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

Not only did Linda and Carol stage a coup on the board taking over in the name of women everywhere, they are taking over the pages on this site too.

Two new pages not yet in the menu system yet but you can click on the Shamrock icon at the top of the page to get to them.

The Safety committee comrpised of Linda, Carol, Debbie, Tamra, and Jen have built a couple of pages on the google group list. I’ve just made them look like they are on our site. These pages are a work in progress and members of the google list can join in the conversation.

The Crazy Ladies have been around longer than  the Twinriverscyclists. Sometimes they are members of the club and sometimes not, but they ride every Wednesday morning and have created a calendar which is now shared with ours. Visit their page and look for their events on our calendar. Largent is a past honorary Crazy Lady and I’ve ridden with them now and then so fellows, you can show up too.

–Corrie

Excuse number one for not commuting.

The ladies of the safety committe have been hard ar work gathering information on safety and ways to encourage biking to work. They are creating their own pages on the google groups site or you can find a link to their pages from the advocacy page.

Bet they don’t have this yet.–Corrie

One of the biggest problems that people tend to look at is the idea of getting sweaty an stinky after a bike ride. I think this has to be one of the turn-offs that people have with bike commuting.

Read Tips on handling this smelly problem.

Just when I thought it was safe to use MapmyRide to keep track of my mileage, Cyclist Nexus sent me an update so I’ve got to go play with their gps import. MapMyRide doesn’t always get my Garmin mileage corrrect. Now this guy makes me take another look at Excel. Remember Steve has his 2008 Excel spreadsheet all prepped and ready for your new cycling season. See my reviews and down load Steve’s spreadsheet over at the Journal page. Follow the tips below to make it give you nice glitzy charts too. –Corrie

I am guilty of being a dork concerning a great many things. Bikes are at the forefront of my dorkiness but my obsession with Microsoft Excel is at the top of the list as well. So why not combine the two? If you are a hardcore Excel user, skip all the text and just look at the pictures and you’ll get the point. If you only have cursory knowledge of Excel, this entry should give you the basics to get started.

Read more about using Excel to track your mileage 

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 

Yes, there’s a nice new spring time/St. Pat’s green tinge on all the pages now. Please do not adjust your monitors.

Look closely and you’ll see that the search button has moved up into the menu bar which has actually gotten shorter.

You’ll also find the balance sheet under the business menu where it belongs. I sent out the link earlier but changing the menu means updating all the pages.

I also got an email from Cylistnexus They want us to take another look at their journal/map site.

When I posted that page this site was interesting but didn’t work well. All its features weren’t implemented. So, I’ve updated the chart and added a link to a pdf of features they sent me.

It really does merit revisiting.

I’ve moved completelly away from the palm device I was using mostly just to as a mileage log. I like MapMyFitness better than BikeJournal which Doug continues to use. Cyclistnesxus looks very much like MapMyFitness. One problem I’m having with MapMyFitness is that when I import my routes directly from the GPS rather than hand entering them, the mileage isn’t correct. Never off by much but off. Its not the GPS. The training Center software gets it right.

–Corrie

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

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

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.

Jim’s only in his second season of cycling but he knows no limits. Thanks to Jim for this list of tours around the Northwest. Many are from the Cascade Bicycle Club on the coast. It’s kind of nice to see them on a calendar page so I’ve included them on the calendar page unless everyone objects. There are links there as well in the details for each tour. Jim sent them out as a word document which you can download on the calendar page.

Jim include Pedal Around a Glacier, eh which he says takes place probably the second week of September. The date hasn’t been picked yet.

And of course don’t forget to plan in our own tour to Joseph. We rode that in September rather than early October this year. People seemed to like that.

You’d better get to pedaling. –Corrie

I spend on hour or so surfing, reading the blogs each morning gathering post material for the next day. Here are some of the pages I’ve liked best. I’ve added the links on the Advocacy and Links page but you can visit the links from here. –Corrie
Advocacy

Safe Streets from the Gristmill Blog. Excellent article with lots of links exploring the question of just how safe cycling is. The author uses his son as his touchstone.I posted this on Nov 27th on New at Twin Rivers Cyclists

Read this and then study Street Smarts below

Bicycling Street Smarts An online text book for safe cycling with clear illustrations for handling difficult traffic situations inclluding what do when the bike lane comes to an intersection. It’s not staying in the lane.

Bicycling 101 for non-cyclists from the Bike Nazi in Boise

Complete Streets is short hand for laws which require new and rebuilt road construction to account for egress for all, cars, pedestrians, and cyclists. This website explains it all.

International Bicycle Fund A non-governmental, nonprofit, advocacy organization, promoting sustainable transport and international understanding. Major areas of activity are non-motorized urban planning, economic development, bike safety education, responsible travel and bicycle tourism, and cross-cultural, educational programs.

Downloadable Resources for the police to use in enforcing and educating cycling law from the League of Illinois Bicyclists.

New on the Links page

Pedaling.com find rides, post rides, safety tips, resources

Jim Langley This is a wonderful site for all things cylcing from repair to collecting.

Cyclingnews.com Not for the faint of heart. Packed with small text links on racing and technology.

Bicycling Quarterly Do you want polished, high quality production values and elegant layouts? This may be the journal for you. Uh–Linda, you can’t look at this.

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

I’ve added two new pages under the links menu for Journals and Maps.

Doug and I have been using BikeJournal.com for about a week. It is a nice journal at this point but doesn’t seem to do a good job with mapping. Way back last summer when I created the maps on the favorites pages,I used Bikely after having already looked at MapMyRide and a couple of others. None of these sites had my favorite feature at that time.

My favorite feature: Auto-route or snap-to-road allows you to tell the software to just follow the road. It reduces the number of clicks you have to make to get around corners. I wish I’d had that when I did routes of Winchester and Spiral grades. Of course now all the sites have that same tool. Well, all except BikeJournal.com.

Journals: brief reviews and links to journal sites and software including Steve’s spreadsheet which is arguably still the simplest and best tool.

Mapping: This is a cool tool for sharing rides. Auto-route would probably have saved me many hours last summer.

My conclusion: I like MapMyRide best overall and it is free though registration is required. It is flexible about how you enter your data. Instead of getting upset because you don’t already have a map for the route you just rode, it lets you enter a description and get on with your log and life. If you prefer you can start by creating the map–easy with auto-route–and then save it to your training log with distance already filled in. Hint: Make sure you tweak your map so it shows the same distance as your computer.

–Corrie

The CAC met yesterday afternoon for a two hour field trip to visit the several points of interest for the four options for this trail. At the meeting afterword we prioritized the four options. You can see our conclusions on the advocacy page.

Look for a Public Open House in the third week of January to view this route plans and bring your ideas to bear.

Members of the cylcing community are encourage to write me at treasurer@twinriverscyclists.org.

Electronic log books

Cyclistat and BikeJournal.com reviews

I’ve spent some time Friday and Saturday playing with these two options for a paper log book. Clearly you aren’t going to keep this kind of detail on paper. Things you never thought of doing before are suddenly simple with the computer.

That doesn’t mean you want all that data. If you are a team cyclist, you likely have a team coach who wants you to record data his way with his tools. All these programs have the same flaw–just becasue I can.

I’m pretty satisfied with Runner’s Log on my palm but the desktop version isn’t really up to speed so I’m looking for another way to track my mileage. I really don’t look at the charts and graphs I already have and I’m not sure I want to share my ride data with the world either.

But I have years of data that I don’t want to lose either. Any program I settle on will have to allow me to import my data so I can compare years.

I’m still looking.

PS: the page linked is still in beta and not in the menu system yet. The only way to reach it is from the link above.

-Corrie

Dinner and a movie on New Year’s Eve is not really an official club event but it has been a tradition for a number of years. We usually have an early dinner at Rooster’s in Clarkston around 5. After dinner, many of us go to a movie at Nez Perce Plaza together.

Debbie will take care of arranging a group table but she needs to know how many are coming. Please fill out the form and submit it.

See you New Years Eve and don’t forget the traditional New Years Day bike ride. It is a bike club, you know.

–Corrie

Be sure to read Eric’s latest blog. He’s building an experimental bike and is testing it at Hells Gate. You’ll like the description of Devil’s Slide and the pictures of the bike.

Eric’s a local cyclist and some time club board member. Look also for Alison and Mat’s blogs. These three, like Crusty, are not very active right now but they’ll pick up in the spring. They are linked to the right side of the club home page. –Corrie

Bottom Bracket Biking: Riding Experimental 650B Truth

The Truth experiment using a 650B front wheel (that’s a 27.5-inch tire) is revealing much better results than I ever expected…actually I was not sure how it would ride or handle even though I spent an abundant amount of time designing this thing (I knew a total flop was possible and just part of the risk that goes with bike experimentation).

I got to thinking it might be nice to go back to an old post. So there is now a link on the main page off to the left to take you to New at Twin Rivers Cyclists Categories. This takes you to a section of the Links page. Select a category and see all the posts by scrolling the screen. You can do a key word search too. Once on this page you can find the categories listed to the right. No need to return to the links page.

The first stakeholders meeting will be held Nov. 29th. Apparently we have all been interviewed and now we are being brought together.

Read an update on the Advocacy Page.

–Corrie