Bits & Pieces August 2004
Calendar
August 9 - Club Meeting @ Jennifer's (7:15pm)September 6 - Club Meeting @ Jennifer's (7:15pm)
September 25 - Club Century
October 2 - 4th Annual Ed Sander Memorial Ride (See Below)
October 4 - Club Meeting @ Jennifer's (7:15pm)
October 9 - Adopt-A-Road Pickup (9:00am - 11:00am)
November 13 - Club Banquet @ Cozy Restaurant Thurmont (Tentative)
Featured Web Sites
Great Divide Bike Race:http://www.mtbr.com/gdr
The Car Connection
Teaching Motorists How to Share the Road
http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=5123
Have a favorite website? Send it to us at clubmail@frederickpedalers.org
Giant Food Bike DC 2004
VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR THE GREATEST RIDE ON EARTH!On Saturday, September 18th thousands of cyclists will descend upon Washington, DC for a fun-filled bicycle tour of the monumental spaces, riverfronts and neighborhoods of our nation's capitol! Giant Food BikeDC is a fully-supported, family-friendly event open to riders of all abilities.
Volunteers will receive a FREE Giant Food BikeDC Volunteer T-shirt, FREE lunch on the day of the event, AND a Volunteer Ride and Picnic on Saturday, September 11th at Fletcher's Boathouse! This year's tour features 2 volunteer options:
1. Marshals - work to ensure rider safety by managing tour bicycle traffic, identifying and supervising potentially hazardous conditions along the route, providing basic mechanical support to get stopped riders moving, and encouraging riders along the way. Marshals are all on bikes.
Register NOW to MARSHAL:
https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/WashingtonAreaBicyclistAsso_2/marshalApplication.html
2. Tour Corps—run all of the services provided to participants such as the rest stops, set-up of the event, clean-up and distributing t-shirts. Tour Corps are the hosts of the tour.
Register NOW for TOUR CORPS:
https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/WashingtonAreaBicyclistAsso_2/tourCorpsApplication.html
Rest Stops for Giant Food BikeDC are sponsored by local organizations who have agreed to staff, run and organize their own location in exchange for the ability to promote their group's mission to participants. Please do not volunteer for a Rest Stop unless you are a member of the sponsoring organization. For information about how your non-profit can become a sponsor of a Giant Food BikeDC service, contact Susan Klasmeier at 202.628.2500.
For more information about Giant Food BikeDC: http://www.waba.org/bikedc2004/bikedc_home.html
More Images Added to PBIC Online Image Library
(from the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center)The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center recently added 300 images to its searchable online image library. These new images add to the thousands of images previously available, and document innovative pedestrian, bicycle and traffic engineering treatments used in the United States, Germany, England, and the Netherlands.
The PBIC image library is available at http://www. pedbikeimages.org. PBIC teamed with the ITE’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Council, Walkable Communities, Inc., and other experts in pedestrian and bicycle issues to develop the image library. Users are welcome to search for images they need, and use them, in accordance with PBIC’s usage guidelines.
Tip of the Month
Mr. Expert
Crossing Railroad Tracks Safely
Railroad tracks can pose a great danger to a bicyclist. This is because your wheel(s) can become trapped in the channel between the rail and the asphalt. At that point, you can no longer steer and are likely to fall, oftentimes into the traffic flow.
When crossing railroad tracks, it is important that your wheels be at an angle of nearly ninety degrees to the path of the tracks. This gives your wheels the least likelihood of dropping into the channels.
Where this can cause a problem is when the tracks cross the street at a non-ninety degree angle. A good example of this is the tracks on MD28 at Point of Rocks. The large amount of traffic on this road means that, in order to safely cross the tracks, you must either begin or end your crossing in the center of the roadway, depending upon which direction you are going and contend with traffic. Consider the examples below:
Figure A: Since the tracks are at a right angle, you can ride straight across. Take the path of the green arrow at left (of course you will be further right).
Figure B: The tracks are at a non-right angle to your direction of travel. The green left arrow is the safest path; first check behind for passing traffic, then swing left, then right in order to cross at the proper angle.
In the event that traffic does not permit you to cross at the proper angle, STOP. Walk across if you must.
See http://www.odot.state.or.us/techserv/bikewalk/manual/remember.htm for more info.