President's Message May 2020

This BBC news was sent via email to all active BBC members:

Kent County Spring Fling, (KCSF): Regrettably, in late March, the 38th annual Kent County Spring Fling was cancelled due to the impact of covid-19. Bob Carson, our longtime coordinator, has stepped down as the KCSF event coordinator. Bob worked tirelessly on KCSF year-round and his leadership will be missed. Thank you for all your hard work Bob!

New leadership team: Board members Marg Draper-Harris and her husband Mike will team up with me, (Pat Lapensee), and my wife Denise Huson to coordinate KCSF starting in 2021 (Memorial Day Weekend). We'll be taking a page from Bob’s book, “Let’s make next year’s Spring Fling the best ever!”

BBC Board Meetings: At the May 14th Board meeting, all June and July scheduled events (Greencastle Great Escape, Flatlands, and Picnic) were cancelled. Unfortunately, there just is no way we could hold these events safely due to covid-19.

Upcoming activities: The Board will meet in June to continue discussing scheduled events (August - Corn Roast, September - CWC, Washington County).

Membership Extension: The Board has decided to extend the membership for active members for the duration of our cancelled rides. Details (criteria of “duration of cancelled rides”) to come.

June Board Meeting: Restarting Group Rides: The Board will discuss how to restart group rides; how many riders can ride safely, mask / no mask, social distancing, etc. At the appropriate time, we will gradually begin group rides and likely start with small groups.

Eastern Seaboard Bike Club Presidents: I am participating in bi-weekly video conferences with several other bike club presidents from Boston to Washington D.C. For now, we are following CDC and WHO guidelines regarding group activities. The key take away is that all the bike clubs are doing the same thing: canceling rides until further notice, canceling events on an as-needed basis, and hoping we can hold our events later in the year. Our primary goal is to focus on the safety of our members and others who participate in our rides and events.

Finally: USA Cycling has information that is interesting and helpful regarding covid-19 and cycling. You can find it here: https://www.usacycling.org/event-organizer/covid-19-event-resources

Take care and stay safe Patrick Lapensee