Onondaga Cycling Club

The board recently agreed to add cell phone numbers to the sign up sheets. This is primarily to aid ride leaders. Sometimes a rider forgets to sign back in and the ride leader is left wondering what to do. The occasional ride leader drives the course backwards, but that isn’t likely to be useful if the rider is lost and is even less useful if the missing rider forgot to sign back in (by far the most common state of affairs). With cell numbers, the rider should be able to easily contact the rider. Thus, when you sign in, we’d appreciate it if you’d fill in your cell number. I guess you can say that OCC joins the 21st century!

Also, note that the directions in the ride leader packet describe the specifics of leading leisure rides.

I’d like to thank Rich Veenstra for working up these new forms.

- Bill Goffe

Originally, we had planned on this Saturday’s ride starting at noon. This was to accommodate newly minted graduates of a cycling class put on by Dave Gordon under the auspices of the League of American Bicyclists.
Unfortunately, due to a breakdown in communication that lead to no publicity for the classes, nobody signed up. Thus, we’ll start Saturday’s ride at the usual 10:00 for this time of year.

We’ll try again with the class next summer.

- Bill Goffe

This Saturday’s ride starts at Western Lights Plaza, northwest of W. Onondaga St. & Velasko, and behind McDonald’s (there currently isn’t a link on the on-line ride schedule). Google generates this map.

Eastern Mountain Sports at Carousel Center is having their “Club Days” this Friday and Saturday. OCC members get 20% off merchandise but for kayaks (15%). Also, other store patrons can donate $10 to the club of their choice and then get the same discounts. In addition, we’ll have a table where interested shoppers can learn a bit about our club. We could still use a few volunteers to man this table (yes, this conflicts with the Earth Day Cleanup Saturday morning). If you’re interested, please let me know. I wanted to thank Doug Taylor, Pat Reid, and Mike Lyon in advance for volunteering.  - Bill Goffe

Next Saturday, April 19, marks the annual OCC Earth Day Cleanup on Caughdenoy Road, the location of our time trial course. This year b.i.k.e.-Syracuse will be joining us, and to mark that, Dave Baker is heading up a team of volunteers who’ll be making breakfast (pancakes and sausage). Breakfast will start at 8:30, the cleanup at 9:00, and we’ll ride at 11:00. As in past years, we’ll be starting at Jerome Fire Equipment, about 1/2 mile north of SR 31 on Caughdenoy Road. John Baker will be supplying cleanup equipment (gloves, safety vests, and trash bags).

Last year we reached what may be a high of 47 volunteers. It would be great to pass that this year.

Besides John and Dave, other volunteers helping to organize the event include Red Donzella, Tony Baleno, Mike Lyon, Kelly Wheeler, and Sam Sampere.

See you there!

Bill

april0812

Contents:

Membership information, The New Board of Directors, Photos from the Banquet, Rider Point and Mileage for 2007, and Le Groupe de Grands Rouleurs

Ride for the Rescue, presented by Koulouris Group of Pinnacle Investments, is a bicycle tour fundraiser for the Rescue Mission. For the third year, it’s coming to Syracuse.

It takes place Sunday, July 20 with five new routes starting and ending at Syracuse Inner Harbor, a reclaimed port connected to the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal is where the Rescue Mission began serving the needy 120 years ago!

More info at http://www.RidefortheRescue.org

my name is Joan Gardner and my husband and 3 friends are going to register for the 10th anniversary of: Cycling the Erie Canal (July 6 thru 13, 2008.)  The fee is $520 per person and is reduced to $468 per person when you have six or more adults registering at the SAME time.  We  have 5 in our group and are looking for another bicyclist to register with  us.

Spring is almost here. Daylight Savings Time started today and the the 2008 Ride Calendar is loaded to the site. Checkout the list of rides this year and don’t forget to volunteer for the Syracuse Race Weekend May 17th and 18th and the Syracuse Cyclocross Race October 18th.

Further information on this event can be found at their web site. As before, some club members have participated and they speak very highly of the event.