Thanks to LWA members Dave Drummer, Donalee Frary, Raine Fussner Donna Knight, Clyde Odom and Carl Zvanut who joined me for the club's first time participation in PennDOT's Adopt-a-Highway program.  We divided into two teams and spent two hours on Thursday morning picking up litter and trash along a two mile section of Cetronia Rd.  Despite the competitive nature of most club members, we did NOT weigh the trash to determine which team collected the most.  There was, however, some discussion about which team deserved the "A Team' designation.  PennDOT will be erecting a sign in recognition of our continuing efforts to keep this roadway clean.  Watch for an announcement on Meetup for the Fall event.  Jack Helffrich

Just some reminders on two upcoming events for next week:

Our May Meeting on Wednesday, May 24th will be hosted by Fitness Central (https://www.fitnesscentralinc.com/).  Come on out and see what they have to offer, talk to the mechanics and more.  As an extra bonus, Earl Ostrander is coming over to continue the First Aid and CPR discussion we had last month.  A short business meeting/club update will follow.  Please sign up on Meetup so the store knows how many to expect (https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/sdlbbtyfchbgc/).  

Also, on May 27 club member and pastor Larry Pickens will again host us at Ziegels Church for the annual Blessing of the Bikes (https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/293546873/).  Looking for ride leaders to post rides from the church following the brief blessings by Larry.  A great way start Memorial Day weekend.  If we don't see enough people signing up by Tuesday, we'll cancel the event.  

Ride safe.

Carl

2017 Cannondale Synapse, Shimano 105, 51cm
Lightly used for 2 years, then stored.  Paid $2400 new. Will sell for $850. 

suchomelamy4@gmail.com

Our May Meeting on Wendesday, May24th will be hosted by Fitness Central (https://www.fitnesscentralinc.com/).  Come on out and see what they have to offer, talk to the mechanics and more.  As an extra bonus, Earl Ostrander is coming over to continue the First Aid and CPR discussion we had last month.  A short business meeting/club update will follow.  Please sign up on Meetup so the store knows how many to expect (https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/sdlbbtyfchbgc/).  

Also, on May 27 club member and pastor Larry Pickens will again host us at Ziegels Church for the annual Blessing of the Bikes (https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/293546873/).  Looking for ride leaders to post rides from the church following the brief blessings by Larry.  A great way start Memorial Day weekend.

Carl

Ok, so you like to ride, but don't see yourself as a "track star" or maybe you do?

LWA Members, VPCC have riding options for you!

Try, Ride, Race the Track new for 2023 is thereimagination of VPCC tried and true Try the Track program. Why mess with greatness? Well, it’s time to step it up a notch to fully expand the program to include more learning, more riding, and more racing.VPCC new program is increased to six hours of track cycling education, which will promote safer riding for our structured training sessions and safer racing for our racing sessions. Participants can choose 1, 2, or 3 sessions, but each session will serve as a prerequisite for the subsequent session. Participants must be 9 years old and up.

TRY THE TRACK

Are you new to the track? You haven’t taken a spin around VPCC concrete crater yet? Well this is your opportunity. All you need is a moderate sense of balance and your own helmet. That’s all it takes. It’s just like riding a bike. 😉 

You'll start off with the basics and answer all of your questions about our velodrome and velodrome riding and racing. Soon you’ll be riding one of our track bikes at your own pace on a smooth and flat surface. As you build confidence, you can ride on our track surface where you will feel how easy and exhilarating it is to ride on the banking. No worries about slipping off like a slippery wooden track, our concrete is sticky and many riders have demonstrated that they can come to a full stop even on the steepest part of the track. Don’t worry, we won’t try that skill until a later session. 

Hello Members!

Donut Derby 2023 will soon open registration. It is only four and 1/2 months away!

As Raffle Chairperson, I am now on the hunt for raffle prizes. Last year we were fortunate with many great donations --  cycling items, gift cards, members crafted goods, wine, and more.

If you have something to donate for this year's Donut Derby Raffle, e-mail me at kath.crampton@gmail.com or call 484-357-0261.

Thank You!

I know many of you are thinking - Hey, this is a great club and what more can I do for it?  Well, opportunities abound.  The fun part of any cllub is being involved.  Here are some opportunites:

Become a ride leader - I hear comments about a lack of rides in certain areas or few rides on Sundays, etc.  You can solve this by becoming a ride leader and sharing your favorite rouites with others.  Its easy and a great way to meet new riders and friends.  If interested, come to the ride leaders meeting this Saturday to find out what its all about and talk to other leaders to get their thoughts and why they do it.

Marketing - For some reason this club seems to have a high level of techies but few who feel they can really get our message out to the community.  As we look at a name change to refresh our image in the community and as we work to draw in more members it would be great to have someone to help get the message out.  Any interest, contact president@lehighwheelmen.org or come to one of our monthly meetings.  

Donut Derby Volunteering - This is our premier event and working at it can be as much fun as riding.  And less tiring!  There are lots of opporunities to help.  If interested, sign up opportunites will be circulating shortly.

For more, come to our next general meeting on April 26th (https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/sdlbbtyfcgbjc/).

Hope everyone has been out riding over these beautiful days.  Seems more like early summer than spring, Remember to enjoy the flowers and beautiful spring scenery in a way that you can do  only by being on a bicycle.  

There are two club events coming up to prepare us for the coming ride season:

• This Saturday is the Ride Leader Meeting for all the ride leaders and those that want to be ride leaders.  Come out and learn some rules and clues to ride leading and chat with fellow ride leaders.  There will be a short ride following the meeting and them pizza!  What could be better?  Details on Meetup (Ride Leader Meeting).
• At our club meeting this month on April 26th Earl Ostrander will once again keep us entertained while he keeps us on our toes about first aid on bike rides.  He's very engaging and you won't leave without learning something new or being reminded of something you used to know.  Details on Meetuup: (Club Meeting)

Keep riding!

Carl

Bike has been sold.

As part of LWA's sponsorship agreement with VPCC, LWA has agreed to provide volunteers to assist with VPCC events. Please consider volunteering for the 2023 Break Away BierFest, May 20th, see opportunities listed below.

As part of LWA's sponsorship agreement with VPCC, LWA has agreed to provide volunteers to assist with VPCC events. Please consider volunteering for the 2023 VeloFest, May 13th, see opportunties listed below.

Attracting vendors from across the Lehigh Valley and beyond, VeloFest is a bi-annual tradition dating back to 1976 that can make your N+1 bike dreams come true or help free up space in your garage.

Stock up on – or sell- all things cycling. Get great deals on new and used bikes, parts and accessories. Find the vintage bike of your dreams, or get a new bike for the rapidly growing junior cyclist in your life. 

Spend the day shopping, grab food from the Sticky Pig and enjoy some great beer and wine from the Shangy’s Craft Beer Handle Bar with proper ID.

We would like to determine if there is interest in weekend rides.

Please answer the following questions.  Note the survey is not interactive. Just list your answers in order, for example: 

          Y, Saturday, 30-40, C+-B-, Y

Additionally, list any locations outside of Trexlertown that you would prefer as a starting point.  Also please feel free to make comments, which the board will review. 

Please email your responses to Henry Friess at  board-members@lehighwheelmen.org

Despite the snow flurries, spring and the outdoor riding season are coming.  For many of us, the outdoor season never stopped since the winter was so mild but more warmer days are ahead.  Look for more rides on Meetup in the near future.  There are some events coming up in the next two months to help prepare for the riding season:

March 22 - Club meeting at South Mountain Cycle and Cafe.  Come hear what they have new (and old) for this year.  Ask quesions about maintenance or issues with your bike.  The cafe will be open so have a coffee or snack while you're there.  A very short business meeting will be held after the general discussion.  There will be no Zoom connection for this meeting.  And Funks is a short distance away.  Meetup - https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/sdlbbtyfcfbdc/

March 25 - Ride Leaders Meeting.  Come to the velo for a ride leaders meeting and training.  A short ride if the weather permits.  Many have commented on the lack of weekend rides or rides in areas away from the velo.  Become a ride leader to fix that!  It's easy and fun; you'll meet new people and share your favorite routes.  Meetup - https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/291994195/

April 26 - First Aid and CPR training with Earl Ostrander of CPR Roadtour.  Earl is back giving us his training focusing on cycling.  If you haven't been to one of his trainings, you are surely missing out.  You will definitely learn something and be entertained at the same time.  Don't miss it.  As usual, a business meeting will follow.  Meetup - https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/sdlbbtyfcgbjc/

April 29 - Skills Training - Craig Lambert has volunteered to offer his class on bike skills and safety for riders.  You'll participate in a variety of exercizes that will both test your skills and teach you new ones.  Great for new and experienced riders. Meetuup - https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/292122622/

IMPORTANT - Attention Club Members.

The board has recommended the following proposed changes be made to the by-laws to reflect changes that have occurred with the club, coupled with some modernization changes.

You can review the proposed changes via the link below.

Shortly, the changes will be raised to club members for a vote to accept or not.  You should familiarize yourself with the changes so you can make an informed decision.

The following is a summary of the changes:

The following is a message from Bruce White, the Event Director of the National Memorial Trail Alliance.  We will be joining them again as they ride through this area.  If you have interest in joining them in any of their other endeavors, contact Bruce directly.  He will also be coming to our May Grill and Chill to meet with club riders and talk about the events.

Carl

The September 11^th National Memorial Trail Alliance is  a non-profit organization that is developing a 1,300 mile multi-purpose trail connecting the Pentagon Memorial in DC to the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA to the Ground Zero Memorial in NYC and back to the Pentagon Memorial in DC .  The Mission Statement for this organization is clearly that we must “Never Forget” our fallen heroes from the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01.

In June 2022, a group of 25 cyclists completed a 23 day, 1,100 mile trip to all three crash sites, marking the first organized bike tour to complete the entire triangle.  The LWA met us in Fleetwood and guided us into the Velodrome and treated us to lunch and a few laps on the track.  It was truly a highlight of the trip.

In 2023, the 9/11 NMTA will be offering three events that we hope will interest members of the LWA.

We had very good responses from the last survey about the name change for the club.  There were no strong objections to changing the name although some did prefer to keep LWA.  Most commented that it was a good idea and offered suggestions like - include "Valley" since just Lehigh makes us sound like part of Lehigh University, use club instead of association to show we are a less formal organization, change the name but keep the history, keep the new name short (three words).  All good suggestions but difficult to satisfy all of them.  

We also received some additional suggestions so we thought it would be good to put out an additional survey.  It took on average less than a minute to complete the last survey and this one should take even less time.  Please give it some thought and vote for your favorite.  The board will be reviewing the results and selecting the new name in the near future.  The formal name change will probably not occur for another year due to legal and logistical issues.  Once we have the new name selected, we will need a project manager to coordiante all the work needed to accomplish the change.  

Here's the link to the survey: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CTNH5KL

Donalee and Carl

The annual Eastern Shore Weekend in Easton, MD is on the Meetup calendar for May 5 - 7.  You can get full details about the event here.  As has been the case every year there are rides planned for Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday.  At this point there are 18 members signed up.  I have 10 rooms booked at the hotel at a special rate of $134.10 per night.  If you've already RSVPed to the event be sure to make your room reservation.  If we need more than 10 rooms I can likely add more.  The cutoff date to reserve at this rate is April 5.  After that date I can't promise rooms will be available.

On the Saturday ride we've traditionally stopped at Old Salty's on Hooper's Island for our lunch break.  I've had several conversations with the owner and it became clear that they would not be able to accomodate us as a group, so I'm looking for alternatives.  I've reached out to the Hooper's Island Volunteer Fire Company to see if they would be willing to host a rest stop.  It will be helpful for me to have a good idea of the number of riders and guests coming so I can give the fire company an idea of how many to expect.  So, if you are considering coming to the weeeknd I'd like to encourage you to RSVP sooner rather than later.  I'll have more information about the rest stop once the fire company has their meeting March 1.

I also have a request for someone willing to be the point person for the Friday afternoon rides.  There are two routes available so I'd need two people.  I will not get to Easton in time for the 2:00pm scheduled start, so if you are willing to act as a host for one of the Friday rides please let me know (pocono723@yahoo.com).  

I'll look forward to seeing you at Easton for this really great LWA event.

Paul Smith  - Event Organizer

Here's  a reminder about the club meeting this Thursday, Feb 23 at 7 pm at Asbury Church.  Come hear Raina talk about her experience in Abu Dhabi and stay for the exciting business meeting.  Last month we had a good session on how we can improve the club and we'll be reviewing the ideas including the potential name change for the club.  There's a lot going on in preparation for the riding season, Donut Derby, Ride Leaders Training, etc., so come on out and support your club.

Details on the location and Zoom link if you cannot attend live are on Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/lehigh-wheelmen-association/events/sdlbbtyfcdbdc/

Carl

Come to the next club meeting on Thursday, Feb 23rd, and hear Raine Fussner talk about her experience competing for the US Team (and doing very well) in the World Triathlon Championships in Abu Dhabi.  Raine says it was a truly unique experience and it will be great to hear a member of our club talking about it after  competing at such a level. In her words: "I’d love to share some of the highlights of this amazing country with you"

After the talk the club business meeting will follow.  Agenda for the meeting will be posted closer to the meeting date.

Carl Zvanut

At the club meeting last month we had a lively discussion about what the club does well and what we can change to do better.  A lot of ideas about improved marketing, types of rides, having events closer to home, more involvement with the velo, etc.  In the area of marketing and communication, the idea of changing the name of the club was brought up.  During the meeting (and after) several people tried to Google "bicycle clubs near me" and LWA was hard to find if it was there at all.

So after 70 years, it is time to give the club a bit of a facelift.  "Wheelman" is a very old (1800s) name for a bicyclist but it is not really used today.  It also projects to the outside world that we are a male only club, which we are not.  We've also been refered to as only fast riders and racers, which we certainly are not.  The board would like to keep the history associated with the name Lehigh Wheelmen Association (LWA) while projecting to the outside world that we are a friendly and inclusive bicycling group. 

To help with this, Donalee Frary has put together a survey for club members to fill out.  It's quick and painless.  We'd like to get input from the club members while we work on the legal issues around the name change.  Please click on the following link and fill out the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YTFYW2R

The board will be reviewing this input, along with the legal and logistical issues, to extablish the best path forward.  

Carl Zvanut