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Thursday MT bike ride Limbo It has come to my attention that there is great demand for an additional Thursday evening road ride that is a copy of the Tuesday evening road ride. (5:30pm – Court House – Whitespar) There are a lot of cyclist who have been asking for the road ride to take place on Tuesday and Thursday. This naturally makes sense to space them apart and the Tuesday – Thursday format is commonly used in other cities. I have been asking around and a lot of people are enthusiastic about road rides on these days and say that they would come on a regular basis. After hearing all this I believe that a Thursday evening road ride would shortly be as popular as the Tuesday evening road ride which currently has about 20 cyclist each week. (And growing!) The problem is that we currently have a MT bike ride on Thursday evening and I want to be accommodating to everyone. The Thursday MT bike ride has been losing numbers steadily, throughout the summer, and it is getting to the point that it is left with a just handful of riders. It is tempting to just cancel this MT bike ride and replace it with the road ride. The big problem with this idea is that the Thursday MT bike ride is the last MT bike ride left on our schedule and to cancel it would leave us with just road rides. I personally enjoy both, on an equal basis, and these decisions are purely based on demand and rider turnout rather my own personal preferences. I believe that Lance Armstrong’s victories are causing road to grow rapidly again and the club’s ride turn out is reflecting this trend. It never works to have two rides on the same day so the Thursday MT bike ride will have to find a new day. The old place and time is not working anyway. One solution is to move the Thursday MT bike ride to Wednesday. Wednesday makes a lot of sense because there is no parking fee in the National Forrest. These $2 parking fees have always been a bit of a problem for any of the MT bike rides. Saturday is also a decent day but there is already a road ride that day in Chino Valley and people tend to have more obligations on the weekend than after work. The location can easily change from Thumb Butte Park to anywhere else. I hear that there in interest in moving it back to the Williamson Valley Trailhead location. This is now possible. I have learned from past experiences, that for a ride to succeed, it need at least one person who is dedicated to being there every week. I do not like to use the term “Ride Leader” because that tends to scare people off but that is sort of what is needed here. It is not that you are telling people where to ride or even actually at the front of the group leading but really just someone who the rest of us can count on for being there every time. I cannot be the one obligated for this and if the MT bike ride is going to continue someone needs to step forward and let me know when and where he or she wants the ride. This needs to be typed and sent to me so I can put it on the web site and printed ride schedule. I have previous ride descriptions and other advise so you can contact me for help. Without input from the MT bike community, including a regular participant, (i.e. Ride Leader) there will be no club MT bike ride on the schedule. Until someone volunteers, and types something up, the ride schedule is in limbo. This is not good, especially mid-season, and can only last for a two weeks before I have to change things permanently. Once the schedule is printed and redistributed to the bike shops it is a done deal for this season. If no one steps forward I will be forced to cancel the last MT bike ride due to lack of interest. Remember that just a verbal suggestion is not going to do it. A new ride description must be typed up and someone needs to commit to being there every time. So PLEASE, the club needs your help. You can make things happen or not. THANKS Tim Travis Timno smamPrescottYellowPages.com 541-7604 7-9-01 Here are a few quick updates for the Prescott Chain Gang. Since I am changing the ride schedule I have the opportunity to change the unpopular Sun. morning starting time from 6:30 am to 7:00 am. This will take affect immediately. There have been about 10 riders on this ride and hopefully this will increase the numbers. We have been riding the Skull Valley loop with the casual group taking about 4 hours including a water stop. There is also a faster group that is getting in good practice for the AZ State Road Championships later this season which is held on most of the same route. The Thursday evening road ride is starting this week (July 12) and will meet at the court house at 5:30 pm. This is bound to be another popular ride so please come out and help get it jump started. I am the one who is committing to showing up most of the time so I will see you there. The Thursday evening MT bike ride has been cancelled. I am still optimistic that someone will keep the club MT bike ride alive by picking a different day/place and committing to show up most of the time. I need to hear from someone by Wednesday, July 18. If I do not hear from someone by then I will sadly have to cancel the last MT bike ride due to lack of interest. I have had only one "maybe" from the entire Prescott MT bike community. Thank you for at least a "maybe" Please remember that telling me when and where I should move the ride is not going to work. I am already committed to several rides a week and can not consistently make this one. It is time for someone else to get involved. I hope to see you all on a ride soon. Tim Travis http://surf-ici.com/chaingang/
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