Roundabout Trouble in Bloomington

Some of you are aware of the city's plans to construct a roundabout at the intersection of Sare and Rogers Rd, near where our OWLS group starts most of its Tuesday-Thursday training rides. We send large groups of cyclists through the intersection about once a week in season.

Just take a look at the planned monstrosity:

It looks like something more appropriate for I-69. It is completely unacceptable for use by all but the most daring bicyclists, and completely unacceptable for pedestrians.

This plan is on the verge of final approval!

Local transportation activist Buff Brown (founder of B-TOP) made an eloquent plea a couple of weeks ago to the Citizens Advisory Committee, pointing out serious flaws in the plan and advocating for a more sensible, vastly smaller, four-way stop sign. (Even in its current state the intersection is vastly too wide, at 100 feet between the east and west stop lines.)

The proposal is part of a larger package - called the Transportation Improvement Program - of such roundabouts. In addition to its intrinsic flaws it will eat up much or all of our local federal allocation for transportation infrastructure. It is now moving on to the Metropolitan Planning Organization's Policy Board meeting, Friday, April 8, 1:30 pm, at City Hall.

If you are concerned about bicycling infrastructure (not to mention urban sprawl, increased vehicle traffic, speeding traffic, etc.) it would be worth putting in an appearance at this upcoming meeting. There will only be a limited opportunity to get this proposal changed.

Buff Brown has prepared a detailed 16 page document addressing fundamental concerns about this proposal and proposing more reasonable alternatives. Click here to download it. (6.8MB PDF file)

Edit Monday April 4: Taking into consideration the public input we have received, including the resolution passed by the Citizens Advisory Committee, Mayor Kruzan has decided to postpone the construction of the Sare and Rogers roundabout by one year until Fiscal Year 2013.  This will allow for more consideration of the design and details of the roundabout.  The City will be making this recommendation at the Policy Committee meeting on Friday, April 8. [From City Director of Public Works, Susie Johnson.]

Goodbye to George Van Arsdale

This last Saturday afternoon we remembered and said goodbye to George Van Arsdale who died on March 13, 2011, after a several year battle with a rare type of cancer. George was a long term member of the BBC. A funeral mass was held at Trinity Episcopal Church, with several BBC members attending. He had lots of connections in the community in addition to biking. The arts community was especially well represented.

I took the photo above out near the Waterworks in the fall of 2006 during the Persimmon Ride led by Joe Anderson.

I think we all recognized George in the description of him in the eulogy. A serious talker with knowledge and opinions on almost everything. He was unique and we'll miss him.

George served a term as president of our club back in the 1970s. He recorded some of his memories of the early days of the club in a document that used to be on the club web site. I searched for it, but couldn't find it there. I did eventually locate a copy by going to www.waybackmachine.org and searching there using the presently dead URL http://bloomingtonbicycleclub.org/history.html in the year 2007. You, too, could find it there. Here's a link for the history that currently works http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20071021074419/http://bloomingtonbicycleclub.org/history.html Maybe it will reappear on our regular web site again sometime. But if you've ever lost something on the web, there's at least a chance you can resurrect it using the Wayback Machine!

OWLS Start the 2011 Season

This evening marked the beginning of the OWLS Tuesday-Thursday rides for this year. We had an amazing 28 riders out for a pleasant 19 mile ride out to the Pine Grove boat ramp and back. The Bryan Park training group probably had a dozen or more riders. (I haven't heard anything definite, although I saw a few people gathering there as I hurried home from work.) I imagine the club had over 40 riders out this evening.

All day long the weather looked a little questionable and around 5 there were a few very light sprinkles. But as the time came the rain held off. The weather was warm, indeed too warm for jackets.

I was the ostensible leader, but was a bit delayed at the office. I rolled up at 5:44 PM to the parking lot of the Sherwood Oaks Church on Rogers Rd. But by that time Tom R had already briefed the gathered group on the route and away we went. I was happy to take up a position near the rear.

At the turn-around at the lake club Safety Czar Chris Tietz offered a few useful suggestions reminding us to ride at most two abreast when there is any traffic at all and also to split up into smaller separated groups so that it is easier for a car to get around us.

It was a perfect opening day for the 2011 OWLS group.

Annual Meeting and Banquet

The club's annual meeting was held on Saturday, February 19, 2011. As an experimental change of pace we has a luncheon meeting, again at Chapman's. There were about 35 members in attendance. We've already heard a report of the meeting from President Keith Vogelsang by email on February 20-21. Here we share several images taken by Mike Finger. Click on any photo for a larger version.

Nancy Tibbit of Bicycle Indiana demonstrates the yard stick being used to promote their "Don't be a Hogassaurus" Share the Road campaign, aimed at educating drivers to give bike riders at least 3 feet of clearance as they pass.

Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan joined the meeting and spoke to the club about what's going on in the city.

Here we are going through the buffet line.

Chatting before lunch.

 Gathering for the business meeting.

Club VP Mark Villanova talks about plans for this year's RAIN.

Cub members Clair Murphy, Bob DeGroff, Keith Vogelsang and Bob Austin chat after lunch.

Examining the county map of all our bike routes.

Ron Brown and Jim Schroeder examine an electronic map.

This must be Ron's winter commuting bike with its studded snow tires.

First Club Ride of 2011 Riding Season

As we all heard by email the first official Saturday club ride of 2011 was rained out on March 5. But as Tammy Berger reports, Sunday's Nice and Easy Ride went on as scheduled.

She writes, "With the rain all gone 4 brave souls (Ron B, Clair M, Bill S, and Tammy B) braved the cold but dry conditions today on the Sunday Nice 'n Easy ride.  We had a nice 21 mile ride in the 35 degree weather on the Nice 'n Easy Tramway route.  The cold was definitely numbing, but it was nice to get out and ride with friends again.  Looking forward to a great riding season."

I know others were out riding as well. CE, Gail, Tom, and I went out a little earlier on a route that combined elements of the airport ride and Tramway. We originally planned a 29 mile route, which we shortened a bit at the end, mainly because of cold toes.

Congresswoman Giffords

Some BBCers might have noticed in the coverage of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords that she is an avid biker. Indeed according to the New York Times she went on a bike ride around Tucson with a friend the evening before the Saturday shooting.

BBC member Jim Schroeder passed along a link to a story about her and bicycling from the Tucson Velo, a local online bicycling newsletter. Check out her custom bike made by a local Tucson builder.

2010 A Year-End Retrospective

From: Keith Vogelsang, BBC President

In the spirit of year end retrospectives, I thought I would take a moment to summarize what our organization has accomplished in 2010. I’m grateful to the Board of Directors and to all the club members who have stepped up and contributed to an active and thriving club. We should all be very proud, as I’ve received numerous compliments throughout the year from other athletic clubs, out of town visitors, ride participants, elected officials, and grant recipients on the great work we do as a nonprofit.

To begin, we completed an ambitious touring schedule under the direction of Mike Finger. This schedule saw the growth of several regular riding groups, including our Tuesday/Thursday Training Rides, the OWLS, the SlowSpokes, Wednesday Night Women’s Ride, the Sunday Nice ‘N Easy, in addition to our regular Saturday schedule. We had more cyclists riding in more rides than at any time in our club’s history—a truly exciting development to be a part of. And our major invitational ride and primary fund raiser, the Ride Across Indiana (RAIN), under the direction of Joe Anderson, saw its most successful year ever with over 1500 registered participants from around the country. We hope interest continues to build for all these riding groups, as word gets out and our club continues to attract new members of all skill levels. My thanks to Mike and all the ride leaders who consistently step up, know the routes, and make sure we roll on time.

Our new website went live this year thanks to the design efforts of Klaus Rothe and the programming efforts of Ron Brown. I attribute the growth in interest of our club largely to our new online “look” as it is attractive and the content stays fresh. New links continue to be added and we’re hoping to make more improvements in the coming year. Mark Napier’s online registration tool has also been an important factor in promoting membership, as it makes joining quick, safe, and convenient. Mark’s data then goes to Membership Director Tammy Berger, who efficiently processes our nearly 300 members. The Bloomington area has thousands of bicyclists, and it would be great if we could continue to build our organization. As our numbers increase, so does our influence in terms of advocacy for needed infrastructure. As more of us ride, we can better demonstrate safe and courteous riding habits to new riders and motorists alike. I’m grateful Tammy is up to the job.

Our Advocacy programs have never been better under the direction of Ron Brown, as he continues to monitor the activities of various governmental agencies and lobby for the rights of bicyclists. Ron recently met with the Monroe County Highway Director Bill Williams and Williams agreed to put Ron’s idea for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge across SR 37 near Menards into the county’s long-range plans. We feel this was a major accomplishment and it is my hope that the BBC can be a major player in improving the bicycling infrastructure in and around Bloomington. These kinds of improvements will help all of us, regardless of whether we ride for simple exercise, recreation, transportation (or some combination of all three). Other local officials have also expressed interest in Ron’s vision. I’d also like to thank Jean Smith of Bikesmiths for representing the BBC on INDOT’s Citizens Advisory Council for I-69. Jean organized two advocacy rides and urged members to weigh in on proposed road closures due to freeway construction in southwestern Monroe County. The BBC Board passed a resolution back in October requesting accommodations for bicyclists at proposed closures so that we can continue to have access to the rural areas that make cycling enjoyable.

We are also fortunate that Safety and Education Director Chris Tietz was selected to serve on the City of Bloomington’s Platinum Task Force, which is a group charged with coming up with recommendations for how Bloomington can win a Platinum designation from the League of American Bicyclists. Bloomington graduated from Bronze to Silver this past year. The BBC was instrumental in that effort, and we will continue to be an important corporate partner in the city’s efforts to become Gold or Platinum. In addition to the BBC Board and the city’s Platinum Task Force, Chris has also recently been elected to the board of Bicycle Indiana, the statewide advocacy group that our club belongs to.

As many of you know, we’ve seen some important organizational changes to the BBC this past year. Back in May, the Board decided that the interests of the club were best served by severing the historic relationship between the BBC and TRIRI by the end of 2010. The split into two separate entities has now been completed. We became aware of some important legal considerations throughout this process that nonprofits need to be particularly sensitive to, and as a result, the Board has implemented a Conflict of Interest Policy that should offer additional protection to the entire organization. We’ve updated our insurance policy to include Directors and Officers Liability, in addition to our general umbrella policy that every organization of our size needs. We secured a business line of credit to improve accounting safeguards, while at the same time simplifying our finances and club expenditures. The Board created a cash reserve account and also a large grants program that will allow our club to target projects for funding that we think would make significant improvements to local bicycling infrastructure. We hope to see lots of member input when the time comes to identify and fund these future projects.

The RAIN Committee has also re-organized, and is now being chaired by Vice-President Mark Villanova. Our 2011 Ride Across Indiana will mark the 25^th anniversary of this signature event. The new RAIN Committee consists of Mark Villanova, Klaus Rothe, Beth Plale, Jennifer Miers, Jim Schroeder, John Connell and myself. We’ve made great progress towards next year’s event scheduled for July 16th, with a fabulous jersey already designed, a new lunch vendor (Holy Smoke Hog Roast), and we anticipate registration opening up very soon. The success of this event will depend on lots of BBC members stepping up to volunteer and/or ride. Please contact us at rain@rainride.org to volunteer.

In 2011, we’ll continue to pick up roadside trash, set new strength records, ride farther and faster than we ever thought possible, fund bicycling initiatives and generally have a great time. Happy New Year, everyone!