COASTAL CRUISERS BICYCLE CLUB
P.O. Box 7424 ● North Port, FL 34287-0424

Member Contributions and Activities
Updated 08/27/2010
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Updated 08/27/2010

Just thought I'd share this with you. Yesterday a funny thing happened on my ride with my Thursday ride group, a tree fell on me!  We we’re riding down a  wooded country  road out of Damascus Maryland when we suddenly heard this loud cracking noise. It all happened pretty fast.  I looked up and saw a very large branch coming down and before I could break I was going through it. I did a bunny hop to get my front tire over it and when I went up my head hit a another large branch . Fortunately the branch busted and not my head or helmet. I didn’t go down which was my objective and only cut up my hands a bit ( sutures not required). It all happened so fast. When I saw I was going to do some head butting with the tree I thought  “this will be interesting”. When we made contact I wondered “is this the end?” and when I came out the other end I thought “Uh, I’m not knocked out and I’m still riding…..life is really good! My buddies were shocked I didn’t go down. I know I was lucky but it just wasn’t an option in my mind at the time. It’s something a friend had taught me. He never crashed in a race, even when everybody else was going down around him. I think he was with me. We finished the rest of ride, 65 miles and 4500 hundred feet of climbing. Then I went and had a cold beer ...or two..   See ya in the winter :0)

Keep the rubber side down,
Jimmy Austin  Member since 2009

Item provided to Webmaster Aug 27, 2010.

ClipArt selected by Webmaster

Mosel River Wine Country by Bicycle
Story and photos by Dick and Carol Rizzo
Summer 2010
 

Item provided to Webmaster Aug 27, 2010.

From “Top” Busetti, Aug 22.

Well after 10 yrs of cycling, it finally became my turn. On my ride yesterday a car ran a stop sign and hit me. Broke my fork and rear derailleur clean off, bent my front wheel and handle-bars.

As for me, I bruised my hip, chipped my elbow, scraped my shoulder, and bruised my head. My helmet has a three inch long crack. I was treated and released from the ER. No more 200 mile weeks for a while.

Thursday, August 19:  When the club pulled into the gas station/break stop on Toledo Blade, much to our surprise, there was Leontis. And on his bicycle!  He gave a recount of his ordeal to everyone and how the doctors could not determine what caused him to pass out/fall over.  He said that he has visited the site several times and could not arrive at an explanation, which causes him obvious concern as he gets back on his bike.  Leontis also informed us that next month he is scheduled for a total knee replacement and this was going to put a further crimp on his riding for a while.  Leontis then rode with the club to his usual turnoff on Cranberry Blvd near his home.  It was good to have him back.

   Here are a couple of pictures I took with my cellphone.

Norm Thiel

"One salient point that I picked up in conversations with the reps is that the entrance/exit ramps will be straight-line affairs branching out at either end of the overpass about 300 feet.   They will alternate slope/flat, slope/flat about 7 or 8 times (to meet ADA requirements) and will climb about 24 feet to the level of the overpass' paved  surface.  There will also be bypass ramps so trail users can continue to access Rt 41.  Also, finally, the towers that look like small buildings are strictly cosmetic (e.g., no elevators or bathrooms) -- they just enclose the concrete pillars."

www.legacytrailfriends.org

Cycling in the Adirondacks:  Highlights, Vignettes, Minutiae

By Lili Hrabchak, Ed. D.

 Adirondack Park is a publicly-protected area in north-east New York.  The largest park in the U.S., it covers about 6.1 million acres.  My most recent cycle tour, the Adirondacks Adventure July 17-24 with In Motion Events, took me across 360 km of that park.

After a non-eventful 7.5 hour drive to Elizabethtown, the starting point and terminus of this tour, I set up my tent in a snore-free zone by the children’s playground.  My friend, Linda, who had introduced me to this tour, put hers up nearby.  The others, about 80 participants, erected their tents closer to the gym, i.e. the toilets.  As a self- appointed Walmart-like greeter, I enjoyed meeting everyone who had to pass by me en route to their tents.

To continue reading, click HERE.

Photo submitted July 8 by CCBC member Barry Fluxe.

Here guys, the next members of our Bike Club..... This gives new meaning to the word "Tandem"

We might be there sooner than we think.....Or is this what happens when the kids take away the Car Keys?

Submitted July 8, 2010, by CCBC member Louis Baggerman

Link provided by CCBC member Charles Hayes, Jun 8, 2010.

Photos by CCBC member Norm Thiel.

New Zealand 2010:  Tempering Torture with Beauty, Accomplishment and Goodwill

by Lili Hrabchak, Ed. D.

The South Island

            After a year of planning, our self-supported bike tour of NZ began on Feb. 10 in Dunedin, NZ in the south-east of the South Island.  Michael, 26, from Bavaria, Germany designed the route using Google Maps, an atlas of NZ and his GPS.  I booked the accommodations.  (In 2005 Michael and I, and a young woman from Austria, cycled together for four weeks in Newfoundland.  Some of you might remember that story.)  Ray, 68, from Prince George, BC, and CJ, 53, from Carson City, NV made up the rest of the group.  Strangers to us and to each other, Ray and CJ joined the tour after reading our 'companions wanted' notice posted on the Adventure Cycling web site.

            One other woman from Virginia had also responded to the notice.  She purchased a new touring bike and booked her flights, but she withdrew two weeks before the start due to an injury to her foot.  Red Flag Alert:  Women, don't ever spend six weeks cycling with three men unless one of them is your significant other; testosterone both rules and ruins.  Our group became two groups, a threesome and a one some.  Guess which group I was in. 

Story continued HERE.

News Flash!!!  There are new signs on the south Manasota Key Bridge !  The old “Walk Bicycles across Bridge” signs are gone and a new large diamond shaped yellow and black sign is on each entrance to the bridge depicting a bicycle and the words “Share the Road”!  Special thanks to Leslie Kruger, Jim Cottingham, and Connie Garrison (and any others that I don’t know of) for pursuing this.  Now, let’s get Sarasota County to do the same!

Photo submitted by Gary Bryant, April 4, 2010.

This main CCBC event was organized by Duke & Sandy Meanor and Maria Thacker.  Good job!