2009 News Items

Posted 12-19-2009

Bike / Helmet Gifts

On December 5, several club members assembled at the Sheriff's Honor Farm for a media event to publicize the annual bicycle donations. Each year, the Honor Form inmates repair and setup hundreds of bikes that are given to local children in need. This year the club contributed over $2000 so that these kids could also receive helmets.

There have been a couple of news articles about the program - links to two can be found below

Posted 12-10-2009

Ramblers Holiday Lunch

After a year of riding together, Mike Duffy got the Ramblers together for a Chinese buffet lunch last Friday . Go to the photo gallery for some photos Gail Vanderlinde took.

Posted 12-6-2009

December Potluck

The Botanical Garden Oak Glen Pavilion turned out to be a wonderful location for our potluck this year. We had a full house, lots of great food, and everyone present had a great time. The 2010 board was announced by Red Davis (there were no surprises), and Frank Mullin handed out president's awards to Warren Hockenbary, Dale Sutliff and Will Benedict. Go to the photo gallery for a collection of pictures taken by Janie Goldenberg.

Posted 12-4-2009

Happy Birthday Wayne

This Wednesday's Frequent Feeder ride was led by Wayne Trost. He took his gang of harty riders (it was pretty cold) out to Trilogy in Nipomo for coffee. While at the coffee shop, they shared some great chocolate cake to help him celebrate his 70th birthday. Go to the photo gallery for some photos taken at the party. Verena Florence writes

Hey Wayne... happy birthday again and thanks for sharing the yummy chocolate cake with the gang. It was a beautiful ride... my first to Trilogy.

Posted 12-4-2009

O'Connor Road Open!

Crossing new Holister BridgeHollister Bridge in Cuesta College has been repaired and is now open. That means we can again ride through Cuesta College and over O'Connor Road.

Here Dave Abrecht captured a picture of Dale Sutliff and Frank Mullin riding across the repaired bridge.

Posted 11-30-2009

CCCMB Honored

Bruce Collier reports "Congratulations to the Central Coast Concerned Mountain Bikers for their honor from the City of SLO.
See the article in the December issue of Journal Plus."

Posted 11-27-2009

Kirk's Dream Ride

On Memorial Day last month (Thursday, Novem,ber 12, 2009), the Tribune ran a moving story in the Local section by Julia Hickey in which she provided an account of a local Viet Nam veteran (Kirk Zirion) who is stricken by Lou Gehrig's disease, and how he and his wife Pam are coping with this tragic and challenging situation.

Kirk and Pam were active San Luis Obispo Bike Club members until 2007 when Kirk's condition worsened.  Since then, bike club members have supported Pam and her caregivers by  volunteering time keeping the yardwork done, assisting in construction projects, and four people read stories and books 4 or 5 days a week. The follow is from Ross Pepper.

While reading to him, I came to realize  how antimated and involved Kirk is when reading from our latest book, which describes the epic battle for supermacy between Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II.  Titled, "Go Like Hell" (A. J. Blaine, 2009), the book is factual but written in the popular narrative style that makes history  interesting.

I began to think that if I were Kirk, I would really like to see the cars that Ferrari and Ford bulit and raced with during the early to late sixties. Since I had seen a GT-40 several years ago at the San Luis Countryclub, I tracked down the member and now have arranged for Kirk to get a ride in a recently reproduced GT-40 that is owned by a local businessman.

Mike Mullahey arrived at 1:00pm at Kirk Zirion’s driveway, driving a beautiful red Ford GT-40 that he had borrowed from the stable of cars owned by local businessman Larry Rodkey. (Mike had put a new battery in the car and had it detailed completely as it had been sitting unused for some time).

When Mike drove up, he introduced himself by saying “The rest of the afternoon is yours.  Tell me what you want me to do.” I suggested that we get Kirk aboard and that I would like him to give Kirk as exciting a ride as he was comfortable with. I asked him to roll the windows down so that Kirk could feel the wind on his face and hear the sounds of the engine and the exhaust notes While we oggeled the car and made preparations to get Kirk into the co-pilot ‘seat, Mike presented Kirk with a DVD and picture album along with technical data on the various engines that were employed at different stages of the development of the Ford racing cars. He also regaled us with his own experiences driving this GT-40 on an airport runway where he attained a speed of 175 MPH (This car had been Mike’s personal car prior to selling it to Rodkey in 2005).

Mike departed with Kirk at 2:10pm and returned approximately 17 minutes later.  The smile on Kirk’s face was amazing.  He was grinning from ear to ear! He apparently had a great experience.

We as a group were all very excited for Kirk as well.  The opportunity to participate in such a grand adventure for this special man and his family was unique. It gave us all a rich experience that we will not soon forget.

Posted 11-5-2009

New Saturday Ride

Ron Starkey has taken the lead in establishing a new club ride on Saturday mornings, beginning November 14th.  The ride is designed for the intermediate rider who wants to go 40 - 55 miles at a 15 - 18 mph pace on flat roads.  The ride will also be advertised at bike shops and in the cycling community in an effort to appeal to local riders who are unable to join our rides during the week.  The ride will leave from the Starbuck’s near Trader Joe’s (Higuera St and Tank Farm Road) at 9:00 AM.  If you drive to the ride, please park on Short St. behind Starbuck’s.

Posted 10-22-2009

Member Celebrations

Club members flocked to Morro Bay last Sunday to help Joan & Harvey Petersen celebrate their 50th anniversary. In addition to congratulating the couple on their devotion, admiring some photos taken at the wedding, enjoying conversation, attendees were also serenaded by Gil Gitt and his harem of assistants. Visit our Petersen's Picasa Album for more photos from the event

Then on Wednesday, the crowds moved on to ride with Arlene Winn to help her celebrate her birthday. In appreciation, Arlene hosted a great lunch at her house.

Posted 10-19-2009

Indulgence Ride

OMG!! What a great ride our leader, Dave Abrecht, arranged for us last Saturday. After boarding the bus in San Luis Obispo at 7 AM, we were entertained for the next 90 minutes by his assistants (Debbie Abrecht and Judy Bremer) with food and raffle prizes. Upon arriving in Goleta we were delighted to find our bikes waiting for us thanks to the efforts of our SAGs for the day, Red and Gail Davis.

We were then off on our adventure through Santa Barbara -- suffering though a sunny day in the high 70's. The route our leader found introduced many of us to a wonderful collection of bike trails through the city of Santa Barbara -- either class I bike trails or very low density roads. Much of the route was along the coast where we were serenaded by the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean.

Along the way we all stopped for coffee and lunch at one of the many places Dave and Debbie had listed on our route slips.

Finally we arrived at the YMCA in Ventura for a wonderful shower. Then it was onto dinner at Milano's Italian Restaurant in Ventura Harbor.

After much celebration, we boarded the bus at about 7:30 for our return trip to San Luis Obispo and were all on our way home by about 9 PM.

What a wonderful day! Thank you Dave and Debbie Abrecht, Red and Gail Davis and Judy Bremmer.

Visit our Picasa Album for more photos from the event.

Posted 10-18-2009

2009 Senior Game Results

The SLOBC contingent to the 2009 Senior Games had another wonderful year winning lots of medals and having a wonderful time. As always, one of the best part of the games is meeting, again, all the friends they've made while competing in the games over the years.

Visit our Picasa Album for more photos from the event.

Glenn Vanderlinde

Gail Vanderlinde

Larry Bradford

Ken Carmin

Posted 10-5-2009

Piedras Blancas Lighthouse Quilt

Gaye Peltzman presents quilt to Chris Nielsen

Gaye Peltzman, who made the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse quilt, is presenting it to the winner of the raffle, Chris Nielsen. The club made $404 from the raffle tickets for the quilt. The money will be used for Scholarships, Rideshare, SLO County Bicycle Coalition and/or other causes that the San Luis Obispo Bicycle club contributes to. We are sorry that all those that bought tickets could not be winners. Thank you Gaye for donating the lovely quilt to the SLOBC.

close-up of quilt of Piedras Blancas Lighthouse

Posted 10-2-2009

Training for Senior Games

The SLOBC contingent of cyclists for this year's Huntsman Senior Games in Saint George have been participating in twice weekly training exercises under the direction of Glenn Vanderlinde for the last couple of months. That is now over and they are on their way to the games to compete in hill climbs, road races, time trials and criterium Shown here are Ken Carmin, Glenn & Gail Vanderlinde, and Larry Bradford.

Posted 9-27-2009

Lighthouse

Lighthouse chair, Mark Lyon, wrote: "Lighthouse volunteers, congratulations on a job very well done! I was all over the Lighthouse route today. All I saw were happy smiling (a few frowns were spotted on the Old Creek grade) faces! There were no mishaps or major problems. We had beautiful weather, cool and clear. It is the volunteer effort that makes the San Louis (did you see the bibs?) Bicycle Club so much fun. We enjoy working the rides, the riders enjoy them more, we give boatloads of money to local causes and we are able to have a brunch." Amen to that -- and a special thank to Mark who, as a first time chair, ran the job to perfection!

Visit our Lighthouse 2009 Picasa Album for more photos from the event.

Posted 9-20-2009

Lighthouse Pre-ride

Dave and Debbie Abrecht and their team did another splendid job putting on a wonderful ride yesterday. There were sufficient route choices to satisfy everyone. Once the early morning fog had lifted, the weather was perfect. Little wind, enough sun and some shade to keep the temperature very comfortable. The food and support from the volunteers was perfect. Thank you for a job well done! Thanks also to Gail Vanderlinde for these photos.

Glenn Vanderlinde and Ken Friend doing their SAG work

Riders leave Shamel Park after lunch -- with a grin on their face

The Shamel Park lunch crew

Genie along the road to Cappuccino Cove

Dayna Bergstrom and Xenia Bixler clown around at Cappucinno Cove

Genie at San Simeon Pines Seaside Resort

Posted 9-8-2009

Pops by the Sea

Riders

Here, a contingent of club members are shown enjoying a wonder afternoon in the sun in Avila listening to the San Luis Obispo Symphony and the Damon Castillo Band celebrating Hollywood. You ought to come next year! The Bike Valet was there protecting close to 100 bikes.

Posted 8-20-2009

Sunshine Boys

Leonard Marks and Glenn Vanderlinde celebrated their 80th birthdays yesterday by participating in some extreme riding. This was especially true for Leonard who started in the dark of the night so that he could complete an 80 mile ride before the afternoon celebrations with many riding friends.

You'll find a few of the photos from that celebration below. Visit a Picasa album for a more complete set.