Merry Christmas!

High-Wheel Santa (Louis Prang)

Merry Christmas to Everyone from the Kennebec Valley Bicycle Club!  May you all have a fine year of cycling ahead!

This past year we had a terrific calendar of rides, most of which had fine weather and were really well-attended - one of our best years ever!  Many, many thanks to everyone who volunteered to lead rides and who helped out in many other ways - we couldn't have done it without you.  I also want to note that several of our "regulars" - due to circumstances unforeseen and otherwise - were unable to ride with us this year: I want you to know we missed you all, and we hope you can make it back and ride with us again in the coming year!

Winter Events coming up: we will once again schedule a Ride Planning Pizza Party sometime in late January or early February, most likely at the offices of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine in Augusta.  If you could send along to me any preference for evenings that you could (or could not) make a meeting, I'll try and sort through the responses and arrange a date fro us to meet.  If the Old Farmer's Almanac predictions are correct and we get substantial snow this Winter, we might also try to schedule a snowshoe/x-country ski event, too - just to keep your cross-training honest!  And if the OFM is full of baloney, and we have a few opportune mild days, we may try to stir up a club ride or two at the last minute.

Facebook: as I already administer two other work-related Facebook pages, I'm considering whether it would be manageable to set up a KVBC Facebook page to help get ride notices out and attract new riders.  If you are already on Facebook, please let me know, so I know what kind of member participation might result - I wouldn't want our "outreach" to exclude our current membership.

Club Dues: there is a concern that the League of American Bicyclists might be forced to raise next year's club insurance rates for member clubs (such as KVBC) but right now it looks as if the club can absorb the increase without raising our membership dues.  We had some good fortune that the insurance fees have been quite modest and have held steady over the past few years - and that we've never had to draw on the insurance!

May you all have a safe and enjoyable year a'wheel next year!