An altar celebrating the lives of cyclists constructed by Jay Stewart is now on display at the Burton Barr Central Library. You are all invited to stop by to view the altar and remember all who have passed before us.

Burton Barr Central Library will host its Ninth Annual Día de los Muertos exhibit of altars Oct. 28 - Nov. 8 at the library's @Central Gallery, 1221 N. Central Ave. A free artist reception, sponsored by the Friends of the Phoenix Public Library, will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7. The reception is part of Artlink First Friday, a free self-guided tour of downtown Phoenix galleries and art spaces. Refreshments will be served.

The exhibit includes nine altars, ranging from traditional to conceptual, created by a diverse group of artists and community members celebrating the spirit of Mexico's "Day of the Dead." Día de los Muertos is celebrated in Mexico on Nov. 1 and 2 and is a festive occasion to honor, remember and celebrate the lives of departed loved ones. Families decorate the graves of relatives with flowers and candles and construct home altars to honor the deceased.

Phoenix Public Library is a system of 14 branch libraries and the Burton Barr Central Library. For more information, call 602-262-4636 or visit phoenixpubliclibrary.org.

Hi All!

The draw of the Ride For Safety this morning reduced our home team to 61 cyclists. The sun popping up just before start tells us it's time to change the start time! We shivered our way out onto the road and had a great romp around town. Saw lots of triathalete looking people wandering about near downtown Tempe, scoping out the territory before their event tomorrow, though they seemed to be spending a lot of time checking out the coffee locations. We've got that part of our training down really good.

Coming up...

Saturday 11/1/08 7:30am Kiwanis Park. Note the start time change! For those that missed the debut of our new route on Labor Day, we'll go check out the Paseo de Chavez romp. This loop takes us west across south Phoenix to Chavez Park and back. Route options 25 miles or 35 miles, no climbing. Breakfast at AZ Bread, southeast corner Elliot & Kyrene.

Saturday 11/8/08 7:30am Kiwanis Park. The McKellips Loop, with route options of 28 miles or 37 miles, a little gentle climbing on each. Breakfast at Einstein's, northwest corner Guadalupe and McClintock.

Saturday 11/15/08 7:30pm Kiwanis Park. If you are doing Tour de Tucson, this is your last weekend to get those training miles in! We'll help, by heading to Mummy Mountain, original route. Options of 27 miles with moderage climbing or 40 miles with a bit more climbing. Breakfast at IHOP, southwest corner College & Apache.

Tid bits

There were two seperate car versus bike incidents in town earlier this week. (Well, unfortunately, there were probably more than two, but for this discussion we'll talk about these two!) Both of them demonstrated a basic cycling concept, which is that there is a difference between being right, and being dead right. Both involved cars making a right turn into the path of a bicyclist pedaling along beside them in a bike lane. At the scene of one was a new bike commuter, an 18 year old gal who had just started commuting by bike to ASU. Sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for paramedics to appear, in a stunned voice she said "But I had the right of way!". A discussion was held about being right, and knowing when to yield, even when right. She had seen the car begin its turn into her, but proceeded ahead, assuming the car would stop and yield to her. In contrast to that, the other incident, same basic scenario, but when the long time rider saw the car pivoting right into him, he immediately switched to an attempt to roll around the corner with the car, instead of riding into the side of it. He yielded his right of way, knowing that his life might depend on him doing so. Know your rights, know the rules of the road, but be prepared to yield if needed. Live to ride another day.

Ride safe.

Hi All!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2008

Contact:
Tanya Chavez
Community Outreach/Marketing Coordinator
(480) 858-2215 (office)
(480) 250-5181 (cell)

1,500 bicyclists expected at annual Tour de Tempe bike ride

Tempe, Ariz. – More than 1,500 people are expected to participate in the 13th annual Tour de Tempe community bike ride Oct. 26. The ride starts and ends at Tempe's Kiwanis Park (Parking lot off All-America Way just north of Guadalupe Road). Riders will enjoy some of the most distinct bikeways in Arizona during this 12-14 mile ride that begins at 8:30 a.m. Registration starts at 7 a.m.

Tour de Tempe, Tempe's free leisurely community bike ride, is a fun, non-competitive ride that weaves through diverse neighborhoods, downtown Tempe, public art projects and other Tempe sites.

All riders will receive free breakfast snacks, and artist-designed T-shirts will be distributed to the first 800 registrants. Helmets are required.

Tour de Tempe sponsors include Back East Bagel Company, Berning's Fine Jewelry, REI, Starbucks, Whole Foods Market, Wildflower Bread Company, Clif Bar and Tempe in Motion.

Tempe has more than 165 miles of dedicated bikeways, including on-street bike lanes and off-street multi-use paths and is designated a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. For more information, call (480) 350-2775 or visit www.tempe.gov/tim.

Hi All!

We had 83 riders appear to mill around in the parking lot this morning. At the sound of a gunshot (which was Ed's tire going kablooie) we were off. We did manage to get the herd over the LakeShore pedestrian crossing bridge of the canal with a lot less drama than the last time we used it. The romp out across open roads to the south was just gorgeous, a beautiful AZ fall morning. We filled almost every seat at breakfast, with the caffiene and conversation flowing.

Coming up...

Saturday 10/25/08 7:00am Kiwanis Park. The St. Francis Loop takes us on a figure eight up thru town. Route options 26 miles or 36 miles, both with moderate climbing. Breakfast at Einstein's, northwest corner McClintock & Guadalupe.

Saturday 11/1/08 7:30am Kiwanis Park. Note the start time change! For those that missed the debut of our new route on Labor Day, we'll go check out the Paseo de Chavez romp. This loop takes us west across south Phoenix to Chavez Park and back. Route options 25 miles or 35 miles, no climbing. Breakfast at AZ Bread, southeast corner Elliot & Kyrene.

Saturday 11/8/08 7:30am Kiwanis Park. We head out on our wind training ride, the McKellips Loop. Route options of 28 miles or 37 miles, a little gentle climbing on each. The wind is not optional. Breakfast at Einstein's, northwest corner Guadalupe and McClintock.

Tid bits

A call to arms, and pumps, from our president. Next weekend, on Sunday October 26th, the Tour de Tempe is being held at our home field. This is a free community bike ride that starts with a bike expo at Kiwanis park. We need a number of warm bodies with limber arms to man (and woman) our line up of tire pumps at the club's booth. Worker bees are to appear at 7:00am and then we'll all roll out with the tour at 8:30am. If you can assist, please zip a note to prez Ron Waller. If you have never participated in this annual ride, come on out, it's a hoot. Lots of free swag at the start... t-shirts, food samples, etc. The ride itself is about 15 miles long and draws a huge crowd from the community. Don your club colors and come join the parade.

Ride safe.

Hi All!

With a few members off to the Cochise ride in southeast AZ, a few others taking in the Tour de Fat (love that name!) at the Town Lake, combined with a new bike demo going on in the north part of the valley, toss in some wind at sunrise... and our herd this morning was reduced to 52 cyclists. But we made up for size with enthusiasm as we rolled around the foothills, somehow managing to face a headwind no matter what direction we pedaled. All that struggling with the elements worked up an appetite and when we rolled into AZ Bread the owner there mentioned she saw us on our roll out, while she was driving in to work, and knew she needed to get cookin'. Smart lady.

Coming up...

Saturday 10/18/08 7:00am Kiwanis Park. The Tour de Sue loops us down south, with options on either Queen Creek or Riggs. Mileage 25 miles or 35 miles, no climbing. Breakfast at AZ Bread, southeast corner Elliot & Kyrene.

Saturday 10/25/08 7:00am Kiwanis Park. The St. Francis Loop takes us on a figure eight up thru town. Route options 26 miles or 36 miles, both with moderate climbing. Breakfast at Einstein's, northwest corner McClintock & Guadalupe.

Saturday 11/1/08 7:30am Kiwanis Park. Note the start time change! For those that missed the debut of our new route on Labor Day, we'll go check out the Paseo de Chavez romp. This loop takes us west across south Phoenix to Chavez Park and back. Route options 25 miles or 35 miles, with no climbing. Breakfast at AZ Bread, southeast corner Elliot & Kyrene.

Tid bits

Old friends. We welcomed back the first of our seasonal flock this morning, our version of the Capistrano swallows. As others return to us in the next couple of months, as each arrives, there is such a homecoming. Hugs and laughs, stories traded of cycling adventures (some good and some bad!) in far away places. We reconnect, living vicariously through what each has experienced while apart. We know that time is short, so we pack a lot into what we have together. A most excellent take home lesson.

Ride safe.

Hi All!

The beautiful fall morning brought us 69 riders for our return to South Mountain. The park was filled with lots of runners and walkers, and lots of riders of bicycles, motorcycles and horses. The cars were vastly out numbered, which is kinda how we like the odds when pedaling there. The ever changing direction of the wind made the roads in the canyon a bit interesting and added to the work-out on the return romp. Our breakfasting on the patio at AZ Bread was joyfully interupted by the arrival of Bill Olsen, out of the hospital on a pass for a couple of hours, and he of course wanted to spend those hard earned minutes out in the real world at the club breakfast! (It was Saturday morning, where else would he want to be??) For those that know how far Bill has come back from, to be at the point he is now, just astounding to see.

Coming up...

Saturday 10/11/08 7:00am Kiwanis Park. We head to the hills on the AhwaFooty route. Options of 24 miles with one gentle climb or 35 miles with moderate climbing. Breakfast at AZ Bread, southeast corner Elliot & Kyrene.

Saturday 10/18/08 7:00am Kiwanis Park. The Tour de Sue loops us down south, with options on either Queen Creek or Riggs. Mileage 25 miles or 35 miles, no climbing. Breakfast at AZ Bread, southeast corner Elliot & Kyrene.

Saturday 10/25/08 7:00am Kiwanis Park. The St. Francis Loop takes us on a figure eight up thru town. Route options 26 miles or 36 miles, both with moderate climbing. Breakfast at Einstein's, northwest corner McClintock & Guadalupe.

Tid bits

Aero bars. Just the sight of them makes group ride leaders twitch. Why? When your hands are on aero bars, where are your brakes? Unless you have a really high-tech set-up, those brakes are far, far away from your fingers. The split second it takes for you to move your hand off those bars and down to engage your brakes, is just about the length of time it takes to run into or over what ever it was that prompted you to brake. We have not yet banned aero bars from our club rides, because we realize many cyclists have only one bike and it has to stand in for several uses. Aero bars are for solo riding and even then, only when you are out in open areas without risk of things darting out in front of you... like kids, dogs, cars, etc. If you have aero bars on the bike you use in our club pack rides, don't use them. A number of the large event rides in the state are moving towards banshing them, so it's good practice to get out of the habit of reaching for them. Most recreational riders get greater benefit from lubing their chain weekly and keeping their tires properly aired than lolling about on aero bars. Staying off the aero bars works your torso a bit more... and some of our torsos could use a little strength training.

Ride safe.