End-of-Season Pizza Party

Tuesday evening marked our first annual (I hope!) fall, end-of-season pizza party. The club gathered at 6:30 PM at the Café Pizzaria on Kirkwood Ave for fellowship, food, and a brief business meeting. Club president Jim Schroeder presented our completely revised by-laws for formal approval of the club membership. After brief discussion they were approved unanimously.

Highlights of the new by-laws include five elected officers instead of four, staggered two-year terms instead of one-year terms, only elected officers (not committee chairs) have a vote in official decisions, a method of impeachment, and a vision statement. Committee chairs will continue to sit on the executive committee, with a voice but not a vote. All vestiges of the idea of a racing team were removed. Club officers will have their dues waived during their term of service.

The process of updating the by-laws goes back to the previous administration when then club president Keith Vogelsang initiated a review of club organization. The proposal went through several iterations and occupied the executive board off and on for a couple of years. John Bassett chaired a small committee including Jerry Arveson and Allan Edmonds to put together a near final proposal, which the board approved, with some changes. Finally Kathy Cummins gave the draft a thorough editing before the proposed document was distributed by email to all club members. We hope the new by-laws will serve us well over the coming years.

At the meeting club touring director John Bassett quietly distributed tokens of thanks to club members who had volunteered to lead club rides over the course of the last season.

Then we all turned to food and conversation. Soft drinks, salad, pizza, and brownies were provided to all.

Photo by club photographer Klaus Rothe

As we began to leave Jim offered free for the taking snack items left over from RAIN whose expiration dates had now passed. This being the Café Pizzaria, the IU basketball game was on in the background (with the sound off). In the picture above you can see Stan keeping an eye on the game. The game was too close to call when we left. But when we got home we found that IU had eked out a 73-72 win.

This may be the end of the official season but many club members will be going out for afternoon rides whenever the weather cooperates. I'm looking forward to breaking in my new lobster gloves later in the winter.

Our Road in Our Town

A few years ago BBC member Jen Miers initiated our participation in the Monroe County Adopt-A-Road program. Under her guidance we adopted a mile-plus section of Old 37, just southwest of town, from the south end of Walnut Street down to just over the bridge over Ketcham/Smithville Road.

The group meets at the former Better Way Moving just south of the Walnut/new 37 stoplight, about ¼ of the way along, where we sign waivers, don bright-colored vests and gloves provided by the county and each take a pair of bags, one for trash and one for recyclables. Then about half of us start at each end and work our way back to the middle picking up "stuff". The November 2 job was the last of the year. We had 8 folks out, which was just enough to accomplish the job in slightly over an hour. The weather was cool and pleasant, but warm enough to start to work up a sweat after you bend over from the waist perhaps 100 times.

A larger group will be needed next March when the club gathers again to pick up after a long winter, typically far and away the biggest job of the year. (This year in March it took 13 club members over 2 hours to do the job.) Usually a group goes out a total of 4 times a year, with a goal of contributing to the community and to keeping a section of county road that we ride on frequently clear of trash.

A special shout-out to Jen for starting this program and for shepherding it along for the last four years or so! She's always there with encouragement and advice, picks up and returns the equipment used, and even provides light refreshments afterwards.