THE SPOKIN’ WORD
FOLKS ON SPOKES BICYCLE CLUB
Serving Chicago’s Southland January, 2018
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January 25th Club Meeting
The speaker will be Patrick Bredlau. He is the author of the book "The Green Tunnel'. Lee and I attended one of his programs about a year ago and he was excellent. The discussion will be focused around his trip on the Appalachian Trail. His presentation usually lasts about 45 minutes and then answers questions for another 15 minutes. Patrick's program will start at 8 p.m. and run to 9 p.m. Prior to that we will have a club meeting starting at 7:30 and finishing at 8 p.m.
If you're interested, we will be giving an introduction walk through of the LTF facilities. Please arrive no later than 7 p.m. so that we can start our club meeting at 7:30.
Life Time Fitness: 16333 South La Grange Road, Orland Park, IL 60467
Dan Rumishek
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Thanks to the board members who are leaving their post and to the dedicated group on board who are willing to help the club move forward. We thank Al and Barb for all their years of service.
We have made some changes. This year from January to November, we’ll be having our board meetings on the second Wednesday of every month at 7:00 pm and the general meeting on the last Thursday of every month at 7:30 pm.
Highlights to date for 2018
1. Moved club to Life Time Fitness in Orland Park.
2. Free one month membership at Life Time Fitness for all paid members.
3. Had a very successful first board meeting on January 10th.
4. Made changes to the board and at-large directors, which has made us a stronger club.
5. Sent out board and club meetings calendar with schedule dates, for the year.
6. Made substantial improvements to our club website with ease-of-use in posting event photos, updating current membership directory, posting ride and events on the calendar and updating the banner graphic image.
7. Posted calendar dates for the year for all social events.
8. Started to address improvements for the Turtles.
9. Moving full force on plans for the 2018 Easter ride.
10. First club program on January 25th with Patrick Bredlau, author of “The Green Tunnel”.
Support Needs
1. Need additional volunteers for the Easter ride rest stops. Please contact Fern Bienias at 708 747-7557.
2. Need additional volunteers for the Easter Ride street/route markings. Contact Dan at 708 307-9800.
3. Need volunteers for the Irish Parade in Tinley Park on March 18, 2018. We will be participating in the parade and distributing Folks on Spokes brochures. Details to come.
Expired Membership Issue
All expired memberships have been removed from Club Express. If we don't receive your membership dues by the end of February 2018, you will be removed from the Google Groups FOS announcements. Please send in your membership dues ASAP.
In closing, I must say these are exciting times for our club. The Folks on Spokes club name recognition is improving. Communication amongst board directors and club members continue to improve. The club is much more than the elected officers. We need all your help and also need new blood and ideas. Your voice and opinions are needed and are appreciated. This is your club. Come to your club meetings. Let's make it our best year ever.
Sincerely,
Dan Rumishek
President
djrumishek@yahoo.com
Keep on Rollin’
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FOS Upcoming Socials for 2018
February 13th 2018, Tuesday Pre-Valentine social, where members are welcome to bring with their significant other for a fun event at smokey barque in downtown Frankfort. The time is 7:30, with free appetizers served at 8pm.
We will be in the bar area and it will be a cash bar and drinks paid for by those who order them.
March 18th, 2018, Sunday Tinley Park is having its 19th annual Irish parade in its downtown area starting at 2pm FOS has applied to participate as an entry in this parade and if accepted we plan to walk with our FOS banner and we hope many of our members will join in. If not accepted we will meet up and enjoy this event together.
April15th, 2018, Sunday, our 2nd time pancake breakfast. Place will be Fern's house, 21117 Main Street, Matteson and time is 8am to 1pm. Continental breakfast 8 to 10, pancakes and sausage plus 10 to 1. Plenty of room to park your bike and if driving park in lot next door at day care center.
May 16th, 2018 Wednesday, a plan to participate in our own ride of silence-details will be given later
June 2018-to be announced
July 8th, 2018, Sunday, our annual ice cream social-same weekend as the Bluegrass Festival
August 2018 to be announced
September 16th 2018 Sunday-our annual picnic at Hickory Hollow Shelter, at Hickory Creek Presserves, Laporte road access. Food catered and served 1pm
October 28th, 2018-sunday-end of season bike, hike, pot luck with several other clubs at Goodenow Grove eating at 1pm
November 15th, 2018, Thursday - annual pizza party at Aurelios in Frankfort - arrivals at 6:30, food served 7pm
December 2018 - date to be announced later to co-incide with the hiking schedule-our annual holiday walk in downtown chicago
Any questions call Fern 708 747 7557 or email fernjmb@aol.com
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A Shout-out to One of our Favorites
Who is the most passionate cyclist you know? I suspect a few FOS members are popping up in your mind. There’s definitely no shortage of cyclists who are the real deal. These are the folks who ride even when it’s below 32 degrees with no sunshine. If the conditions are safe enough to cycle, they won’t let the day pass without getting out on the bike. They have an inordinate and almost obsessive zeal for cycling.
But I’m talking about who is THE most passionate, the one who was born with a bike seat attached to his butt. The one who won’t even let a cancer diagnosis and its unrelenting complications slow him down.
You’ve got it--, it’s unequivocally, Bill Lang. I’m sure you’ve heard about this cycling legend. If you haven’t, you’re definitely a neophyte around here. Chances are you’ve enjoyed a ride with Bill as leader, or at the very least, heard about one.
How do you describe Bill Lang’s cycling élan? If a land surveyor calculated all the territories, routes and boundaries that Bill has logged in his lifetime, the final value would make the Voyager-1 look close to home. If you’re one of Bill’s cycling buddies (and most of us are), then you’d think he himself was a specialized land surveyor by profession.
His nickname, mapman, is repeatedly well-earned. Bill can map the best cycling route to wherever you want to go. If you have a hankering to find a bike route to visit Santa’s workshop in the North Pole, or the research lab that’s studying how to turn root vegetables in to bike frames in the UK, Bill’s your guy. He enthusiastically accepts the challenge to map a ride to the remotest of locations.
What’s more, as Bill plans a ride, he eagerly advertises the ride inclusively, “Carol wants to ride to the summit of an unclimbable peak in the Himalaya. We’ll go on Sunday, hope you can join. Might be a few busier roads, but I got a good way.”
If there’s ever been a wheeled cycle worthy of sporting a stage at the Bicycle Museum of America, Bill’s ride is the top contender. Although not his first choice, Bill’s present day bike is actually a trike. Some of the complications to which I’ve already referred, have precluded Bill from continuing to log miles on his Sramek bicycle. He logged 55, 437 miles on that titanium frame. Then, in the spring of 2012, Bill received a special gift from Joliet Bicycle Club.
“My first trike was a single speed senior type trike that a neighbor in Texas allowed me to borrow. I used that one during the years of 2011 and 2012. I slowed down tremendously about the first of January in 2010. I did some cycling but very limited between January of 2010 to December 2012. I had considered all cycling for practical purposes done for the rest of my life. Then that trike came along and changed everything.”
Today, Bill rides a trike that’s like a fully equipped base camp on wheels. Its battery powered montage of lights includes flashers and blinkers that would make a discotech jealous for its elaborate blinding glow. Two forward-facing lights, and several toward the ride’s booty, attached to PVC piping resourcefully crafted together to be tall for visibility, ensure that even the poorly sighted will catch a glimpse of this rig.
Then there’s the American flag projecting several feet higher than the lights. Patriotism is in this man’s bones. Literally. Bill brought back the effects of Agent Orange exposure (the root cause of his cancer) after serving our country in Vietnam from July 20, 1969 to July 17, 1970.
As a radioman, the hefty and unwieldy equipment oft made his job a target for the enemy. Bill’s willingness to talk about his experience is both interesting and educational. His brief stories are always threaded with humility as he explains, “The soldiers that were there before my time did all the hard work and serious fighting.” Then he goes on to share anecdotes that reveal the true reality of having been a soldier in the Vietnam War (during all its years) and the terminal effects of chemical warfare that have been ravaging his body over the last 7 years.
Although his passion and tenacity for cycling make him unique, that’s not what really makes Bill so cherished. He’s absolutely gifted with a natural way of making all his friends feel important to him. Somehow, he manages to make everyone feel special.
It doesn’t stop there though. Bill’s adorable bride, Char (married 50 years!), is also positively rare. Each time I see her, she consistently shines her bejeweled smile whilst giving a heartfelt greeting. Despite not being a cyclist, Char knows most of Bill’s riding buds. He ensures that she knows where to find him and the group at the end of every ride. One might think they are newlyweds from the way his consideration and inclusion of her is of the utmost importance to him.
Both Bill and Char’s gentle kindness and generosity is infamous and beautiful. If you’ve witnessed the way in which he sparks things up for the reserved or underdog cyclists, then you know an inkling about what I mean.
“I notice somebody that’s riding alone and I’ll ride with ‘em, make their life a little more enjoyable. We do tend to pick-on ‘em too, in a fun way, in a good way, I hope. Trying to get ‘em more involved.”
The legend of Bill Lang isn’t only lauded in FOS, JBC and EBC. He’s well-respected within and without multitudes of bike and triathlon clubs, as-well-as community and bicycling advocacy groups. It’s not possible to do justice to the mammoth impact this man has made upon cycling and the communities in which he’s resided.
The Midwest and Texas, where he and Char migrate each winter, have been the luckiest of beneficiaries, but this guy makes cycling friends everywhere he goes. I’ve even been asked (more than once) by fellow triathletes who’ve only heard whisperings about the expert mapman, “Who is that guy on the trike? You think he would help us with the route for our fundraising ride?” Bill Lang is an inspiration and friend to us all.
It’s a beautiful day for a bike ride with Bill Lang.
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Hike at the Dunes
On Sunday, January 14, eighteen FOS members and one very happy dog (Lola) hiked at the Indiana Dunes State Park. Our hike took us through woods, up hills, and for some, a trek along the ridge. We all went down to the beach to see the shelf ice and frozen water. Then it was on to lunch and beverages. Everyone had a great time in spite of cold temperatures. Our next hike will take us back to the lake on Saturday, January 27.
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Hiking
After a wet start, we've had a good hiking season. Sixteen hikers toured Goodenow Grove on our New Years Day hike (which took place a week later due to cold windy weather). The weather for the hike was perfect, the woods looked beautiful with the snow, and we enjoyed our lunch at the Evil Horse brewery in Crete.
Eighteen hikers attended the Indiana Dunes State Park hike. Some hikers chose a challenging route, while the others prefered a more sheltered path.
Upcoming hikes are scheduled for:
Saturday January 27 at Paul H. Douglas Environmental Learning Center in the Indiana Dunes national lakeshore.
Leader Lad Martin, Start 9:30
Sunday February 11, Pilcher Park, Joliet IL
Leader Fern Bienas, Start 9:30
Sunday February 25 Back to the National Lakeshore for the Bailey Chelbourg Homestead hike.
Leader Bernard O'Reilly, Start 9:30
See the FOS website for full details.
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Members: Please visit the FOS Club Express Website!
At your earliest opportunity, take a moment to visit the club website at www.folksonspokes.com. That is the gateway to Club Express (https://fos.clubexpress.com) , which is the site for the entire membership of Folks On Spokes. It has so much information about our club, from archived copies of The Spokin’ Word to online tools for tracking your annual bike mileage. View your very own Member Profile, make sure the site has accurate information about you, especially your email address. Familiarize yourself with different features on the site, such as the event calendar, find out when the next ride is! Click on the Photo Albums tab, have fun looking at the photos of fellow members on previous rides and hikes. In fact, you are encouraged to share any pictures that you have of biking, hiking skiing or social events. Either post them yourself using the Photo Albums tab in your Member Profile, or send them to Chuck Vasile, he’ll post them for you☺. Explore the newest segment of our club, the Turtles, by clicking on their link; the Turtles have been growing fast since spring 2017! Save money by finding out what local bike shops give FOS members valuable discounts on bicycle merchandise, parts and labor. Connect with other members you haven’t seen in a while through the Membership Directory. Last but certainly not least, find out the latest information on the 2018 Easter Ride, still one of Chicagoland’s premier rides! There is so much to explore, and it’s always available to you. Take a look and let us know what you think - you will be glad you did!
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FOS Miles Report
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