Changing of the Guard

Dear Readers,

We are having a changing of the guard (well, bloggers) here at Alpena Tweed and Bike Club. So as I sign off I would thank you for reading, and hope that you have found the blog both entertaining and informative. I am sure the new bloggers will continue this tradition, and build up a great resource for Tweed Rides all over the world.  I hope to see you on the road. P

Buster Keaton, 1924 Sherlock, Jr.

Posters!

Here is the poster for the Seersucker Ride! Feel free to print them off and post them around town or send them to anyone you think might like one!

Or you can try to print off this pdf (you may need google docs to get it to work).

Safety Last

For the most part, we at the Alpena Tweed and Bike Club have tried to stay out of some of the bigger debates within the bicycling world. Primarily because our goal is to promote riding for fun in general and more specifically our seasonal rides. Now we have actually taken a little flack from a few readers for not actively promoting bike helmets in either photos or print.  They are arguing that the helmet is the primary safety device for safe riding. We have maintained as adults operating within your legal rights, that the choice is up to the individual, and have felt that there are tons of blogs out there to talk about bicycle safety… until now…

So why am I bringing this up now you ask? Because I witnessed two incidents in the last week that illustrate, in my eyes at least, that without using that thing you rest the helmet on, you might as well leave the safety cap back at home.  

Case #1: I witnessed two bicyclists in full sports gear riding through town in single file at a good clip. At first I was just checking out their sweet rides (bicycle envy can strike at any time), when I noticed that the front rider was actually riding so that they were facing backwards so that they could talk to the rider behind them. Now this wasn’t a quick glance, or a fast word, this was a multiple block conversation where both riders were distracted, even if they were riding in a straight line. Now if they got in a wreck, they were wearing their helmets, but it’s not like we say it’s ok to drink and drive as long as you wear your seat belt. This bugged me, but I let it go, until today…

Case #2: This incident involved a sporty looking young lady riding a cruiser. Now she was also wearing a bicycle helmet… but she was also talking on her cell phone, with it crammed between her shoulder and ear. As if this wasn’t bad enough, she was also riding with a coffee cup in her one hand. Now where the riders in Case #1 were at least going in straight line, this girl was all over the road.

Distracted driving is distracted driving.  Where a bicycle helmet might help you in a crash, keeping your head in the game will most likely keep you out of the crash in the first place. Please use the safety device that you were born with.

On No! It's Almost Time!

Oh my! It's only 96 days to the Seersucker Ride (June 16th, 2012)! I hope everyone is working one some cool and well cool (June in Michigan, wishful thinking I know) cloths to wear when they come out to ride!

Just as a reminder, the League of Michigan Bicyclists is also holding a cycling event in Alpena that weekend. This is a great reason for non-locals to come to Alpena, and join in our ride too. It is also a great opportunity for locals to make friends with some new people or at least show them why we consider ourselves a "Warm and Friendly Port."  (I hope that's still our motto)

We Hope to See You Tomorrow!

Just a reminder, we are having our first club ride tomorrow (9/25/11). No dress code. Just show up at the corner of 9^th and Chisholm a little before 5:00 pm, and we will find someplace to ride. We hope to see you there… and if you can’t make it this week, try to catch up with us next week.

First Weekly Ride: Fall 2011

The first weekly ride of The Alpena Tweed and Bike Club will start at 5:00 pm on Sunday, September 25th, 2011. We will meet in the parking lot of the Alpena County Annex Building (aka the “New Court House”) on the corner of 9th and Chisholm. Look for the people standing around on bicycles in the big parking lot.

Unless there is really bad weather, we will go for a ride. We really are not planning any particular route; we will go wherever the group decides.  If you can’t make it this week, we would love to see you the next. Come when you can, miss when you can’t. There are no fees or commitments, just friends (old, new, or future) getting together to enjoy ourselves.

New Look!

You many have noticed a new look and blog title; with the success of The First Annual Alpena Tweed Ride we decided to expand our goals a little. First (and most of you probably got this from the “annual” part) is that we are planning to have a Tweed Ride next year, second we want to start having a weekly ride around town. Now unlike the Tweed Ride, there is no theme to these rides, unless having fun is a theme… so anyway, the plan for this “fun” themed ride is just get together for an hour or so with some old, new, and future friends and have a slow cruse around the town. 

For the fall we will probably have the rides at 5:00 on Sunday afternoons. Next summer we may move them to a weekday night and push the time back, but with the days becoming shorter we figured we should try to get people home before dark.  We will post more details later in the week. Send us a message or leave a comment if you have some input!