Dec - Santiam Spokes

Newsletter of the
Santiam Spokes, Inc.
P.O. Box 739
Lebanon, OR 97355
http://santiamspokes.org
Volume 23 - No. 2
Spokes Holiday Party
6:00 PM - Friday - December 5th
Santiam Place - Wedding and Event Hall
139 Main St. - Lebanon, OR
December 2014
2015 Officers
President — Ken Bronson
Vice Pres. — Steve Snyder
Co-Secretaries — Mary Ellen
Lind & Barbi Thomson
Treasurer — Shirley Schoberg
-Hebda
Membership - Wade Bloecher
Newsletter — Greg Stephens
Ride Coordinator — Open
Webmaster — Vince Nowell
Publicity — Open
Historian — Bill Pintard
Strawberry Coordinator —
Open
Also in this Issue

November Minutes

2015 Spokes Bike Tour

Friends We Lost

News From the E-Board

December Rides

Spinners Rides

Bright Ideas for Night

December Calendar

Slo Poke Sez
Page 1- December 2014
All club members and their families are invited
to come and enjoy the fun of scrumptious
dining, happy conversation and white elephant
gift exchange. Please join the potluck buffet by
bringing a side dish to the delicious meat
entrée that Charles Taylor will bring. If your
last name begins with A - K bring a dessert;
L – Z bring a salad or vegetable dish.
Holiday punch, spiced cider and table service
are provided.
The White Elephant gift is to be wrapped
with no label. It can be a used item from home
that you believe is funny or/and useful, and
that your storage of it has exceeded its
usefulness - like a used artificial knee!
Also this evening, President Ken Bronson
will preside over a brief club business meeting.
The annual Jack Thomas Award will be given to a club member who has
given outstanding leadership and service to our Santiam Spokes bicycle
club and to the greater community of bicycling.
Please bring non-perishable food items to donate to the Lebanon Food
Bank. There will be a container by the door in which to place them.
Spouses, significant others and past active members are welcome!
Charles Taylor would appreciate an RSVP so he’ll know how many people
to cook for. His email address is [email protected].
COME HAVE SOME FUN WITH YOUR BIKE RIDIN’ FRIENDS WHEN
THERE’S NO THREAT OF RAIN IN THE FORECAST!
Santiam Spokes Meeting Minutes - November 6, 2014
The monthly Santiam Spokes club meeting, held at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, was called to order at 7:00 p.m.
by vice-president, Steve Snyder. Several members described their recent biking experiences.
Blair Bronson is the son on Ken Bronson, our club president. Blair was introduced as , Owner/Director of the Best in the West
Events Company. Blair described the mainstay of his business is coaching and directing triathlon competition events
(festivals), primarily in Oregon. He said in a triathlon event, athletes compete in a distance of swimming, biking and running.
He said, of the three sports, biking is his greatest skill. He rode the bicycle portion of the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii recently
while watching a friend compete. His enjoyment of biking contributed to getting started in this business.
The refreshment break was catered by Donna Short and Doug Robin. The group thanked them.
The business meeting was called to order at 7:50 p.m. by Steve Snyder.
The October 2nd Minutes were not approved.
Treasurers report: Shirley Schoberg-Hebda thanked Maurice Banning for his service as past treasurer and for his organization
of the financial records. Shirley distributed a written account of the clubs finances. This included the club’s checking account
of nearly $5,900 and the Strawberry Century event reserve of $7,800 and several smaller accounts to total assets at over $14
thousand. The club has two sizeable outstanding checks, (checks not cashed for a long period of time after they were issued).
Our bank does not have a policy regarding stop payment. The members discussed this concern and suggested that a deadline
for cashing the check be printed on the checks, such as 6 months or 60 days. This issue was referred to the SS board. Shirley
also distributed an Income vs Expenses summary for the past year. She noted that the member donations (dues) were less
than $1,000 and expenses were over $5,600. A percent of Strawberry Century income is also to be allocated to general expenses. After discussion, the members referred this issue to the board asking for a budget guideline for expenses (i.e. capping club funds for use on the summer tour) and/or dues increase.
Membership report: Wade Bloecher reported that current membership is 59 individuals and 45 family for a total of 104 members. He reminded the group that membership dues will come due in January, 2015 and he will be sending out renewal notices and which will include request for new and update of information about members. The group discussed providing members the option of paying via Paypal. This will be brought to the SS board. The timing of renewals may depend on the due
rate changes that are recommended by the board to the membership. According to the bylaws, a change in dues must be
printed in the newsletter prior to the membership vote.
Ride Captain Report: No report. See newsletter for current rides.
Old Business:
*Doug Robin presented a progress report on the Santiam-Calapooia Scenic Bikeway application to be submitted to Alex Phillips, Oregon Parks and Recreation by March, 2015.. He is getting letters of support from city councils and he needs one from
all parks that are involved.
*The Jack Thomas award is to be presented at the clubs Holiday party. Forms are in the past two newsletters for members to
submit their nomination to the president.
New Business:
*Already mentioned under treasurer’s report: recommendations from the board for dues increase and for capping the amount
the club pays towards the summer club tour.
*Steve Snyder emphasized the need to start early to contact sponsors for donations towards the Strawberry Century event
since businesses budgets are currently being developed for the coming year. This issue also will go to the SS board since
there is no Publicity Chairperson.
*SS December Holiday Party. Dennis Murphy offered to contact Sally Skaggs regarding date & reservation at Santiam Place.
Barbi Thomson offered to ask Charles Taylor if he will kindly prepare the meat entrée, expenses to be paid by the club. The
event will include bringing canned food donations for the Lebanon food bank. Greg Stephens will publish in the next newsletter
the date, time and details of the party including white elephant gifts.
*Date of January club meeting is second Thursday, January 8th.
Meeting adjourned about 9 p.m. Mary Ellen Lind, Co-Secretary.
2015 Santiam Spokes Summer Bike Tour
All club members who would like to be involved in the planning of next year’s summer bike tour are invited to join an
initial organizational meeting at the SLCH conference room
one hour prior to the monthly club meeting on January 8 at 6
p.m. Please come with your calendars so we can select a
week for the tour. Also bring your ideas for a week-long tour
route. As before, the tasks of developing and producing this
tour will be divided among the tour participants and it is expected that participants will help with the work of the Strawberry Century event before or on June
6th. If you have questions, please contact Mary Ellen Lind, [email protected].
Page 2- December 2014
Obituaries
It is with sadness that we note two of our bicycling friends have passed.
Ramona, Larry Fratkin’s wife provided the following thoughts:
Larry Fratkin died at home with his wife by his side on Halloween
afternoon. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1946. When he was
eight he moved with his family to Detroit, Michigan and settled just a
few miles from the house where his future wife, Ramona, lived as a
newborn.
Always one for wheels of any kind, Larry would pull his wagon
around the neighborhood asking folks for tube radios to repair. When
his family moved to Southern California, he would disappear on his
bike for entire days riding many miles to local radio stations to talk
to the engineers between songs. Years later, he hoped to specialize
in radio engineering when he was drafted into the Army but, as that
program was at capacity, he instead began his career in computers.
Larry met his wife, Ramona, in Los Angeles at the "est training" (a
definite 1970s thing!). They celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary this year with a last camping trip to Cape Lookout.
Larry was an active member of the Spokes in years past and participated in several club tours as well as doing the yearly Newport ride. He rode with other groups in the Portland area such as Slug Velo and the Blueberry Riders. He enjoyed numerous
self-contained tours and was particularly fond of his yearly solo rides down the coast to Bandon. His last coastal ride was in the
summer of 2013 just before his second of three radiation series for cancer. He rode many miles around Portland alongside his
biking buddy, Carol, who was a great support to him during his years riding with cancer. In 2007, just before being diagnosed
with cancer, Larry self-published his book, Cafe Rider's Guide: Riding Portland One Espresso at a Time. It offered a unique
approach to planning rides using coffee houses as hubs. Larry was shy about putting himself out-front with sales promotion
and ultimately donated the majority of the copies to the City of Portland to be utilized for bicycling promotions and donations
to Multonomah County libraries.
Larry was an avid photographer and was known for his MrPinhole website that featured a pinhole exposure calculator used by
pinhole camera enthusiasts around the world. Larry was tenacious and courageous in dealing with his cancer. Many times, just
days after a chemo session, Larry would ride his specially geared "chemo bike" for a mile or two, building himself back up. He
attributed his longevity (outliving his initial prognosis by five to six years) to being physically fit before undergoing treatment
and continuing to do what he could in-between. His hospice nurse said that Larry's lung capacity was the best she'd ever
heard! Larry set an example to all who knew him by always being curious and living life to his fullest capacity."
Craig Eucken: (summarized by Roger Gaither)
Craig M. Eucken was found by his son, Jeremy, on Wednesday, November 5th at 7:00 pm.
Craig death sometime before that is not determined. Jeremy called his mother, Pat, with
the news.
Craig was born in Jeffers, Minnesota and completed his BS in Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. Craig worked 35 years as a metallurgical engineer for Teledyne Wah
Chang/Allegheny Technologies in Process Development and Failure Analysis. He specialized
in zirconium alloy processing and failure analysis. He was an inventor and had five registered patents. With co-authors, he wrote two technical booklets arising from international
symposiums on zirconium.
Craig loved to bicycle and was an active member of Spokes from about 2000, but stopped
riding 6-8 years ago. He rode with the club actively for several years. Craig’s health declined sharply in the last few years, but he still helped out at the Strawberry Century until
about two years ago. On Sunday, he celebrated his 63rd birthday with Jeremy at the Scio
Covered Bridge Coffee House.
Tim Mangan remembered: “Craig will always be in my collage of bicycle memories as the
Rube Goldberg in the Scio hills. Coming up with ways to make the two or three wheel conveyance slightly different and easier
to roll. And lets not forget his love for German and Belgium beer. He would always look forward to Mt. Angel Octoberfest and
the beer.”
Craig’s former wife, Pat, wanted the club to know that “Craig loved his bicycling friends”.
We are sorry to hear of Craig’s passing and send our sympathy to Pat, her son, Jeremy, and two daughters, Kayla and Krista.
Page 3- December 2014
News From the Executive Board
Membership Fee Increase
The executive board has recommended that the dues for the Santiam Spokes be increased to $20/year for individual members, and to $30/year for families. The current fee schedule is not adequate for funding our Club without the Strawberry
Century revenue should it decline. According to the by-laws, it has to be voted on and passed by two-thirds of the members
present at the Club meeting. During our short business meeting during the December Holiday Party, we will discuss this and
vote on it. Time is of the essence since we have now gone to everyone’s membership coming due in January and Wade
needs to send out the dues in December.
Newsletter News
It costs $0.80 to print and mail the Newsletter on average. If someone receives a hard copy it essentially eats up most of
their dues. It is much more enjoyable to read the Outspoken online in color than a black and white hard copy anyway. The
board has decided not to mail newsletters to anyone who can receive them by email. We will still print and distribute Outspoken Newsletters to the bike shops as we have been doing in the past.
Spinner & Club Ride News
During the board meeting, Bill said the Spinner rides have not been attracting the riders they were intended for...the folks
wanting shorter and less hilly routes. He thinks we should go back to having one longer and one shorter ride as we have
done in the past. Mary Ellen proposed and the board concurred that during the winter starting in December that we just do
one club ride instead of two and it be on the shorter side. We do not have a ride coordinator so effective in December the
Spinner rides and the club ride will be merged into one. January and February rides are planned and will be in the Newsletter and on the web site. In the meantime we hope to find someone to take over as Ride Coordinator.
Rides For December
Dec
6
City
Start
Scio
SMTA - Grocery Store
Ride Name
Miles
Scio - Stayton Loop
Cat. Ride Leader
30
l
Roger &
May
31
l
Ace & Jo
36,32,23
l
Bill
Start in Scio at the telephone company, cycle on quiet, flat roads to Stayton.
Lunch at Big Town Hero. Mostly same route except one hill near Scio.
Dec
13 Jefferson Jeff. Middle School
Jefferson-Aumsville Loop
Bicycle on flat, generally quiet roads to Aumsville. Lunch at Newfeldt's.
Return slightly different.
Dec
20
Albany
Linn Co. Fairgrounds
Albany-Lebanon Loop
Start at Linn County Fairgrounds and bike to Lebanon via Clover Ridge & Kamph
Lunch at Big Town Hero. Return via Oak, Sandridge, and 7 Mile Lane. There are
several alternate routes if the weather is inclimate. We will decide that day.
.
Dec
27
Page 4- December 2014
No Ride - Enjoy the holiday
Spinners Covered Bridges Stage Ride
The Covered Brides Stage Ride on November 8th attracted some hearty souls. They started and ended at Roger and
May’s house. There was a potluck afterward. The annual open house drew a good turnout of friends…...riders and nonriders alike. A good time was had by all!
Photos by Kari Kropf
The Wednesday Wanderers had decent weather and great scenery!
Page 5- December 2014
Photo by Ace Johnson
Spinners ride to Independence
The Jeff. to Independence ride via the ferry is always a fun ride especially going through Ankeny refuge.
Articles for the
Newsletter
Ride with us.
Get your Membership
application
HERE
Page 6- December 2014
Photos by Kari Kropf
Please email Outspoken
submissions to ….Editor
[email protected]
Happy Holidays
Bright ideas for biking at night -
By Greg Hanscom
There’s a guy who rides his bike on the streets of Seattle dressed up like a crossing guard who just had a run-in with a Christmas tree. The locals call him as High Vis Man.
I used to snigger when he rode past, until I was hit by a car while riding home from work last summer. (I survived, but not
gracefully, as you know if you’ve seen our last video.) Since then, I’ve been getting in touch with my own, inner High Vis Man,
trying to make myself utterly impossible to miss — or rather, impossible not to.
The video above covers the basics: Start with a headlight and a tail light, add helmet lights, and go crazy with the reflective
tape. Here are a few more details for folks who are sorting through the options, wondering how to get their High Vis on without ditching every last scrap of dignity, or blinding the populace as they ride past.
How bright do you really want those lights?
Some of the newer, high-end lights are truly blinding — so much so that they’ve spurred a fair amount of grumbling from riders who say the ultra-bright LEDs wipe out other bikers’ night vision, making cycling more dangerous rather than more safe.
They have a point. Some of these lights are bright enough for gator hunting — designed for riding dark, country roads and
even mountain bike trails. To get a sense of how bright various lights are, check out Modern Bike’s light comparison photos.
Some of the weaker lights hardly make a spot on the sidewalk. The high-end lamps light up the whole freaking neighborhood.
Me? I ride city streets that are, for the most part, fairly well-lit already. My lights are really less about seeing the road in front
of me than they are about being seen by everyone else.
After doing some comparison shopping and talking to the pros at a couple of local bike shops, I decided to go with a threewatt, 310-lumen headlight (lumens are a measure of brightness) with a lower, 250(ish)-lumen setting and a blazing, 500lumen “daylight visible” flash setting. The normal setting lights up the street in front of me decently well. Turn it to flash, and
every street sign and reflective surface for two blocks is suddenly strobing. It’s more than bright enough for my purposes.
My tail light is two watts, and pulses plenty bright for cars and fellow bikers to see me both day and night — and I do use it at
all hours. My helmet light is 120 lumens — again, more about being seen than seeing where I’m going — and includes front
and rear lights, plus amber lights visible from both sides.
Other considerations
It’s great to have lights in front and back, but look for lights that are visible from the sides as well. You can buy small LED
lights that attach to your spokes, but before long, you’re turning on six different lights every time you set out for a ride. Plus,
spoke lights run on watch batteries, which are expensive and not terribly long-lived. That’s why I opted for reflective tape on
my spokes for additional visibility from the sides — and went all out with the Monkey Lights on the family cargo bike, which
weighs a thousand pounds anyway (and is geared accordingly).
Speaking of batteries, I’m loving my new rechargeable lights. The only drawback? When the battery goes, it’s gone. You go
from brilliant to blackout in zero seconds. Look for lights that have a decent battery indicator system, so you’re not caught out
in the dark — and did I mention you should get crazy with the reflective tape, just in case? Want to skip the batteries altogether? Go with a dynamo hub that powers your lights with energy generated from your pedaling. I’ve got one on the cargo
bike that lights both the head and taillights.
Finally, a note about cost. You can drop a small fortune on bike lights, but you don’t need to. I got my new headlight/taillight
set, plus my helmet front/back combo, and all the reflective tape and decals I needed, for just over $200. Not chump change,
but not bad as life insurance policies go.
I know there are a million ways to do this. One of my favorite High Vis trends of late has been crazy striped socks — totally
invisible by night, but kinda hard to ignore by day.
Santiam Terrace Ride
The Santiam
Terrace ride was
indeed a fun
ride. It was
actually warm
enough to not
have to bundle
up super heavy
for this club
classic.
Photos by Greg
Stephens
Page 7- December 2014
December 2014
Sun
Mon
1
Tue
2
Wed
Thu
Fri
3 Wednesday
Wanderers - Jo
Johnson 503.428.0654
4
No
Meeting
5
Holiday Party
6 PM
Sat
6 Scio - Stayton Loop Start in Scio SMTA 30 Mi.
Cat l - Ride Leaders Roger
& May
7
8
9
10 Wednesday
Wanderers - Jo
Johnson 503.428.0654
11
12
13 Jefferson - Aumsville Lp
Start Jeff Mid Sch 31 Mi Cat
l - Ride Leaders Ace & Jo
Johnson
14
15
16
17 Wednesday
Wanderers - Jo
Johnson 503.428.0654
18
19
20 Albany - Lebanon Loop
Start Linn Co. Fairgrounds
36,32,23 Mi. Cat l - Leader
Bill Pintard
21
22
23
24 Wednesday
Wanderers - Jo
Johnson 503.428.0654
25
26
27
28
29
30
31 Wednesday
Wanderers - Jo
Johnson 503.428.0654
No Ride
Enjoy the Holiday
Wednesday Rides start at 10:00 AM at the Linn County Fairgrounds. Rides vary in length according to the weather. Call Jo &
Ace Johnson - 503.428.0654 for more information.
Saturday Club Rides start at 10:00 AM from various locations depending on the route. Information on all rides can be obtained
from the Newsletter and our website: http://www.santiamspokes.org/Rides.htm Click on the ride you want and it will show
you the route and the information you are interested in.
Rides – Key for Route Description
Cat l
- Flat to rolling hills, easy pedaling
Cat ll
- More rolling hills, short steep climbs….a hardy workout
Cat lll - Moderate longer hills, with a few steep climbs. Be experienced and in good biking condition
Cat lV - Frequent hills, some long steep climbs. These are tough rides that require endurance
Slo-Poke Sez
No Excuses
Are you going to the gym to keep
some of your conditioning attained
after hard work and fun this past
summer? Time to get a head start
on next year’s fitness goals. Spring
will be here before you know it.
Get after it!
Page 8- December 2014