October Happenings

Greetings - it has been way too long and I am not sure where the time has gone.  I will say enjoy your rides as you do not know what you have until it is gone.  I was a 5 to 7 day a week rider until I underwent knee surgery at the end of August - found more damage then anticipated when they went in to scope - ended up doing a few procedures while they were there with micro-fracture surgery being the worst and I have now been off the bike for four weeks (other than a few easy pedals in proximity to my dwelling) and am missing it terribly.  Next follow-up in a week and hopefully good news will result.  But I digress.

Two big events coming up in Allentown and we are hoping for some participation.  First on the agenda is the West End Oktoberfest on 19th Street in Allentown.  It promises to be bigger and better in its third year.  BikeAllentown is not only volunteering to help out where needed for this event - but we will have a tent set up and will be borrowing two bike racks from the city to park your faithful steeds.  Stop by - say hello - have a beverage and hang for awhile.  More info here - http://www.westendoktoberfest.com/6.html

The following week we are proposing our first Fall ride of the year on Sunday October 10th at 10am.  Aiming to do something a little different and will be meeting at Cedar Beach Pool in Allentown for a ride to the Emmaus Farmer's Market.  There are some rolling hills but we will ride at a very casual Sunday drive kinda pace - so bring a a backpack or hook-up your trailer and come join us.  I estimate this one to be about ten miles total.  You can find more info on the market here - http://www.emmausmarket.com/

Here's to hoping I get clearance for such a ride from the doctor next week.  If you need any additional info on either of these events feel free to drop me a line at saulgood@ptd.net

Ride on my friends

Volunteers Needed

There is a program run by the Eastern PA Down Syndrome Center and they need your help.  The program is called "Lose the Training Wheels" and is a bike camp that teaches children and adults with disabilities how to ride a conventional two wheeled bike.  The camp runs June 21-25 and has five 90-minute sessions per day.  If you have some extra time - please volunteer - you will be hard pressed to find a more rewarding experience - for both the new cyclists and yourself.  Get additional info here - http://epdsc.net/LOOSETHETRAININGWHEELSPROGRAM.aspx

Ride on!

Bike to Work

It is Bike to Work Week - with Friday being the official Ride to Work Day.  Mother Nature is not completely cooperating but the temps are nice enough to pack some rain gear and suck it up for the ride home.  I hooked up the trailer and gave myself a little resistance training on my 12 mile ride in today.  Definitely got alot of second looks from motorists.  Sad to report that I only saw one other cyclist this morning - but I am hoping folks were just going in a direction oppostie mine.

I saw alot of cyclists breaking laws this weekend.  Saw two folks blow through a red light out towards the Velodrome - same rules apply to cyclists - please ride respectfully - follow the rules of the road and don't give us a bad name.  Saw two more folks further up Rte 100 that were riding against traffic - again same rules apply - you should be riding with traffic not against.  It is actually less safe to ride against traffic - especially for the person that was riding towards them on the proper side - someone is going to be forced out into traffic in that situation.

Summary:  Ride to work - following the proper rules of the road - be safe.  Ride on!

2nd PA Bike Summit

Greetings folks.  It has been way too long since something has been posted here.  Have spent much time on bikes with all this lovely weather - has made for some great commutes as well as many laughs screaming through the woods on my mountain bike.  Sprinkle in some preparation for and subsequent running of both a half marathon and the best event ever in the Tough Mudder and it becomes clear - to me at least why I have been away for so long.  No excuse for not updating this blog and will try and do better moving forward.

I spent the day in Harrisburg yesterday with Fritz Walker attending the 2nd Annual PA Walks and Bikes Summit.  Kudos to the organizers for putting on a great event - more organized than last year and leaves me excited to help in the planning of next year's event.  We met some great folks from organizations accross Pennsylvania and walked away with alot of great contacts.

Fritz and I chose to ride in with a nice sized group that had gathered at th PA Farm Show Complex - was a very leisurely paced ride led by a gal from the Harrisburg Cycling Club on a tricycle.  Other folks chose to walk in - that group included Tina Amato who had also attended a Safe Routes to Schools get together the previous evening.  Cyclist and walkers came together on the Capital steps for a rally and listened to some positive words by some cycling friendly politicos as well as folks from PA Walks and Bikes, League of American Bicyclists, Rails to Trails, Safe Routes to School and many more I am sure I am forgetting as my notes are at home.  After the rally we headed inside for some networking and lunch before heading off to speak to folks from the House and Senate to which we were assigned randomly.  Fritz and I spoke to folks in 13 offices - hopefully that will be our lucky number to garner additional support for walking and cycling.

As mentioned above - we had the chance to walk away with some great contacts.  We were also able to put BikeAllentown contact information in the hands of many and walked away with some positive input from groups such as BikePittsburgh, Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition and League of American Bicyclists to name a few.  It was a great day - we were blessed with great weather and I walk away with some great new friends.  Look up positive experience in the dictionary and I am pretty sure you will see a picture of yesterday.  Another beautiful day get out there and enjoy it - whether by bike or by foot you cannot go wrong.  Ride on!

Adoption of Greenways Plan

It looks like the vote to adopt the Greenways Plan will finally go before City Council tomorrow evening.  This shows up on the agenda about two thirds of the way down - so it could potentially be a long evening.  There is a Parks and Recreation Committee meeting scheduled prior to the Council Meeting - 7pm - if you can make it I encourage you to do so.

The Council Meeting starts at 7:30pm at City Hall - 1st Flr - Council Chambers.  The dislikers are all riled up so if you can be there - please come on down - drag some friends along as well - it is better than sitting home and watching American Idol.

Ride on!

It's On

Put April 23rd on your calendar folks.  BikeAllentown's first Friday night ride of the year will be the day after Earth Day.  We are going to leave from in front of Hava Java on 19th Street and will take a novice level ride throughout Allentown.  We will start with with a small loop of the West End area and head Downtown and then loop back around to The Ritz where you can feel free to grab some ice cream - or whatever your hunger desires - or head on home to start enjoying the weekend.  We are actually going to follow roads that are part of the proposed Greenways Plan - with the entire loop being relatively flat.  We will be demonstrating the proper way to ride in traffic and following proper group riding etiquette.  Copies of the Pennsylvania Bicycle Driver's Manual will be available as our special bonus gift to you - that's right folks free!  Earth Day ride and free literature - where else are you going to get that kinda action on a Friday night.  We will post a map of the proposed route on http://www.bikeallentown.com/ soon.  We hope to see you there.

On a separate but related note - the Allentown City Council on adopting (hopefully) the proposed Greenways Plan has been scheduled for their April 7th meeting.  The meeting will be held in Council Chambers and starts at 7:30pm.  Come out and show your support.

Ride on! 

Another Delay on Greenways Vote

Just found out the Greenways vote will not show up on the City Council's agenda until their April 7th gathering.  Not sure why - but it was confirmed.

That being said - it is time to start thinking about restarting the monthly Friday night rides for 2010.  This past weekend brought us the blessing of more daylight and we should take full advantage of it.  It looks like the 2nd or 3rd Fridayin April will work out well.  Our monthly BikeAllentown meeting is March 23rd at 7pm - feel free to come join us -  we should have an April ride date figured out that night.  I will post it as soon as I know it.

All I wanna know is - who'll stop the rain?  Ride on.