Update

. . Most of the "heavy lifting" on the conversion of FOGBEE Blog and various websites has been completed.  We are also about to update the Membership List based on those who responded to the Google Group Invite.  About 14 invitations have not been approved by members, some people we know.  However, Google does not permit us to register.  They must do it themselves.
. . Our goal is provide the best website of any club in America and we are on our way to make that a reality.  ALL of it is available to us for FREE thanks to Google.  Please take time to review what we have and offer suggestions.
. . Miley asked for an optional format for phones.  This morning we added that feature.
. . Bob wanted members to be able to have their own page.  We can do that also.  The website is wide open for EVERYONE to contribute directly via Web 2.0. But we need people to volunteer to be trained as administrators for the various sections of the website (see the How To page).
. . We have been archiving all our Photoshows on YouTube.  Its a terribly time-consuming process and Bruce took charge of the work.  For more info on that see our website navigation in the right sidebar. Look under Resources, Photo.

2nd Annual FOGBEES Christmas Parade a Success

The FOGBEES outshone themselves as seen in this shot of Bruce Day.

For a portfolio of pics, go to our Shutterfly via the blog / website icon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL , AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT !

Christmas Lights Ride

Light Up Your Ride

The rain for Thursday evening appears certain! We will ride on Friday evening (12/23/11) instead -- same time, location, and route. Hope to see y'all then.  Jolly Ollie says, "Be ready for Karaoke night and the singing of Christmas carols."

BE READY TO START TO RIDE AT 6:30P

Gary had a great batch of toys to take to the Christmas Program.

Looking for lights for your bike. Best selection in town is at TARGETS and WALGREENS.  Neither Lowes or Home Depot have any.

Click here for instructions to apply lights to a rotating wheel.

To see all the POSTS on the Christmas Lights Ride CLICK HERE.

Now a little song from Gary and the RAIN-BEES to put you in the mood.

,

THE FOGBEES HAVE HEART

Thank you to the Fogbees who contributed to an overwhelmingly successful Christmas gift giving cause for those children who were in jeopardy of having no real Christmas this season. You donated toys and gifts to six children in need. These toys were delivered yesterday (and today) to Gallatin for distribution to the families. Way to go Fogbees. (Note: this picture does not include about 6 other gifts that were left next door to my office that I was unaware of until this morning).

Christmas Lights Ride Regional Competition

The Fogbees are the best bicycle club ever ( no dues, no drop, no ego, etc.) but the guys in Knoxville make a good showing in the Christmas Bicycle Decorating category.  Are are they taking it too seriously?  Perhaps, but no reason to not steal some ideas.
Link to Knoxtrans Christmas Lights Ride.

Special Note on the Toys

If, for some reason, no one is at my office on Friday or Monday when you come by to leave your Christmas gift please just leave it next door (to the left side of my office) at the accounting firm. Thank you. Gary

Toys for Tots Collection by 12/20/11

Because our ride is late this year, we will be collecting toys for the "Christmas Program for Tots, Tween, and Teens," instead of the "Toys for Tots." The Christmas Program collects toys for families whose children will not have a Christmas. The families selected have children of the following ages 2, 3, and 6 year old girls and 4 and 5 year old boys. There is also a 12 year old girl, but Sharyn Evans says she plans to buy for this girl. You can also help with this 12-year old, but we want to try to be sure all the kids get something for Christmas and it is easier to buy gifts that any of the younger ones can use.

Instead of bringing your gift to the Christmas Lights Ride on Thursday night December 22'nd, we ask that you

drop an UNWRAPPED gift off at Gary Williams office during working hours
before Tuesday (12/20/11) noon. 

Gary is out-of-town so leave them in the office with his staff. His office is at 131 Maple Row Bldg #A101 in Hendersonville. Gary will take the gifts to Christmas Program Tuesday afternoon.

Thank you for giving a child a Christmas.

Tom

NEW SPIN CYCLES!

We have new Spinning cycles at the YMCA! Yippie!

Bruce Day , Tom Evans , and David Hardin represented the cycle community eloquently tonight in supporting the Sanders Ferry greenway / walk / bike trail project. A few individuals questioned the necessity of said project; however, the majority alderman sentiment appears favorable to initiating this recreational / transportation public project. One elderly female citizen painted a vivid portrait of pedestrians taking their lives in their hands traversing the guard railed passages over the lake incursions along Sanders Ferry in front of her high rise condo home. She pointed out how other seniors will utilize the walkway regularly.

The vote has been called for the ordinance by Mayor Foster and the aldermen have elected to pursue the Sanders Ferry project unanimously ! Chalk one up for the good guys.

Cycling With Aggressive Dogs Around

I found this in a recent Bicycle Magazine article:

By Neil Bezdek

New York City has its drivers. Colorado suffers from an oxygen shortage. Portland is a monsoon. California can’t afford to fix its potholes. New England won’t thaw till May. The Midwest is a wind tunnel. And the Southeast, my current training ground, has dogs. Every workout is interrupted, or enhanced, by canines looking for a quick meal.

Dogs pose a real threat to cyclists. Some riders carry pepper spray, and others resort to canine-repelling sirens. But this is where I draw the line. I might shave my legs, roam around in tights, and try to keep my body weight on this side of feather-light, but I can defend my place in the food chain under my own power, thank you very much.

So next time you’re out riding and a hound threatens to make you lunch, keep the following in mind.

Tour de Cure May 19, 2012

Is anyone riding the TdC in Nashville on May 19? I registered today and didn't see a Fogbee team. If anyone else is riding or interested in riding, I created a team for us. When you register, it should ask you if you want to join a team. Put in "Team Fogbees" and then click join. I hope we have a good turnout for this.

Jason Sexton

2'nd Annual Christmas Lights Ride - Dec 22, 2011

We have been asked, "Where is Jolly Ollie?"

Here is a link 

Do you need help with Christmas Lights decorations for the ride on THURSDAY December 22'nd? Give us a shout at Fogbees@gmail.com.  Unfortunately, Rudolph, the winner of last year's best decoration can not make it.  He and Gail have been surprised with their FIRST grandchild.  He preferred grand-baby sitting.  That means the competition for the best decoration is wide open.  Again, need ideas? Go to the webpage.

A Nice Little Hill Climbing Route for Bryan

The Tour of British Columbia (TdBC) is an amateur ultra-endurance cycling challenge of epic proportions. Riders have 105 cat 5 climbs, 35 cat 4 climbs, 29 cat 3 climbs, 16 cat 2 climbs, 11 category 1 climbs totalling 48,000 meters ( more than 150,000 feet) of climbing and 5,105 kilometers of non-stop cycling between the start and finish lines. 

RE-ENROLLMENT STATUS

UPDATE 12/9/11 I have just sent out invitations to the remaining 26 member/families, who did not respond to our previous INVITE.  I found new email address for about 9 and sent a SECOND invite to the rest.  I am still getting invalid email address responses to about same ones I noted before.  If you don't get an Invite, contact us as shown below.

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On Sunday we sent out 76 Invitations to re-enroll with the FOGBEES.  Thus far we have received 45 acceptances of our invitation.  However, Google says the following email addresses in our membership list are no longer valid:

If you recognize one of these INVALID addresses, please ask the owner to send us his/her correct address to fogbees@gmail.com

Sad News

For us "OLD" Fogbees a sad note. Nashville Singer/Songwriter Dobie Gray has died. He sang a great song I'm sure you will remember.

FOGBEE HILL CLIMBING ASSIST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs5hjz9qFjk&feature=feedu

Christmas Lites Ride

My prior comment about having a trailer courtesy of Caledonia, AKA David Irvine got buried. Here's what it looks like and the music set to be played. If anyone has some favorite to be added, send me an mp3 or tell me the name and artist and perhaps I can obtain it.  The current playlist is 58 min so we should avoid last years repetitions. The Postman tired of the music after the fourth repeat.

Click more to see playlist

The New Blog

UPDATE 12/2/11: I have revised the background image as requested by Tom_B.  See comments for discussion.
UPDATE 12/3/11: Fixed pixalation of lettering around the logo as requested by Gary. See comments for discussion.
UPDATE 12/4/11: Blog converted.  Only a few webpages have been rebuilt.  This work takes an enormous amount of time, so please be patient.  I plan to do a few hours every day. 
- Membership re-enrollment sent via Google Group Announcement.
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The new blog is ready. Nothing was lost.  I am now rebuilding the website.

Cycling Explained

This guy is obviously not a Fogbee

Hendersonville Greenways & Trails

The City has added a Greenways and Trails page to its website (click here). It provides further details regarding the Ordinance 2011-39, which is in first reading at BOMA and has appeared as a headline article in the Hendersonville Star News (here's a link to the article). The Ordinance includes funding to build a Bike Trail from Gallatin Road to Sanders Ferry Park.  The article alludes to the Bike Trail as a road-widening project for Sanders Ferry. If we could get a Bike Trail down Sanders Ferry Road for $1.5 Million, it would be fantastic.  Because of the heavy traffic and narrow roads on this peninsula, bike and pedestrian traffic on this peninsula is nearly impossible. It would open up Sanders Ferry park to greater recreational use.

Aldermen Stamper and Elsten voted again the Bike Trail. 

Is this something we need a strong show of support for?  What do you think?

IMPORTANT MEMBERSHIP UPDATE NOTICE

Next week, everyone on our membership list will receive an email from FOG-MBR@googlegroups.com with an invitation to join this group.  It is a ListServ which our ride and event leaders can use to send club announcements.  It's private; nobody else can send email with it.

JUST CLICK THE BUTTON ON THE INVITE.

Your response also allows us to update the club membership list and to re-authorize people to POST to our blog. Families only need to respond once, unless the spouse wants his/her own separate listing.  If you don’t accept our invitation by January 1’st, we will delete your record.

Unfortunately, some of our email addresses may be out-of-date (one of the reasons for the update) and during the winter months many don't read the blog. Please help by notifying others that they need to reconfirm their membership.  If you don’t receive something in the next couple of weeks send us a note at FOGBEES@gmail.com . We don't want to lose anyone.

Bottle Cage Warning

On my last ride my bottle cage broke. No big deal. Just remove the bad cage and put on a new one. Should be among the easier repairs. To quote The Band Perry, "Uh,Oh!"

IMPORTANT: Web Site Rebuild & Membership RE-ENROLLMENT

. . Our website was built in 2008 and much of the content is stale.  Also, some of the recent Web Browser updates have buggered up the font rendering.  I just had to reformat everything.
. . As I was redoing every page I noticed just how out-of-date much of it is and how badly everything needs a total redesign

Burn the Calories Off Ride From the Gerst Haus 11/25

Sherry and I are going to ride from the Gerst Haus Friday morning at 9:00AM to the dam and back.  We will have lunch at the Gerst afterwards.   All are welcome to join us. 

Mike Knake

Chistmas Lights Route DEC 22'nd

Here is the route we are considering for the Christmas Lights Ride.  It is a little over 14 miles in length and focuses on passing through Hendersonville's major shopping areas. I expect it will take us two hours to complete (6:30 to 8:30).  Bruce is pulling a wagon with our Christmas Tree and boom-box.
. . We are also considering Media Coverage this year, but are hesitant to contact them until we have a reasonable idea on who plans to participate.  This ride is open to everyone. Please share your plans with a COMMENT.  No need to repeat if you commented on the initial XMAS Lights POST. (If not a FOGBEE, mail to fogbees@gmail.com)

What's a FOGBEE?

Much better when watched in FULL SCREEN! Click on the little box.

Fast old guy on an old bike

MICHAEL SECREST BREAKS 100-MILE TRACK RECORD- FINALLY!

As the saying goes, "If you fall off the horse, get back on it." Or perhaps, "Where there's a will, there's a way." In legendary ultra cyclist Michael Secrest's case, he had to get back on his 1996 GT track bike on nine different occasions, over the span of several years, before he finally broke the 100-mile indoor track cycling record. He did this at age 58! Bravo, Michael! Here's a write-up about this incredible, multiple world record-breaking achievement from RoadBikeRider.com:

On his 9th attempt, 58-year-old Michael Secrest set a new indoor 100-mile world record on October 15, 2011. Secrest covered the 100 miles (161 km) on the Home Depot Center Velodrome track in 3 hours, 46 minutes, 16 seconds - at 26.52 mph (42.68 kph).

2'nd Annual Christmas Lights Ride - Dec 22, 2011

The Second Annual Christmas Light Ride is THURSDAY December 22'th. The DATE CHANGE was to accommodate the schedules of our original participants. We are still working out the details and there will be more to come. We are going to ask that everyone who participates to bring a unwrapped toy. The toys will be given to the Toys for Tots Program.

The ride will start from parking lot in front of Jolly Olly at 6:30PM and ride a short distance, no more than 10 to 15 miles. It'll be really slow. Jolly Olly is delighted to host our after-the-ride party. If you need help decorating, go to our webpage. Santa has many helpers willing to assist. All you need are Christmas lights and duct tape (Duct tape and Christmas lights sounds kind of redneckie to me but we are the Fogbees).

VISIT THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS WEBPAGE FOR MORE INFO

You don't have to be a FOGBEE to ride.

ANYONE WITH A BIKE IS INVITED TO JOIN US.

Greenways & Trails

This month's issue features grant opportunities, communities taking action on obesity, and cities in the news. Click Here.

For Bruce & Ed

IT"S THE FOGBEE SPIN-Thursday night

Everyone is asking when we will spin again as a Fogbee group. We will start tomorrow at 6:30 pm. See you there.

Six Reasons to Join an INDOOR Cycling Club.

Morning Ride

Now that I got your attention with this spectacular photo from Phil Vickery on his drive into Whitehouse last week, I wanted to tell you that Sycamore Springs and Demos have confirmed to support our 2012 Cycle For Life Ride on October 27'th.  Don't forget to visit our webpage click here to view more of Phil's and Don's (Claussen) creativity of the Inaugural event.

Cystic Fibrosis Ride For Life

. . Our inaugural Cystic Fibrosis Ride for Life raises $21,000 for Cystic Fibrosis.  The committee has met and selected October 27, 2012 (4'th weekend in October is OURS) for next year's event.  MARK YOUR CALENDARS.

. . The army of volunteers did fantastic, providing a long list of accolades from participants. So we aren't changing anything.  The only thing we have been asked to do is -- get the word out earlier.  Tell everyone! Be alert for some special offers.

. . Pictures, slide shows, and photo shows are available on our website.  Click here or click on the link above in the header navigation.

They're Everywhere, Almost

I am sure everyone has seen sharrows popping up on many of our state roads in Tennessee.  Jessica Wilson of TDOT says “This is part of TDOT's recent effort to add bicycle facilities to resurfacing projects when it is listed in a local plan- i.e. Charlotte Pike, James Robertson Blvd., SR-17 in Chattanooga, etc...”  If you don’t know what sharrows are, follow this link

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20111103/NEWS01/111030317/Street-markings-allow-more-room-bicycle-riders-around-Clarksville-APSU?odyssey=nav|head

Jessica’s comment caused me to reflect on how a group of middle Tennessee bicyclists met with TDOT officials three years ago, almost to this date, to protest the rumbling of bicycle routes.  We used rumbling of a popular shoulder on SR 109 in Sumner County as our rallying point. The outcome of that meeting was not exactly what we expected.

What a Party! Just look at who showed up!

I wanted to thank everyone who attended the biggest Fogbee Halloween Party ever. Over 80 party people rocked the night away with games, prizes, a special wedding dance by "the newlyweds", a tribute to Jennifer (who is moving away) and who led the party goers on a "train" ride and all the other fun and Fogbee hospitality that prevailed that night. The food was outrageous, the costumes were great and the dancing didn't end until midnight. A slide show will be up on the blog in the next week for you to laugh at. See you next year!