THE PREZ SAYS.....
Greetings Fresno Cycling Club members and fellow riders of the human powered vehicle called the bicycle, recumbent, or tricycle.
Welcome to summer in the Central Valley. If you want to have a cool ride, it's best to go as early as possible in the morning. Many who work hit the road between 5 to 6 am to get a ride in before work. Kudos to those dedicated souls. Those of us who either don't work, have flex hours, or work from home tend to sleep in a little longer and deal with the heat. Although it does get hot in the valley during the summer, it's still possible to get some great riding in. The key, if you can't hit the roads early, is to build up your heat tolerance and make sure you hydrate well.
"May is Bike Month" was active and was a good start for the riding season. The various events were well attended. The Kirch Flat Century and rides got us off to a great start. On rare occasions, it does rain on the KFC and this year it happened for those hearty soles that came in toward the end of the day. They got soaked to the bone. Overall, everyone had an enjoyable ride since the weather was nice until it started raining. Our after-ride meal was prepared and served by Uptown Sprouts Restaurant, owned by Pam Stepanian out of Kingsburg. The Mexican tacos served with rice and beans were a big hit. The winners of the Cell Hill KOM and QOM were Ronnie Kier and Laura Nehring. They each were awarded free registration to a future FCC event of their choice.
There was the Ride with the Fresno Major, Jerry Dyer, from City Hall. We rode through the downtown area to the Tower District checking out some of the newly installed protected Bike Lanes. It was a fun ride with a big group of riders. It seems that the mayor is supportive of the bicycling community.
The Ride of Silence was well attended with nearly 100 riders to remember and recognize our fellow riders who have been killed or injured in accidents with motor vehicles. This is a worldwide event that endeavors to involve bicyclists from around the world at the same time.
Our VP, Janet Lucido, hosted a mid-week family ride and swap meet, starting at Steven’s Bicycles and going to the Dry Creek Trailhead. You can read more about that below in her recap of the event.
The Memorial Day ride was an all-level Club ride designed to get our members out riding. Several riders showed up with riders in each level. We are hosting a similar event on the 4th of July so get your stars and stripes or FCC club jersey ready for that day.
Another great event created by our Editor and Ride Leader, David Wright, that started in May is the Climbing Challenge. It began on May 18th and goes to June 16th. With 37 riders signed up, it looks like it is a very active event with some riders already nearing 50 thousand feet of elevation gain in the first 10 days. It's going to be exciting to see how much climbing gets done the end of the challenge. David scheduled the challenge purposefully to avoid the Climb to Kaiser event which would give those riding it a last bit of an advantage. I have a feeling there will be a bunch of riders ready to conquer the Climb to Kaiser this year.
ADVOCACY
Many of us may not realize how important a role we each play in promoting bicycling advocacy. When bicyclists think of advocacy, they think it is getting the Government to make new laws or make changes to the infrastructure to help make bicycling safer. That’s only a part of bicycle advocacy. Every time we go for a ride we are involved in bicycle advocacy. You are either projecting a good image of bicycling or a bad image. It is a common human reaction that people tend to remember more of the bad things a person does than all the good. When motorists see a bicyclist run a stop sign or a red light, they think all bicyclists do it. How we ride in traffic leaves an impression on motorists and to them anyone on a bicycle is a bicyclist. Our club message to all bicyclists is “Ride safe and ride legal.” Remember, the laws are designed to help motorists and bicyclists share the road safely. When people don’t follow the rules, accidents can happen. Our job as bicyclists is to do the best we can to promote a positive image of bicyclists.
A pet peeve of mine and for many motorists is when I see a group of bicyclists riding along like they are the only ones on the road. Usually, they are taking up the roadway making it difficult for cars to pass. As President of the club, I get more complaints from motorists, especially from those who travel the roads of our nearby foothills, about bicyclists riding two to four abreast on the narrow roads and not going single file when cars approach them. Yes, the law does allow for bicyclists to take the lane when it is too narrow to share and it doesn’t matter if it is one bicyclist taking the lane or four bicyclists. However, bicyclists need to pay attention and use discretion. Just because something may be legal doesn’t mean it is always the right thing to do. Especially when you’re on narrow mountain roads that residents and other motorists frequently travel. The courteous thing to do is to go single file as soon as practical and let the motorist pass. It is understandable that when two or more cyclists are riding together, they like to talk. When they are talking and riding, they usually aren’t paying attention to traffic, and this causes them to be lax in responding to approaching vehicles.
When you’re out riding, and you see riders exhibiting this type of behavior be an encourager and ask them to go single file to let the cars pass. Many of us enjoy riding on the mountain roads and we want to promote a good relationship with the folks who live there and must encounter us when we ride. I always try to wave and be friendly to motorists that pass me, most will wave back. We must remember that no matter how perfect we are there is always going to be that small percentage who just hate bicyclists on their roadway, and we may never change their minds.
This is also extremely important since most of our events are on the public roadways in the foothills and mountains. We need to keep a good relationship with many of the folks who live there. To earn respect, we must be respectful. We do that by being courteous when we ride. We want bicycling to be an enjoyable and fun experience whenever and wherever we ride.
As always “Ride safe and ride legal”.
See you on the road, the gravel or the dirt.
The Prez
Dennis Ball
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