Table of Contents From the President Trainer Tours—A Better Way to Roll LBC Advocacy Program OKHT 2000 Bar End Caps—Not Just for Decoration From the Editor Thank You LAB Rallies

From the President

If you received your club newsletter more or less on schedule, I guess you've survived Y2K. [Not quite! – Ed.] And if I get my copy, so will I have done, even though I challenged the Y2K bug in a big way by flying to Spain on New Year's Eve. I guess being a cyclist has made me quite a daredevil. (In fairness I should point out that this letter is being written in December. Still, I'm betting the new millennium began with a whimper.)

And even though many are quick to point out that 2000 is not the true start of the next Millennium, it has the advantage of a nice round number and an inherently celebratory ring. Which brings me to the cycling part of this letter. Dave Stewart recently posted a perfect Millennium kick-off message on KyCycList. I thought I'd quote from it generously as a great way to mark the occasion. Dave begins with a quote from an article written by Robert Lypsyte in the 12/26/99 NY Times Sports Section (“This Year Sports Went over the Edge”). In the last paragraph of his article, Mr. Lipsyte singles out Lance Armstrong's victory in the Tour de France as his “pick for best moment in sports this year. Lance, whom I've never met, shares a type of cancer with me. When he won, I went out and bought a bicycle. I have so far made my way up to a 35-mile trip. That's not symbolic. What is symbolic is that, on the eve of a new time, sports can give me the power to believe I have just begun to pedal.”

Dave continued: “Lance's victory, aided in no small measure by his USPS teammates, is a symbol of the best that cycling can be. Each of us as a cyclist has the same opportunity, though perhaps not on a worldwide scale, to influence cycling:

1. Be an ambassador for cycling — watch your road and off-road manners.
2. Practice missionary zeal. Bring one non-cyclist “into the fold” every year.
3. Support your cycling club. They're the “fount” of our cycling culture. Join at least one. There's power in numbers. Be counted. Volunteer. Put your name on, and your time into, at least one cycling related event next year. A ride, a tour, a race, a Board, a cleanup. Be proactive. There are lots of opportunities. Don't wait to be asked. Volunteers make it all happen. There is tremendous satisfaction in helping further a cause. If you just ride, you're a “limp stoker.”
4. Shop at local bike shops. Support your local cycling merchants. They're part of the culture. Catalogs, both in paper and on-line, are pretty but they don't keep the local cycling community together the way that local merchants do.

“These are times to be excited. We have a new millennium stretching out before us. I believe we have all “just begun to pedal.” ”

I couldn't have said it better. Happy New Year!