Saturday 5/2/09 was a beautiful day for riding, and appropriately, we had two Saturday riding options for Ozaukee Bicycle Club members!  Thank you Jim Giese for leading the second one that featured the timed sprints that spiced up the ride interest a little bit.  That was a great route you selected!

We have four weekly scheduled rides, and Club members receive the detailed information by email reminders and on-line calendar information.  Additional details are available on request for club members--including short-cut routes that make it easier for riders just beginning to ramp up their abilities.

The first batch of 2009 club membership ID cards will be mailed this week.  Local bike shop keepers offering a discount to OBC members will be informed, as they expect the card to be presented at time of purchase to honor the discount agreement.

Both Tour of America's Dairyland and International Cycling Classic SuperWeek race series are looking for volunteers.

If you can participate as a host for visiting athletes or volunteer as a race course safety marshal, you'll be making a contribution to local bicycle racing in a way that helps keep world class cycling in Wisconsin.

Please take a look at the web sites for the two events to become familiar with the volunteer contacts.

A series of listening sessions on the Ozaukee Interurban Trail will be held April 30 at the Rose-Harms American Legion Post, 1540 13th Ave, Grafton.

Three separate sessions will be offered that day, from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m., 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Anyone who has an interest in the trail, whether the person is a trail user or a business owner along the path, is welcome to attend.

To register for a session or for more information, contact  Nicole Sidoff by calling 262-284-8289 or by sending email to nicole.sidoff@ces.uwex.edu.

Ozaukee Bicycle Club is continuing to build its inventory of specialty bike tools being shared among members of the club.  This is a 2009 emphasis for OBC.

 In past years, our budget has driven various things... food at special rides, financing part of club logo clothing, making contributions to events and organizations that benefit the bicylcing community, etc.  This year, among other things, we are building our inventory of tools that can be checked out for do-it-yourself bike maintenance.  This includes special tools you need to maintain cranks, bottom brackets, wheels and clusters.

Access to these tools is one of the benefits of membership.  Please review the club brochure available on this site.  Learn about our club rides, or try them out once or twice if you like.  Then, please join us as a member.  You will find that OBC club membership is a a great part of enjoying cycling in Ozaukee County!

I stand corrected.  We had someone counting our participation last week and this week.  In both cases, with guests, we had over 35 participants.  If you missed out, look for us again next week.

If you're new, give a call to one of the Directors to get information on how to join us as a visitor.  We'll be glad to have you try before send in your membership form and dues.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Bill Koch is looking for race course marshal volunteers for the weekend race in Greenbush...

Hey all, the UWM Cycling Club is hosting a collegiate road race this Saturday up in Greenbush and in helping the Tour of America's Dairyland organizers secure this same course for our race in June, we offered to help them with volunteers for their race this coming Saturday. If anyone has a few free hours and loves watching these races (about 250 college kids of all skill levels, women and men), we are still looking for a volunteers from 9-4 in two, three or four hour shifts for marshalling.

Please email me if interested! Not sure what the weather is going to be like that day, but could be the perfect excuse to ride your bike north, volunteer for a few hours and then ride home! Heck yea ............ ......

Bill Koch
414-534-4501 (m)

We had a great turn-out for the Wednesday evening ride tonight.  We didn't count, but we had about 25 participants, by estimate.

A few of the participants brought along their membership forms with payments.  That's great.  Mark Hornick will do the Yahoo Groups invitations, so members will get the automated emails to remind them of the scheduled rides.  Take a minute to review the membership brochure (link on Handouts page) to review the benefits of membership.

Any questions... click to the home page and locate the names & contact numbers of the club directors.  Give us a call.

Ozaukee Bicycle Club rides in April, weather permitting... multiple events per week.

Give one of the club directors a call to get ride event details--using the information given on the home page of this site.

 If you are a guest to our club, we will ask you to complete the liability waiver form, which is available at this web site along with other Handout forms.  Members sign the same waiver with the membership form.  We do this to be consistent with our our approach with the club's insurance policy.  Turn that in at the ride event.

Just to explain... we use this eteamz site primarily to have an easy public information site for the club.  We do create memberships on this site for Club Members that have paid their dues for the year.  Similar goes for the Yahoo Group.

Soon after the Treasurer records the membership paid, the roster is updated and we can "invite" participation for the newly registered members--to have member access on the Yahoo Group and this site.

We do not put the ride calendar and other details for club events out on the public site.  We use a Liability Waiver with our participants, and that goes hand-in-hand with making the details of club events less public--making the Liability Waiver and Isurance a part of our approach to Club Membership.  Any questions?  Let us know and we'll be glad to explain.

If you would like to try out our club events, give one of the club directors a call so we can answer your questions, welcome you when you arrive at the event and help you get acquainted with the Ozaukee Bicycle Club.

Ozaukee Bicycle Club aims to have a Training Ride to kick off the Spring Riding Season on April 1, April Fool's Day.  More often than not, April riding is not for the faint of heart, but the air will be fresh and the exercise will feel great.

Members can check the Yahoo Group calendar for the Training Ride event details.  If you're not a member, contact a club officer by phone or email to set yourself up to ride with us as a guest, or download a membership handout and send in your membership registration.

CHECK- Membership forms are updated for 2009.

CHECK- Club insurance is paid for the 2009 riding season.

CHECK- Body and bike ready to ride

Maybe you're unsure about the 3rd checkpoint, but aren't we all?  Ozaukee Bicycle Club will start riding events in April--perhaps as early as April 1.

Spring is on its way!  Let's meet at the Milwaukee Ale House in Grafton for a bit of discussion about the 2009 riding season.

Tune in here for an update on the details.  We'll look for a meeting date and time the week of 3/23/09.

Our annual pilgrimage to the Leinie's Brewery has been scheduled for 8-23-08.  It will be about the same as previous years.  We'll leave Cedarburg at 08:00, stop at the Trocedero for brunch and then do the tour and beer tasting.

Details are available to the Ozaukee Bicycle Club members.  Guest riders should contact one of the club directors for participation details and complete our basic liability waiver form.  Club President Harold Willis, harold.willis@yahoo.com or Mark Hornick, mlhornick@sbcglobal.net.

Liability release form at...  see handout.

Date:                   Monday March 17, 2008
Time:                   6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Author:                chuckepaul@yahoo.com
Location:              Grafton Library - Lower Level meeting room
Street:                1620 11th Ave
City/State/Zip:   Grafton, WI 53024
Phone:                  (262) 375-5315

Let's get ready to ride! Unless you have studded tires for your bike, probably you're looking for the day when you put your winter trainer away for storage. Right?

Let's meet to review the ride calendar, and talk about activities we would like to work into the 2008 plan for the club.

For a look at what other Wisconsin cycling clubs are doing for 2008, I recommend you put a bookmark on your web browser for the following two web pages. These give you links to the Wisconsin clubs (most known clubs) and Wisconsin events for cycling.

https://www.usacycling.org/clubs/index.php?state=WI
http://www.mikebentley.com/bike/wisconsin.htm

Please bring your ideas to the meeting!

If we have something to spice up the agenda, I will post out an updated announcement.

--Chuck Paul, chuckepaul@yahoo.com

Getting Started

Kevin Plato started the process of writing up incorporation papers for Ozaukee Bicycle Club.  The objective became a priority as a measure of insuring that club officers could make legal and insurance arrangements to limit liability exposure and work through banking and financial matters in a more organized way.

Board of Directors

At the Club banquet in October 2007, new Directors were selected to succeed Kevin and Amy Plato. Harold Willis was voted by the general club membership to serve as Director and President for the 2008 calendar year. Mark Hornick, Ron Friedel, and Chuck Paul were elected Directors. The Directors then appointed Mark Hornick as Vice-President and Ron Friedel as Secretary/Treasurer, continuing his position from the previous year. Chuck Paul continues in his ex-officio role as Webmaster.

LAB

As a consequence of our reincorporation and affiliation with the LAB, the Club became eligible to obtain a specialty insurance policy from American Specialty Insurance Corp. This policy is far more comprehensive than our previous policy and provides some notable benefits to Club members. Further information will be distributed in the Club newsletter.