Safetycorner SAFETY
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MaMayyHiHighlightsghlights Cycling Savvy ............................ 1 Dr. Mirkin - Good News for Males . 9 Safety Corner ............................ 1 AMC Spring Bike Ralley .......... 10 Board Meeting Minutes .............. 2 New Members ......................... 10 Recurring Rides ......................... 3 CRW Trips ............................... 11 May Rides ................................. 4 March Mileage ......................... 11 Newsletter of the Charles River Wheelers Spring Century info .................... 8 Club Officers & Coordinators .... 12 Dr. Mirkin - Lyme Disease .......... 9 Bike Shops ............................. 13 On the roads of New England since 1966 Volume XLII, Number 5 • May 2018 anywhere, anytime, with confidence. SAFETY The full course consists of three SafetyCorner CORNER sessions. • Truths and Techniques of Traffic Cycling” is a classroom session, to Helping Cyclists be presented on Friday evening May A Pragmatic Sidewalk Use be More 18, at 6:30PM at First Parish Church John S. Allen, CRW Safety Coordinator in Waltham Traffic Savvy • Train Your Bike” is an on-bike skills course at Hobbs Brook office Park, 9 f you have been reading my articles So, you may be surprised that I am he national CyclingSavvy edu- AM Saturday morning, May 19. and blog posts for a while, you know going to say that sometimes riding on a cation program seeks to provide • After lunch, we take our new knowl- that I am not a great fan of riding on sidewalk is exactly the right thing to do. urban bicyclists with knowledge I T edge and skills to the streets with a sidewalks, or of riding on anything lo- Let’s look at a specific location: and techniques to flow more smoothly group Bicycle Tour of Waltham cated alongside a street like a sidewalk, Massachusetts Route 9 and Kingsbury with traffic. The outdoor sessions will be re- even a so-called “protected” bikeway. A Street in Wellesley. Route 9 is a major The CyclingSavvy program will be scheduled in case of rain. sidewalk or sidepath can allay bicyclists’ highway with a 50 mph speed limit. Qui- providing classes in Waltham on May Pre-registration is required, at http:// fears of being struck from behind by mo- et local streets on either side of Route 9 18 and 29 on improving knowledge and cyclingsavvy.org, click “Find a Course”. tor vehicles, but this type of crash actu- make some good connections. Bicy- skills as a cyclist, especially on the roads CyclingSavvy began in Orlando, ally is very rare under urban conditions. clists need to get across Route 9. with other traffic. While using a bicycle Florida, in 2009, and has already spread Other hazards are far more common, Kingsbury Street T’s into Route 9 for transportation can be rewarding, to over a dozen states from Maine to and much worse when bicyclists ride in from the south. A signalized crosswalk healthy, and economical, the stress of California. The Boston courses will be sidewalk space. People on foot appear across Route 9 connects with the side- riding around traffic can be inhibiting. taught by Waltham resident John Allen unexpectedly from behind obstructions. walk on the left side of Kingsbury Street. While many utility bike trips can be and Maine cyclist John Brooking, both Bicyclists on sidewalks and motorists Pushbuttons trigger the traffic signal to accomplished mostly on smaller streets, certified CyclingSavvy instructors. on the roadway are out of sight of each stop the traffic on Route 9. even a short time on a large busy street For more information, contact John other until too late at intersections and Need to cross Route 9 with your can make an otherwise easy route over- Allen, 781 856-4058 , or jsallen@alum. driveways. On most sidewalks, I slow bicycle? Push the button, use the cross- whelming. CyclingSavvy seeks to bridge mit.edu. down, because I must be able to stop walk. End of story. Whoa, no, wait a that gap, empowering cyclists to travel on a moment’s notice. Safety Corner - Continued on page 7 crw.org May 2018 1 Tweed Michael Needle, Matt Berube. Priority is to figure out why people are BoardMeetingMinutes John O’Dowd, and Curt Dudley-Marling. not renewing. There was an e-mail sur- March 22, 2018 First rides committee meeting is April 9. vey; most respondents wanted to renew. Mary has established a Google group, Minutes prepared by John S. Allen Everyone was 50 or older. Action item is CRWRideProgram, that will allow com- 3 renewal messages, once per quarter. munications among all volunteers for the If you are still a member that page is Attendance The increased expense could be Ride Program. T pre-filled. The Board should suggest Sandy Gray, President; Board members offset by ads on the Web site. Potomac If the choice is between a ride with- questions for a questionnaire. Social and John Allen, Steve Carlson, Larry Kernan, Pedalers does this. out arrows and no ride, then the ride will volunteer coordinator positions were Mary Kernan, Linda Nelson, Erik Sobel; Skills workshops: students pay $25 run without arrows. Skills workshops open: Sandy agreed to be volunteer CRW member and publicity consultant and the instructor gets $80; might cost are scheduled for May 5, June 3, June coordinator, Linda, social coordinator. Judith McMichael; Membership staffer the club if sign-up is small. We could 24, and will also be promoted through There was a discussion of household Barry Nelson run more advanced skills workshops. Nashoba Valley Pedalers and Wheelpeo- membership arrangements. Financials Encourage more riders, give them skills. ple. Intro-to-group-riding CRW ride is Insurance Larry distributed a budget and described Also if we are going to get people off the following week, tagged onto another Insurance: Review with Ken Hablow. List the idea to reduce the assets in the arrows we need GPS workshops. ride but is separate on the calendar. the Insurance coordinator now as Larry. bank over a period of five years. There We could spend the excess on grants The Ice-Cream Ride attracts begin- Merchandise ners. Regulars complain about newbies could be two methodologies; a faster – Are we content with the amount for Bernie Flynn reports that we had $10K showing up. Susan Grieb has a 10:15 one, $14K in the first year or level over charitable gifts? We are taking a different of sales and 80 orders for our new kits. ride meeting, Thursday ride still needs a the 5 years. The difference would not approach: Give us proposals. Web site Last page of the budget showed how new start location. be great this year, but it would be in the A phone call was placed to IT consultant we are doing through February. Mem- Centuries sixth year. David Marshall: we should put bugs into berships are way down, otherwise there Larry: we have a great century commit- Rides program is ambitious, response the bug-tracking system in Jira (app is nothing remarkable. tee and are in good shape for spring. at the ride leaders’ event on March 4 development software). He has been The Board approved the Proposed Pre-ride party is April 19. E-mail is going was strong; make events more social, moving from easy to hard bugs. High Budget with two modifications. It out tomorrow. Fall century, will be Octo- save money in how we implement priorities are payments and membership, added $1,000 to After-Ride Parties and ber 7. We may run CTTC as an unsup- things. Eli Post wants $1K for intro to ability to renew. removed $500 from Social Events. The ported Sunday ride. CRW rides and a couple of other events. Content on the Web site needs re- Approved Budget is available online, He has committed to 10 events. Membership Enhancement view. One issue is extracting databases here: https://www.crw.org/sites/files/ Increasing expenses will put us fur- We are losing members because of (e.g., ride starts, ride listings) so they are docs/2018%20Approved%20CRW%20 ther into deficit. all the bugs on the Web site. Persons easy to proofread. This is lower on the Budget.pdf No Climb to the Clouds this year: whose memberships have expired are priority list. but we can make more money this year Rides unable to login to the website and renew Outreach to local shops on the Fall Century. Merchandise is not their memberships. The club needs not The March 4 event at Lexington Depot Steve suggested outreach to bike significant. Holiday party cost more only new people, but also engagement was a success. 69 people attended, shops, to enhance membership ben- than we expected. Liability insurance for and winter events. Some other clubs 15 filled out feedback forms. Four who efits and gain new members. increase centuries was $5800, now $7800. D&O are experiencing the same thing. Jack’s came for kit fittings also signed up for membership. Bike shop affiliation would insurance is flat, $875. We get good Abby rides have a big social element. volunteer positions. Volunteer positions include discounts, a CRW promotional rates through the League of American Ride-start location can offer an attrac- are beginning to get filled – mentors, in- flyer on display, sponsored content in Bicyclists. IT and Web site expenses tion and a place for a post-ride picnic. tro ride leaders. May weekend calendar Wheelpeople, and a link in Wheelpeo- have gone up, as we hired a consultant. is full except for one Saturday and one Narragansett Bay Wheelmen just has a Board Meeting Minutes - Cont. on pg. 6 For how long? Sunday. The rides committee is Chris tent for post-ride socializing. crw.org May 2018 22 Wednesday Ice Thursday Night RecurringRides Cream Ride Fitness Rides and These rides are held every week unless indicated otherwise Times and Routes: 6:30 PM Paceline Clinic Ride Type: Arrowed, Evening Times and Routes: 6 PM sharp.