Tidewater Bicycle Association February 2015 e-news

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1 Page 1 of 8 Rides, local cycling news and more! Tidewater Bicycle Association February 2015 e-news Inside this issue A Message from the President Norfolk Bike Plan Peter L. Teeuwen Ride TBA Cycling Legs Against Multiple Sclerosis (CLAMS) Cycling and GeoCaching - A Great Mix Upcoming Rides Bike Shorts TBA Calendar A Message from the President 2015 is looking to be a great year for TBA. As an all volunteer organization, we are providing a lot of bicycle fun and important services to our members and community. So far this year we have had two successful rides and socials, many member led group rides, held a significant TBA General Membership meeting on the South Hampton Roads Trail and Virginia Beach light rail with trail concept and are informing our members about legislative activities in the General Assembly. We are in full planning for the TBA Chili ride (March 7th), TBA Knotts Island Century ride (May 2nd) and the TBA July 4th ride and social. We also plan to help with several bike month activities such as Chesapeake BikeFEST at the Dismal Swamp Canal on May 9th. Volunteers are needed for all these events and more. As a new president for TBA, I would like to hear from you. Please me or call to tell me why you love TBA, what you enjoy the most about our organization, any ideas you have to improve TBA and any volunteer activities that you would like to lead or help make happen. Travis Davidson Norfolk Bike Plan The City of Norfolk has contracted with Toole Design Group (TDG) to develop a strategic bicycle and pedestrian plan. The strategic plan focuses on approximately twelve, 3-4 mile roadways that appear to be buildable in the â œnearâ future. This plan is NOT a master plan. However, the

2 Page 2 of 8 plan will provide the city with a tool to understand the best way to develop a bike facility for multiple street types and how to develop other bike facilities throughout the city. In October, TDG launched their Wikimap internet based program which allowed the public to provide input about where they cycle now, where they would like to cycle and what the obstacles are. Additionally, three public meetings were held at different locations in the city. Based on input gathered from Wikimap, the public meetings and information provided by the technical committee, TDG will develop plans to improve the selected roadways for bicyclists and pedestrians. In December, TDG conducted fieldwork on the corridors and will be visiting Norfolk again in February. During the February trip TDG will present their initial findings, conduct additional field work and receive guidance from the technical committee. The iterative design process will continue until the final study is completed in May. The city's goal is to construct, or have under construction all of the corridors proposed by the study within the next five to 10 years. Other bike facilities would also be constructed should they coincide with other city projects such as pavement improvements, utility work, etc. Your public support to build bicycle and pedestrian facilities will be important once the study is completed. Your participation in the process will largely determine IF improved bicycle and walking facilities are built and WHEN they are built. I am hopeful that we will not have a repeat of Norfolkâ s Master Bike Plan from the 1980s. That plan was designed but was not constructed due to lack of vocal public support. Travis Davidson President, TBA Member, Norfolk Bike Plan Technical Committee

3 Page 3 of 8 Peter L. Teeuwen Ride

4 Page 4 of 8 Sunday January 11th TBA celebrated the 23 annual Peter Teeuwen Memorial Ride. Cyclists departed from the Grassfield Ruritan Club on Shillelagh Road in Chesapeake and rode the PLT 23 mile time trial "lollipop loop" returning to a pot luck meal with fellowship and awards. This year Dan Netzer of Celerity Cycling was recognized for his second place finish in his age division at the Masters World Race in Austria. Rick Powell gave a nice tribute to the Teeuwen family. A great time was had by all. It was a great day for riding; sunny, very little breeze, a bit cool but once you got going it was perfect. C pacers left at noon. I rode with the A pace that left at 1PM with police escort. Designated speed and the lead police cruiser kept us on mark if a bit slow. I don't think I saw us at 21 very often. While many of us felt a bit restrained, it made for a nice conversational pace and I heard quite a bit of talk during the hour or so we were on the course. I was surrounded by racers from various teams...some easily identifiable by their kits, others remained anonymous. Vigilant riding in the peloton kept the eyes on the road so the voices were faceless for the most part. Talk ranged from team camaraderie to personal exchanges about friends and family. I heard the story of one fellow who owned a bakery business and recently moved it from a store front to a building on his property which made for better focus on his commercial customers, kept him at home to greet his kids from the school bus and ready at a moment's notice if a team mate wanted to ride. No matter the talk, at some point it all came back to the bicycle ; the where-abouts of lost team mates, races gone by and races yet to happen. It was a slice of cycling life...a chapter in a bigger book of how we enjoy what we do on our beloved bicycles. TBA Cycling Legs Against Multiple Sclerosis (CLAMS)

5 Page 5 of 8 Happy Valentineâ s Day to all! Please welcome new CLAM, Elizabeth Lockwood who is a friend of Deb Hoke. She is joining us and some may know her as she has in fact riden with us a few times. Now it is time to shake off the winter blahs and start to put the CLAMS team back together for our 11th season! Our first meeting for the new year will be Thursday, Feb19 th at the Frease house. Come to eat and socialize at 6:30 pm and meeting thereafter. Bring a dish to share and bring any fund raising ideas so we can make this another banner year! The TBA MS 150 CLAMS are always looking for new members for the team so if you are interested in becoming a CLAM please call: Joe or Polly Frease at or pfrease@verizon.net. Ride fast, Ride strong, Ride safe, so that others may walk, Joe and Polly Frease Cycling and GeoCaching - A Great Mix No, this is not a bike accident â it's a cycling geocacher stopping along the way to look for a cache. Does that look like fun or what! My recent experience out in Grassfield included a police encounter. During a bike ride I stopped in the woods behind Quiznoes in the Grassfield shopping center â you know - where the workers come out for a smoke next to the big, green, smelly garbage bins. OK â that's a little risky right there, but add to it a call to 911 from a local resident and we have a situation. A police cruiser came down the alley slowly and stopped. I figured he might be curious about me so I stepped out of the woods. The especially tall and fit officer asked me what I was doing and I told him I was geocaching and turns out he knew what that was. A fellow officer drove up in his police car â two police cars converging on this dangerous situation! He was not familiar with the sport so I showed him the GPS info on my phone. I also just happened to mention that my Police

6 Page 6 of 8 Detective son-in-law in San Antonio geocaches also. After taking my ID information, the officer went back to the car to check me out and came back with the message that I was â œwanted for a murder in Idaho back in 1998.â Hello! It took me a minute to realize that this big guy was joking and I joined in. When they left I figured I had police protection so I went back into the woods and immediately found the cache â a 5 point deer antler with a small tube in it for the signing log. I wished the officers had stayed around to see what all the fuss was about. Happy Trails, Fran Adams Upcoming Rides Find all the latest ride listings including repeat and breakaway rides here. Saturday, January 31st B Pace 7:30 am 65 miles Smithfield TBA ride from the W. Branch Reservoir in Suffolk through Isle of Wight and Surry counties, with a lunch stop at the Smithfield Ice Cream Shop at the 50-mile point. Cue sheet, map, and directions on TBA website. Call or for more information. Leader: Paul Gordy, / blueridgecyclist@gmail.com From: Western Branch Fishing Station, Girl Scout Rd, Suffolk Sat. & Sun., February 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 A Pace 7:30 am 40â 100 miles Location varies Weekly repeat TBA ride. Cue sheets provided. Call first to confirm ride location and details. Leader: Kim Aldridge Sykes, or gobiking@cox.net From: Contact Kim Aldridge Sykes ( ) for location. Wednesday, February 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th C Pace 9:00 am 30â 40 miles Chesapeake TBA YESS group (Youthful Energetic Seniors) weekly repeat ride along the Dismal Swamp Canal and other country roads. Location varies â call first to confirm location and start time. Leader: Fran Adams, (h) or (c) From: varies â contact Fran Adams for location. Friday, February 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th C Pace 9:00 am 40 miles Chesapeake TBA YESS group (Youthful Energetic Seniors) Friday weekly repeat ride. Friendly group! *NOTE: this is an 'Ad Hoc' ride during the winter months â please call Fran Adams to confirm whether the ride is on. Leader: Fran Adams, (h) or (c) From: Bike Beat Chesapeake, Edinburgh Commons North, 200 Carmichael Way, #608, Chesapeake Saturday, February 7th B Pace 8:00 am 50 miles Smithfield TBA ride from the W. Branch Reservoir in Suffolk through Isle of Wight and Surry counties with a stop at the Smithfield Bakery at the 35 mile point. Cue sheet, map, and directions on TBA website. Call or for more information. Leader: Paul Gordy, / blueridgecyclist@gmail.com

7 Page 7 of 8 From: Western Branch Fishing Station, Girl Scout Rd, Suffolk Saturday, February 21st B Pace 8:15 am 55 miles Williamsburg TBA ride on the â œold 55-mile Williamsburg Road Race Courseâ, a scenic route with little traffic and a few rolling hills. Lunch afterwards at Pierceâ s BBQ in Williamsburg is optional. Cue sheet, map, and directions on TBA website. Leader: Paul Gordy, / blueridgecyclist@gmail.com From: Meet at Waller Mill Park in Williamsburg ($2.00 parking fee â gate to park opens at 8am) Saturday, February 28th B Pace 8:00 am 65 miles Smithfield TBA ride from the W. Branch Reservoir in Suffolk through Isle of Wight and Surry counties, with a lunch stop at the Smithfield Ice Cream Shop at the 50-mile point. Cue sheet, map, and directions on TBA website. Call or for more information. Leader: Paul Gordy, / blueridgecyclist@gmail.com From: Western Branch Fishing Station, Girl Scout Rd, Suffolk Bike Shorts Construction has started on a 2.3 mile section of the South Hampton Roads Trail (Suffolk Seaboard) in Suffolk from Driver to Shoulders Hill Rd. TBA's annual Chili Ride (a bike ride with chili social afterwards) will be on March 7th at Smartmouth Brewery in Norfolk. TBA members will receive an informing them registration has opened on February 7th. TBA's Youthful Energetic Seniors in Spandex (YESS) group has been maintaining planters at both ends of the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail in Chesapeake. Now they have a plaque recognizing their efforts TBA Calendar Mar 7 TBA Chili Brewery, Norfolk Mar 11 General Membership Meeting Mar League Cycling Instructor Seminar, Old Dominion University May 2 Knotts Island Century

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