BVC-CHAT Thanks (And now for something completely different)

[Huebner, Lenae]

Jean-Marie - Thanks to YOU for the Saturday Cub Scout deal.  I think it was
really a great afternoon, and run to see those kids embracing something that
is really good and healthy for them.

Sorry to miss the ride yesteray - 

Heading to Fredericksburg on Wednesday to put in a couple days at Hell Week
with Laura Kennedy and Bill Garrett.

Everyone have a great Spring Break!

L

-----Original Message-----
From: bvc-chat-bounces at grimpeur.tamu.edu
[mailto:bvc-chat-bounces at grimpeur.tamu.edu]On Behalf Of drjinx at texas.net
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 9:21 AM
To: bvc-chat at grimpeur.tamu.edu
Subject: BVC-CHAT Thanks (And now for something completely different)


Just wanted to say thanks to Lenae and Ken for coming out to the boy
scout bike hike.  I think we made a good impression.  Lenae gave a good
introduction to aerodynamics on the bike and to the MS150 ride, in
particular.
Ken was our "real bicycle racer", and he told them a bit about that as
well as showing them how clipless pedals work.  

One observation of mine was that all the kids had helmets but few of the 
adults did.  (Let me admit my eyes almost rolled and a few thoughts about
leading by example crossed my mind.  Hopefully I surpressed the sarcastic
streak when I asked about it.)  They said price was an issue with this after
buying 3 kids helmets you save money by skipping your own -- I don't think
that WalMart helmets are all that expensive, but I was going to talk about
that a bit further with them and see what the price point is -- maybe we
could perhaps offer a subsidy or find some low cost helmets through Texas
Bicycle Coalitions sources for kids and parents.  Or maybe we need to
find a way to better educate on this issue -- not buying a helmet
is a false economy, which all of us know.  If anyone wanted to offer
to help me make some inquiries about this: how much do
WalMart/Academy/Target
helmets cost?  Can TBC get us low cost helmets?  I'd appreciate it.  I
believe
the boy scouts (and perhaps some PTA parent groups) can help us locate
families to purchase helmets if we find a way to help out.

----
We had several newcomers (male and female) on the PMS ride Saturday
morning -- they had a good time and indicated they'd be back and
bring friends.  It's a hard job and it takes several people working
together to manage a group with a large speed differential
and make everyone feel like they got a good ride and were welcome
and had a good time.  Good job team! 

----
Thanks also to those who were kind to me and my guest, Andy Strominger,
on the Wildflower ride yesterday.  Andy is in town for a physics conference,
he's one of the guys who got me an introduction (3 actually)
to Steven Hawking last year. He really enjoyed the ride, and was really
impressed at how nice people are here -- that friends would keep an eye
out on each other and make sure all got back safely, that people would 
say hello and introduce themselves, that someone would loan him
a bike (thanks David Nelson!).  I tagged along to the dinner reception
and he said to his colleagues that College Station was really underrated 
as a place to visit.  He said it was more fun to visit here
and go on a 60 mile bike ride than some touristy spot (that I don't
recall) in Europe -- much to the shock of several A&M profs!  

Andy got his first introduction to distance bike riding on our Anderson
ride last year, and the ride yesterday was his distance record to date.

------

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it -- we've got a great 
group of riders in the area -- from the fast guys who teach us
good group riding skills and who help us hang on to the group
and the medium paced crowd which keeps an eye on each other out
on the road and who are really top notch at making newcomers of
all ability levels welcome.  Thanks everyone, and here's to an
awesome 2004 riding season!

Jean
Marie

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