Hi Everyone,

First and foremost, I’d like to thank all our riders who came out to ride with the Slow ‘n Easy West Ride this season.  The ride could not exist without you.  While the season did have its ups and downs weather-wise, we still did get a lot of riding in on those Tuesday nights.  Considering we only rode 16 out of 20 nights, we rode a total of 10,516 miles for the season. This averaged out to a little over 657/ride night.  This is the first time in all the years we have supported this ride that we had to cancel out 4 rides…a new record!  Not a record to be proud of.

Attendance was good overall considering the dubious weather we had. We averaged 38 riders per week on the nights we rode.  This is a very good average but not as good as 2016 when we averaged 43 and had a peak turnout of 57 riders one night and 6 nights that year where there were 50 or more riders.  We only hit 50 riders once this year.  There is definitely a correlation between attendance and weather.  Hopefully we’ll be blessed with great weather in 2018.  Our best attendance this year was on evenings with nice weather.

I also noticed that we were down quite a bit this year compared to 2016 in the number of guests we had turn out.  In 2016 the had a total of 31 guests for the season where as this year there were only 17.  Once again, if you wanted to try something new like biking would you come out if the weather is doubtful?  Rainy? Cold? Ugly?

Those are the statistics for the year but what really counts is the number of folks who had a great riding experience.  For some of you this was your first year with the SnEW.  Thanks for giving us a try. For others it was the continuation of a riding experience you enjoy. Many of you were able to hone your skills and abilities this year and move up to a stronger ride group.  That’s great…and that’s what it’s all about.

None of this would be possible without the dedicated support of our ride leaders.  Mike Lyon and I are proud to work with these fine people in doing this ride. The two of us can only do so much.  We can bring you the choices we do because we have these great ride leaders who are willing to commit to leading rides every week.  My personal thanks goes out to Mark Perrin, Dean Connery, Tom Hotaling, Roland Pearson and Al Storrings.  A special thanks to Glen Larson and Dale Barnell who have willingly stepped up to fill an open ride leader slot when our regular leaders could not be there.  You are all the greatest in my eyes.

One other special mention is for Mark Perrin of The Bikery.  He has willingly helped many of you with your bike problems during the season.  Mark always has his tools with him and has always been willing to help solve bike problems that can be fixed on site.  Thanks Mark, you keep us rolling.

It think that is about it folks.  On behalf of Mike and myself, thanks for coming out to ride with us during this 2017 Slow ‘n Easy West season.  See you all in 2018!

Ciao,

Tony