Five Weeks to the Festival!

In just five weeks, the Gainesville Cycling Festival will be finishing up. This is the biggest cycling event each year in Gainesville, attracting around a thousand cyclists from all over Florida and the United States. We already have riders signed up from California, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington (state!). This year's Festival, incorporating the Orthopaedic Institute Santa Fe Century and Horse Farm Hundred, is scheduled for October 21 and 22, 2017.

We need your help in publicizing this event. On Facebook, search for "Gainesville Cycling Festival". Join the event and Invite all of your cycling friends. Let's see if we can get our number of persons invited up in to the thousands!

To sign up to ride the Festival, go to the Members Area. Using this option ensures you will get the Club discount. If you are going to volunteer, WAIT for your volunteer assignment to be posted to the Members Area BEFORE signing up to ride.

Festival Volunteering

We're now signing up volunteers to make the Festival happen. You can see the available slots here. There are instructions on that page for signing up. We still have plenty of openings; help us by volunteering early.

All volunteers get a complimentary event t-shirt of your choice (there are 16 different versions available!), and most get a free ride in one of the events. You can sign up for more slots to get an additional shirt and ride (details on the page). Do not register for the Festival until your volunteer positions are listed on your Members Area News page.

Registration is now open! Registering at the ride costs more, and will not be permitted if we reach the rider limit beforehand. See event details here.

Use the expedited sign up button in the Members Area to register.

Holiday Party Committee

The biggest Gainesville Cycling Club social event of the year is the Holiday Party.

To put this event on, we need a committee to find a venue, plan and execute the food, and come up with activities and/or a program.

Members of this committee will get together and elect a chairperson and begin planning.

To get on the committee, RSVP in the Members Area (third column, News page).

Beware the Low Sun

As we are in the time of the autumnal equinox, the sun is currently rising and setting due east and due west. Our grid pattern road network is set up so that a lot of roads run due east/west. This means that as the sun rises and sets during these few weeks, it will be directly in the eyes of roadway users traveling towards the sun.

As bicyclists, this is important since motor vehicle drivers may be sufficiently blinded to be unable to see us. A number of years ago, two GCC members were hit by a car while riding under these conditions. You should avoid riding east in the morning for up to an hour after sunrise, and avoid riding west for up to an hour before sunset, especially on roads that do not have bikelanes or paved shoulders. If you must ride under these conditions, use a mirror to keep track of overtaking vehicles, and be prepared to leave the roadway if necessary.

Annual Rails to Trails Bike Ride to be Postponed

Extensive damage from Hurricane Irma is forcing us to delay the Annual Rails to Trails Bike Ride on the Withlacoochee State Trail. No matter how hard we work, the trail will not be safe for at least several weeks. The event is canceled for October 1, but will be rescheduled very soon (it just takes time to make sure we pick a date that works!) If you are already registered, you will receive an email regarding this and your options for riding or receiving a refund.

Please know that volunteers and DEP staff are working daily to remove the hundreds of trees that are down on the trail, and to repair the damage falling trees did to the asphalt. The Withlacoochee State Trail is CLOSED to all users until further notice.

Thank you,
Heather Nagy
Volunteer
Rails to Trails of the Withlacoochee, Inc.
The Citizen Support Organization for
The Withlacoochee State Trail