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ktrsd: Capital City Cyclists up close and personal
By Joe Ritchie
In last month’s column about preparing for your first century (a hundred-mile ride), I made the point that a smart move would be to connect with your local cycling club, something I also suggested in the October column.
This month let’s take a little time to get to know the Capital City Cyclists a bit more up close and personal. On a pleasant Saturday evening last month I hopped on my bike and pedaled over to the club’s potluck holiday party, which was held about a five-minute ride from my house. I arrived in time to get some good eats and see some club members win a few neat door prizes like lights, computers and water bottles for their bikes.
The big drawing, for a new Gary Fisher hybrid bike, was won by Timmy Holt, kind of a funny twist, since his dad’s shop donated the bike.
A good time, as they say, was had by all. And some business was done, too. The club ratified its slate of officers at the party. The new president is Mark Koch, who said he’s hoping to bring a lot of energy to the position and boost the club’s membership. His two priorities for the club are membership and information.
“Energy is the key thing, I think. I want to take the passion I have for the club and spread some information around,” the former Air Force intelligence officer told me recently. “Right now there are a bunch of islands of information about cycling in the area, and I think there’s a huge opportunity to corral everything under one big umbrella of communication.”
Koch wants to broaden the club’s base by bringing in more mountain bikers and making the club more of an overall cycling club rather than a club that just caters to the needs of road riders. He said the club has reinstated its off-road coordinator position, which Brook Pace has agreed to handle. She’s hoping to attract a lot of relatively new off-road riders to the club.
“She is also a strong advocate for the club, and for living a healthy lifestyle,” Koch added. “Her energies are currently focused on creating an off-road ride every Saturday at 2 p.m. during the winter months.”
I recommend the club’s Web site for information about cycling activity in the Big Bend and an array of great maps giving routes for terrific rides, complete with cue sheets. Many of the routes are regularly traveled by groups of club members; I used several of them for nice training rides when I was preparing for my recent century ride in Texas. On Labor Day I tagged along with some other CCC’ers for a “metric century” (62 miles) on the Parramore Fish Pond ride, a great route that took us from the Miccosukee Boys and Girls Club to Monticello, on to Thomasville and back.
The club’s two signature events are the TOSRV ride in the spring and the Spaghetti 100 in the fall, and President Koch says his third priority is for these events to continue to improve; there are also picnics and group excursions to out of town rides. The organization also lobbies for better bicycle safety and riding conditions in the area, though Koch confesses that he’s something of a novice in the bike advocacy department.
“There are plenty of other members who are good at that. I just wanted to focus on the areas I knew I could bring some strength and energy to,” he said.
It looks like an era of growth for the Capital City Cyclists.
Visit www.cccylists.org to check out the club and join online. Membership is $15 for individuals and $20 for families.
Join up and keep the rubber side down.
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