Community Bike Ride Benefit and Expo June 29th

      The 2nd Annual Community Ride which benefits The Bike Shop  program will be happening on Sunday June 29th this year and once again CCCP is taking a lead role in helping Matt organize it.  We are going to really expand it the ride this year now that Whole Foods has signed on as a sponsor and has offered to stage the event from their store. Since we will be right next to the Baxter Boulevard Trail we will be able to have a 4 mile for kids and families as well as a 25 mile ride and a 50 mile loop for more serious riders.

    The plan is to add a Bike Expo as well which will feature tables from all the local bike clubs as well as all the local bike shops. The first meeting last week got us off to a good start with about 10 showing up, including 5 CCCP members but we are definitely looking for some more volunteers to manage the bigger event. So, we will let you know when the next meeting is (in late April) so please mark June 29th on your calendar to at least ride/donate but also please consider getting involved and volunteering. This is CCCP's major public service event and the program which Matt runs for the kids is so worthy of support. We helped raise $1800 last year, but I feel that if we all pitch in and get all the other shops and clubs involved, not to mention Whole Foods promotions, we can easily triple that amount. Spread the word.   

     Kris

 

Cyclist Health and Injury Survey

Rhode Island Hospital is conducting a Cyclist Health and Injury Survey. (Some of you might have seen this link passed around via email.)

I've taken the survey and it doesn't take long to participate. Perhaps you'd take a few minutes to answer their questions by clicking HERE. Their goal is to "help improve and promote cycling for health and transportation."

I loved this!

Group Rides Have Officially Begun!

Nine of us rode tonight. (Thank you Rocky for the excellent photo of everyone!) That was about twice as many as I expected. We kept it "easy" and only went up Middle Road to Tuttle and back Route 88.

I think we all felt good to be "back in the saddle again". There was only one flat tire, which is a bit amazing considering the conditions of the roads.

Next week the rides will still depart at 5pm. However, the following week we'll move them to 5:30. There should be plenty of daylight to get us back in time. I suppose the full distance to Yarmouth and back will also be in order.

On a side note - don't forget about the Community Ride Meeting tomorrow night at The North Star Cafe, 225 Congress Street. Hope to see you there. We hope this will be a huge fund raising event for The Bike Shop and we'll need lots of volunteers to make this possible!

Dana

Community Ride Meeting

Hi Folks,

Just a reminder that this Tuesday is the meeting for The Community Ride Benefit for the Bike Shop program. Although a lot of the preliminaries have already been organized, this will be our first meeting specifically about this event June 29th. With the new Expo idea, this event really has the potential to benefit not just Matt's Bike Shop and his kids, but also all the local clubs and local bike shops.

I know that some of you like Deke might not be able to do this Tuesday, but either send another rep or keep in touch for the next meeting.

See you Tuesday,
Kris Clark
Tel: 775-0356 or 409-4628
CCCP

THE COMMUNITY BENEFIT RIDE MEETING
TUESDAY, MARCH 25TH, 6:00 PM
NORTH STAR CAFE, 225 Congress St
(near intersection of Congress & Washington Ave)

First Ride of the Season Monday

Don't forget that the first ride of the season is tomorrow, Monday, March 24th. We depart Back Bay Bicycle at 5pm. Hope to see you there!

Do the Test

Many of you have received an email that is being passed around that has a link in it to Do the Test.

This link is a video of some young adults passing a ball and while you are paying attention to that, something else takes place that most people miss. It's very enlightening and worth watching.

The video is actually an ad in the UK to make motorists aware of cyclists. It's also interesting to note that the video is a knock-off of sorts by an original video created by a professor out of the University of Illinois. Bike Biz has the scoop on it here.

Still, we can't ignore the reason for the video. It's a good campaign and the more people that see the video in our corner of the world the better. So please pass it along. We all know how vulnerable we can be out there and hopefully this will make motorists more aware of a cyclist that can seem almost invisible.

Here is the link if you'd like to copy/paste it to your email for distribution: http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Calendar Request

As many of you have noticed, there is a NEW calendar on the bottom of the blog. (Scroll down to check it out if you haven't done so yet!)

I'm slowly but surely updating it with cycling events. However, if I miss something, please email me and I'll get it on as quickly as I can.

Thanks!!

Dana

Group Rides Starting, Social Events and More!

Kris emailed notification of group rides officially starting April 1st. Woo Hoo!! However, we are going to try a couple rides Mondays and Thursdays beginning March 25th, weather permitting. For the time being the rides will depart from Back Bay Bicycle at 5pm. As we progress further into the riding season they will be moved later into the evening. But for now, plan on 5pm.

Everyone is welcome to get together at Forest Gardens on Tuesday, March 18th for some bike talk and a couple beers. We'll meet at 6pm. This is practice for the apres-ride socializing that takes place at Forest Gardens during the riding season. After all the good press about exercise followed by modest alcohol consumption, practice is essential!

There has been a change to the date of the Community Ride to benefit the Bike Shop. It is now scheduled for June 29th. Please be advised of the meeting at the North Star Cafe, at the corner of Washington Ave and Congress Street, commencing at 6pm to work on the details of this event. We hope many will attend this meeting - we'll need lots of help from volunteers to make this be a major fundraising event.

CCCP club kits were ordered in February and are due in May!!

Kris is looking for some help to lead the Thursday rides. This is a request to all you fast, young riders who can lead and gather everyone at the normal regrouping spots. If you are interested, email Kris for details. Any you could help out with would be helpful and appreciated.

A big thank you to Trent Washburn for helping with the updates to the CCCP Website, and Emily and DeAnne of Visible Logic. They are keeping the website cool and exciting!

Finally, we have added a calendar to the bottom of the blog. (It's NEW! Scroll down and take a look!) This will enable people to reference upcoming events. If you know of any that are not on the calendar, please email me and I'll be sure to add them. Furthermore, if you would like to plan a ride and looking for riders to join you, don't hesitate to email me and I'll post it here for you, as well as posting it on the calendar below. Please provide me with preferred contact methods for you to share for others wishing to join your ride.

See you all soon!!!

Dana

LL Bean TT

Hi All,

After reading the SMCC message board, someone mentioned that registration for the first Time Trial of the season, a new addition by LL Bean on May 4th, is free on Bike Reg. Anyone interested?? What the hell, it's FREE!!

The route has yet to be determined but the length is proposed at 20 miles.

Hmmm, I think I'll register.

Dana

CRANK the KANC -Started at 12:01 AM

CRANC the KANC-Registration Starts Today

A very challenging, and early season, time trial starts registration today. The 21 mile, 2.300 foot climb up the east side of the Kancamagus Highway will be held May 17 this year, and this will be its 24th annual trial. Registration for the time trial, limited to 200 time trialists, started at 12:01 AM today at www.bikereg.com. The actual web site for the event is full of photos from the last 3-4 annual events; see Cranc the Kanc at www.nebikes.com Last years trial was held in miserable cold and wet conditions and I spied pictures of Dan Emery [CCCP sponsor, and sporting a CCCP jersey]. Dan looked wet, but triumphant, atop the Kancamagus Pass.

Russ

Thursday's ride update

It seems that Mother Nature doesn't share our enthusiasm for spring. Given the temps tomorrow Bryan and I are postponing our ride and hoping to get something organized next week, weather permitting.

Yes, we are wimps. But hey, no need to risk any injuries this time of year as we approach spring riding. If some of you planned to ride anyway, please do not let our absence prevent you from doing so.

See you all soon...... we hope!

Dana

Thursday Ride

Bryan Lewis and I are riding Thursday. It won't be a long ride as we want to be back before dark. However, we are both feeling the need to ride and feel a short ride is better than no ride. We'll leave BBB at 5:15. Our planned route is up Middle Road to Tuttle and back Rt 88 for about 20 miles. We will be exercising caution due to road hazards such as potholes and sand. Feel free to join us if you desire.

Dana

Now You Can Keep Up-To-Date with the CCCP Blog

Many of you have asked me if this blog can somehow send you an email when there is a new posting. One of the easiest ways to keep up-to-date with the blog is to subscribe to the RSS feed.

Recently I read on Lifehacker how you can subscribe to RSS feeds and have it emailed to you. It's called SendMeRSS. Some of you might like this option as opposed to other ways to get these feeds like Google Reader.

I can't offer you any testimonials as to how well SendMeRSS works. I prefer to use Google Reader for my RSS feeds. Unfortunately there aren't many comments by people that have used this subscription service. I think Google Reader and Sage (if you use Firefox) tend to be more popular. If any of you choose to subscribe to this feature, please comment here and let others know how you like or dislike the service.

As riding season approaches there will be more and more postings on the site to keep everyone informed. Using the RSS feed system in whichever capacity you choose might be an easy way to stay up-to-date with the latest postings. There is always the "old fashioned" way of just checking in on a regular basis.

See you all on the road soon!

Dana

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Well, sort of. When I went to pour myself a cup of coffee I looked out my front window. The sun was out and the roads were just wet, no longer frozen, and the thermometer was showing a favorable temperature (above freezing).

My mind wander immediately to the possibility of a real bike ride today. Though that thought was soon filled with doubt as the sun disappeared rather quickly and I pulled up Weather.com which is predicting rain for later today, which I knew was going to be the case. Still it was a welcome treat to see the sun when it wasn't expect and to long for the road on my two-wheel friend.

Now that the temperatures during the day seem to be hovering around the 40 degree mark there will be more chances for weekend rides in the coming weeks. I'll be ever hopeful that we've finally turned the dark corner of winter and heading to the warm sunshine of spring.

Dana

A Snow Day to Get Caught Up

I decided to take advantage of the snow day to stay home all day today (didn't even go to spin class!) and get caught up on some of my reading in the form of cycling blogs, cycling magazines, and a cycling book I picked up at the library.

The reading tends to pile up at times. I always say, "I have to come back and read that later", which of course I rarely because I get busy with other things. So today was the day!

In the course of reading a few cycling blogs I've stumbled onto some other really great cycling blogs that I thought I'd pass along to the masses:

Riders Ready
Be sure to check out some of his videos. Good stuff. (Hint: open the videos from Explorer. I find they don't work as well if using Firefox.)

Belgium Knee Warmers
The BKW Favorites on the right side are great reads. I especially liked "The Tan".

Bike Snob
Some will love him; some will hate him.

I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do. If anyone has other blogs they read that you'd like to share, feel free to post them in a comment. Or you can send me an email and I'll hyperlink them for you here.

Dana