Blog Post

Highlights of the new by-laws include five elected officers instead of four, staggered two-year terms instead of one-year terms, only elected officers (not committee chairs) have a vote in official decisions, a method of impeachment, and a vision statement. Committee chairs will continue to sit on the executive committee, with a voice but not a vote. All vestiges of the idea of a racing team were removed. Club officers will have their dues waived during their term of service.

The process of updating the by-laws goes back to the previous administration when then club president Keith Vogelsang initiated a review of club organization. The proposal went through several iterations and occupied the executive board off and on for a couple of years. John Bassett chaired a small committee including Jerry Arveson and Allan Edmonds to put together a near final proposal, which the board approved, with some changes. Finally Kathy Cummins gave the draft a thorough editing before the proposed document was distributed by email to all club members. We hope the new by-laws will serve us well over the coming years.

At the meeting club touring director John Bassett quietly distributed tokens of thanks to club members who had volunteered to lead club rides over the course of the last season.

Then we all turned to food and conversation. Soft drinks, salad, pizza, and brownies were provided to all.

Photo by club photographer Klaus Rothe

As we began to leave Jim offered free for the taking snack items left over from RAIN whose expiration dates had now passed. This being the Café Pizzaria, the IU basketball game was on in the background (with the sound off). In the picture above you can see Stan keeping an eye on the game. The game was too close to call when we left. But when we got home we found that IU had eked out a 73-72 win.

This may be the end of the official season but many club members will be going out for afternoon rides whenever the weather cooperates. I’m looking forward to breaking in my new lobster gloves later in the winter.

The group meets at the former Better Way Moving just south of the Walnut/new 37 stoplight, about ¼ of the way along, where we sign waivers, don bright-colored vests and gloves provided by the county and each take a pair of bags, one for trash and one for recyclables. Then about half of us start at each end and work our way back to the middle picking up “stuff”. The November 2 job was the last of the year. We had 8 folks out, which was just enough to accomplish the job in slightly over an hour. The weather was cool and pleasant, but warm enough to start to work up a sweat after you bend over from the waist perhaps 100 times.

A larger group will be needed next March when the club gathers again to pick up after a long winter, typically far and away the biggest job of the year. (This year in March it took 13 club members over 2 hours to do the job.) Usually a group goes out a total of 4 times a year, with a goal of contributing to the community and to keeping a section of county road that we ride on frequently clear of trash.

A special shout-out to Jen for starting this program and for shepherding it along for the last four years or so! She’s always there with encouragement and advice, picks up and returns the equipment used, and even provides light refreshments afterwards.

As a new committee gears up for the next grant application process, now would be a good time to look back at this year’s grants.

Janice Arveson, chair of the grant committee for the last few years, reports:

For 2013 the Bloomington Bicycle Club awarded $10,127 to 11 non-profit organizations, seven of which are new recipients of BBC grant money.  Different ways we’ll see our BBC money at work around town are:

• A Summer Cycling Program at The Boys and Girls Club 
• 13 Share the Road signs in Monroe County
• Tricycles, locks, tubes, and a pump at The New Hope Shelter
• Support of the Bike to Barn ride on March 30th
• Prizes and counters at Bikes Week, May 16-20, sponsored by Bloomington Parks and Recreation
• Lights and bicycle repair supplies at the Bloomington Community Bike Project
• More safe cyclists:  The Red Cross partners with IU parking operations and receives bicycles for homeless Veterans.  Our grant will outfit 15 bikes/riders with a light, lock, reflective vest and helmet.
• Bike racks at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Bloomington Hospital, Monroe County United Ministries, and Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard.  The BBC purchased bike racks at cost from Revolution Bike and Bean.  This ensured high quality racks, prevented redundant shipping costs, supported a local bike shop, and ultimately reduced the expense from the grant budget.  We are very grateful to Revolution Bike and Bean for their generosity and enthusiasm in helping us with this project.  Please support them and express your appreciation next time you shop there!

Thanks to all members of the BBC for supporting these worthy organizations through your dues, RAIN registrations and jersey purchases.  The grant committee consists of Janice Arvesen, Jerry Arvesen, Carol Bodnar, Mike Bodnar, Sue Perin and Linda Woods.

Janice has now stepped down from chairing the grant committee after doing an excellent job for several years. Recently the BBC board approved Brett Nelson as committee chair for the coming year. I suspect he’ll be asking for volunteers to serve with him on the committee. Perhaps you would like to be part of this effort.

The touring ride on Saturday, October 5, from Bryan Park to Spring Mill, was an original creation by Nathan Rogers.  It was designed as a multiple distance event to appeal to riders of various abilities and was a complement to last month’s Spring Mill to the Ohio River ride.

So, here is our situation / response question for the day:

Situation:
• It is late in the riding season and your legs are a little weary
• You are at Bryan Park at the Saturday ride start time, and it is raining
• It is forecast to rain off and on all day
• Your ride choices are 43, 54 and 94 miles
• You need to clean the house

What do you do?

Response:
• Plan on cleaning the house on Sunday
• Go Long

I captured Saturday on the Garmin GPS as shown on this map and profile.

We left Bryan Park as a group of a dozen or so promptly at 10:00.  We proceeded down 446 in a steady, light drizzle.  Our first regroup was at SR 446 and Chapel Hill Road about Mile 19 on the map.  At the Guthrie Road turnoff, about half the group, including Craig, Laraine, Dr. T, and Klaus, followed Clair’s lead and turned west making their ride into the Hoosier Hills 60K – and a wet one at that.  Four other feeble-minded riders (L to R below: Dana, Nathan, Catherine, and Jim) and myself headed on south to Bartlettsville Road bound for Spring Mill State Park.  Catherine, an Indianapolis native, was in Nashville on a holiday and had decided to join the BBC ride.  She turned out to be a sub-eight-hour RAIN rider and was a great addition to the group.

We followed a pretty standard route south along Bartlettesville Road, past Bedford North Lawrence High School, then west along US 50 to Tunnelton Road, before veering back south on the Buddha Bypass.  There is a lot of new pavement along Buddah Bypass extending all the way down across the East Fork White River Bridge to Spring Mill State Park.  We took the secret bicycle entrance into Spring Mill, and pedaled through the park to bypass a piece of SR 60.  Exiting the park onto SR 60 we followed Grissom Road west into Mitchell.  Light rain continued.

I had searched the Subway Restaurant web pages and identified a store in downtown Mitchell for lunch.  Unfortunately, after peddling around the block, we realized it had closed, or moved, or whatever.  This left us a bit of a pickle.  Catherine noted a convenience store down the street that turned out to have a small sit-down café, so we decided to try that.  I had an excellent homemade sandwich; the ladies opted for some hot waffles and coffee.  Dana was a bit dismayed when her plate was cleared away before she got to lick up the remaining syrup.

Once you are south of the East Fork White River, it is important that your route back north directs you back to a bridge.  Nathan’s solution on this trip was to use the Stumphole Bridge located west of SR37.  This involved biking north from Mitchell on Meridian Road, west on Yockey Road, north on Old 37, then west along Art Gallery Road to New SR 37.  Crossing SR 37 on Blue Spring Caverns Road we pedaled west across seemingly endless sinkhole rollers.  A couple of turns later we crossed Stumphole Bridge at map Mile 63.  I had last done this on a bicycle maybe 30 years ago when it was an old iron bridge.

Crossing the bridge we tuned north and picked up a nice tailwind up to SR 450.  SR 450 was more familiar territory being on the southward leg of the Williams Covered Bridge Ride.  A short time later we were back in Bedford and made a quick refuel stop at the Countrymark on 16th Street about Mile 70.  By now the pavement was dry, and the radar indicated the remaining rain in the area was headed to the north.  This was good news.

Nathan’s way home followed a new route north from Bedford.  We headed out east on SR 58 and tuned north on GM Drive past the Powertrain Plant.  This would also have been the return route for the 54 mile route.  We followed Broomsage, Mt. Pleasant, and Judah-Logan Roads northward.  About Mile 80 I was back in familiar territory again at the base of the long hill up to Judah.  A last brief rest stop at the BP at Judah and we headed back north on Old 37 to Bloomington.

This was a fun ride as the five long riders managed to stay together the entire day.  The Garmin measured 94.7 miles, with over 6,000 feet of climbing.  Nathan led his first BBC ride and did an admirable job with the new route.  Jim, a Terre Haute resident and now BBC member, finished his tenth consecutive Saturday club ride.  Dana showed her usual prowess for distance rides, and we might even have picked up a new club member in Catherine – overall, a great day – even with the rain.
Time for a little house cleaning – after I get the bike cleaned up.

There were many different options, including short at 25 miles and very short for 13. Our group took the 50 mile figure eight loop that brought us to the town square shortly after 1 pm for a taco salad lunch and live music. We opted for another 25 mile loop, which got us back to the start at Hauser High School in time for the root beer floats.

Here’s a photo of our riding group at a rest stop on a farm around mile 70. Craig, CE, Allan, Steve, Laraine, Gail, Rachel. Thanks to Klaus for the photo. For all but one of us this was our first time doing the Hope Ride.

She only carried one ear home. The group hadn’t let her forget that last year she bought some farm produce that her riding buddies helped to carry home for her. At least no one bought a watermelon!