BVC Scrapbook 2003

by Jean Marie Linhart

Time Trial Willie Allen runs a time trial during the summer out on Highway 47. He usually wins it too! The Time Trial is a 10.5 mile out-and-back course on Highway 47. Anyone who can ride 10.5 miles is welcome to come out on whatever type of bike s/he wishes. We have had people on mountain bikes and fixed gears do the time trial. It is always fun to be the fastest, but in the end (aside from Willie & Colin) most of us just compete against our previous times. Certificates are often given out at the end of the season, although management reserves the right to require a minimal number of time trials attended before a certificate will be awarded. (Usually you have to attend 3 TTs before you are eligible for a certificate.) Funny thing is each of us wins in our own category! (Mine was "Fastest with a rack and Fastest stuffed animals.") Unfortunately, these pictures are from a day Willie, Time Trial Maestro, was gone. There were just a few riders out this day. Mat Stephens from TAMUs cycling team is timing. I think Colin Allen took all these pictures. Here we see Mat Stephens, timing, Lynn Allen, Jimmy Whitley, Alex Gant and Robert Arthur. Martha Spetseris was the first to ride. Lynn Allen was the second to ride. Lynn and her husband Colin are both Cat 3 racers. They have two very cute little girls, Sophie and Simone, and a kitten (I don't know what the kitten's name is). Colin and Lynn have done the Time Trial with their daughters. Sophie is small enough to ride in a trailer, and Simone has an extend-a-bike that attaches onto the frame of a parent's bike. Lynn is unencumbered by a trailer for this Time Trial. Jimmy Whitley was the third to go. Jimmy owns a used car dealership in Bryan, Texas. It tickles my funny bone to think of a used car salesman who loves bikes, but Jimmy does, and he can ride faster than most of the young guys. Alex Gant was the fourth to go. Alex is on the TAMU cycling team and is a favorite of the girls on the Social Ride! We like Alex. Robert Arthur was the fifth to go. Take No Prisoners Another summer time tradition is the "Take No Prisoners" ride. I'm told it used to be Willie's Take No Prisoners ride, but these days Chris Menzel is listed as the ride leader. This is a race-paced ride, lots of fun for those who count themselves as hammerheads. The lineup for the Take No Prisoners Ride. I can't identify everyone. Ken "Dykemator" Dykema (with someone hiding behind him), Colin Allen and Willie Allen are off to the right. Kevin Baker, BVC Prez, is standing left of Claire Brown, and Rob Malinak is in orange leftwards of Kevin. Mark Woolridge bending down in the front (What Are You Doing, Mark?) I've had it confirmed that Nate Doelling is in the seafoam green helmet with his arm up in the back. Rumor has it Alex Scholl is in front of Nate and Teddy Childers (TAMU cycling team Prez) is to Nate's left. (Hey Teddy, when are you coming out to teach me to ride no hands? I've been practicing!) In any case, I skedaddled after taking the picture, fearing what might happen if I looked too much like a prisoner. Social Ride My main Brazos Valley Cyclists (BVC) activity is running the Monday Social Ride. It's an easy job, but someone's got to do it. I think I'm in charge because I have the loudest voice (and I'm not shy about using it). Judge for yourself. The Social Ride is just that -- a social ride. As such it is appropriate for cyclists of all levels. You don't need a fancy bike, and you don't need to ride fast. We can adjust speed and distance to accommodate everyone. If we have a vast difference we just split up. The pace is usually a bit slow for the "fast guys," but most of them use the ride as a recovery ride. The girls try to spice the ride up a bit by starting an occasional sprint. Chivalry rules here: the slowpokes determine the sprint and get a head start. The fast folk give us a lead, then catch up, pass, and duke out supremacy amongst themselves. Anyone not interested in partcipating can just ride along at his or her own speed, we always stop before or at the next turn to regroup. The Social Ride gathers a large number of cyclists of disparate abilities, experience and equipment. Here are some of them. I took most of the pictures. If I'm in the picture, I didn't take it, but that doesn't mean I remember who did. First Social Ride of 2003. John Ivan is on the left, Kris Hardy (a Chief Lieutenant of the Social Ride, and our Fast Guy) is on the right, and I can't identify the two in the middle (but I should be able to). John was visiting for the spring, and he left without saying goodbye! Jean Marie and Chief Lieutenant (and Complaints Department) Angela Hardy. David Nelson and Pearl (the bike) of Team Pearl. Regina Hokanson is a Chief Lieutenant of the Social Ride, works in the vet school, and knows a lot about animals and plants. Angela has studied martial arts for years and has her black belt. Becky visited us with her mountain bike a few times. Brian Reeves and his fixed gear bike. Sometimes we find him pulling a child trailer with that bike. Wherein it is apparent that Jean Marie has learned a lesson to be very very cautious around expansion gaps in the concrete, lest one should grab her front wheel, throw her to the ground, and help her to obtain many skin abrasions. Ed Hadden is the Brazos Valley Cyclists' Vice Prez. Kyle used to work at Valley Cyclery. Right now he is doing a coop somewhere far away. We hope he comes back to the Social Ride; we like Kyle. Byron does triathlons and he is on the TAMU cycling team. We haven't seen nearly enough of Jimmy Whitley on the Social Ride this year. Dr. Laura Kennedy is new to town as of this summer, doing a residency in Pathology in the Vet School at TAMU. She has a carbon-fiber bike that is about 10 pounds lighter than my rack-and-pannier encrusted steel one! Morgan Scott and Cheryl Herman are the local touring cyclists. They spent 13 months headed around the world on their bikes. They have inspired me to want to do the same. Jan has had a long history with cycling and cycling advocacy, but not in College Station. Deanna Weber is on TAMUs Cycling team. Young Bob (Grantham) is on TAMUs cycling team. He is called Young Bob to differentiate him from Hot Dog Bob, Bob Van Brunt, who owns Hot Dogs Etc. in Bryan. Jean Marie, Angela and Alex all went to the Katy Flatland Century. Jean Marie fell off her bike. They all got separated. Jean Marie fainted in front of a medical guy and got sent home. Angela and Alex were reunited and finished out the ride together. Alex was a pal an dropped out of a fast pace line to ride with Angela. Our friend Roelof is a victim of Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. He needed a liver transplant, and we are so happy to report he got one. He is pictured at right. The BVC did a ride to help raise money for his care in August. The transplant was in early September. The Social ride went out to visit him one evening in late September. That's Angela, Regina, Jean Marie, Nico Spronk, and Roelof Englebrecht from left to right. We hope to have him out riding with us again in 2004! Misc. I wrote up a funny story about riding with Colin Allen and Willie (no relation) Allen on a Sunday ride. Colin and Willie are scary fast, while I'm more of a commuting/touring/smell the roses type of a cyclist. I got the story published in Southwest Cycling News, which was cool! Here's a picture of the three of us: BVC Home Page