Chilly Chili Picnic

Saturday, January 20, 2018

The Gainesville Cycling Club (GCC) will have its best picnic of the year at O'Leno State Park. It's our annual Chili contest. Bring your best chili (meat or vegetarian) or bring a salad or desert to round out the feast. GCC will provide a mild meaty chili, (so mild it will offend no one) a vegi chili and gumbo.

Food will start about 11:30 am at the big outdoor pavilion by the Santa Fe River.

There are many recreational opportunities at Oleno. There is a paved bicycle trail that goes to Ft. White, and on to Itchetucknee and on to the Suwannee River in Branford. In Ft. White, the trail is next to an excellent Thrift Store. There are quiet rural roads near the park.

There are historic hiking/biking trails at Oleno, These trails were used by Spanish explorers almost 400 years ago, and were active when Oleno was a small town until 125 years ago. The first Federal Road in Florida, The Bellamy Road built in 1826, runs across the park, still in it's original condition.

Ride leaders may want to start rides at the Park, or ride to the Park, about 35 miles from Gainesville (the park opens at 8 am). Chandler will lead a 3 mile hike after lunch.

There is an entry fee to the Park: $5 per car with up to 8 passengers, $4 per car for single drivers and $2 per bicycle or pedestrian.

DIRECTIONS TO OLENO STATE PARK: go north on US 441, through Alachua, and through High Springs. Oleno is 8 miles north of High Springs on US 441.

RSVP in the Members Area.

Brevet Series

Registration is now open for the GCC 2018 Brevet series. Members should use the button in the Members Area to access the registration form (non-members start from the Brevet page which you can get to from the main GCC web site).

This year there will be a 200k Brevet on January 6, 300k on February 10, and 400k on March 10.

Gainesville Cycling Festival

For quite some time, we've been operating the Gainesville Cycling Festival by getting the necessary up-front work done to have facilities, supplies, and volunteers ready to put on the event. These tasks are for the most part things that we've been able to do with our core team, and do not require a substantial amount of collaboration.

Looking at our Festival participation rates, it is clear that what we've been doing is not enough. In fact, we've reached the point where any further deterioration of participation will make the Horse Farm Hundred as we currently run it financially unfeasable.

To turn things around, we need new blood that is enthusiastic about the Festival and committed to its success. So far, we have one volunteer who has stepped up. We'd like to have up to seven more to form a brainstorming committee to reimagine how we do things and get us moving towards many more years of the Gainesville Cycling Festival.

Email Roger Pierce or call 378-7063 if you are interested in contributing to the future of the Gainesville Cycling Festival.

Board Election Deadline

The deadline for signing up for the GCC Board of Directors election is January 5. Current Board members who are unopposed will be elected by acclimation on January 6. If we have a contested position, the election will open on January 15 and run through January 31.

The Vice President and Publicity Director positions are currently open. If there is a single candidate for those positions, they will be voted on by the Board at the next scheduled Board meeting.

FREE Membership Offer from Adventure Cycling

This holiday season, we invite you to explore the joy of bicycle travel by accepting a free six-month trial membership (a $22.50 value) to the Adventure Cycling Association.* This free membership includes a subscription to Adventure Cyclist magazine, members-only online resources and articles, access to our members-only guided tours, and more. Use this link to sign up. (*Note that this offer is valid only to new members and must be sent to a U.S. mailing address.)

Members Area signin. You can opt-out of eNews on the Me page.