The Countdown Begins: Early April Launch for CRW’s New Website

Attention all cycling enthusiasts! The moment we've been eagerly anticipating has finally arrived. Our bike club is thrilled to announce the launch of our brand-new Wild Apricot website, designed exclusively for our dedicated members. With a focus on enhancing your cycling experience, this cutting-edge platform offers a wealth of exceptional tools and resources that are tailored specifically to our thriving community. The board's decision to adopt Wild Apricot was carefully considered, ensuring its benefits perfectly aligned with our club's unique needs. Get ready to take your cycling journey to new heights and join us in exploring all our revamped website offers!

Our revamped website offers many top-notch features to enhance your membership experience, streamline your interactions, and foster deeper connections with fellow cycling enthusiasts. Without further delay, let's dive right in and explore what this platform offers.

Simplified Onboarding

One of the most convenient features of our new website is the seamless integration with Google and Facebook for single sign-on capabilities. As over 50% of our members were using Gmail to log into our old website, this means that many members can easily log in to your account without remembering another password, saving you valuable time. Moreover, this process is highly secure, ensuring your personal information remains protected. With this feature in place, you can focus on what really matters - connecting with other cycling enthusiasts and enjoying all that our community has to offer.

Mobile App

Our Wild Apricot Mobile App is a game-changer for our members, providing unparalleled accessibility and convenience. With this app, you can access event and ride details, manage your calendar, and stay connected with the community - all from the palm of your hand. This enhancement ensures that all crucial information is just a few taps away, making it effortless for you to integrate CRW activities into your busy schedule. So, don't hesitate - to download the app today and use this option designed for your on-the-go lifestyle.

Various Mobile App Views

Discussion Forum

Our new platform boasts a centralized Discussion Forum that fosters stronger connections and communication among all club members. This innovative system ensures that important discussions, which were previously scattered across Google Groups and Slack, can now be accessed by everyone in a single location. By having an easily accessible forum, we keep everyone informed and encourage greater participation and engagement within our beloved cycling community. So, don't hesitate - embrace this innovative forum and contribute to the vibrant exchange of ideas while strengthening our club's unity.

Eased Operations

Our webmaster, Jack Donohue, has done an incredible job maintaining the old CRW website. Our new platform comes with comprehensive support, how-to guides, and seamless integration with tools like QuickBooks. This upgrade will streamline administrative tasks and allow our volunteers to focus on fostering camaraderie and organizing enjoyable events for our cycling community. With these advantages, we are confident that embracing this change will lead our club toward a brighter, more unified future.

Next Steps

As we approach the exciting launch of our new Wild Apricot-powered website, we have carefully planned several crucial steps to ensure a smooth transition for our club members. First, complete our beta test to fine-tune the website's functionality, addressing any major issues or concerns before the official launch. Next, organize ride leader training to familiarize key individuals with the platform and prepare them to efficiently use the advanced tools and features. Lastly, on the first weekend of April, just in time for the beginning of the riding season, we will redirect crw.org to the new site, and send a welcome email to all members marking the start of a new era for our club.

We understand that adapting to this new system may require some adjustments, but rest assured, the essence of our club's camaraderie and shared passion for cycling will remain unaltered. We will continue to organize and participate in enjoyable events, forging long-lasting bonds within our community. By embracing these changes, we are confident that our new website will ultimately strengthen our club experience and elevate our commitment to cycling. So, let's move forward together and make the most of this exciting new chapter in our club's history!

At its meeting of March 5, 2023 the CRW Board voted as shown below. Full meeting minutes are available here.

• The Board voted unanimously to continue the Women's Ride Program and explicitly to permit women-only rides.
• The Board voted to allocate $1,600 for a Sandy Gray memorial bench located on the Bruce Freeman trail.
• The Board unanimously approved a century plan as well as new century fees for 2023 as listed below.

1. North to New Hampshire May 13 2023  New Fees Early $35/ Reg. $45

2. Climb to the clouds June 10 2023 - Devo - non supported rest stops. Early $20/$30

3. Cranberry Harvest Oct 7 2023  Early $35/45

Those of you who use Comcast as your Internet service provider know you pay for every service. Some charges, as premium channels like HBO seem reasonable. But you also pay for high definition channels, internet speed, rental equipment and other egregious charges. We’ve heard many of their customers, including this writer, complain about high rates. Unfortunately CRW is following this frivolous practice and will introduce new charges that will, in the opinion of many, provoke widespread criticism.

Beginning May 1, 2023 there will be a ride charge. You will be charged every time you join a club ride, and the charge will vary with the ride distance, the longer the ride, the higher the fee. If you are in an accident and require care, your dues will rise. The club will also charge for any service you may require like resolving a dues payment. To facilitate the charging, you will have to have a credit card on file. (More text below the image.)

Finally, we are saddened if you believe one word of this nonsense, as the club would never go in this direction except to wish you a Happy April Fool's Day.

Ride With GPS (RWGPS) has created a wonderful new tool to help with your ride planning. It is a single map displaying links to all of CRW routes. A screenshot of the map is below and the actual map can be  accessed at  https://ridewithgps.com/clubs/5-charles-river-wheelers/routes/explore. You need to be logged in as a CRW RWGPS club member to access the actual map.

We think it looks awesome and shows the depth of CRW's route library. The numbers indicate how many rides start at that location, and you can see we have some very popular ride start locations. This is a dynamic map that can help you plan rides. If you click on the green arrows or numbered green circles, it brings up a snapshot of the route together with a link to the full route.

RWGPS has an Inspect Tool, which is helpful for checking out routes. Click any place on the map to view routes that pass by that point. You may initially select a point with no route action, but don't give up and try again. The Inspect Tool is especially useful if you want to see routes that pass through a particular place like home.

There is some duplication, and some routes no longer in play. The club will be reviewing and cleaning up the map in the months ahead. The map will also be useful to CRW's ride management to review popular routes that have not been led recently.

This article originally appeared in the Road Bike Rider (RBR) newsletter.

By Coach John Hughes

I write from experience. I’ve been cycling for 50 years and coaching for 30 years and have personally experienced every affliction you can think of — and some you haven’t imagined! Rather than suffering repeatedly, I’ve learned from each painful experiences. We learn more from our riding problems than from rides that have gone well. And it’s easier for you to learn from another rider’s problems than to suffer yourself.

As a rider and coach when a problem occurs, I read the professional literature and trustworthy research to learn as much as I can. I learn about multiple possible causes for a problem and the possible solutions. Below are columns based on the research I’ve done and the practical experiments of my clients and myself. We’re each an experiment of one. I encourage you to read about your specific issue and then experiment to figure out what works for you.

Cycling is big business. The global bicycle market size was valued at $54.44 billion in 2020. Companies claim that a certain product or program will solve your problem. However, many of these claims are not supported by robust scientific research.  To help you I wrote this column The Importance of Evaluating Claims about Product and Techniques Yourself.

Riders’ Common Problems A Question of the Week posed in the past was, “What is the Biggest or Most Common Physical Issue that Affects Your Riding?” RBR readers responded: Saddle Discomfort / Saddle Sores – 135 votes, 20.5% Upper Back, Shoulder, Neck Pain / Discomfort – 115 votes, 16.8% Numb / Painful Hands – 108 votes, 15.9% Something Else – 97 votes, 14.6% Lower Back Pain / Discomfort – 77 votes, 11.5% Cramps – 74 votes, 11.0% Hot / Painful Feet – 62 votes, 9.1% My Columns Responding I’ve written a series of columns responding to the survey and to other ask the coach questions. Anti-aging: Dealing with Aches and Pains responds to a reader’s question and discusses how to deal with aging by taking care of your body and whether supplements are effective. Tips to Avoid Injury In study of 518 recreational cyclists 85% reported at least one non-traumatic injury in a year! I explain how to train and ride to avoid injury.   10 Tips to Prevent Saddle Discomfort Almost every rider has had pain in the nether region or even saddle sores. I describe the multiple types of pain / sores and how to prevent them. I discuss the various lubes and the one recommended by a dermatologist.   Upper Back, Shoulder and Neck Discomfort / Pain describes what causes these, preventive exercises and what to do on the bike.   Hand Pain or Numbness explains the physiology of two different hand problems and describes how to deal with these with riding techniques, equipment and core strength.   How to Avoid Bonking explains why you bonk and what to do nutritionally to avoid it.   Low Back Discomfort or Pain uses a personal example to describe seven different things I’ve done.   Cramping part 1 uses readers’ questions as examples to explain the various possible causes.   Cramping part 2 suggests possible solutions.   Hot / Painful Feet don’t really result from hot weather. This column explains the actual causes of hot foot and possible solutions.   Nausea, part 1 is a dialog with a reader his experiences and possible causes.   Nausea, part 2 describes what to change to avoid nausea.

Coach John Hughes has written nearly 40 eBooks and e-Articles on cycling training and nutrition, available in RBR’s eBookstore  Click to read John’s full bio.  

My eBook Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process includes chapters on how to meet the American College of Sports Medicine’s recommendations on aerobic, high intensity aerobic, strength training, weight-bearing exercises, balance and flexibility. I include sample weeks and months for different types and amounts of exercise. I give you plans to build up to 100 km and 100 mile rides. I include a plan to increase over two years your annual riding from around 4,000 miles (6,500 km) to over 5,000 miles (8,000 km) per year. You can easily modify the plans for different annual amounts of riding. I discuss the importance of recovery and how to gauge if you are getting enough recovery. I combine the different kinds of training into programs that balance training and recovery. The 106-page eBook is available here Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process 

If you are using a cellphone, we have a version here that works better. Hold your phone sideways (latitude orientation) for best results.               

Gene Ho reports on a trip he and other CRW members took to Tucson,  Arizona during the winter months while most of us were enduring the cold weather. We hope you enjoy their adventures and are possibly motivated to travel to a warmer climate next winter. The riders are Steve Carlson, Bernie Flynn, Gene Ho, Robin Frain, Jerry Skurla, and Steve Delaney. 

We're not on the Argentine pampas but we are in cowboy country.  Bernie and a few others have been doing the snowbird thing and spending some of the winter in warmer biking venues.   Not Florida but Tucson AZ

The man said "bring your gravel bike.  Lottsa dirt roads here."
The "here" he's talking about is the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Sanctuary, about 1.5 hours South of Tucson.  The prominent peak in the distance is Baboquiveri (accent on the "qui" which sounds like "kee").  "Babo" is on the same ridge as Kitt Peak Observatory which puts it in the middle of nowhere.  To the local Indians, on whose reservation Babo is located, the peak occupies the same place in their foundation mythology as Mt Olympus does in Greek mythology.  Its distinctive appearance make it a useful navigational landmark to which we actually referred during the ride.
The "we" are Steve, Bernie, me, Robin, Jerry, and the other Steve behind the lens.
"What the?"  Only 2 miles in and all our GPS devices stop working.  Only Bernie appears unconcerned.  He's been here before and it happens every time.  Must be the Chinese spy balloon hovering above or a rogue Russian satellite.  "just re-boot" he says.  We do and it works.
It's not like the navigation is challenging. Even I can follow this road.
	"Look it the xxxx"  Lottsa wildlife in the area. Mule deer, road runners, hawks, feral cattle, you name it.  If you enlarge and look at the peak above Bernie's head, you see what looks like a power line cut.  It's actually a cut for the border wall.  But, the grade was too steep to actually build the wall.  The contractors had to use the valley below after spending the bucks to make the cut.
	"We're in the middle of the desert.  What's this coming up?"  It's Rancho de la Osa, whose location belies some of the events that happened there.
	Having an urgent need to do what we all need to do, Steve heads for the nearest building.  This turns out to be one of the oldest Spanish buildings in the US and dates from circa 1700.  In its day, it was a church built by missionaries.
The ex home of the holy spirit in now the home of liquid spirits.
After sitting on his racing bike saddle, this model feels a lot more friendly.
A bubbling fountain in the middle of the desert.  This place is something else
The guests ate pretty well in this dining room, one of several.  The many pictures on the wall at the left give some of the ranch's backstory.  A political ally of Franklin Roosevelt, along with some NY investors, bought the place in the late 1930s.  It served as an off-site meeting venue for various worker bees in the Roosevelt administration.
Okaaaay.....so, who's this guy?  You heard of the Marshall plan?  This guy, William Clayton, whose day job was buying and selling cotton, also dabbled in government affairs, serving as undersecretary of state for economic affairs during and after WW2.  His report on post war reconstruction needs in Europe was the genesis of the Marshall plan.  Here he is working on it.
Everyone needs a break.  Dancing to western swing to clear the mind.  Except the hardcore on the right.  If it wasn't 1946, I'd swear he was checking his iPhone.
"What are you doing here?"  The original egghead is the last person I'd expect to see here.  But, Adlai Stevenson was so enamored of the place, he built a home there.
"What are you doing here?"  We need you back in DC.  William O. Douglas, conservationist (not conservative),  one of the early progressive supreme court justices.
	Relaxing and listening to the staff discussing the current state of affairs.  Contrary to the above, they've had a lot business housing contractors working on the border wall.
	Back on our bikes heading further south.
	We're getting close.
	At the wall itself.  Note the razor wire and height
	At the crossing.  Zero traffic while we were there.
	Not only is Sasabe (rhymes with "sassy") a one store town, the owner was the only person in town that day.  They apparently do a good business selling gas.  The pickup on the right clocked 143 gallons on the pump meter.  Gas is more expensive in Mexico and truck owner fills up the large tank in the bed for resale on the other side of the crossing.
	"Head 'em up and move 'em out"  We channel Gil Favor and Rowdy Yates as we encounter stray cattle on the ride back.
We head back north toward Baboquivari in the distance.  The dark area on the right is a controlled burn site to provide a fire break for the upcoming dry season.   Looking forward to biking there again next winter.   While it's not for sure Cole Porter ever visited the area, his song from the heyday of the Rancho de la Osa is evocative of the vibe of our ride.  If you've forgotten the tune, it'll come to you when you read the lyrics. "Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above, Don't fence me in. Let me ride through the wide open country that I love, Don't fence me in."

On April Fool’s Day a new cycling related statute “An Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities” goes into effect. Sen Will Brownsberger, Democrat representing Belmont, Watertown and parts of Cambridge and Boston) and a cycling advocate, was it's main sponsor. He and Galen Mook, MassBike’s executive, recently hosted a webinar about it.

Cyclists must now have, while riding at night (half hour before sunset to a half hour after dawn) a white light in front, and BOTH a rear reflector and a red light. A Law Officer may not stop a cyclist for the this violation; it is citable only if you are stopped for some other violation

We are directly concerned with the portion that deals with overtaking motor vehicles and how they pass “vulnerable users.” Cyclists are “vulnerable users” as are pedestrians, horses, roadside workers, etc. The statue requires that “overtaking vehicles” must provide a safe passing distance, at least 4 feet. The overtaking vehicle may, if safe to do so, cross into the oncoming lane.

A cyclist passing another vulnerable user is not an “overtaking vehicle,” so that we are not subject to that provision.  However, other vulnerable users may not be aware of the distinction, so please give that other the same 4 feet that we get.

Additionally, we should all be pleased that all state owned and state contracted trucks now must be equipped to see cyclists in their side view mirrors and have a rear camera. They must be equipped with a Lateral Protection Device to prevent vulnerable users from falling underneath such a vehicle.

A significant portion deals with records keeping, crash reports, data retention, and the like, which will be helpful in making, for example, legislative and policy decisions regarding road users or insurance matters. 

Butch Pemstein is CRW's Vice President of Legal Affairs

OK, It’s a clickbait headline. But this isn’t a play on fearmongering – quite the opposite, it’s a play to counter fearmongering, So, then, who are “they” and what don’t “they” want you to know?

I am moved to ask this by a video that recently showed up on YouTube, The Disappointing Distraction of “Vehicular Cycling”. I won't honor it with a link. You can search and find it yourselves.

The video deprecates John Forester, the pioneer of skills-based bicycling education.

The video  shows clips bicyclists on roads, purportedly engaging in vehicular cycling. My friend Pamela Murray has commented on the video:

There's so much wrong w/it.  No one advocates for education…The cyclists are operating too fast for the narrow lanes they are in, riding in the door zone while they even mention it but obviously don't know where it is, no shoulder checks of cyclists in bike lanes as they cross driveways, intersections, few helmets.... 

By way of contrast, here’s a video I promised. I shot it while riding on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge starting at the Arlington line:

In the video, I show how to be safe in the travel lanes with motor vehicles; also in a barrier-separated bikeway, and when transitioning between the two. The name for how my friend and I ride on roads is "bicycle driving." It has its roots in what Forester pioneered, but is much refined.

Forester criticized separate bicycling infrastructure. He made a lot of enemies with that position. Recall though that no standards for bikeway design existed until he and like-minded people advocated for them.

The makers of the video I mentioned have a vision of safe bicycling  on separated bikeways.  Separation advocates evidently perceive successful, confident bicyclists riding on streets as a threat to their utopian vision!

To be sure, children lack the skill to ride on big streets. That big streets don't work “all ages and abilities,”  closes off many bicycling options for children. But really, do we promote bicycling by scaring people away? By deprecating skills instruction which makes riding on big streets reasonably safe for grownups? Do we want to  wait decades for a hoped-for utopia to materialize?

It’s false dichotomy, as far as I’m concerned, from Forester's detractors, and from the hard line he took against separation. In Waltham, where I live, there are useful  paths along the Charles River and bike lanes on Totten Pond road. and. A section of the Mass Central Rail Trail is finally under construction. It will make real improvements in connectivity, and be a great recreational resource. But, people will always have to use ordinary streets shared with motor vehicles to get around town on a bicycle. That requires more than a child's level of skill, also and understanding of the actual risks and how to avoid them

That observation applies to recreational riding too. Paths aren’t suitable for riding in large groups or at speed. Charles River Wheelers rides program use scenic, narrow, twisty and hilly country roads, and occasional unpleasant stretches on connecting highways. Some of those may be reconstructed with wider shoulders, but don’t count on it.

In this month’s embedded  video, I ride some of the time in a separated bikeway and some of the time in a bus lane. Riding in the bus lane is easy, as most motorists avoid it. It is technically illegal, though no bus caught up with me all he wayride from Alewife Brook Parkway to Harvard Square. (And I'm no fast! At driveways and intersections, the risk of collisions is avoidable only by staying outside the bikeway or by looking behind and yielding to crossing and turning motorists, even though they are supposed to yield.

Forester made a lot of enemies with his criticism of separate bicycling infrastructure. But no standards for bikeway design existed until he and other like-minded people advocated for them. And that it is still a battle to hold to good standards.

Just as an example, In my opinion the separated bikeway on Massachusetts Avenue adds unnecessary  complications. Really, the separation ends at every intersection and driveway, and it would make better sense to designate the bus lane also as a bike lane, as on Washington Street in downtown Boston – or  to place a striped bike lane adjacent to the raised median where there are no parked cars. 

As a certified CyclingSavvy instructor (look it up), I use and teach an enhanced and improved version of what John Forester pioneered. My riding in my videos exemplifies what I have learned. I invite you to check out the offerings on the CyclingSavvy  web site and consider the course I have listed there.  Thanks for reading!

I am a member of my Town Committee to build a bike trail through the Town, connecting it to the completed trail in the adjacent town. The Committee’s plan has come under attack, in part, because of the multiple crossings of a major street. The criticism has made me rethink what constitutes a dangerous crossing or intersection for cyclists.

First, let’s look at the adjacent town’s path which crosses the same major street and also exit/entrance ramps to an Interstate Highway. To my knowledge there has never been an accident at any of these crossings despite more than a decade of use. The signage and sight distances are good, but the traffic is so intense that any rider has to be on guard and proceed with extreme caution. You stop when it says “STOP” and look carefully in all directions before starting across the roadway. One can say, the presented danger is so high on the scale, that safe riding is a must, and in a perverse way the very danger makes the crossing safe. This is a situation where there are always fast moving cars, and there is no doubt that danger lurks.

I ride this bike path frequently, and I must say that motorists are quite friendly. Very often, they will stop and let me pass. I am always grateful when this happens.

So what is a dangerous crossing or intersection. Perhaps, most dangerous is a left turn onto a busy road with limited sight distance for the oncoming traffic. You can be lulled into safe thinking because there is no traffic at the moment, but the situation can change in a moment. Cars traveling 60 mph cover a lot of distance in seconds.

I’m sharing a personal experience, and this is not a complete history of dangerous crossings. John Allen, the club’s Safety Coordinator will be reporting on that subject in a future issue.