Hello LWA members.

I want to remind everyone of a special event that is happening next Thursday, June 16.

A group of about 15 riders is participating in a 23-day, 1,070 mile triangle tour of the 911 Memorials in each of the three cities directly impacted by the attacks.  Their own journey will start at the Pentagon, ride to Flight 93 memorial near Shanksville, then to NYC, and back to the Pentagon. 

This group of volunteer riders will pass through our area on June 16.  Their ride that day goes from Reading to Easton.  The entire 1070 miles is a "test route" with hopes of organizing a real 911 Memorial Ride a few years from now.

The organizer reached out to the LWA seeking guidance and support for this effort.  Our most valuable contribution is likely our knowledge of the roads.  Their initial route through our area was not on roads that are good, or even safe, for cyclists.  Several LWA members contributed their knowledge to plot a great route from Fleetwood to the Velodrome.  The board also voted to support their ride that day by providing food and beverages at their 2nd rest stop at the Velodrome.  

There are two fun days planned for Lehigh Wheelmen this month of June.

On June16, we have been invited to meet up with and welcome a group of true adventurers passing through the Lehigh Valley. Overall, these cyclists will ride a 23-day, 1,070 mile triangle tour of the 9/11 Memorials in each of the three cities directly impacted by events that September 11. Their journey will start at the Pentagon, ride to Flight 93 memorial near Shanksville, then over to NYC, then back to the Pentagon. They will pass through our area mid-tour, on June 16, as they ride from Reading to Easton, and they would appreciate support from the Lehigh Wheelmen. We will also host lunch for these riders as they make a rest stop at the Velodrome.

This is a "guinea pig" route for the volunteers, with hopes to shift the Tour to encompass the 9/11 week itself a few years from now.

A few days later, on Saturday June 18, we have the rescheduled Blessing of the Bikes. LWA member Pastor Larry Pickens will once again perform a “Blessing of the Bikes” at Ziegel Church at 9:00am. Afterwards, rides of various level will depart. 

We hope that you can attend one or both of these events! See Meetup postings for details.

I am participating in the 10th annual Pennsylvania Hope Ride on Sunday June 26th benefiting the American Cancer Society.   This is an important event to me as a 2 time cancer survivor - I am forever grateful for the progress made to date, yet there is so much more progress to be made.   

I am riding the 65 mile route with several LWA riders on team TAGD ("Today's A Good Day") led by team captain Carl Cramer.

Enjoy a 15, 35, 65 or 100 mile route on beautiful Amish country roads with covered bridges.  The ride starts and finishes at Our Town Brewery in Lancaster, PA.  There also is virtual ride option for June 10-26, the Hope Lodge Challenge. 

For more information and to sign up visit pahoperide.org 
or email me at varney75@ptd.net.

Just a reminder, the LWA is sponsoring a 4-day cycling adventure in the Harrisonburg, VA area from 23-26 June 2022.  This event is open to all "paid club members" and is free.  However, you will need to pay for your own transportation, food and lodging.

In the past, we have really enjoyed cycling in VA and have often had 25-30 LWA members joining in the festivities. If you are planning to join us, please register via the following Meetup Link.

https://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Wheelmen-Association/events/283441611

Rich Ferrera has negotiated a discount hotel rate of $124/night at the Hampton Inn.  You must reserve your room by 3 June to get this rate. Otherwise, the rate will be ~$165/night.  There's also a camping option.  Please see the Meetup link.

The routes can be found at the following RidewithGPS link:

There is an exciting ride coming to the Lehigh Valley on June 4 – The Gran Fondo Hincapie – Lehigh Valley.  This is a cycling celebration set on the beautiful roads of the Lehigh Valley with the proceeds  benefiting the Youth Programs at the Velodrome.  There are several course options ranging from 15-80 miles.  The organizers are  looking for volunteers to drivie SAG support, offering minor medical and mechanical support to riders (cars will be provided.  All volunteers will be compensated with an event T-Shirt and a food and beverage pass back at the velo.

Here  is a link to the event with some additional info. https://hincapie.com/granfondo/lehigh-valley/

If you are interested in helping out, please go to   https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084faca729a4fd0-gran4

NOTE:  The Gran Fondo Hincapie – Lehigh Valley is a non-LWA event.  If you decide to volunteer you are doing so as an individual and not as a representative of the LWA.  The only affiliation the LWA has with this event is to pass the above information along.

Images will be judged by Dan's Camera, last year’s winner Bert Mukkulainen and Morning Call Photographer Rick Kintzel. A $50 Dan's gift card will be given for the 1st place image in each category, $30 for 2nd place and $20 for third. Winners and honorable-mention photos will be posted for viewing.

Take a look at this video of past winners for inspiration!  

At our recent Members meeting on April 27, our guest speaker, First Aid and CPR Instructor Earl Ostrander, updated attendees on current CPR guidelines. 

First Aid was only briefly touched upon and will be the topic of a future Member meeting. However, Earl did review the need for cyclists -- and Ride Leaders in particular -- to assemble a small pack of supplies in case of treatable injury, i.e a fall and bleed situation. 

This "Crash Pack" would be a small stock of supples you could carry in either a back pocket or bar bag. A pre-packaged kit was given to some Ride Leaders a few years ago as a recognition gift. It is certainly time to refresh those dried-up supplies inside! You may assemble your own pack using a zip-lock baggie. Here are some items to include:

• latex-free gloves--size L to fit over your cycling gloves
• assorted bandages
• gauze
• antiseptic wipes and/or iodine pads
• adhesive tape
• extra zip bag for used supplies
• individually packaged acetaminophen.

This list of items is a good idea for any rider to have on hand.

REMEMBER: Assess the situation before treating anyone. If needed, e.g. head injury or loss of consciousness or breathing -- call 911.

Your bike chain probably isn't something you think about much except when it is time to lube or clean it.  However, a chain problem can derail a bike ride pretty quickly, leaving you miles from home unless you are prepared to deal with it.

Last summer, I was on a LWA ride when one of the other riders broke her chain.  It broke a few links away from the quick link, probably because it had been lengthened by adding some links from a second chain, but that is another story.  Fortunately, I had a multitool that included a chain breaker, so we were able to remove the damaged part, and another rider had a quick link, so we were back on our way pretty quickly.  Though I'd been riding for more than 30 years, I had never thought to carry a quick link with me, but. since that ride, I won't leave home without one.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago,  another LWA ride.  I dropped my chain to the outside of the large chainring, and somehow managed to force the chain between the crankarm and the ring, right past the metal pin that is supposed to prevent that.  The crankset is of a type that doesn't have chainring bolts that can be removed out on the road, so the only obvious solution was to take the chain apart at the quick link.  This is pretty easy if you have a chain link pliers or, in a pinch, some narrow needle nose pliers, but I was forced to remove the link with my hands, which were quickly greasy and slippery.  Fortunately, I was finally able to get it done and remove the chain, but it was not an experience I wanted to repeat.

We have received 1 Sizing/Sample Kit from Ascend Sportswear that will be available during the March 23 club meeting.  The kit consists of the following items.

KK Men's Volare Elite Cycling Jersey - Sport Cut - Large

Women's Volare Elite Cycling Jersey- Sport Cut  Large

Unisex Apex Elite Cycling Jersey - Race Cut  X-Large

Ride with GPS photo

With the official start of Spring, I want to remind all LWA members about one of the best benefits to membership in the LWA:  The ability to be included in the LWA RideWithGPS club account.

This account provides a place for the LWA to store and manage our cycling routes library and gives all LWA club members who are authorized in the LWA-GPS club account access to Premium features in RWGPS for all routes in our club library. (It does NOT give all LWA members the RWGPS Premium Level features for route that are not in our club library.)

Be sure to read through this document for more information: *RideWithGPSClubAccountB.pdf (lehighwheelmen.org)

For 2022, I will be managing the LWA RideWithGPS club account so let me know if you have any questions and I will be providing additional information as the cycling seasons starts up and gets into full swing.

At the March 23rd club meeting  there will be two presentations prior to the business meeting.

First will be by McCall Collective Brewing Co CEO Craig Phillips. His family's brewery is opening a 2nd taproom right next to the Exxon behind the Velodrome. He will be presenting ideas for ways his company can support the LWA and welcome all members to the new location.

The second presentation will be by Patrick Rizzieri of Ascend Sportswear who will be joining via Zoom. Patrick reached out to the club and spoke to the board during our Zoom board meeting in January.

Ascend Sportswear has as line of cycling clothing and is sending a "fit kit" with samples of the various products, sizes and cuts. This is your chance to see the clothing and evaluate quality, cut, fit etc. If there is interest in offering a second vendor for cub apparel (with a similar but unique design) we may do so.

We will be holding his meeting in person at Asbury and via Zoom. The church has removed the mask mandate.

There is an exciting ride coming to the Lehigh Valley on June 4 – The Gran Fondo Hincapie – Lehigh Valley.  This is a cycling celebration set on the beautiful roads of the Lehigh Valley with the proceeds  benefiting the Youth Programs at the Velodrome.  There are several course options ranging from 15-80 miles.  The organizers are  looking for volunteers to help out.  Perhaps some of you will be interested.  Here are the things that they need help with

1. Manning the first rest stop in Lenhartsville

2. Driving SAG support and offering minor medical and mechanical support to riders (cars will be provided)

3. Cycling road marshals to provide directions and minor medical and mechanical support to riders (volunteers for this are anticipated to ride anywhere between 30-100 miles along the route)

Cyclists;

Based on the decline of COVID cases locally,  the club has decided to hold the February club meeting in person at Asbury.  We will also be using Zoom.  There will be a presentation by Fitness Central on the pros and cons of tubeless tires, followed by the business meeting.  Details are on the Meetup posting.  The meeting will be held in room 217.  Enter the building on the lower level from the big parking lot.  Asbury is requiring mask in the building, so please come prepared and respect their rules. 

Meetup Post is here:

https://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Wheelmen-Association/events/mvhjrsydcdbfc/

I Want YOU to do Publicity

During WW II the iconic posters of Uncle Sam pointing and saying “I Want You” were an incentive to participate in some important job supporting the war effort   The Lehigh Wheelman could now certainly produce such a poster to encourage someone to handle publicity. 

For many years Dick McCreight helped disseminate information about LWA special events, promoting these events and thereby increasing participation.  Dick has decided to step away from this role.  The club is therefore seeking one or two (or more) members to step up and handle publicity for the club's special events.  The publicity tasks can certainly be divided among several members.

Please take a look at the summary of the things Dick did and consider volunteering to handle some or all of these jobs.  I know Dick will assist you in every possible way. 

We want to share with you this Thank You Letter from Community Bike Works.

As noted in a post from Carl Zvanut in September (https://lehighwheelmen.org/index.php/latest-news/spinathon-for-community-bike-works) a team of LWA members participated in  the 2021 Spinathon for Community Bike Works.  Rich Ferrera, Lenni Maguire, Raine Fussner, Steve Crampton, Jane Derby, Clyde Odom, Jack Helfrich and Carl Zvanut. 

A friendly competition among many cyclists in the Lehigh Valley, our LWA team was in the lead until the last day and we look forward to another try for 1^st place this year and further support for this big fundraiser for CBW, an organization we all know and appreciate for the good work they do.

You may have noticed some virtual group rides posted on the LWA meetup, and thought that you are excluded because you don’t have a smart trainer.  While that would give you maximum functionality, you can still enjoy the experience of riding indoors on frigid days with a group of your fellow club members without one.  And just like on an outdoor ride, you can talk to the other riders.  Dave Sheffield has been doing this, using an old Cycleops fluid trainer.  He has a speed and cadence sensor, which sends data to his Garmin, but which can also be used to send data to a computer or tablet, as long it has the capability to connect a usb dongle .  Video of the route can be viewed on a display, tv, tablet screen or similar.

At the January LWA Board meeting, the Board decided to create a Technology Committer in order to help manage the club’s existing technology platforms as well as to facilitate improvements. Bruce Kantor has volunteered to lead the committee, and we are soliciting club members to sit on the committee.

The goals and objectives for the committee are –

• Provide an easy to use set of tools and platforms for the club general club membership and leadership in support of club activities.
• Facilitate integration between disparate systems (e.g., Club Web Platform, Meetup, Ride With GPS, BikeReg).
• Facilitate communication between officers, board members, committees and the general club membership.
• Provide a mechanism for committees, board members and officers to securely collaborate on and share documents.

If you are interested in participating on the Technology Committee, please email Paul Smith (pocono723@yahoo.com) or Bruce Kantor (bmkantor@gmail.com) expressing your interest and qualifications. Thank you.

Paul Smith
LWA President

The monthly LWA club meeting will be held virtually this Jan 26 due to the status of COVID locally.  The event details and link to join the Zoom can be found here. 

The original posting indicated there would be no presentation prior to the business meeting.  That has changed and I will be sharing information about the LWA Ride With GPS Club. 

The LWA has a special members only benefit that gives you Premium level access to the routes in our extensive route library.  The presentaion will cover what the LWA RWGPS club is, how to be included in that club, and how to use the features to find and navigate routes from our route library.  I hope you will decide to join us.  The regular club business meeting will folow the presentation.

Paul Smith 

LWA President