Hi  Everyone,

It was great seeing so many of you from the Slow ‘n Easy West Ride at the Annual Banquet last Friday evening.  It was a good opportunity to catch up with many of you.  I am sorry I did not get a chance to speak with more of you.

As usual, it was another great get together for the club.  Many thanks go out to Nancy Lyon for all her efforts in organizing and putting on the banquet.  Also, big thanks to our bike shops for their generous support.  We could not do what we do without their support.  Please support them.

In answer to many of you, Mike and I plan to continue these rides in 2018…our first SnEW will be on Tuesday April 24^th…the last Tuesday in April. I am not positive but this should be our 7^th (could be the 8^th) year for this ride.  Neither of us are positive on the year we began, but I have correspondence going back that far. Hopefully we are starting late enough in the month to give us some nice spring temperatures J.  I am hoping for a year with nice riding weather…a major change from 2017’s ugliness.

I hope you are all staying in condition over the winter.  Don’t forget the Winter Training Facility.

Also, don’t forget to get you bikes ready to ride on the 24^th.  I had a chance to talk with Mark Perrin from The Bikery during the banquet and he can fit you into his schedule for a spring tune up without any difficulty now.  I am sure the other shops can do the same.  Just don’t wait until the first nice weather in April and expect to get a slot for service…it gets real busy then.  Don’t be a procrastinator.

One important thought I want to leave with you:  OCC, like many other organizations, runs on volunteers.  Mike and I could not offer you the variety of rides we do each Tuesday without our regular volunteer ride leaders.  A big thanks to Mark, Roland, Tom, Dean and Al.  You guys make it happen!  But, we need more ride leaders for our other club rides.  Check out the ride schedule for 2018 on the website and sign up to lead a ride or more than one.  There are still many open RL slots.  You’ll enjoy it!  It’s a pity to see a ride cancelled due to a lack of ride leader.

Ciao,

Tony

PS:  if you have not renewed yet, why not do it now and you’ll be set for the whole season? It’s on-line and you can use a credit card or PayPal…Easy!