Tour de Boro

Hello Fellow TDB Riders,
     We are only one month away from 10th Annual Tour De Boro! As we celebrate this milestone, this year we have a special commemorative t-shirt which will contain the names of EVERY person who has ever ridden in the TDB since 2006 up to two weeks prior to 2016 registration date. If you would like your name removed from our t-shirt, please let us know!
     This year we are raising money for JoJo’s Doghouse animal rescue. Puppies will also be with us on the day of the ride for your inspiration (and adoption) :).
     If you have already signed up for the Tour de Boro, thank you and we are excited to see you there! IF you still need to register, this is just a reminder to sign up before the price goes up on April 11. We will provide breakfast and lunch for that day and if you want to be guaranteed a t-shirt the deadline to sign up is April 9.
     Here is the link to register:  https://endurancecui.active.com/event-reg/select-race?e=32102353   If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us!

Registration Committee, Tour de Boro, 2016, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

For further assistance, please call Abby Davis: (423)-827-3839

Bruce and Tom Make the Nashville Scene

The Skeptic's Take on the Western Road

Posted By Betsy Phillips on Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 6:15 AM

Last week, when we talked about the western road, I mentioned that I'd found a pretty plausible route thanks to the Middle Tennessee Skeptics. I had some minor quibbles, but when do I not?
      Well, I talked to Bruce Day and Tom Evans of the Middle Tennessee Skeptics about how they settled on their route and it's fascinating—they studied old maps and old eye-witness accounts of where the road ran—and delightful—then they road their bikes down all the plausible paths and settled on the ones easiest to bike. Click here for the entire story

Time to get off the couch, loosen up, clean your bike and get your fanny in gear

Two Important Dates To Look Forward To:

The first,  Daylight Savings Time starts Sunday, March 13th.  You know what that means!!  Weather permitting, we start our week night rides next week.  So watch the blogs for the times.   Hopefully your bikes are tuned up and ready to go.  It is always a good idea to get them checked out at the beginning of the year.

The second date is the Pedals for Paws.  This year it is set for April 9th, a little earlier than in years past.  It is the first ride of the year and a favorite of the FOGBEES.  A number of us are involved in organizing the ride this year. One of the rest stops will be manned by a couple of our FOBGEE wives.

An e mail was recently sent to all past participants in order to sign up.  If you did not receive the e mail, below is a link to Active.com to sign up.

If you received the e mail, notice that good looking rider on the right side of the picture in the retro FOGBEE jersey. No that is not Albert Einstein, that is Gary Williams.

http://www.active.com/gallatin-tn/cycling/races/pedal-for-paws-2016?int

See you on the road,

Mike Knake

Borrow a rack?

Hi All, just wanted to check on something.  I'm leaving on vacation next week and wanting to bring a couple of bikes with us. Does anyone have a 4 bike - bike rack I could borrow for the week? It would need to be the type that could slide into my trailer hitch. Trying to haul 3 road bikes and 1 mountain bike. Thanks for any help/info I could get.

You can contact me by email: jimmyr79@gmail.com

thanks everyone.

In Case of Emergency

    We have added a new page to the blog ICE that I hope everyone who rides with the FOGBEES takes time to study.  A couple of years ago, Demetrius Ritt provided us with an exceptional evening seminar on what to do in case a bicyclist gets injured.  Unfortunately, the attendance wasn't what we hoped.  So instead of repeating this seminar, I have placed the critical considerations which he and his associate EMTs taught us, after I reviewed them with our medical members.

     After every serious accident, I have observed the following actions:

• The injured bicyclist almost always dismisses the seriousness of his or her situation
• There is massive confusion at the time of the accident.  The accident traumatizes all.
• Memories can't be trusted and erroneous statements follow. 

I can only hope that if I am injured, others have read the ICE page and are not afraid to help me.

SAFE Group Riding

      I know you all know this stuff, but it is always useful to review SAFE GROUP RIDING practices at the beginning of a new season, so you can respectfully instruct new members or others new to group riding.  With the recent accident, everyone has gotten a little nervous about riding with a group (including me). Many of the accidents I have seen have involved another bicyclist.  That is more common than a bicyclist with a motorist.
     I have added this report provided by the League of American Bicyclist to our Bike Safety page.  Please take time to study it.

What's Happening in Hendersonville

      We have posted a couple of email reports that the Hendersonville Bike/Ped Committee has received from Fred Rogers, Director of Planning. Please see the Committee blog at http://bikinhville.blogspot.com/ .  As you will be able to see, A LOT is happening to expand the City's Greenway Trail network and connect it to Lower Station Camp Greenway Trails.
     The North-Central Bike/Ped Plan to which Fred refers in his note is a comprehensive bikeway and greenway trail plan that the Committee submitted to the City on February 29'th.

Bicycle Injuries

     As the new season begins, we already have too many injuries.  On recent rides I have watch FOGBEES casually violate traffic laws.  Some of them could have led to serious collisions with motorists.  So I would like to remind everyone to re-acquaint themselves with bike law.  We have them on this blog. Try 
http://fogbees.blogspot.com/p/bike-safety.html and http://fogbees.blogspot.com/p/bike-law.html 
     Under Tennessee Law bicycles are vehicles and have all the rights and responsibilities of other vehicles to the road.  We seem to have gotten the first part of this law down, but frequently struggle with the last part.  I'll make it easy.  If you wouldn't drive your car in a certain manner then don't drive your bike in that manner.  
     When you approach a traffic control sign or signal, such as a red light, automatically assume other FOGBEES are going to abide by it and don't plan to violate it.  
     The other failure I see most often is improper lane positioning.  It is against the law to pass another vehicle on the right.  Even worse it is against the law and against common sense to pass a car waiting at an intersection on the left side and then turn in front of them to go to the right.  Lastly, if you plan to turn left, adopt the proper position on the road as every other vehicle is expected to do.
    If you see someone on a FOGBEE activity riding in an unsafe manner or violating the law, courteously TELL THEM about it.  It may save them, another FOGBEE, or you from injury.