The 2009 Tuesday Night Ride (TNR) Schedule is now ready for your viewing pleasure and ready to synchronize with your personal calendar. Be sure to thank our new club President, Joseph F. Cook, for organizing and creating the schedule.
Buy him a HIGH GRAVITY BEER! (preferably post-ride).
You may view the schedule
HERE.All are welcome - you do not have to be a PBC member to ride with us, but it would be great if you joined our club as a member. Ask Pam, Pedr, Joe, Will, Jim, Diny, Daq, or almost any other rider and they will give you the details about joining the club. All PBC members riders sign the PBC waiver. Available at the shop or here.
+Helmets are mandatory.
+Ride leader and sweeper for each ride.
+Map provided for every ride.
+Dress in layers and prepare for the weather - wind, rain, sun (UV protection). Strip as needed.
+Always wear glasses and gloves.
+Bring the gear necessary to change a flat (tube, CO2 cartridge or pump, tire tool, patch kit, tire boot).
+Have a flasher on the rear of your bike if you plan to go long or are a straggler and might be riding in the dusk or darkness.
+Check out your bike
before each ride (tire pressure, cuts or cord showing on your tires, brake pads, quick release levers, water bottles, chain lubed, saddle height, bolts tight). You should have already had your ride tuned up at the shop by now. Upgrading your bike can make the beginning of the season that much more enjoyable.
+Always bring plenty of water, Heed, Accelerade, Gatorade, or your favorite carbohydrate/sugar/protein beverage, along with some food to stave off low blood sugar -- banana, fig newtons, PB&J, Cliff bar, Gu, Hammer Gel, raisins, apple, bagel, trail mix.
+There will be options regarding the length of the route and the pace of the ride. Pick the group that suits your ability and fitness. Take a head count of the group you are in. If you see someone in your group getting dropped, drop back to see if they want to be pulled back into the group or want to wait for a slower group.
+Wait at the top of long climbs for everyone to arrive before descending. Wait at major turns for a few minutes so there is a chance to regroup and no one will get lost. (I remember getting lost on my first TNR and I was riding alone in the dark from Westmoreland, NH to Village Pizza at Exit 3).
+If you are training for a race, or have a specific workout to do (e.g., sprint intervals, climbing repeats, muscular endurance, fartleg, tempo), go off the front and do your own thing, otherwise you will disrupt the vibe of the ride.
+Be prepared for Town Line and State Line Sprints - but be safe. There are no primes, only braggin' rights.
+Crashes early in the season are not uncommon.
+Draft on a wheel that you trust.
+Pull out of the line if you have to blow snot.
+If you want to learn about drafting, pulling, rotating pace lines, etc., ask questions.
+Ride no more than two abreast at all times. When stopped and waiting for stragglers, get out of the road - the TNR is not a Critical Mass Ride.
+If you stink, hang out in the rear out of respect for your fellow cyclist's olfactory sensibilities.
+Be kind to newbies - show them the ropes - be friendly and inclusive. P/WH has had a hardcore elitist rep in the past. This is not what the TNRs are all about.
+It is your responsibility to point out hazards in the road to the riders behind you, and to yell "Brake" if you have to rapidly decelerate due to an emergent situation. Also warn your group about other hazards - "Walker Up", "Car Up," "Car Back," "Dog," "Glass," "Road Kill" ....
+Ride smart - ride safe - but have fun - enjoy the journey.
+Watch out for frost heaves, potholes, sand, and those extremely dangerous crevices that open up in the spring and that run parallel to the road -- they can easily catch a wheel and you will be on the asphalt in a microsecond.
+Do not pass a rider who has stopped for a mechanical problem or who might have crashed or touched wheels without offering assistance.
+Please do not urinate in public view, and don't litter.
+Cross railroad tracks at a slow speed and at a 90 degree angle if at all possible. Warn riders behind you - "Tracks."
+Watch out for cars pulling out on your right or turning left in front of you. The cage drivers are usually are blind and imagine your speed to be 3 mph.
+Beware of the car that slowly passes you on your left and then suddenly turns right in front of you. Just happened to me a few weeks ago - a big ole SUV and the driver was talking on a cell phone.
+Don't flip people off - bike rage is not appropriate TNR behavior.
+If you have to take emergency action, brake
or swerve, but do not do both. Remember that most of your stopping power comes from the front back, but always apply both brakes at the same time, otherwise you might go flying over the bars. We don't have ABS for bikes - yet anyway.
+Watch our for opening car doors in thickly settled areas.
+
OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS -- Stop at stop signs and red lights; yield; don't run over pedestrians; signal your intentions; don't split traffic. All it takes is one Orange and Red, Putney/West Hill rider blowing through a stop sign or red light to give our club a bad rep. Repeat violators will be ostracized and publicly stoned in a pillory.
Will
