|
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE From the Summit: In 1984 when I found a copy of FFBC’s Spoke’ N Truth on a table of club newsletters following an especially harrowing and stormy Cinderella 100K, I was merely searching for a friendly group of like-minded cyclists (as we all know, this word is sometimes spelled “m-a-s-o-c-h-i-s-t”). Aspiring to the position of club president was never a consideration. Oh, no!! If truth be told, in 1985 upon entering Kennedy High School to attend my first FFBC meeting, my single objective was to assess the lay out of the room before proceeding to quietly slink back to the safety of my apartment. Instead, I found a warm and friendly group of people reaching out to welcome and draw me into their small community. Although I enjoyed attending club meetings, I hesitated to join actual club rides because of my great unease riding in groups. At the persuasion of several fairly prominent women club members, I cautiously joined them on one or two club rides while continuing to ride at a safe and comfortable distance at the back of the pack. One woman invited me to join a series of rides intended to offer guidance and instruction in cycling road skills for women. These rides offered the opportunity to learn more about riding in a group, i.e., pace line cycling, rules of the road and handling road obstacles while riding in the company of other women cyclists. With this much needed boost to my self-assurance, I eventually joined more and larger club rides. Without the many friendships, encouragement and advice freely dispensed by many more experienced Fremont Freewheeler members my personal goals of training for and completing centuries, sprint triathlons, riding with the race team and working with novice women cyclists throughout the history of the Cinderella Training Rides would be mere “dreams.” It is “pay back” time, or, as Desi Arnez so astutely put it in his infamous episode of I Love Lucy, “The time has come!!” to step up to the challenging role of club president. We, as a club, will encounter many challenges, conflicts and annoyances, but, I am confident that these mere “pimples” in the road will be faced with the same tenacity, perseverance and gutsy determination we all use when faced with our first big century, race or incredibly steep mountain pass. |