Louisville Bicycle Club Newsletter — March-April 1997 The Time To Act Is Now! by Dave Stewart

I ran into someone at a party recently who asked me if I had been back by Ace’s. Ace’s? For a moment I drew a blank and then my friend reminded me that Ace’s is a little grocery in Lockport, KY. I had a Century that went through there this past summer. My friend had run into Bernice Martin and me as we rested on the store’s porch on old car seats with a cool drink before climbing the first of those hills rising out of town. My friend told me that the locals folks hanging around the stove in the grocery still ask her if those fools from Louisville are going to ride all that ways out there again. And they snicker over them boys in those tight pants. That was a great day. A warm memory on a cold winter’s day. It’s about this time every year that I get depressed. I’ve survived the Winter Solstice, that shortest of days. I’ve made it through the notoriously cold days of January. February is typically a month with a lot of cold rain, and worse yet, a few days in the 50’s to remind me that the weather really will be better... in another six weeks. I’m sick of the inside of gyms with the clatter and clunk of weights and the stale air. Trying to convince myself that the routine workouts will only make me a stronger rider is simply to remind myself that I won’t be able to tell if the routine workouts really made me a stronger rider for weeks and weeks to come. My bike is still dirty from the rides I snuck in on those few Winter days I could get out. I keep it that way to remind myself what honest dirt looks like. Dirt earned doing what I like doing best. As the trainer howls away like my soul yearning to be free, I long to see real asphalt slipping beneath my spinning wheels. I want to feel the exhilaration of pace lines and the camaraderie of a group of cyclists crowding into a small country store in the deep reaches of the state for drinks, snacks and a few moments out of the saddle. I long for the miles spent riding side-by-side in quiet conversations. Miles that melt into memories as I hear people’s stories and tell my own. I want the satisfaction of a steep hill climbed and the thrill of that sizzling ride down the other side. I want to marvel at the beauty of early morning mists across creek bottoms. At the opposite end of the day, I want to revel in the late evenings, cooling off after a weeknight ride with people whose company I enjoy. People I care about. People who talk the familiar language about bikes and places to ride. It’ll come. I just have to be patient. A little longer. As I wait for those magic moments, I recognize how central the people within the Club are to them. How central the Club is. Without it, there aren’t any ride schedules, just long solitary rides. The time I’ve spent working out this Winter would have been even more difficult without the Weight Training Clinic that Cheryl Brawner put on or the trainer tours that Don and Mary Margaret Williams shepherded. I would have missed out on the Bicycle Maintenance Classes that Joe Proctor arranged. Without the Club, I would have missed out on the news and information of the newsletter. News and information about people and events I care about. Without the Club, I wouldn’t have enjoyed watching my ride miles mount up on the stat sheet. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the competition to hold my own place in the mileage stats. Nor would I have been able to follow the aggressive pursuits of the yellow and blue jerseys. All of this depends on the Club and a group of people dedicated to cycling and the growth of the Club. For all who don’t renew their memberships, this is the last issue of the newsletter that will come to your house this year. It’s the last chance to participate as an integral, part of a growing, thriving club in its Centennial year. A year of expansion and of memorable rides. A year to stay in shape with people you like. Get that money in. On a cost per mile basis, it’s hard to beat the deal. Don’t miss it. Send in the money for your membership now. Without it, this will be your last newsletter. Don’t miss out of the fun, the thrills and the magic of cycling.

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Copyright ©1997 Louisville Wheelmen last updated: 24 February 1997 by Duc M. Do