by John Beverly, CBC President 2000

A new century is upon us and with it a renewed interest in biking. It seems we have come full circle, when comparing the end of this century with the end of the last when biking was very common in American cities. This time around, we are interested more in recreation than transportation. With the addition of bike lanes in the downtown area of Chattanooga, perhaps we will see a few more people riding bikes for transportation, as well as fitness and fun. Hopefully, we will see bicyclists riding to downtown events. Colleen and I rode our tandem bike to the Christmas lights parade and had a great time. As well, we managed to ride past a lot of jammed traffic. I think next year we'll ride to Riverbend where we'll have great parking guaranteed. I also hope that the great organization that we have in the Chattanooga Bike Club will thrive and grow. I hope that more riders will brave the cold weather and ride all year. I hope more of us will light up and SAFELY explore the new world of night riding. I hope we can influence our youth to consider riding a bike over driving a car, whenever possible. I hope that municipalities and businesses will continue to become bike friendly into the new century.

As the new President, I urge everyone to come to the meetings this year. We truly need your input and volunteer efforts to handle our major events. For the new members of the club, we have four that require staffing - Three State-Three Mountain Challenge, Ocoee Fat Tire Festival, Two for One Century and the Tanasi Mountain Bike Festival. I would like to schedule the leaders and volunteers of the events as soon as possible, to allow them time to put their programs together, without the stress of last minute urgency. I would really like for all of the club officers to come to the meetings whenever possible. We really cannot perform our day to day business properly, without you.

I think we are in for a great year of biking in the Chattanooga area. I have heard many good comments about this club, in spite of the Strain we have been under. (Just kidding, Steve) We truly have a good thing going and I think we are going to grow this year, as well, I believe we will have larger participation in our big events. Perhaps this year we can make a few small additions to our club, such as a junior organization and maybe add another big get together/picnic during the summer. (Similar to the Christmas Party)

I want to thank Steve Strain for doing a wonderful job as the club president for so many years. I hope I can fill those Northwaves as well as he did.

I am honored and grateful to serve as the CBC President. Please feel free to call me anytime at 510-9593 or E-mail me at CHATTBIKE@aol.com with comments, suggestions or complaints.

John

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