As we wave goodbye to the end of the wonderful, warm, and mostly dry, summer cycling season of 2024, I feel the club’s activity level notching down a bit. We still have rides on the calendar because we ride all year. We still have meetings because we like to get together, socialize, and learn about aspects of cycling through a presentation. But Pioneer Century®, Seattle to Portland Finish Line and our club picnic are over, and the hectic atmosphere they bring has dissipated.
In the early ‘70s our club’s founders began the club with the pure objective of offering bicycle rides. It started with a simple concept: Let’s get together and ride bikes. ✎
Things got complicated. About those rides: How fast? How challenging? Where will the money come from? Where can we have our meetings? The simplicity of “let’s ride bikes” inevitably merged with responsibility.
I am still a believer that PBC’s overall objective remains the bicycle rides. Rides are what drew most of us to the club. The rides continue to draw others to our merry little group, and I believe that the rides are our future. We have worked hard to perfect our ride calendar and how we share it (compare our lovely electronic calendar to a post card).
Let me thank all of you who have led rides throughout the year. Whether it was one ride or closer to one hundred, THANK YOU. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I look at our calendar for a ride and so appreciate the variety and abundance of offerings. Some of the rides are not for me! But I find a ride and start getting excited to ride my bike, get some exercise, improve my mental health, and re-invigorate my outlook on life in general. Looking at our Facebook group (PBC GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1813671232260416) many of you are appreciating our ride leaders as well.
Thanks, ride leaders, for being innovative. We love our tried-and-true routes, but now and then you find a different route or have some new infrastructure to show us or just have a fun idea for a little bicycle ride with friends. Thanks for committing and taking on the responsibility of developing a route and leading us on a safe and fun journey. And thanks for following up with the “paperwork” in getting those ride sign-in sheets sent in to the statistician so we all get our club miles. Again, I believe it’s these rides that are the foundation of our club’s existence.
Believe it or not, I think the cooler days of fall offer a perfect opportunity to explore being a ride leader yourself. Expectations are lower – a route with a coffee stop meets most everyone’s needs on a cold, wet day.
If you have been thinking about becoming a ride leader, this is a good time to start. Any current ride leader would be happy to mentor you and offer advice. You may have a favorite route you are willing to share with us or ask one of the road captains for help (we have a huge archive of maps and routes and with a little guidance you can find something that sounds fun and doable). No classes, you get individual tutoring!
Think about ride leaders you have ridden with. What good qualities do you want to emulate? What are YOUR strengths that YOU bring to the task? Be yourself, and have fun.
Join the other ride leaders in spreading the joy of just getting together and riding bikes. It’s a little bit of work for a whole lot of feeling good.
Portland BICYCLING Club.
Ann Morrow, President
To read the Quick Releases newsletter associated with the October 2024 Top Talk, go to Table of Contents.