New at Twin Rivers Cyclists?

Yes, its that time. Membership run from March 31st to March 31st. Quite a number of you renewed at the Spaghetti Feed on the 13th of March. But more did not. If you’d like to see when your renewal is due, visit the membership page.

You will also find a membership form in pdf.

We have lots of exciting things going on with National Bike Month coming in May. Check the calendar and the Safety Committee pages. And don’t miss the Crazy Ladies page. They’ve added a blog and soon will have pictures posted at Picassa.

-Corrie

Bicycle, Smicycle. We love to eat!

You might forgive a guy who’s on a diet and off the bike for leading with the food, but I’m really looking forward to dinner tonigiht.

Oh, yeah, there’s that Annual Club Membership Meeting with fun awards and a slide show of 2007 rides, but its the food.

Don’t forget: A-M Salad, N-Z Dessert, please.

-Corrie

Here’s the letter I wrote to the Tribune Outdoor editor and to Klew News tips to encourage them to do a bike month story.

The League of American Cyclists sponsor each spring a Bike Month including a Bike to work week and day. This year the week is May 12-16 with Friday, the 16^th designated Bike to Work Day.

 With pedestrian-cycle trails in the planning stages in Clarkston, Lewiston, and Lapwai and gasoline at a national average of $3.17 a gallon, isn’t it time to take another look at cycling in the four cities of Lewiston, Clarkston, Pullman, and Moscow?

I represent the Twin Rivers Cyclists as Treasurer and advocacy spokesman. This year we are making an extra effort to encourage safe cycling. Cycling is not just a spin on the bike path. At some point cyclists and motorists must learn to accommodate each other. From the kid on a bmx bouncing in and out of traffic and darting across the road to the older cyclists nervously creeping from one handicapped sidewalk-access to the next we will all benefit from an increased citizen awareness of cyclists on the roadways.

You may see something of what we do at the club website at http://twinriverscyclists.org. On this page you can learn about progress on the Pedestrian Trail and other bike related projects as well as see maps of our favorite routes from the Palouse to Grangeville.

In addition, I maintain a blog called Crusty Cassette to share our road experiences. Over the winter we haven’t had much activity, but recently a group of us headed to Death Valley for a little bike touring. Stories and photos are covered in the most recent entries.

I would like to make our resources available to you for a Bike Month piece. A great opportunity to meet many cyclists is the club’s Annual Spaghetti Feed on March 13^th at Clarkston’s Methodist Church at the Corner of 13th and Highland at 6:30 pm.

 

Happy Bike Month

–thanks, Corrie

 

I almost hate to post these bike/car culture conflict pieces. But this is why we want to have a public face for cycling that focuses on safety, health, and awareness. Linda, Carol and Jen are working on some ideas.

Take a look at the Helmet flyer Carol has made. It is in pdf.  The “correct” example looks a little goofy, but I guess models are hard to find.

I know that Jen has some experience at working with cycling groups and has quite a list of projects we might undertake. Looks like I’ll be creating a safety page soon.–Corrie

Maybe this Seattle judge needs to commute by bike

by Gene Bisbee at 11:41AM (PST) on March 1, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

Why should motorists drive responsibly when the criminal justice system often shows such a lack of concern for the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists? Take the case of Ephraim Schwartz that was adjudicated on Thursday by Seattle Municipal Court Judge George Holifield.

More 

We held a special session at Mike’s place to elect officers, plan the awards and details for the Spaghetti feed on March 13th.

Mike dispensed with the reading of the minutes and the financial report and moved directly to election of officers

President: Linda nominated Carol in a bit of a coup so the 2008 President will Be Carol Ellis.

Vice-President: Mike will assume these duties which consist, according to Lance, mainly of keeping the junk. We thank Mike for his many years of service.

Treasurer: I will continue as Treasurer

Auditor: Lance has agreed to check my books for me.

Secretary: Debbie and Linda are sharing the chores of recording and corresponding secretaries.

Safety officer: Linda proposed that along with our focus on health and safety we should establish an officer who would coordinate our efforts.

No one was up to being sargeant at arms. We’re an unruly bunch.

In Old Business we agreed to have a volunteer sign up sheet available at the Spaghetti feed for help with Devil’s Slide. Can’tmake the spaghetti feed. No fears. Just fill out the volunteer form on the web.

 Linda, Carol, and Tamra are working on awards for the year. Mike motioned that they should submit costs to the board for repayment.

We scheduled some rides which you may see in another post or on the calendar. Significant for this year is the Tune Up Ride on March 16th. This is our regular Sunday 1 pm start, but come between 12 and 1 and Sean will give your bike the once over. Does your bike need a visit to the shop. Join us and find out. Non-members welcome.

–Corrie

We’ve posted most of the major rides for the year including the Huckleberry ride. Joseph will be in September again this year but the date hasn’t been fixed yet. I’ll let you know when it is.

The calendar actually is a couple fo calendars shown as one. On the TRC calendar, I’ve posted only club rides. On my own Corrie’s calendar I’ve added a number of the major rides around the northwest. Thanks to Jim for gathering them up into a single list making it easy for me to add them. If you want to see only club rides, though, just click on the selector arrow to the right of the agenda button and uncheck the calendars you don’t wish to see displayed.

In addition, we’ll be discussing rides on the google group list (you should join it by clicking subscribe over on the left side of this page). When those rides are firmed up, I’ll put them on the calendar too.

June 7 This came to me today. I thought it merited posting.

“Marilyn Jensen Memorial Bike Rides” is an annual event to honor my wife who was killed on her bicycle near Weston, OR August 10th 2005.

I sponsor a free ride, during a local celebration, on June 7th. It is free, and supported, two rides, an 8 mile “family ride” and 50 mile loop, with all kinds of terrain.

The celebration is called “Pioneer Picnic” and there’re lots of fun and food.

This year is the 116th year for the picnic. For details, contact me, Gary Jensen, PO Box 15, Weston, OR 97886.

Lewiston is 125 miles from Weston, I went to college there in 1955/1956. gary jensen

Linda’s Easy Does It Rides

Linda leads three rides staying mainly on the bike path starting at the Clarkston Corps of Engineers Parking Lot. These are slow paced and meant to encourage newcomers. Three Saturdays: March 22nd Aprl 19th May 24th Be ready to ride at 10 am.

Spring Tune Up Ride

March 16th Sunday 1pm start at Southway Boat Launch. This is part of our regular Sunday 1pm rides, but if you come between 12 and 1, Sean Ellis of B&L bikes will perform a basic triage for your bike–chain stretched, cogs worn, head set loose, spokes loose, tires thin. He’s not going to fix your bike, but he’ll give you a heads up about when to head to the bike shop.

Bi-annual Litter Pickup March 30th 1 pm Dippel Road

Okay, I know its not a ride, but it doesn’t take long, gives you a warm funny civic feeling, improves motor/bike relations, and we usually do sneak in 20-30 miles.

And don’t forget the Spaghetti Feed membership drive. Ridership awards, Roken Spoke, Pied Biker, Humanitarian, Best New Ride, No Wine awards presentation. March 13th and Clarkston’s Methodist Church on 13th and Highland. Bring a friend and A-M salad/N-Z dessert

Yea, that’s right. Surprised me too. But we have awards to plan for the spaghetti feed, officers to elect, and maybe some rides to schedule.

So, 7 pm at Mike Riddle’s in the Orchards.

Spring biking is gearing up. The weekend was a blur of cyclists hither and yon. Let’s make the club discussion list active again. You can reach the subscritpion page by clicking on Subscribe over on the left navigation bar or just click here.

Don’t worry about RSS feeds if you don’t know what they are. It is another option to keep up with changes on the club pages and the notices pasted on New at Twin Rivers Cyclists–this blog.

It will not, however, give you notice about somewhen planning a ride other than my formal ride invitations. So its worthwile subscribing. Lots of help too for handling the email volume.

–Corrie

As a club, the board thinks we need to do more promotion of cycling. I have a Wash State Bicycle License Plate and I used to have a Share the Road bumper sticker. This article raises some questions about what that phrase might mean and also about what is the best way to promote cycling.–corrie

Share the road?

By Fritz

James in Greenville wants “Share the road” messages on local buses to help reinforce the idea that cyclists belong on the road. He especially likes the campaign in Atlanta, Georgia, where real people are pictured in the ads instead of just stylized, impersonal bike icons. The real faces humanize cyclists as real people instead of just obstructions in the road.On the Thunderhead Alliance mailing list there’s a discussion about the pros and cons of the “Share the Road” message. Patty Vinyard, executive director of the St. Louis Bike Federation, wants to make biking irresistible. She feels the basic messages of “Share the road” are negative. Consider her points:

We drove all night from Beatty so it was without much sleep I approached the annual business meeting. Thanks to Carol for printing out copies of the balance sheet. Thanks to Steve for suggesting that I post it. So here it is. I’ll update it monthly. Balance Sheet.  

It is not linked from the menu system yet, so you’ll just have to save a bookmark or come back here for a while. I’m swamped catching up with chores after playing hooky on my bike for a week.

Once again these are not the official minutes. Debbie has those, but this will give you an update on what the club is up to.

Mike opened the meeting and rewquested the Treasurer’s report. We’ve begun spending some money on Devil’s Slide as well as the business meeting and spaghetti feed. We have $2,024.17 on Feb. 21, 2008.

Old Business: 

Bite the Bullet will not be a race this year. Instead we’ll host a club ride on the same route, returning to CuldeSac via Reuben-Gifford road and Cottonwood Creek. This is 50 to 55 miles of beautiful, light traffic cycling. It’s on our calendar. Be sure to put it on yours.

Lance wants to unload old/new Bite the Bullet shirts (both blue and organe) as well as lots of socks. He’s taking two bucks for the shirts.

Jerseys Sean reports that he’ll likely deal with Primal Wear for jerseys which would cost about $60 each and require a minimum order of 25. Jen suggests we might try dealing with a local shop.

Advocacy 

I’m serving on the community action committees for two local projects: The Pedestrian/Bike trail from Appleside to Fleshman Way on Scenic in Clarkston. The CAC will consider the routes and public imput and select a recommendation to the county on Feb. 26th.

A second CAC is working on the interchange between Southway Bridge and Route 129 south to Asotin. We have met only once so far.

Be aware also of work on the Lewiston side of Southway where a roundabout is proposed.

Mike asked me to write a letter in suport of Lewiston Parks and Rec director, Lynn Moss’s application to the Idaho Dept of Parks and Rec for a grant to build a bike path from Lindsay Creek up to the new community park area on Warner.

I’m posting informaton as I get it on the Advocacy page.

Devil’s Slide 

    Permits have been requested from USA cycling and Pete Beall has agreed to be our race official.

Fliers and posters have been printed and distributed. Debbie and Jim Kenyon have contacted bike shops for “swag.”

Lance is heading up post race and Carol and Sean are taking care of race day registration and marking the course.

Hammer Nutrition as agreed to provide bags and product for the bags.

New Business: 

Linda proposes the club establish a public identy in support of health and cycling safety. She’d like us to partner with agencies such as St. Joe to sponsor a three-month billboard on Fleshman Way. That’s $2000 costing each of four partners $500.

Sherri Cole has asked us to consider an event in support of Huntington’s Disease. She also asks us to participate in the City of Lewiston’s health fair. She and Nicki did that last year.

Sean has resigned from the board after serving for a number of years including as our president. So far though we’ve managed to keep Carol and Linda whose terms also expire this year. In Sean’s place we have Doug Goodenough. Now he can come up with more Death Valley Adventures for all of us.

Did you forget? Yes, it is tonight at 6:30 at Clarkston’s Methodist Church on 13th and Highland.

Its a potluck so don’t forget your pot.

–Corrie

I see sunshine out there. Time for you to dust off those wheels and put ‘em back on the road.

The Twin Rivers Cyclists’ board meets once a month, usually the second or third Thursday. Two important board meetings are coming up in February and March. Put them on your calendar and plan to attend. It’s your club, or you could join and make it your club.

February 21st: Business Meeting

The annual meeting takes place this year at 6:30 at the Clarkston Methodist Church on 13th and Higland. This is a potluck. Please don’t forget the food.

We’ll be discussing

the Devil’s Slide preparations for April 13th

budget report (I hope I can make it back from Death Valley, but Carol will have the books.)

Canceling Bite The Bullet in favor of a club ride

Linda proposes a focus for club charity: She like to concentrate on health and safety

March 13: Spaghetti Feed

Back at the Clarkston Methodist Church at 6:30. Spaghetti on the club but bring a salad or desert.

This is our membership meeting. I’ll get out a renewal list before the meeting or you could just check the website for your expiration date.

Bring a friend. We are looking for ways to encourage ridership. We’ll presents awards for last years contest as well as the usual assortment of wacky records.

–Corrie

Well, at least I have pdf’s of the entry form and the flier live on the Devil’s Slide page.

Lot’s more work to do yet. Lance will get the fliers and posters printed and I’ll get those fliers in the mail–probably by the end of next week. We’ll need to figure out how to get fliers and posters distributed. That’ll be easy in the valley, but in the banana belt we only hear terrifying things about the roads on the Palouse.

So, if you’re a racer check out the registration information and even if you are not a racer, consider looking it over to spot those inevitable mistakes and oversights that I have made. Chandler, you usually do a good job of catching my mistakes.

–Corrie

I like my club jersey fine. It’s just a bit tight these days–I’m working on that–and its beginning to fray. Jerseys are pricey so Sean and Lance are digging around for the best deal. Last time out the club absorbed some of the costs for the jerseys.

We are looking about for a supplier for a new order of club jerseys. Nothing is fixed yet. I know Lance is looking at zbikewear. The board asked Sean to use some of his resources. Here is the email from Primal Wear as well as a pdf and pricelist.

  Hello Sean,
  
  I have attached our Team Price List to this email of which you will get a
  10% discount for ordering through your shop. The prices will include set-up
  fees, art fees (with two free revisions), unlimited colors and ground
  shipping.

  I have also attached a pdf that you can present to the board members that
  gives a detailed description of each custom product and the order process.
  When will you be meeting with the board members? Will there be enough time
  to send you a jersey sample?

  We do have an art department that is able to help with the design process
  using artwork, logos and/or ideas that are provided or that we have within
  our art archives. Do you have an image of the jersey? I could show our art
  department the image to see if they are able to duplicate it.

  Once the artwork has been approved and the order placed our delivery time is
  8-12 weeks. Do you need the jerseys by a certain date or event? 50% of the
  invoice total will be due when the order is placed and 50% when the jerseys
  are ready for delivery.

  I’m not sure what you meant by if you can mix different styles for the same
  price…We do have am minimum order of 25 for most of our custom products.
  Our jerseys come in a Club Cut fit and we offer either a Raglan or Set-In
  sleeve style. The jerseys can be a combination of men’s and women’s short
  sleeve and sleeveless jerseys of all sizes. Long sleeve or different styles
  (Raglan Sleeve vs Set-In Sleeve) would be considered separate orders of 25
  pieces.

  Please let me know if you need more information or have any questions.
  
  Kind Regards,
  Rebecca Rosas
  Primal Wear, Inc.
  Custom Sales Manager

MikeRiddle asked me to compose a letter of support for Lynn Moss’s application for a grant from Idaho Parks and Rec to build a trail from Lindsay Creek just below the new development up to the new community park on Warner. Lynn has visions of linking Lindsay and Tammany with a bike route over 21st. He would also like to tie together Spalding Park, Hell’s Gate Park, and Dworkshak using existing railbeds. I like his vision.–Corrie

Lynn Moss,

 Lewiston cyclists ride the Lindsay Creek route frequently. We call this the Lewiston Loop. Starting at the Southway Boat launch we either ride up Tammany and down Lindsay Creek or reverse it. As population increases with a new housing development, the narrow Lindsay Creek route becomes more problematic.

 The possibility of having a trail system from Lindsay Creek up to Warner Ave is exciting. This opens up access through the new community park to Orchards residents and lays the ground work to feed future use by the high school and college staff and students as well as providing a first leg in a future trail system to tie the designated bike routes of Lindsay Creek and Tammany together.

 This project supports not only recreational cyclists but is a first step in encouraging bicycle commuting. It is a step in the right direction for all Lewiston residents.

 The Twin Rivers Cyclists are pleased to support the city’s application for an Idaho Parks and Recreation Recreational Trail Grant.

For the President, Mike Riddle

Corrie Rosetti, Treasurer
Twin Rivers Cyclists
Twinriverscyclists.org

Well let’s hope so. The board agreed to try to make a go of the event for 2007. We were pleased to find in our emails last night an application from Aly Lamar. Aly worked with Joe last year and is a member of both Palouse Road Runners and MAMBA. It looks like we have our director.

The club will be far more involved in this year’s event but it will be nice to have a coordinator. Aly says she can do graphics and knows the bike shops.

Since we are getting started late, we chose to move the date to April 6th. Turns out the park is not available. Good thing to as Ted Chauvin pointed out there is competition in Spokane that weekend. We are moving to the 13th of April. Sean promises to revise the route–careful, Sean likes those steep cllimbs. –Corrie

The first board meeting of 2008 met at Lance’s house in Clarkston on Jan. 17, 2008. Jim and Wanda had tickets to the Cougar game. How could we ask them to miss that? Tamara did not show up. Mike, Corrie, Linda, Lance, Sean and Caroll were present.

The treasurer’s report:

We began 2007 with $2191.92 on hand and ended it with $3,000.21.
We made no contributions in 2007 but are correcting that with $500.00 to MAMBA in January.

Devil’s Slide was our big money maker of 2007 coming in at about $680. The board was presented with information showing projected year end revenue with or without continued support of Devil’s Slide and future contributions. If we made $1000 in contributions and did not host Devil’s Slide, we would finish the year at roughly the same $2000 cash balance with which we began 2007.

Corrie presented the iPower web-hosting statement for $95.40 and reported the hosting services were now in his name.

Old Business:

Ridership: $300 dollars are authorized for pay8ing three top place finishers for men and women. Each winner will receive $50.00 cash at the Spaghetti feed in March.

Women
Holmes Helen F 24
Kole Sherri F 21
Abernathy Jan F 10

Men
Wendt Chris M 37
McCracken Jim M 21
Johnson Dan M 12

Sean expressed that he was uncomfortable with giving cash or coupons but had gone along with the program for a year to see how it worked. He felt it had failed in its purpose to increase ridership or bring in new riders.

Linda proposed that we look at public safety education in the form of billboard on FleshmanWay. Caroll suggested bumper stickers. Mike asked about a “bicycle awareness day” and we discussed the Ride of Silence and Critical Mass as well as charity events such as Cranskgiving or holding a bike rodeo. Mike expressed that this community does not attend safety instruction classes even when they are free.

We are entertaining ideas that will help promote cycling and cycling-pedestrian-driver safety education.

New Business:

The annual pot-luck and business meeting will be held Feb 21 starting at 6:30 at the Clarkston Methodist Church.

The spaghetti feed/membership meeting will be held Marth 13 starting at 6:30 perhaps at the Methodist Church.

Five members are up for re-election: Tamara, Sean, Carol, Mike, and Linda. Sean suggests he may be ready to retire after six years on the board. Jim Mcracken and Doug Goodenough were mentioned as good candidates. They have not been asked, yet.

Devil’s Slide:

This event is our biggest cash earner each year and enjoys four years of good management under John Arland and Joe Wagenbrenner. Everyone on the board felt uncomfortable about taking on the responsibility. Carol argued that the program had momentum which would be hard to regain if we took a year off. Mike suggested we could manage it be dividing up the tasks. Caroll advised us to ask Joanne Wykoff for direction and assistance with NORBA.

Corrie will contact the park to firm up a proposed date moved from March 2nd to April 6th. We felt we needed the extra time to put this together.

Lance has arranged permits with the racing organizations in the past and will continue to do so this year.

Calendar: Major rides for the season have been scheduled. Dates are set but times and logistics will be filled in later.

Huckleberry Ride: July 13th
C’da: August 31 and Sept 1
Joseph: Sept 20-21
Bite the Bullet: June 29th (No fee, just an unsupported club ride probably with an extension down Reuben/Gifford and back on Cottonwood Creek
Hiawatha: July 26-27
I Made the Grade: June 21
White Bird: June 14

These notes are unofficial minutes. Debbie Whitely has the official minutes. -Corrie

The first meeting of the year takes place at Lance’s tonight at 7 pm. You can find map information on the calendar page.

We’ll be discussing Devil’s Slide, Mamba contribution for 2007, planning for business meeting and the March spaghetti feed/membership drive. In addition we’ll look at revising the ridership program we started last year.

Yes, there are cash prizes still outstanding! You know who you are. If not, check the ridership page.

I’ve integrated Joe’s and Carol’s items into one list. I’m not really certain I understand everything on the list but it is a start. I think we need to establish some time lines. How soon do we need to arrange for the park? With NORBA? How many forms do we need?

But the list is better organized now, I think.

–Corrie

Carol has worked up an idea of the work that goes into putting on this event. You can read it here.

If you are an organizer, your skills are needed. Or perhaps you might volunteer to help with some of the items on the list. I can prepare packets and pick up swag for example, but I don’t want to be the guy giving orders on race day.

–Corrie