Bruce Somerhalder, Mike Brenny, Joanie Broder, Evelyn Ellis, Milt Mittelstedt, Jim Thom, Debbie Grafmiller, Bruce Schaepe, Dave Corrigan, Don Grafmiller, Pam Corrigan, John Suhr, LeAnn Suhr, Marc Elvy; not pictured: Bruce Schaepe, Wendy Berns, Pam Elvy
About two years ago, SaddleBrooke Boulevard was repaved and widened, with a bike lane added. It is much nicer now and much safer for vehicle drivers, golf carts, and bicyclists. But, somehow, trash still ends up on the side of the road.
On Dec. 6, 15 Cyclemasters left their bicycles at home and donned work gloves and safety vests to collect trash along SaddleBrooke Boulevard. Their effort was organized by Debbie and Don Grafmiller, the club’s Trash Masters. Coordination included a safety briefing, assigning zones for each group, and providing garbage bags, grabbers, and safety equipment. Then the trash collectors got to work filling the bags.
The Cyclemasters perform this community service project at least twice a year and have been picking up trash along SaddleBrooke Boulevard for over 15 years as part of the Pinal County Adopt a County Road program. Most of the trash is paper and plastic items, as we might expect, but they also find other items, including many mini bottles of alcohol and pieces of clothing. Occasionally, they find surprise items such as animal carcasses. Whatever is found is removed so that the main road leading into SaddleBrooke looks nice again.