On December 6, we remotely held our LWA Holiday party and December meeting with about 20 members in attendance. 

Holding this event online instead of in person, was disappointing because for many of us this event is the ending highlight of a great cycling year but given the current COVID situation, we had no other choice.

At this meeting, our 2020 LWA President Roberta Kates recapped the many LWA accomplishments that she led us through this year despite the extremely unusual challenges brought on by the COVID infection. She thanked the many LWA leaders who helped her make 2020 a success including Bert Mukkulainen and his team for the unusual but very successful 2020 Donut(less) Derby.

Roberta also announced 2 winners of the LWA Emeritus Award: Richard Baldock and Dave Sprigle.(In order to be eligible for this award a member must be: 75+ years old; a current LWA member; had provided service to the club; member for at least 5 year; be nominated by current member; and approved by the Board.)  Next time you see Dave or Richard, make sure you Congratulate them.

Kathy Crampton, VP of Turing then announced the 2020 Ride Leader Awards.  We had 374 rides this year with 15 members leading a total of 11 or more rides each:  Bert Mukkulainen 11, Lenni Maguire 12, Catherine Pleickhardt 13, Dick McCreight; 14, Craig Lambert 15, John Munsch and Dave Sheffield 17, Donalee Frary 18; Torie Lovan 19; Fritz Walker 21; Ken Kilareski 23; Cathy Stevenson 24; Dave Sprigle 25; Rich Ferrera 27; and Tom Donnelly 53 and our Ride Leader of Year!Big thanks to Kathy and all the ride leaders for providing their leadership during this unusual year!

Dave Sheffield presented Roberta with recognition and gifts for her 3 years as President of the LWA and the many accomplishment achieved during her tenure.  When you see Roberta, who will stay on as the President Emeritus, please be sure to give her a big Thank You.

On behalf of the Nomination Committee, Mike Solliday presented the results of election of LWA Officers and Board Members for 2020.  With 46 online votes and no write ins the results were:

President: Rich Ferrera

Vice President of Touring:  Kathy Crampton

Vice President of Racing (& President Emeritus per by-laws): Roberta Kates

Treasurer: Dave Sheffield

Secretary: Christine Penn

Board – Bert and Dick – 2 year terms

Larry Pickens takes Rich spot (1 year)

Bruce Cantor continues for another year.

Thanks to Mike and  his committee of Jack Helfrich and Kathy Zapotachi for completing the nomination process this year and Dick McCreight for creating the online vote process.

I am pleased to be the LWA President and look forward to a great 2021.

I updated the monthly meetings on Meetup, which will be virtual via Zoom for the forceable future, so please join as many meetings as you can.

I am confident that with the help of the great team listed above plus our key volunteers Dave Drummer (WebMaster) and Richard Baldock and Rob Smith (Membership Coordination) that our LWA Leadership team will continue in 2021 the strong programs that we already have in place plus work on some new ideas to help the club grow.

I will be telling you more about myself and your other LWA Leaders in subsequent blogs, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy Holiday and I know that you join me in wishing for the successful roll-out of the new vaccine/vaccinations so that we can get back to our normal LWA schedule and help grow cycling in the LWA community.