Fire the secretary

I move that the secretary be fired, and that someone with more passion for the cause take up the role...
What? No seconders?

Well, it's been a very busy week. There was a nice meeting on Tuesday. I can't remember anything about it except for the discussion about Hal's bread baking set-up.... oh yeah, and his winter bike crank is seized. (There's the biking content.) I know there was more... anyone is welcome to chime in at this point...

Near Miss

Came closer than I ever have before to being hit by a car this morning. Or rather, it would have been me hitting the car--t-boning it in this case, as it pulled out in front of me. I saw it coming, just past Johnny G's street, the one by the school, when the car rolled through the stop sign and I knew his sight of me was obscured by the cars parked along the ever so slight hill I was riding down at that point. No problem, or so I thought, as I began to swerve to the right in order to go behind him. But then he saw me, panicked, hit the brakes, and just sat there in front of me--like a big steel moose frozen by the headlights. All I could muster was a loud, drawn out "F-U-C-K!" But fortunately my instincts were more articulate than my feeble vocabulary, and I was able to brake hard enough and avoid going down on the slick pavement as I veered even further around his back end. To give the guy credit, he did roll down his passenger window and yell "Sorry!" as I passed by the other side. And to my credit, I gave him a little wave--admittedly an ambiguous, half-assed wave with a the kind of slight flick of the wrist that could easily have led to interpreting the whole thing as a curt dismissal--but nonetheless a wave with all five fingers and not the one I had cocked and ready to go. Shit, that was scary. My heart's still thumping a little harder and faster than normal. But I live to ride another day.

Hit the gym for the first time this week. Hope to get there 2 or 3 times a week for mostly leg-work. Don't know what the policy is for use of CMU's humble weight room, but if anyone wants to join me around 4pm Monday or Wednesday, that would be great.

In other firsts: I donned tights for the first time this morning. This cold, rainy weather really sucks. Hopefully it won't wipe out the Tinker ride this weekend.

post turkey ride

an unofficial/official fgbc ride was held on the thanksgiving monday. juan eppstien, dr. hubie and crash enjoyed a 45km ride out to headingly and back on a gorgeous holiday monday morning. much discussion, including past work experiences, heating solutions for homes, a report on the "motorcyle diaries," among other topics, was discussed along the way. one sprint took place with where the three riders managed to sustain a pace of 42km per hour for a goodly stretch. looking forward to future rides.

crash.

minutes, oct. 12

Present: Dr. Hubie, Vic P, James, Hal, Penner, Juan Eppstein, Secretary

There is reason to believe that James was burgled this evening.... had $15 plus a MasterCard starting the evening, by the time he was trying to pay for his beverage, and had a massive stack of wallet contents spread out, the aforementioned items were not to be seen...

It seems the ride at Tinker Creek will be on this Saturday. An unfortunate turn in the calendar for this reporter... but it seems it will work out for many. Watch this space in the next days for more details from Hal, our liason.

Question on Jonny G's whereabouts... third missed meeting in a row. At first he was proclaimed out of the club by one member, then it got worse... he was moved to "Luke status". Finally, cooler heads prevailed, and the six-pack rule was brought back, retroactively. A six for every unexcused absence. The total is now at three.

Hal is now in charge of the fundraising bonspiel to raise money for the new jerseys. The, well, rather pointed question was launched on how this was going to be a fundraiser.... stunned silence revealed a thin spot in the plans.... one suggestion was brought forth: charge each FGBC member enough to cover the cost of the ice plus $50 to be in the spiel, then everyone attending wins a jersey from the collected pot. There, the funds are raised.

more floyd

now that vuelta is over, why not get to know the real floyd. check out his interview in the recent issue of dirt rag

hal

no minutes here, move along

being the secretary, I have to admit that I have no minutes to report... at least nothing pertaining to biking whatsoever...

I sensed there was some discussion of that nature down at the other end of the table, but it really is difficult to connect when so many folks are there... perhaps someone who touched on the topic of biking in any way, could provide a thought or two. If you are not hooked up to be able to post, email me, and I can get you going ASAP.

It was nice to see a large crowd gathered. Nine or ten people is exceptional... but it does include some of the hockey crowd which began on Tuesday.

I might as well use this forum to report that Dr. Hubie scored not only the first goal of the season, but his tally exceeded three (in the interest of discretion and knowing that he is one of the more humble in our collective, you can email him to find out how many he really got), and that I did pot one, as well as providing assists on a few of the aforementioned goals as we were on a line together.

We learned that our ice time will usually go til 10:30, so it will be rare that the hockey part of the crowd will arrive before 10:45.

rambling minutes

minutes from sept. 28

present: dr hubie, dave u, president penner, bergen, hal

minutes from last week's meeting - i can't seem to remember any details so i'll try and and recapture the mood - sort of relaxed without any particular intensity or deep philosophical discussion on any particular topic. vaguely recall some discussion about tyler hamilton and blood doping.

ramblings

fgbc results from the fall classic:

chris h - 9th in 45 km.
dave u - 5th in 15 km
hal l - dnf (freaking front derailleur malfunction)

cyclocross #1

hal "i have too many excuses" l - 6th in masters B (ok, my excuse for this one is i was running too big a gear on my single speed, which by the way i think i came in first of the four single speeds running in the B group).

respectfully submitted,

hal