The Bent Fork Chronicles January-February 2006

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1 In This Issue: President s Message...1 From the Editor...3 Letters...3 New & Returning Members...4 Buena Vista Bike Festival...4 UMCA Year-Rounder Challenge...6 Bicycle Advocacy...8 Help Needed Fixing Up Bikes...8 Big Event Ban Delayed 1 Year...8 Bicycle Colorado s 2006 Gala Celebration...10 CSCC Ride Mileage...10 Sponsors...14 Commercial Ads...15 President s Message know that for many, it's hard to get excited about riding in the middle of "winter", but come on... it really doesn't get much better than January in Colorado! What a beautiful month it has been and I'm looking forward to a couple/few more nice weekends before the real snow for the year heads our way. OK... I lie, I'm dying for 8" of fresh powder for Sunday, the studs are still on the mountain tandem. This message contains a few items that need to be communicated and are of interest to many in the Club. I hope that this message finds everyone doing well in the New Year and eagerly anticipating many safe miles during the months ahead. I BVBF, May 20th 2006 The committee for the eighth annual Buena Vista Bike Fest (BV8) is in full swing and many aspects of the event are already being coordinated and resourced. A monumental amount of effort goes into putting on this spectacular ride and it is truly a labor of love as it is the yearly fundraiser for CSCC and a great weekend spent in Buena Vista, Colorado. We are actively looking for volunteers and will happily train anyone who would like to help the 1 of 15

2 Club put on this fantastic and well loved early season Century. Please visit the event website at for all the details. Bob Smith has done an amazing job creating a visually appealing web page and you can find out more about the history of the ride, current information and photos from 2005's event. You can volunteer to help with this year s bike fest here: Once again, Radere is offering an early preorder deal on BVBF ride jerseys for club members. This is quite a bargain at only $42.50 per jersey if your order is received and paid in full by Tuesday, February 28th. Last years jerseys were a hit and this year s look to be just as nice! You can see the jersey design at Please print the order form found on the CSCC web site here: and mail it in with your check for $42.50 per jersey. We are looking for any Club items that may be living in your garage. Specifically the folding canopies, water containers, first aid kits, SAG boxes or any other items that have found their way out of the BVBF stash. We will need them for this year s event. If you have any items, please contact me at twobytandem@yahoo.com or just give me a call at to arrange for pickup. The canopies are especially a concern because we believe at least two are in need of a bit of repair prior to the event. Ride Leaders needed! Kerry Hefta is the Ride Committee chair and is looking for a few good ride leaders. OK, *a lot* of new leaders would be grand! Seriously, if you've wanted to volunteer with the club in some way, leading a ride is an excellent way to give of your time and energy for the good of the whole. Ride leader training is being coordinated and information should be available on the CSCC website soon. Coming from the most directionally challenged ride leader out there (me!), it's really not that hard and is a lot of fun! Most of the riders are pretty self-sufficient and the group does great as long as you point them in the general direction. If you would like to find out more about starting out as a new ride leader now, while the weather is cool and ride sizes are smaller, please contact Kerry at khefta@att.net. Cheers and many safe miles to you, Allen Beauchamp CSCC President 2 of 15

3 From the Editor Belated Happy New Year to all. My pre-new Year s resolution to get the newsletter ready over the holidays for early January obviously did not happen. So this is the combined January- February 2006 issue. Let me start by thanking Ann Coy for her service in producing The Bent Fork Chronicles for the last couple years. She did an outstanding job please thank her the next time you see her. I will be trying to keep the same high standard for the newsletter. I welcome any suggestions or contributions. Please your thoughts or ideas to me at macbikegeek@mindspring.com. If you have interest in working on the newsletter, by all means let me know that as well! We are always in need of writing and editing support. Lee Herman Editor and CSCC Board Member Letters This is a new section as an experiment for communication from members to the club. As with letters to the editor, submissions will be accepted subject to limits of relevance, taste and appropriateness. January 12, 2006 After riding with the club for several years, I sort of dropped out about a year ago. However, I did continue to ride occasionally, but not with the club. Now a new frontier. I recently got married (October 1) and last week moved to Seattle. I will miss the club members and will always remember all the fun times. I will continue to ride here and especially enjoy mountain biking with 2 of my sons that live in Portland. I regret not getting more involved with the club activities and volunteering for special events. My only contribution was an article I wrote for the newsletter. I made many friends through the club and several lasting friendships - people I will see when I return and some that plan on visiting me in Seattle. Those friendships are the best part of joining the club. Some of my best memories of Colorado and greatest laughs were because of joining the club. 3 of 15

4 If I were to mention names, I would unintentionally forget someone. So just say hi from me at the next ride. I wish you and all the club members the best of luck. Mike Wiater New & Returning Members New Members: Nora Durham; Scott DeLeeuw; Steve Fuhrmann; Matthew Granberg; Hans and Camella Koeller; James Woods Returning Members: Warren Barta; Gary and Janice Brewington; Chris Conboy; John Cunningham; Charlie & Barb Czarniecki; Chris Davenport; Michael & Jeanne Galvin; Craig Highsmith; Jim McCreary; Sean and Hope Mullally; Lee Murphy; Dean & Becky Myers; Janet Rose; Dave Rowe and Family; Mark Rowe; Michael Wallace; Joan Stahl and Ron Wesley Buena Vista Bike Festival Mark your calendars now! The Buena Vista Bike Festival (BVBF), will be held Saturday May 20 th, Plan to volunteer for this exciting event or be one of the riders. If you volunteer, you can still ride in the volunteers rides on Sunday, May 21 st. As noted in the President s Message, if you order and payment is received by February 28 th, 2006, you will receive an excellent discount on your BVBF jersey. This price is good only for CSCC members and is lower than any other price for the jerseys. In fact, you save almost enough to pay for membership! The order form is on the next page. 4 of 15

5 CSCC Members Only 2006 Buena Vista Bike Jersey Discount Offer Good through Tuesday, February 28, 2006 Only Paid in full must be received by February 28th Mail-In Order Form Name: Street: City: State: Zip: Men s Sizes: Small: Mail payment to: Medium: CSCC Large: PO Box XLarge: Colorado Springs CO XXLarge: XXXLarge: Women s Sizes: Small: Note: Women s and 3XL men s Medium: will not be available after 2/28/2006 Large: XLarge: XXLarge: Total # of shirts x $42.50: 5 of 15

6 UMCA Year-Rounder Challenge -- The Y-R Gold award recognizes riders who log at least 3,000 miles in Y-R rides. Can you ride a century EVERY month in 2006? Club centuries are the highlight of many endurance riders' season: the fun of a day on the bike with friends and the challenge of riding 100 miles. And, at least for the day, an unrestricted diet! The Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) Year-Rounder is designed to showcase consistent endurance performance in your cycling throughout the year. The Year-Rounder provides a structure to motivate you throughout the season and to recognize your personal achievements. Find more at: Y-R awards recognize either riding a century every month or total endurance mileage. Make either your goal... or both! -- The Y-R Larry Schwartz award honors riders who complete at least a century every month. Centuries can be either Organized centuries or Personal rides that you design yourself (explained below). Longer rides also count toward the Larry Schwartz award. Other awards recognize your total endurance mileage throughout the year: -- The Y-R Platinum award is for cyclists who complete at least 5,000 miles in Y-R rides, including at least 2,000 miles in one of the divisions (explained below). --The Y-R Who's Who riders are the top five Platinum riders in each division. Year-Rounder participants receive: - an e-book Century Tips on training, nutrition, equipment and technique; - an e-newsletter, sharing tips and stats; - a bi-monthly Year Rounder column by Russ Loomis, who rides centuries every weekend; - a section at ultracycling.com devoted to the best century stories sent in by riders; - a rider with at least 1,000 miles in the Year- Rounder gets a discount on Accelerade and EnduroxR4. For routing reasons some centuries are just under 100 miles, or exceed 100. So the Year- Rounder counts a Century as a ride of miles. Rides 150-miles and over count as "Long" rides. The Larry Schwartz award allows make-ups for up to two months, in case it's too snowy or icy some months. For example, if you get snowed out in January, just do two centuries in February or another month. 6 of 15

7 The Larry Schwartz award honors Larry Schwartz, who finished first in the UMCA Mileage Challenge (predecessor to the Year- Rounder) in 2001, was second in 2002, and was leading in 2003 when he was struck and killed by a school bus. For a profile of Schwartz go to: To get started, join the UltraMarathon Cycling Association at: add in 10 bucks for the Year-Rounder, put on your wool jersey and head out the door! Any Year-Rounder ride counts toward the Larry Schwartz award- centuries, brevets, double centuries, 12-hour races, etc. We like to keep the holidays free for time with the family, so the Year Rounder ends on December 21 of each year. (The next year's Y-R Challenge starts 12/22.) For complete rules and ride documentation form, go to: Submitted by John Hughes, Director, UMC Rules Summary: The Y-R is structured in four divisions: An "Organized Century" is a ride of 90 to 149 miles and has: a name, designated start/finish location and starting time(s), route plan, organizer, and advance publication of the ride or ride series in club newsletters, etc. A "Personal Century" is a personally designed ride. For credit, you must complete at least 90 miles in a 12-hour period including off the bike time (and maintain an 8.33 mph average after that). Personal centuries provide century-length riding opportunities for riders in seasons or locales where Organized centuries are sparse. An "Organized Long" ride is organized like a Century, but is 150 miles or more. A "Personal Long" ride is a Personally designed ride of 150 miles or more. 7 of 15

8 Bicycle Advocacy Help Needed Fixing Up Bikes Al Brody, CSCC member and Chairman of the Pikes Peak Area Bikeways Coalition is looking for volunteers to help assemble bikes the week of February 13 th. The City of Colorado Springs donated 27 fairly decent bikes from the Colorado Springs Police Department impound lot as a Charitable Release. Memorial Hospital will donate a new helmet to go along with each of the bikes. Bicycle Village, REI, Old Town Bike Shop, Bikepro-Mobile, CS West Cycling Hub, Brian's Bicycle Repair Shop, Colorado Springs Cycling Club members, Colorado Springs Pub Crawlers, and other cyclists have agreed to help refurbish the bikes in various ways. Elke Glavan and Valerie Sweet will be coordinating the distribution to the recipients. The bikes are currently in Al s garage. Al would like to arrange a few work parties the week of February 13th at various times so that folks can help get the bikes roadworthy. Another option, if you can work on a bike or bikes is to take them and work on them at your convenience. Please contact Al at to let him know what days and times work best for you. If a number of people help out, the bikes will be ready in short order. Big Event Ban Delayed 1 Year Bicycle Colorado meets with State Patrol to discuss bike event cap **ACTION UPDATE** On December 12, Bicycle Colorado, met with the State Patrol, state legislators, transportation planners, and event organizers to discuss concerns about the State Patrol s cap on big bicycling events. The meeting was respectful and productive. The main result of the meeting is the formation of a working group to review ideas and best practices for keeping events safe, instead of an event cap. This taskforce will include Bicycle Colorado, State Patrol, and CDOT staff. This group will look at ride safety, State Patrol event resources, and motorist behavior. BIG EVENT BAN DELAYED 1 YEAR The Colorado State Patrol has delayed the implementation of their new policy banning big bicycle events in Colorado until December Their new policy bans bicycle events with more than 2,500 riders, but this limit can be lowered at any time putting every event at risk. Bicycle tours, races, charity rides, group rides, and triathlons are all affected. SAFETY HAS NO LIMITS The State Patrol says that they are using this ban to ensure safety. But a random cap has no effect on the safety of bicyclists. Safety is based 8 of 15

9 on good event planning, educated bicyclists, traffic management plans, safe roads, and lawabiding motorists. A well-run event can be safe for 10,000 bicyclists and a poorly-run event can be unsafe for 100 riders. An arbitrary cap punishes everyone and discourages all events. What You Can Do: Go to the Bicycle Colorado web site: 1. Add Your Name: Sign the petition to overturn this damaging policy 2. Give Input: Share your ideas to make events even safer. These will be collected and utilized in taskforce discussions. 3. Strengthen the Effort: Bicycle Colorado is here to lead this campaign and protect bicyclist s rights. Please add your financial support to overturn this bike ban. BANNING BIG BIKE EVENTS is bad for Colorado because:...and on and on Is this the bicycle-friendly Colorado you want? STATE PATROL NOW CONSULTING BICYCLISTS Keep in mind that the State Patrol officers are heroes to bicyclists. They cite unsafe drivers and provide emergency assistance. We met with the State Patrol on December 12 to discuss ways to ensure event safety and access. We look forward to working with the State Patrol to reverse this policy. CHARITIES AFFECTED BY BAN See the list of charities benefiting from Colorado's three largest bike rides. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Limiting the size of events unfairly punishes charities charity bike events raise millions for important causes like curing diseases and helping children Banning popular events reduces tourism bicycle tourism and events contribute more than $167 million to our state s economy and more than 2000 jobs Banning popular events is contrary to the culture of Colorado it prevents the Colorado public from enjoying the state on bikes as part of a community EVERY EVENT AT RISK The 2,500 rider cap on state highways is subjective and may be changed at any time at the whim of the State Patrol. If tomorrow they decide that 500 is a safer number, it put amazing rides like these at risk: Elephant Rock Triple Bypass MS 150 Iron Horse Classic Courage Classic Tour de Cure Bicycle Tour of Colorado Mt Evans Hill Climb Feel free to visit our FAQ page for additional information about this ban. SUPPORT FROM LEGISLATORS Legislators voice support-read Sen. Brophy and Rep. Carroll's letter here EVENT BAN IN THE NEWS Read recent press coverage of the event ban. ABOUT BICYCLE COLORADO Learn more about Bicycle Colorado and our efforts to build a bicycle-friendly state. TAKE ACTION NOW Now is the time to act. With the holiday season here, we may be strapped because people are too busy to act. Apathy could let this ban discourage bicycling in Colorado, but don't let that happen. Take action today and protect your 9 of 15

10 right to bicycle. Together we can end bike bans and build a bicycle-friendly Colorado. Thank you for your support, we can t do this without you. Bicycle Colorado s 2006 Gala Celebration CSCC Ride Mileage Bicycle Colorado s 2006 Gala Celebration will be on Saturday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Walnut Foundry Event Center in downtown Denver. This event is a festive evening to celebrate bicycling in Colorado and benefits Bicycle Colorado s effort to build a bicycle friendly Colorado. Tickets and more details available at Meet Ned Overend, bid in live and silent autions, enjoy hors d oeurves and desserts and open wine and beer bar and meet other cyclists from around the state. Winners of the Bicyclists Choice Awards will be announced as well: Charlie Czarniecki has volunteered to compile mileage statistics for CSCC club rides. Each rider s miles to date will be shown in the newsletter each month. The first list is sorted by mileage and the second is sorted by last name. Charlie is doing the tabulation but he needs help from both Ride Leaders and riders. Ride Leaders, please send ride sheets to Charlie by the 20 th of each month to allow time for tabulation and inclusion in the newsletter. Riders, please make sure you sign the ride sheet at each ride (you get bonus miles for riding to and from the ride). Happy riding to all. See you on a club ride soon! CSCC Mile Log 2006 as of 2/8/06 Last Name First Name Total Miles Club Rides CSCC Distance & Rides Osborne Jim Hill Stan Severn Alan Aten "Bear" Stansberry Mike of 15

11 Carter Rush 97 3 Roberson Gary 90 7 Wallace Mike 90 4 Smith Anne 83 3 Smith Bob 83 3 Ford Liz 82 3 Czarniecki Charlie 77 4 McMillen Pat 70 6 VanDerWege Dave 70 2 VanDerWege Kathy 70 2 Brody Al 62 3 Harris JW "Harry" 59 3 Hefta Kerry 58 2 Zimmann Katie 57 3 Babcock Duane 52 4 Mullaly Hope 51 2 Mullaly Sean 51 2 Stahl Joan 51 5 Horne Dave 43 2 Harris Rhonda 39 2 Dass Steve 38 1 Devine Brian 38 1 Dolan Mary 38 2 Murphy Lee 38 1 Villhard Diane 38 1 Villhard Vic 38 1 Smith Smitty 37 2 Beauchamp Allen 36 3 Conboy Chris 34 2 Brooks Myra 26 2 Brody Tamara 25 1 Gearhart Randy 25 1 Herman Lee 25 1 Herman Sarah 25 1 Smith Terrence 25 1 Seidel Peggy 21 3 Groves Alex 20 1 Bombria Chris 19 1 Beauchamp CeCe 18 1 Mann Mark 18 1 Sheets Sally 18 1 Smith Millie 18 1 Hill Karen 14 1 Koeller Camelia 10 2 Aten Trish 5 1 Koeller Hans 5 1 Bottom Line: 2,849 miles 51 CSCC riders in list. 11 of 15

12 CSCC Mile Log 2006 as of 2/8/06 Last Name First Name Total Miles Club Rides CSCC Distance & Rides Aten "Bear" Aten Trish 5 1 Babcock Duane 52 4 Beauchamp Allen 36 3 Beauchamp CeCe 18 1 Bombria Chris 19 1 Brody Al 62 3 Brody Tamara 25 1 Brooks Myra 26 2 Carter Rush 97 3 Conboy Chris 34 2 Czarniecki Charlie 77 4 Dass Steve 38 1 Devine Brian 38 1 Dolan Mary 38 2 Ford Liz 82 3 Gearhart Randy 25 1 Groves Alex 20 1 Harris JW "Harry" 59 3 Harris Rhonda 39 2 Hefta Kerry 58 2 Herman Lee 25 1 Herman Sarah 25 1 Hill Karen 14 1 Hill Stan Horne Dave 43 2 Koeller Camelia 10 2 Koeller Hans 5 1 Mann Mark 18 1 McMillen Pat 70 6 Mullaly Sean 51 2 Mullaly Hope 51 2 Murphy Lee 38 1 Osborne Jim Roberson Gary 90 7 Seidel Peggy 21 3 Severn Alan Sheets Sally 18 1 Smith Anne 83 3 Smith Bob 83 3 Smith Millie of 15

13 Smith Smitty 37 2 Smith Terrence 25 1 Stahl Joan 51 5 Stansberry Mike VanDerWege Dave 70 2 VanDerWege Kathy 70 2 Villhard Vic 38 1 Villhard Diane 38 1 Wallace Mike 90 4 Zimmann Katie 57 3 Bottom Line: 2,849 miles 51 CSCC riders in list. 13 of 15

14 Sponsors of 15

15 Commercial Ads Are accepted as follows: Send clean ad copy, business card, disc with the ad copy, or a file attachment to cscc@bikesprings.org. Send a check for the amount of: $75 for 1/4 page ad $25 for business card sized ad (This amount is for 3 issues). Mail check and ad materials to: CSCC Advertising Attention: Treasurer P.O. Box Colorado Springs, CO of 15