The TOUR de LIONS, or, how to do a bike ride right!

[Dale Brown]

Well gang, 11:59 PM tonight is the deadline for online sign ups so I hope you all will celebrate the glorious weather AND Fred & Brenda Lineberry's hard hard work these many years, and join in the fun at this year's Tour de Lions ride. 

Roads you hardly ever get to ride, four distance options, all extremely well marked, "down home" hospitality everywhere with rest stops galore, tons of good food afterwards and so many door prizes it seems like almost everyone will be a winner!  

And cycles de ORO's  Zack and Meghan will be there if you have last minute mechanical issues!

 Please support this ride if you love cycling in our region, it deserves it!

Here's a link straight to online registration:

http://www.active.com/cycling/climax-nc/tour-de-lions-2012

Here is the web site for all the info:

http://www.tourdelions.org/ 

Dale 

--
Dale Brown
cycles de ORO, Inc.
1410 Mill Street, Ste 100
Greensboro, North Carolina USA 27408-2105
336.274.5959
www.cyclesdeoro.com
www.classicrendezvous.com
www.carolinacup.com

© Copyrighted Material

[jbla...@yahoo.com]

Seriously, to follow up on Dale's, John's and Mary's separate comments, Tour de Lions and Brenda and Fred Lineberry are forces for good in the wheeled universe. They have made us feel so welcome even at our slower pace that we have paid up front despite it not being likely we can be there. 

Please help them help others by pitching in, rain or shine if you can, though it looks shiny, happy, people. 

Thanks, Mary, for the nod to skateylove and thus tangentially to Carolina Century. Carolina Century was created by roadskaters but is to help people with MS first, and mostly for and by cyclists and those who love them. We hang pretty near the back so we know the rest stops won't close! We support 10mph to 22mph with a time spreadsheet for rest stop open and close times.

On other topics...

I agree that non-cyclists make great volunteers, but I think that cyclists are among the best SAG drivers. They know the situations better than those who've never rolled on roads. 

As for danger and joy and the roads, we find that mirrors and lack of headphones help (and send good message of awareness) and also that waving ("hello" not "go by,") as soon as we hear a car behind us, and again when they are passing and not quite even with us yet, seem to help deflate angry energy. 

As a driver what bothers me is not knowing if the the cyclists are aware of my car. 

We also find that wearing bib numbers and matching jerseys even when training seem to reduce negative comments and exhaust plumes. It's another way of silently answering their question: "Eunice, what in the flippityflap are they doing out here on our roads?"

As far as written or oral discussions with motorists, perhaps the old "seek first to understand then to be understood" idea works but not always (take note of what distresses you as a motorists when coming upon single, dual or pack wheelers and act as you'd wish they did). 

Keeping a mirror, whistle, cell phone and camera at hand seem to be useful, observable items that dampen aggression from others. 

But more than anything else, riding with a WITNESS changes the original behavioral equation and the ability to react to and document unfortunate events. 

I believe if we represent our sport with love (and act like we'd like the others to JOIN us, not fear us) we encounter less mean spirit evaporating from fellow humans inside vehicles. 

If we jump in early with kind nonverbal communication we look more like we are sharing this road rather than making it our private training ground to be the best darned athlete in the world, or at least our 9-digit zip code. 

To me, it's better to be willing to die for our sport than to be willing to kill for it. Meanwhile it is still better not to die at all, especially not avoidably on the road, or on the couch, crouched up in an aerodynamic tuck of fear, remote in hand, watchin' the giro. 

Skateylove people! And if I offended you, I assure you I didn't mean to!

Blake

---

From: Dale Brown <daleb...@gmail.com>
To:
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 2:53 PM
Subject: [Triad Cycling] The TOUR de LIONS, or, how to do a bike ride right!

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Triad Ride List" group.
To post to this group, send email to triadc...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to triadcycling...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/triadcycling?hl=en.