Articles from the March 2007 issue of Pedal Patter
By Catherine Kitchell
I write this month’s chair column after the annual meeting and the first ExCom meeting (only 11 more of these to go!). I ventured last month that these would go well, and gladly I was right. The food was good; a great slate of Executive Committee members was voted in; people actually attended the meeting; ride leaders were recognized and new volunteers coerced into making obligations they probably now regret.
The annual meeting is one PPTC event for which I always pray for bad weather. The worse the weather, the more likely riders will stay off their bikes for a day to just eat and talk. It was very cold, but I think Dan Lehman counted 17 people who amazingly rode their bikes to the meeting. That’s pretty impressive and has to be a record. (I always pass Patrice Coss on her bike when I drive to the meeting. She’s a total marvel. My excuse for driving? I bring lots of supplies!)
The meeting recognized both new Chair-elect Marc Currie and new member-at-large Steve Wartik for their hard work on the new website, which was previewed at the meeting. I’ve subsequently played with it and, well, it’s pretty cool. Please read Marc’s piece in this issue detailing more about the website.
Kent Peters has agreed to chair the PPTC Century on September 16. Kent is a new PPTC member, from Norway and other exotic locales, and we’re thrilled to have him. He’s already been in contact with past Century chairs and is overwhelmed with the demands, but seems to be taking it all in stride -- a good attitude in a human being trying to organize bikers!
Linda Schwartz has agreed to lead the Lewes, Del. weekend. She’s also done the work to set up the Williamsburg weekend, including contacting the hotel, putting together the food and cue sheets, etc., but would be overjoyed to have someone take it from here. So if you’re interested in the relatively easy part of taking reservations in conjunction with PPTC staffer Sherri Core, let me or Linda know. Linda’s e-mail: lschwartz216@gmail.com.
Dates for other annual events have also been set. We didn’t reserve the community center in Fairlington early enough for a volunteers’ party last fall, so we are combining that event and a ride-leaders’ meeting on April 14. The annual Nokesville picnic will be May 6. More on these events is in this issue or will come soon.
I’ll admit I’ve been pretty lame about riding so far this year, both on weekends and during the week. (Hoping to rent a bike for a day or two in Naples, Fla. next week, though I imagine it won’t be too strenuous a riding adventure.) Generally, however, I love my bike commute. Most mornings, riding the Capital Crescent is fabulous. It’s beautiful and calm, and with any luck I even see a little red fox or a beaver. So I’m a big supporter of WABA’s Bike-to-Work Day, coming up May 18.
PPTC is helping sponsor that event with a $1,000 donation, and our ExCom’s Bill Michie is coordinating our efforts to bring out volunteers to help WABA. Check out WABA (click here). Please remember PPTC is more than a bike club -- we are a public charity and part of our mission is to generally promote biking in the area.
Dreams of a Bike Rally
Seven years ago, I approached my wife Kim with an idea; I wanted to host a family bike rally. We had participated in several tandem rallies over the years and had a lot of fun.
We then read about the Family Cycling Tour and how it was started by several area cyclists, one couple being Harvy and Susan Sachs from the PPTC. They told how they had been at some bike rallies where children were not really welcome and decided to start up there own. Members of PPTC and WABITs strongly encouraged us to start it up. So after listening to more of their stories, we were convinced. We were going to host a bike rally!?!
We figured we needed someplace with quiet back roads or bike trails, things for the kids to see, low cost, places to play without disturbing others and Ice Cream. This was going to be a child centric weekend where everyone could relax. We scouted around and found Pocomoke State Park. We had ridden a lot of the local roads on the Seagull Centuries. They had a mixture of cabins and camping spots so we people could come at low cost or spend a little more and stay in side. These decisions were made in the fall of 2001.
The next spring came the first real hurdle. Convince the Executive Committee of the PPTC to support us. We got a pass on this, the President of the PPTC said, stay home, send me the paperwork and I will convince the board. A couple of weeks later, we were officially sanctioned to hold the first Family Bike Weekend. To paraphrase, “Host a rally and they will come”, but would they?
We initially set our goal low. If we had 20 folks attend, we would count it a success. The registration started out a little slow but a couple of families from the Family Cycling Tour joined in to help and ended up with 32 folks attending that year. The children ranged in age from 4 to 15 and all had a wonderful time.
One of the big things we learned that year was to relax and let the weekend develop it’s own pace. We had brought along song sheets for campfire songs and crafts for the kids to include making kites and sports equipment. What we found was that the children preferred the pool and unstructured playing to include more biking around the loop at the campground.
Over the years we have continued to host the rally out of Pocomoke State Park. We still do the rides to Furnace Town and Public Landing. Our registration fee is still only $25 per family, plus $50 (camping) or $100 (cabin) for lodging and shared food. Last year we had 46 folks register, of which two families were on the original rally and a majority of the other families had been on at least one other Family Bike Weekend.
This year we will once again be hosting the 2007 Family Bike Weekend at Pocomoke State Park over the weekend of 22-24 June. This is the weekend after Father’s Day. The registration cost is still $25 per family for PPTC members and $30 for non-members. If you are interested in attending, folks are required to make their own accommodation reservations. For more information see the Family Bike Weekend article in the Pedal Patter for details or contact me directly at kbrugman@cox.net or call evenings between 6 and 10 PM at 703-339-3948.
By the time you read this, a new PPTC website should have launched. The history of this project is long and varied and a wide range of PPTC volunteers are responsible for its implementation. The upgraded website has two main purposes: 1) online reference manual, and 2) online event registration and ride scheduling.
The upgraded website uses a content management system ("Drupal" for those technically inclined). This system uses "roles" to enable PPTC volunteers to add and maintain their own content (e.g. Lewes weekend, classified ads, etc.). Also available are databases enabling searchable ride start points, cue sheets, etc. This is still a work in progress and we are working hard to complete the automated event registration and ride scheduling system.
What's new: there is now a PPTC members only area (login required). The same content as before is available to the public (except the cue sheet library). The member area provides:
There has been a great concern about identity protection and spam reduction, and this is quite understandable. Let me allay any concerns by informing everyone that there are many means of protection built into this system: password protection, no email lists, no membership list (names listed, contact info. only available one at a time), and, one can "opt out" just as before in the reference manual. Is it secure? Yes. Is this fool proof? No, but is anything (e.g. your home computer)? Remember, PPTC does not store your financial info, just your name, addresses, and phone number (so does the DMV/MVA and phone company).
As mentioned, certain areas of the website are available only to PPTC members. For efficiency, usernames and passwords will be distributed via email. The PPTC office's records, however, are accurate for less than 40% of the membership's email addresses. To get these into Sherri's database (for official PPTC business ONLY), there are two ways to handle this:
Once I get these entered for Sherri, go to the new site and:
Please let me know if you have any comments (problems, issues, etc.) with the site. Look for up-to-date announcements at bikepptc.org and enjoy.
Last year I volunteered as Tour Point of Contact for the club, to keep track of tours that people were riding outside of Virginia, Maryland, and DC. It was fun to know what tours our members were riding, and I helped put a few people in contact that were riding in the same tours. In doing this, I saw a big need for someone to help our members put together teams for Bike Virginia. In fact, our people seemed to want this service more than help connecting with other club members riding tours outside of the area. As Membership Secretary, I see a benefit to our membership by providing this service. If anyone would like to volunteer to coordinate teams for Bike VA, please email me or phone 703-360-2339.
Deborah Reynolds
Membership Secretary
April 14 in Arlington
This year’s annual volunteers’ party will be combined with the ride-leaders’ meeting to kick off the spring biking season. The meeting/party/potluck is open to anyone who worked for the club last year or is interested in volunteering and leading rides this year. Remember that volunteering and leading rides are the easiest ways to meet club members! It should be a fun evening of food and good company. The club will provide some food (Lebanese Taverna?), beverages including beer and wine, plates, utensils, napkins, etc.; but it’s a potluck so please bring some food to share.
The party/meeting will be from 6-10 p.m. at Arlington’s Fairlington Village Community Center. While enjoyment will be emphasized, there will be a short program to discuss issues relevant to PPTC ride leaders.
Directions: Fairlington Village Community Center (same place as last year) is at 3005 S. Abington St., Arlington. If coming from I-395, take the King Street (Rt. 7) west exit. From westbound King, shortly turn right onto S. 30th Street. Go three blocks to S. Abington. The center will be right in front of you.
If coming from eastbound King Street, turn left onto S. 28th. It becomes S. 29th by keeping right as you go up the hill. Turn right on S. Abington at a stop sign. The center will be on your left in one block.
The W&OD Trail Patrol is seeking new members to be on-scene ambassadors of safety, courtesy, information, and goodwill. The Trail runs through the communities of Arlington, Falls Church, Vienna, Reston, Herndon, Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, and Purcellville. All adult trail users--cyclists, walker, runners, skaters, carriage pushers, dog walkers, horse riders, or wheel chair users--are eligible to apply. Two orientation sessions are already scheduled for 2007: One will be held on Saturday, March 31st at the Vienna Community Center at10 am, and the other session will be held on Tuesday, April 3rd at the Herndon Library at 7pm. Future sessions are planned for other trail communities.
For further information and to sign up please contact John Boone by email or phone 703-726-6993