SaddleBrooke e-bikers getting ready for the Alps ride.
B.J. Murray
We had another fun time in January. If you are thinking of joining our group, you missed out on a great day when we did SaddleBrooke Ride the Alps. We had two groups who competed to see who could get the best elevation, the very tough hotshots who love to climb hills, or our steadfast e-bikers who were just as eager to get out there. The rest of us just watched in admiration as to who could be the best in this challenge, having done a separate ride ourselves. At the end, we had breakfast, and our president, Jim Thom, announced how everyone did.
Our hotshots consisted of seven riders, with the ride leader being Kurt McMillen. Their total elevation gain was 945 feet, having ridden 11 miles, with a maximum grade of 17.3 degrees. E-bikes had 10 riders, led by Mark Byl. Their total elevation gain was 884 feet, having ridden a distance of 12.5 miles. They told us that they were going up the steepest grade at 14 mph. Wow!
While this ride represented some of our fittest riders, this doesn’t represent the usual Saturday rides. Here we break into four groups (hotshots, semi-hots, sensibles, and casuals), with hotshots focusing on getting in several hills and casuals with very few hills.
But the rides aren’t the only things we do.
If you didn’t find us at the Activity Fair, you missed hearing about some of the other things we do. We are the group that delivers the SaddleBrooke Progress newspapers each month. With Robson’s generosity, we are able to buy bikes for kids at local schools. We also were able this year to give a large donation to SaddleBrooke Community Outreach, who also help kids in our area. We work closely with the Wheels for Kids program by doing periodic bike roundups, and some of our members work on the actual bikes to get them in working condition before they are given to children in our community.
It would be great if you join us to learn more. Saturdays are the best day to ride with us. We meet over by the SaddleBrooke One bocce ball courts. For the month of March, our start times will move to 8:30 a.m., and in April our start time will be 8 a.m. During the summer, we beat the heat and have even earlier rides. Our website, www.saddlebrookecyclemasters.org, gives further details, including details on most of our ride opportunities.All riders are welcome, including e-bikes.
This article would be remiss if not to mention the passing of a very dear member of our Cyclemasters group. In January, we lost Patsy Chase. She was a longstanding member of Cyclemasters, having participated in many of our activities. Prior to coming to SaddleBrooke, she was a dance instructor. We know this because of the beautiful waltzes she and her husband, Bud, would do at our events. We know she is dancing in heaven right now. Dance, Patsy, dance! We are really going to miss you.