill, 4010 N Cedar Ave.

Annual Club Picnic

I want to give kudos to Vice President Diana Millhollin and her crew of terrific volunteers who orchestrated a fabulous Annual Club picnic. There were over 130 members in attendance. Attendees were treated to tasty tri-tip, delicious sides and dessert. It was great to see everyone, some were hard to recognize because they weren’t in their cycling gear. LOL! Here's a link to pictures from the event available through the FCC website.

Bike Shop Rides

It has been great to see the Bicycle shops stepping up their game and putting on some great rides for their customers and our Club members. They all have been putting on weekly and monthly rides, which they post on the Fresno Cycling Club Calendar for all to participate. Many of the rides are getting very popular with 30 - 40+ riders. Some of the more popular ones are the Dam/Chili ride and breakfast rides sponsored by Sunnyside Bicycles; Steven’s has their Hump day ride and Saturday morning rides; Rubber Soul has their Friday morning rides, and The Bike Shop @ Woodward has some early morning rides and gravel rides. Kudos to all the bike shops for their efforts to help everyone get out on their bikes.

Grizzly Century

The next three months are going to be filled with a lot of bicycling events. The BIG one for the Club this month will be the Grizzly Century. This year will be the 25th edition of this great ride. The ride has dwindled in ridership over the past several years from it’s peak attendance near 600+ riders. There are of course many reasons for the decline:

One: it is not an easy ride, at 10,500 feet of climb it is definitely for an accomplished cyclist,
Two: there are so many rides on the calendar these days that one has to pick and choose which rides to do and where to spend their money,
Three: the ride in recent years came up against the newer Levi Leipheimer Gran Fondo which draws up to 7,500 riders many of whom used to attend the Grizzly,
Four: in recent years the ride had to be cancelled in two occasions: due to forest fires and lack of a Ride Coordinator, leaving its status in question.

Here's a link to the FCC website page for the Grizzly Century.

In 2017 members of the North Fork Community who had put on past Grizzly events and Board members of the Sierra Vista Byways contacted FCC. They wanted to see if we would be willing to assist with reviving the Grizzly Century for 2018. The Grizzly had been one of the main fund raising sources for the community and the Byway. Discussions were held and agreements reached and the 2018 Grizzly was held. By all standards the Grizzly enjoyed a very successful return with over 200 riders participating.

This year the Director of the Grizzly thought that it might be beneficial to try moving the date of the Grizzly from the first week in October (a spot it had held for 23 years), to an earlier date with the hope that it might generate more riders. The details were worked out on a date in mid September with minimal to no conflicts. It seemed like the plan was going to work out great until we started the quest for volunteers. It seems that the majority of the North Folk volunteers who had been putting on the Grizzly for years are a pretty active bunch of volunteers. They had always planned on the Grizzly being the first weekend in October and had set their schedules accordingly.

So the move to the middle of September cut short the number of local volunteers that would be available. Another wrench in the system was that some of the Grizzly riders also planned for the Grizzly to be on the 1st weekend of October. So what started out to be an idea to possibly help grow the Grizzly back to its former glory has been an exercise in “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

This year we will be relying on more of our great Fresno Cycling Club members who are willing to volunteer. We are looking forward to this years event, making all the preparation necessary to put on another great FCC event. We are also hoping for cooler weather for the day as September can still be hot. Rest assured the Grizzly will return to its former spot on the calendar as the first weekend in October in 2020.

Bass Lake Double Century

On October 12th, the main event for FCC/FACT is the Bass Lake Double Century. Preparations have been made and we are looking forward to celebrating the 15th Annual Bass Lake Double Century. Ride Director Angelo Quitorio has prepared special recognition awards for riders who have participated multiple times in past BLDCs. The FACT has done a great job of administering the Bass Lake Double Century since they assumed the role of Directorship.

Hammer Rally

The Annual Hammer Rally will occur on October 19th. This years course will take to the high roads up near Shaver Lake and promises to be an amazing ride for its participants. The Bike Monkey is once again putting on what promises to be a spectacular event. If you are not riding the event consider volunteering, they could use some help with SAG, and rest stops.

Time Trial Series

The Blossom Trail Cafe and Friant TT Series has one more TT at Belmont - Academy on September 10, 2019 at 5:30 pm first rider off at 6. Also don’t miss the Annual Old Tollhouse TT on Saturday September 7, 2019. Details and signups at Webscorer.com.

Clumb to Kaiser

Plans and preparations are already underway for the 2020 edition of the Climb to Kaiser. Next years event (the 44th edition) will occur on June 27, 2020. Riders have been in contact with the Kaiser Guy (Director) and are already scheduling their vacations accordingly.

Be safe out there. See you on the road. The Prez - Dennis Ball

THE FCC Thursday Night Taco Ride

Now that the weather and sunlight are cooperating, the Thursday night rides from Enzo’s Table is becoming a very popular ride.

We meet at 5:45 pm and roll at 6 PM. There are currently 2 ride offerings; from Enzo’s to Friant and back; or from Enzo’s riding the Circuit CCW.

The start location was changed as there is less traffic to deal with and there is ample parking.

Local Bike Shops and Other Friends

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 and other supporters go out of their way to accommodate 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

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.

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The Rough Draft

September 2019