Arkansas Bicycle Club News Archives 
Tour of AR Volunteers Needed Posted Tuesday, April 29, 2008 by Sprokets
Volunteers needed for HUGE cycling event....
The Mercy Cycling Team is proud to be hosting the inaugural Tour of Arkansas Stage Race May 15,16,17,18. This is an international caliber event with professional cycling teams from Spain, Columbia and Canada already committed to attend. I am recruiting volunteers to help on Saturday, May 17 for the 3rd Stage. This day's race will finish on top of Mount Magazine. This will be an exciting opportunity to be part of a professional level sporting event. There are many positions to be filled. Please consider spending a day supporting cycling in Arkansas. View the website www.tour-of-arkansas.com.
A well staffed event can mean the difference from an average race to an outstanding one that will be remembered. Let's give back to the cycling community and make them have an event they won't forget!
Let me know how you can help. Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested!
I thank you and Mercy Cycling thanks you.
Kris
Contact: Kris Gill
krisgill@cox.net
629-4283
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April meeting minutes Posted Thursday, April 17, 2008 by Jim Britt
This meeting was held at American Pie on Maumelle Blvd. Everyone arrived around 6:30 for good food and fellowship.
Jim called the meeting to order. He stated the ABC was again, this year, volunteering to help out with Riverfest, Friday to Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. He passed around a sign up sheet for the shifts. The club gets a donation from the organizers.
The Lance Armstrong Rubicon team will be in town May 7th. This event is a fund raiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Raffle tickets available. It will commence at the Burns Park soccer fields in North Little Rock. Check the ABC website as more information becomes available.
The Tour de Hoot in McGehee will be held on the last Saturday in May.
The Hot Springs ride will be held the weekend of April 19 and 20.
Earth Day festivities will be held on April 26 at the Clinton Library beginning around 10:00 am. Check the website as more info becomes available. We will have beginners' rides at 10:00 AM and noon. Bring an extra bicycle and helmet if you can for guests.
The Arky 100 will again be held on the second Sunday in October. We are looking for sponsors for the rest stops. Ask your employer. We can supply workers, or a company may wish to have their own people there to help out.
Ian Hope brought more ABC jerseys and shorts for sale. The jerseys are $75 and the shorts are $65.
An excellent program was given by Danielle de Prieux . She and others have started a bicycle coop that repairs and distributes older bicycles. ReCycles Bike CoOp is a program of the Arkansas Sustainability Network. It all promotes bicycling as a mode of sustainable transportation in central Arkansas . They are currently encouraging local businesses to install bicycle parking racks. ReCycles volunteers are providing rack installation at the cost of materials with a suggested donation. Their business is on Victory near 3rd Street adjacent to the train station. They welcome visitors anytime and are open Thursday and Sunday afternoons.
President Jim Britt adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted by Jamie Hazlewood, Club secretary.
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Buy your new ABC riding kits online Posted Tuesday, April 15, 2008 by Ian Hope
We have been threatening to do it and now we have! You can purchase your new Arkansas Bicycle Club Jersey and Shorts through our ultra secure online system with your credit card by following this link ORDER MY NEW ABC MERCHANDISE. This is the same super secure system we use for ABC memberships (which you can buy at the same time if you like). The jersey is $79.00 including shipping and the shorts are $69.00 including shipping. That's right, we will mail them to you. So if would like this extra service be sure to include your full mailing address in your order form.
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Mtn. Biker needed for Boy Scout camp Posted Sunday, April 13, 2008 by Jim Britt
If this is run like my council camp, experienced youth as young as 16 would be eligible or it could be a satisfying experience for an adult with a free summer. Jim
Summer camp staff needed at Kia Kima Scout Reservation located in Hardy, Arkansas . I have a few positions available that require staff members skilled in areas such as Mountain Biking, Kayaking, Backpacking and Climbing.
Other support positions are available as well. You can reach me at
jarmstro (at) bsamail.org or give me a call at 901-569-5852.
All summer positions are onsite. Food, lodging, and salary provided. Camp positions begin at the end of May and beginning of June and will conclude by July 15th.
Thanks for your interest!
Drew Armstrong
Program Director
Chickasaw Council, BSA
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Bicycle Commuter Workshop, Thursday, April 10 Posted Saturday, April 5, 2008 by Jim Britt
On Thursday, April l0, at 6:00 p.m. Chainwheel will host an informal
workshop on bicycle commuting. As cyclists, we all love biking, would like to do more, and enjoy expanding our cycling options. This is a great opportunity to learn more about bicycle commuting. Experienced commuters be present to assist the "faint of heart" who need an extra push.
The bicycle commuting workshop will also be good preparation for BACA's
National Bike to Work Day, May 16th.
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75 Years Of Passion..... Posted Tuesday, April 1, 2008 by Sprokets
Ripped from La Gazzetta...
Here's an excerpt from Gianni Brera's "The Giant And The File" sort of an official biography of Tullio Campagnolo, the company founder.
Tullio Campagnolo had his great inspiration on the Croce d' Aune Pass, during the Gran Premio della Vittoria. The race began in Padova on the morning on Nov. 4, 1924. The favorite is Negrini, who is riding stronger then everyone else. Tullio Campagnolo belongs to the independent category, that is, he races alone, without a support car or teammates to help him. He had two tubulars attached to his handlebars and under the saddle, and another wrapped around his shoulders and chest. In his jersey pockets he as bread, salami, and cheese. A bottle of water and coffee is affixed to clamps on the frame, and two others are slipped into aluminum cages attached to the bars.
The race is a good one, vivacious but in the mountains at midday a snowstorm develops. Tullio Campagnolo remains among the leaders of the peloton, and he senses that this will be a memorable day for him. If a cyclist doesn't use his brain, it's a sign that he is simply a crude pedaling machine, an energetic but stupid grinder, certainly not a champion capable of anticipating and enjoying his own adventures. Tullio exhalts in fatigue because he feels able to overcome it. He climbs well and had no fear in the descent.
The storm rages on, sending the spectators packing. When Tullio gets off the bike to turn his wheel around, his fingers are too numb to release the spindle of the hub. He is breathless and soaking wet with sweat. The snow swirls around him, making him dizzy. The leaders take off again, while he fails to loosen the spindle (which in those days tightened with a butterfly shaped wingnut). Then he as to prepare himself for a back breaking hill. The others have changed to easier gear, whereas he will have to stand constantly on the pedals in order to scale the hill, on a road rendered so mushy by snow and mud that he is tempted to turn around and descend into the valley. But who would take care of him, wretched son? Who would offer to warm him at a fireplace, to refuel him with a bowl of hot soup?.......
His first thought is to make the wingnut easier to turn by employing not only the thumb and index dinger, but rather seizing the little lever with four fingers and seeing whether the nut doesn't unscrew....Meanwhile he pedals , he pursues. He eats, drinks. The weather on the flats is fine again. But he, Tullio has implanted in his brain an idea left by lightening. "Something needs to be changed in the rear"
Tullio Campagnolo's first patent was produced Feb 8, 1930 - a hub with a quick release axle.
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