A Look Back And A Look Ahead

Well, it’s Saturday night and the "Presidents Message" is due. Whoa, it’s the --- Ta-Da--- PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, my very first one. I have to say right up front, that coming from me, a bike club newsletter article titled "The Presidents Message" sounds just a bit pretentious and self-important. But since folks who have done this job before insist this space "goes with the territory", I’ll do my best for the next 12 months to put something together that’s hopefully worth your time. But I will be changing the title to something that feels more comfortable.

In retrospect 2002 was a great year for Velo Allegro. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Led by race director Robbie McGinnis, with help from a big part of our membership, the 2002 edition of the UPS Criterium was by far the most successful in recent memory.
• Thanks to amazing efforts by Pat (Uncle Buck) Henry, Jennifer (Jenn-X) Stevens, John La Porta and with additional help from a small, but merry band of members, our club utilized a Cal-Trans grant (allegedly discovered by none other than VA’s own governmental expert, Pat West) to provide helmet safety training and brand new bicycle helmets to 700, yep that was seven hundred, elementary school kids in Long Beach.
• Initiated by Lee Myers and a few others, VA hosted a memorial ride on Labor Day weekend in tribute to all our fellow cyclists who lost their lives on our roads. We had something like 400 riders, representing most of the clubs in the LA basin participate. At the end of the ride everyone met for free coffee and homemade cookies at member/sponsor Charlie Legeman’s Plantation Coffee House.
• After hearing that the elimination of the bike lanes over the 405 freeway on Seal Beach Boulevard was being contemplated by the city of Seal Beach, a large contingent of Velo Allegro members descended on two Seal Beach City Council meetings in uniform. VA sponsor and Seal Beach businessman Dave Dunton, of Main Street Cyclery, spoke on behalf of all cyclists against this move. In an apparent 180-degree turn around, Seal Beach now says they have no such plans for that overpass.
• The Women’s Race Team had its most successful season to date. Just how successful they were, I leave to Women’s team captain, Melanie Ochoa to tell you about elsewhere in this newsletter.
• At States and Nationals in 2002, Velo Allegro members took away more than their share of medals. A few highlights:
  • VA members were One-Two in the National 30-34 women’s TT. Laura Downey won the stars and stripes jersey, with Annette Padilla finishing right behind her with a silver medal. Also at Nationals, Al Crawford and Laura Lindgren struck gold in the Mixed 90+ tandem road race.
  • At the State TT, Al and Laura won the 90+ mixed tandem (for the umpteenth time). Robbie McGinnis and Melanie Ochoa finished with a bronze medal in the same race. Denise Phillips and Linda Both won the Women’s 90+ tandem. Annette Padilla won the Women’s 3-4; with Linda Nichols taking 3rd. Daryl Rouse took 2nd in the Men’s 35+ TT. Jennifer (Jenn-X) Stevens won the jersey in the women’s 1-2.
  • These are only state and national event highlights, for more complete club race results see the newsletter archives on our website.
• For the first time in a number of years, in 2002 our club reversed a trend of diminishing membership. We are growing again and have a great group of new members who range from energetic beginners to world champions.
• We had what was probably the best raffle in Velo Allegro’s history at the 2002 Year End Party. We raffled off literally thousands of dollars worth of merchandise donated by both sponsors and members. If you weren’t there, you really missed a chance to take home some really great prizes. Club sponsor contributors included: Main Street Cyclery, Polly’s Coffee House, Plantation Coffee House, La Petite Creperie, Café Piccolo and Cliff Bar. The club also wants to extend a very special thanks to members Jim Frady and Allyson Vought for their spectacular raffle prize contributions.

In 2003 I hope that you are looking forward to continuing efforts in all the areas I mentioned as much as I am. As a club we did some really great things this past year and with everybody’s help, we will do more great things in the years to come.

What about changes in 2003 for Velo Allegro? Here’s my personal wish list:

• I’d like to see us restructure our meeting agendas include bicycle related topics of interest and maybe an occasional guest speaker, as well as club business related issues. In a related area, we will be seeing the meeting notes published in the newsletter.
• I would like to bring back the "old style" monthly raffle where, rather than depending solely on sponsor contributions and/or the creativity of the board, "regular" members brought things every month to contribute to the raffle.
• We need to clearly define and publish an annual club calendar of events, which includes the date that constitutes the beginning and end of a membership year, so we all know when things like dues need to be in.
• Continue and foster the third group on the Saturday ride. To our more experienced members this may seem a trivial thing, but to new members and prospective new members, it can be a huge plus and motivator for improvement. Of course, we need the help of some of those more experienced members to ride with this group.
• We must reapply for the helmet grant and continue that excellent program. I firmly believe that as a "social" organization functioning within the community, we have an obligation to give something back to that community.
• I would like to see more club members get involved in racing while wearing a Velo Allegro jersey. I have always felt a sense of loss to our club when I see a member start racing, improve and leave Velo Allegro for a "more desirable" club to race with. Our women’s team has had a couple of good seasons and they have now won the respect of the entire So Cal women’s road racing scene. I look forward to our women having an even more successful season in 2003 and beyond. We have the kernel of a men’s 4-5 team started with Mike Levine and Gerry Riposa both leading the charge. I’d really like to see the men’s team initiative blossom into something great as the VA women’s team did. The net effect being that racers stay on as members and race wearing a Velo Allegro jersey.
• You are probably reading this newsletter in hard copy, delivered via "snail mail". A newsletter mailed to your home, while expensive and labor intensive, is something that everyone seemed to miss, so we are bringing it back for 2003. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen by itself, so are actively looking for volunteers to help fold, address, stamp and mail it.

Is there more? You bet, lots more. But club improvements and new initiatives are not all going to come from the club leadership. Your suggestions, constructive inputs and help are necessary and always very welcome.

Speaking about your suggestions and help being more than welcome, I’d like to say a few words about how the new leadership team feels our club should operate next year. Velo Allegro belongs to the membership. That means the entire membership, not just a few. As members we each have the right, no make that the responsibility, to take an active participatory role in making VA successful. Mike, Wayne, Frank and myself have no intention of running our club in a vacuum by ourselves. Nor do we want to see 15 percent of the membership do 98 percent of the work, like has been often the case in the past. Instead, we want very much to make this a year in which the entire membership takes on it’s fair share of the effort in not only shaping, but also bringing to fruition, all the various activities and initiatives in and around Velo Allegro.

Speaking for myself, I feel being a member of Velo Allegro isn’t like buying an annual service contract from a vendor for $85, nor is it an entitlement allowing me to watch a few do all the work for the rest of us. Instead, I view club membership as an invitation entitling me to participate alongside a great group of like-minded folks in an activity I love. I also see an obligation as a member, to take an active role in the successful operation of the organization supporting that activity. Incidentally, I didn’t always think this way. It took me years as a "non-contributing" member to come to the seemingly obvious conclusion that collectively, we are Velo Allegro and we each share the obligation to help make our club successful.

So on that note, I would like to kick the new year off by asking each of you to take a moment and ask yourself what you are going to do to help make Velo Allegro the number one cycling club in Southern California in 2003. It really boils down to whether you want to belong to an ok bike club, or be an active participant in a great one? Just how successful Velo Allegro becomes, after all is said and done, is really up to you.

See you on the road,

Don

-posted 17 December 2002