Save The Date
GCC Annual Meeting

March 16, 6 pm
Cypress & Grove Brewing Company

Millhopper Crew Gathering

Saturday, February 16, 6 pm
Bowers Residence, 6204 NW 57th Way

The mission of the Millhopper Crew is to keep the bike lanes on Millhopper Road free of significant obstacles. To do this, we ride the road, removing stuff from the bike lanes as we go.

The more folks we have on the Crew, the better we can do this job, and the easier it is on everyone as we can spread out the work better. The Crew is currently short a few people to do the work effectively. We have seven teams of two each with each team responsible for two miles (one on the north side and one on the south side of Millhopper). To keep the amount of work down the Crew leader rides Millhopper once a week to check which sections need to remove debris. Please join to help us keep Millhopper's bike lane clean.

We want YOU! Come on out and meet the Crew, and sign up for a shift!

We'll be serving dinner at 6 pm, so please RSVP in the Members Area so we'll know how much food to provide.

Directions: Go west on Millhopper Road from the Chevron. Turn right onto 57th Way (Spring Forest). Go a ways, and turn left at the stop sign to continue to 6204, on the left.

Adopt-A-Road

Sunday, February 17, 1 pm

It's time for GCC's next quarterly Adopt-A-Road Cleanup on N. Main ST. Temps are a bit cooler, and should help make the task a bit more pleasant. A minimum of FOUR volunteers are needed. The more volunteers, the faster the cleanup, so please bring some of your cycling buddies!

We will meet in the parking lot of the Main St Publix Shopping Center on Sunday, Feb 17th at 1 pm. We will divide up into teams and pick up litter along both sides of N. Main ST, between 8th AVE and 39th AVE. Safety vests, trash grabbers, and trash bags will be provided. Wear closed-toed shoes and bring a pair of work gloves. A water bottle and a snack are highly recommended. Adopt-a-Road litter cleanups represent a partnership between Keep Alachua County Beautiful and groups in our community who provide volunteers to keep Alachua County roads free of trash. GCC has a long history of participating in regularly scheduled litter pickups that not only help keep the roadside clean, but also promote our Club. Have you seen our signs?

Call Ally Gill at (352) 745-2011 to RSVP, or with questions, or RSVP in the Members Area.

Bike Valet at India Fest

Saturday, March 16

FREE BIKE VALET! Gainesville Cycling Club will host FREE bike valet at India Fest 2019! New venue this year: Bo Diddley Plaza. India Fest features Indian cultural activities including music, dance, as well as vendors selling delicious Indian food and other items. A family-friendly event for everyone! Volunteers are needed to help GCC provide its popular bike valet service that will make riding a bike to India Fest that much better. Flexible valet shifts will allow you to help promote car-free travel and still enjoy the food, fun, and entertainment. Come help celebrate India Fest with our Club!

Call Ally Gill at (352) 745-2011 to RSVP, or with questions, or RSVP in the Members Area.

For more information about India Fest, check out their Facebook event page.

300K Brevet This Weekend

The 300k Brevet is Saturday (Feb 9). The weather looks good for the event.

Sign in to the Members Area to access the expedited sign up button. You can register online and print a form to bring with you on Saturday for reduced day-or-ride pricing.

2019 Board of Directors

Stephen Perz, President
Dean Mimms, Vice President
Bob Stevens, Secretary
Dave Wagner, Treasurer
Roger Pierce, Chief of Staff
Chandler Otis, Picnic Manager
Jim Wilson, Regional Brevet Administrator
Todd Leedy, Ride Captain
Jeanie West, Membership Services Director
Javier Espinosa, Publicity Director

We are still looking for a Century Director.

Bicycle Theater Feb 27

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 at 7 PM – 8:30 PM - click on the graphic to RSVP

The Freewheel Project
618 S Main St, Suite A, Gainesville, Florida 32601

Agile Rascal — The United States’ only theatre company that tours by bicycle — is pedaling through Florida!

Our style of theatre is inventive, funny, and musical with an environmental bent.

After creating our new work as artists-in-residence in the Everglades, Agile Rascal is packing their costumes, props and set pieces onto their bicycles and hitting the road: cycling for over 1000 miles and performing in 15 cities and towns.

It's our mission to make the arts accessible, promote sustainable travel, and inspire reverence for our natural landscape wherever their two wheels can take us.  

Bring your own chair or blanket.

Feature Article

Commuter's Corner #9: The Day I Decided

by Stephen Perz

Once upon a time, I believed the conventional wisdom about riding a bike in the street: ride to the right “as far as practicable”, and for crying out loud, don’t take the lane. For years and years, that’s what I did. I also avoided busy streets, and instead took neighborhood routes, you know, them streets with poor visibility and curves and hills and so forth.

Eventually, I decided that was a bum steer and I began using arterial roads because, well, they took you where you wanted to go, with fewer stop signs, speed bumps, blind turns, and so forth. And I rode in the gutter, or as far as practicable over by it.

But then a worse problem began to become evident. Cars passing me sometimes turned right. And drivers in those cars usually knew I was there and had enough sense to wait for me to pass, or ensured they were far enough ahead of me before turning. But not all of them.

One day, a suburban came up from behind, passed me, failed to signal, and promptly turned right. I braked hard and barely managed to avoid the vehicle. I had been riding in a bike lane. Wait, wasn’t taking the lane supposed to be suicidal?

Even so, I blew that experience off as a once-in-awhile driver negligence. Then it happened again. Same deal: a suburban came past me, this time failed to signal virtually until turning right, and this time I ran into the turning vehicle, but stayed upright. The vehicle desisted in its turn, and I continued on. No, no police reports filed. What are those for, anyway? Best practices, what?

Then came the Day I Decided. Yes, you guessed it, it happened again. Car came up from behind me, passed me, failed to signal for the impending right turn, turned right, and this time I had nowhere to go: the car eased into me, and I went down, fairly slowly and ignominiously. This was not a high-speed collision with broken body or bike parts; it was more like a slow-motion fall and roll over on the sidewalk. Even so, this was totally stupid, because the drivers were acting negligently, because they didn’t see me, because I was over in the gutter.

That’s when I began hearing the crash statistics: the most common car-on-bike collisions are the “right hook”, where a motor vehicle turns right, and the cyclist runs into the motor vehicle. This happens when… cyclists ride to the right. Especially when there’s no bike lane.

So, I decided: no more riding in the back alleys, no more riding in the gutters. If there’s a bike lane I’ll use it, but if there ain’t one, I’m taking the lane. Then I’m highly visible and impossible to ignore. And you know what? No more right hooks! No more collisions! No more near collisions! And look at all this room I get! Woo-HOO!

But what about the bike lane? I ride close to the LEFT side, “as close as practicable”, for the same reason: I’m farther into the field of vision of the motorists, and if need be, I have more room for maneuver. And you know what? They pay attention! Life is good!