Two equally important topics need to be addressed in this month’s column – congratulating Kent Peters on administering a fabulous Century for PPTC in September and getting the club’s act together for January’s Annual Meeting by calling for candidates for the 2008 Executive Committee and for the Good Shepherd award.
Kent was GREAT – and so was the Century. I worked the White Post rest stop which was run by Cynthia Priddy and her husband David. I have to say it’d be harder to find a more organized and enthusiastic leader than Cynthia who also believes in having lots of fun. White Post is a cool stop. The site is owned by Billy Thompson who runs White Post Restorations, a great car restoration shop, now in its fourth generation, and has cars flown in from as far away as the Middle East. For those of you interested in more than bikes, check out his website.
This rest stop is famous for the sandwiches. Originally the tradition started with Ballard Troy and Cynthia had big expectations to fill. Sandwiches made included “The Englishman” – tomato with mayo on toasted English muffin and the “Chix on Whix” – eggs sliced w/mayo on wheat bread in addition to the famous tomato, cucumber, onion sandwiches with mayo and salt and pepper. (If you’ve never tried it, be sure to get really great fresh tomatoes and you’ll be amazed!)
Volunteers at the rest stop included Gary Timmons (Gatorade making), Linda and Paul Bankerd, Steve Jones, Paul Phipps and Jeff Piper. Karen Berlage got pulled off first aid duty and cut tomatoes and made sandwiches too – (though there was quite a debate about who’d put the Neosporin on her finger should she cut herself – could she do it herself or would we have to find another?) As Tom Humphrey commented later in the day when I went back to the high school – “I thought I was working hard riding 100 miles, but the volunteers are still at it.” Everyone deserves lots of credit for all their hard work.
The Club is looking for members to volunteer to be Chair-Elect, Treasurer or Member at-Large. Executive Committee meetings are the third Tuesday of every month and run about 2 hours. A club of 3200 members can not run without a dedicated group of people performing administrative oversight. Please let a current member of the Executive Committee know if you are interested in running for one of these positions. Big issues in the coming year involve continued improvement of the website and working on a new automated ride scheduling system. I hope to work on a redesign of the website once I am no longer Chair in January (and finally have some time!) If you are interested in web design or redesign or just want to comment on what we have already done and how it could be improved please let me know directly via .
Also, nominations for the Good Shepherd Award need to be sent to members of the Ex Com by December 1st. I know there are many great ride leaders out there – let us know who you think should be honored and why.