Now is the time for all good cyclists to come to the aid of their bike club!
Did you ever wonder how the Gainesville Cycling Club manages to pay for the burgers, dogs, drinks, reservations and all the other stuff that makes our club picnics so great? Your dues? Ha, don't make me laugh! Think about it. For $10 your whole family eats at the picnics, gets coverage for insurance, gets a book of reference maps, a $5 discount on the clubs big ride event, a first rate bi-monthly newsletter and I could go on. Can you really imagine that all of that costs the club only $10? Then you need to get a Nobel prize for imaginative economics.
No the sad fact of the matter is that the driving force behind all the dollars it takes to generate all of these benefits is the profits we manage to make from the Horse Farm Hundred, our annual club sponsored ride. We rely on the service of volunteers recruited from among our club ranks to perform the myriad functions that make this all possible. And they work without pay, for the shear knowledge that the work that they do makes our club the great club that it is. There are some small perks for volunteers; a free Horse Farm T-shirt and the pride of knowing that they have made a real contribution to the excellence of our club.
If you would like to consider being a volunteer at the Horse Farm this year, or the Santa Fe, you should call one of the volunteer coordinators and talk to them about the various volunteer positions available. There are a lot of different jobs that make the Horse Farm happen every year and there is probably something that you can do for us that you will enjoy. Remember too that the early bird catches the worm, also that the earliest bird gets to choose the choicest worms, so call now. And if you don't ride much this is a great chance for you to meet a lot of the other members of your club and talk to people who can help you reach whatever goals you would like to achieve from cycling. Its also a great chance to ogle a lot of different bikes. And volunteering doesn't necessarily preclude you from being able to get in a ride yourself that day. The Horse Farm Hundred can't happen without the help of people like you.
Now a little comment about supported-ride etiquette. Most serious cyclists are identified and characterized by their consideration and concern for others. But last year some people were seen working on their bikes while leaning them against other peoples cars, without the car owner's consent. Really, some cyclists like their cars almost as much as they like their bikes and they may not appreciate someone scratching up the paint. Unless you would like people to do this to your car, show their property the same consideration you would expect for yours. The other point is that last year someone left a pile of trash dumped from their car in the Morningside parking lot. I would have told the Ranger who brought it to my attention that it was probably someone other than a cyclist at our ride, if I hadn't seen several Powerbar wrappers in the mess. I'm guessing that these lapses of common courtesy were just that and hope that we won't see a repeat of them at this years event. Generally, I can say that I have never seen a better mannered or more considerate group of people than those I have met biking. Let's not let lapses like these start some angry encounters or ruin our access to places like Morningside. If you see some cyclists being rude, you could consider politely pointing out the error of their ways, usually this will be all that need be done.
Hope we'll see you on the ride or in a volunteer role at the Horse Farm this year, or maybe both.
Following winds, my friends,
Rob Wilt