Table of Contents From the President Touring Program When To Race Mad Dog 200 Advocacy Update Car-Free Day

From the President
Nothing Is The Same

How many times have we heard that said since September 11? True, the hassles at the airports are awful. The economy has been driven further into recession and homeland security is a new focus.

But not everything has changed.

Like the Polar Bear Ride on New Year’s Day. I’m not a superstitious person but firmly believe that not doing the Polar Bear ride is a bad omen for the new season. Quite a few people must feel the same since more than 25 showed up for the ride, despite the 16-degree temperature. Thanks go to AB Sandefur and his wife, Betty, for hosting the riders at the Broadway Baptist Church on Brownsboro Road and for the chili and other treats that waited for the frozen riders at the end of the ride. (This is also a good time to remember and thank Gil Morris of Highland Cycles, who hosted the ride for several years from his bike shop on Bardstown Road. And Dave Spitler, who hosted wonderful Polar Bear rides from his former home on Rosewood. The tradition changes but continues.)

And trainer tours are back. They were started by Mary Margaret Williams about six years ago and have grown in popularity and importance for folks fighting off the winter blahs and pounds, and trying to get a jump on the season. We’re almost personal friends of coach Troy Jacobson and the regulars who join him in the taped workouts. Never mind the predominance of triathletes. If you’re alive at the end of the session, they’ve got nothing over you.

The new season will begin on March 1 just as it has for many years. (Maybe since 1897.) That won’t be too soon for the award jersey pursuers or the new riders anxious to test their Christmas bikes.

Don’t think for a minute that discussing cycling matters in the same breadth trivializes the terror attacks on the World Trade Center. I know that none of the events on the LBC calendar will be topics on CNN or the Fox Network. But everyone would be better off if simple things like riding a bike with good friends got more mention. Then terror’s failure wouldn’t need to be debated; it would be manifest.

I’ll bet you never though of your bike as a vehicle of defiance or the LBC ride schedule as a battle plan. So flip off a terrorist: Go on a ride.

Better yet, strike a blow for normalcy and captain a ride. Either way you’re a homeland security team member.