President’s Message

Dear Desert Bike Club Members and Guests,

The Board had a terrific meeting to roll into 2012 and I think we came up with some great ideas for the Saturday ride as well as some fun events. We will also be updating our website with a new feature entitled Member Milestones. This is where you would email our webmaster Doug Winters with a photo and a brief summary of your milestone. For example, all of you who have ridden 5,000 miles or 10,000 miles in 2011 please let us know. For anyone who has circumnavigated the globe ( 44,360 kilometres - 27,560 mi) over a couple of years or more than once in your cycling history, let us know. And for those desiring a new goal for 2012—why not try for one of these milestones for yourself?

As for the Saturday ride, POWER TO THE PEDALERS. It seems that the majority of you really like rolling out as one big happy group; so, the Thousand Palms Canyon Riders and the Cove riders will all roll out together. We ask that you be mindful of the entire group and look back to see if there is a split at an intersection and soft pedal if some are caught at a light. This will help to encourage riders to stop when the light is BRIGHT RED. Those wishing to do the Thousand Palms Canyon Ride will go left onto Cook and hold the pace to a nice group pace riding 2 abreast all the way until we pass Sun City and begin the climb. This is where we can help our guest riders and new to the group riders with their riding etiquette. We have so many really experienced and skillful riders and we want to learn from them. They are A riders for a reason! Therefore, if one of those riders happen to tell you to hold your line or to pick a wheel and stay on that particular wheel or to pull through and not just pop out of the line randomly, please take it as a helpful bit of advice and not anything personal. The best way to learn is to watch and ask if you are unsure. There will ALWAYS be a group that will wait and regroup at the TOP of Thousand Palms Canyon and regroup again at the Truck Stop. With this in mind, if you are not feeling well or the legs will not cooperate, you will have a group to ride with if you come off the front group so please pull out before you end up gapping some of your “teammates”. If we all think of each other as teammates and friends-- people who challenge us to become stronger while at the same time encourage and help us should we need a pull or some advice or a lot of help.

Those riders choosing to ride the Cove, we are asking that the group REMAIN 2 ABREAST down Frank Sinatra all the Way to Country Club. Please keep the pace around 22mph steady pace where we can also help new riders with group riding and keep a safe group as we round the corner on Tamarask where the rising sun and potholes in the road make for hazardous conditions. Once we cross Country Club, there may be a group that will try to break away. There will always be a group that will regroup at the bottom of the Cove near the park if you do get dropped this will be your motivation to keep pedaling and see if you can get to the Park in time.

Keep Pedaling,

"Fletchie"