Skip to main content

The Huntington Bicycle Club, NY

Date: 2/26/2023
Subject: Folks on Spokes, February 2023
From: Huntington Bicycle Club


           A Message from the President

      It's the end of February and we're all looking forward to the beginning of the riding season. The Board has been busy planning ahead for the coming year. Our first Club meeting will be March 8th at 7:00 PM at the Harborfields Library. There will be a proposal to amend the By-Laws, by separating the Vice President and Ride Chairman positions. This would add another member to the Executive Board. The Vice President and Ride Chairman's job descriptions will be discussed at the March 8th meeting. Daniel Flanzig will be the featured speaker, updating us on bike related legislations and the laws applying to EBikes.

Please sign up for this, as we will be having pizza, cookies and drinks and need to know how much to order.

        Thank you, Arne for taking on management of the Classified Ads. Now, members, start using it!  That being said, we are still in need of a Social Media Chair. If you are  somewhat familiar with Facebook, Instagram and Strava, you may be our person! Please contact one of the Board members if you are interested.

         The Board is concerned about HBC member involvement and general participation, so please take a few moments to answer this  survey. It will really help us with planning events and weekly rides. 

*All of the responses are anonymous, and you need to be logged onto the HBC Website in order to access this survey.

                                                 HBC Member Survey

 

      Speaking of rides (that's why we're here!), the Ride Leader meeting is on Tuesday, March 21, 7:00 PM  at the Library.          

If you are interested in becoming a Ride Leader, or are currently one, please join us. Larry is the new Ride Chairman, 

 and has much to share as we prepare for the start of the official riding season.

     HBC is involved in running a Bike Rodeo, as sponsored by AAA. This is a great opportunity for us  to connect with children and their parents learning to ride on the roads properly and safely.

We will need about 15 volunteers for this project, on Saturday, April 15 at the Harborfields Library. Timing will be from 8 AM to 3 PM (this includes set up and clean up. The children report at 10 AM). There will be 2 sections of parking areas roped off in order to implement this event. Look for a sign up (and email reminders) on the Web page.

     Gold Coast update: The great news is that there will be a Gold Coast this year. It is scheduled for  July 9, originating from Harborfields High School. It will be named, Gold Coast East, as all the routes will go east. There will be a 25, 42 and a Metric Century. At this time, we are still waiting for permits to be confirmed. There will be rest stops and road markings as in previous Gold Coasts.

    On the horizon, put in your calendars tentatively: Multi Club ride with SBRA and MPBC, Sunday, August 6th. There will be more information on this as it gets confirmed. Another event: August 18 to 20, the Covered Bridge Ride in Lancaster, PA. This is a weekend surrounding the Covered Bridge Ride (that has expanded to 5 different mileage choices) on the 20th. Past President, Lou has availed himself to give guided bike tours around Lancaster before and after the big ride. This has been a really great event in the past, and is worth considering. Details about housing,  meals etc... to be shared at the March meeting.

 

     An update on the progress of the Long Island Greenway, pictured below.

     Go to this link for much more info:

https://www.eastendbeacon.com/a-greenway-planned-to-traverse-long-island/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR1CFy3eoNiB8lmzyMHSEK-FAPv7tECQHZq1iC8P8J4T_K4ldqIiaByR_KM

 
  I hope to see many of you at our first meeting of the year, March 8th.
Happy and safe riding,
Karen

 

 

  

 
Two favorite destinations:
St. Roccos with the B+, and Panera with the Crankin' and Lou
 
Happy February and March Birthdays to our members!
Cary D Kessler
February 21
Chase G Rowley
February 22
David R Howell
February 24
Patricia Coladonato
February 28
John A Dullaghan
March 4
Cliff Montick
March 5
Nelson Schwarting
March 6
Fredric A Itkin
March 8
Sharon Turner
March 8
Clifford Fetner
March 8
JORGE E BARRETO
March 10
Frank T VanBrunt
March 11
Gregory Loiacono
March 12
Deirdre Levine
March 13
David Linden
March 13
Charles Goldberg
March 14
Dan Panzenbeck
March 14
Mark Mingelgreen
March 14
Steven Jonas
March 15
Ron V Albinson
March 15
Philip G Schram
March 17
Bill Singh
March 17
Sharon Connolly
March 21
                 Link for the Greenway updates:
https://www.eastendbeacon.com/a-greenway-planned-to-traverse-long-island/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR1CFy3eoNiB8lmzyMHSEK-FAPv7tECQHZq1iC8P8J4T_K4ldqIiaByR_KM

                        Trainer Set up
  1. Water: Expect to drink more than you would outside.
  2. Fans: Keep your body (and your back tire) cool.
  3. Rubber Mat: You’ll drip sweat, and your trainer might skid as you hammer.
  4. Towel: Drape it over the frame and handlebar to protect it from moisture.
  5. Book or Riser: You can buy bike-specific risers to level the wheels, but a thick book also works.
  6. Entertainment: A TV, iPad, phone, or training buddy will help prevent boredom.                                                 My basement trainer!

 Spin Bike Workouts

No hills here: This 30-minute workout was designed for high accelerations at low to moderate resistance. It’s ideal for a fantastic calorie burn.

  • 3-minute warmup at light to moderate pace in the saddle and/or standing up.
  • 30-second sprint followed by 30-second easy cycle; alternate for 6 minutes
  • 3 minutes at moderate pace in saddle or standing up.
  • repeat previous 2 steps for a total of 3 rounds
  • 3-minute cooldown at an easy pace

 HIIT

In this type of HIIT workout, the intervals are intense and quick with a small recovery window. The results are geared towards maximum calorie burn and fat loss, and this 30-minute sequence is ideal for either beginners or veterans/

  • 5-minute warmup at light to moderate pace
  • 8 x 20-second push in third position with moderate resistance followed by 10-second recovery 
  • 1-minute recovery in saddle at low to moderate resistance and speed
  • Repeat above intervals and recovery one more time
  • 1-minute recovery in saddle at low to moderate resistance and speed
  • 4 x 40-second push in saddle with light to moderate resistance, followed by 20-second recovery
  • 1-minute recovery in saddle at low to moderate resistance and speed
  • Repeat above intervals and recovery one more time 
  • 60-second push at maximum effort
  • 5-minute cooldown
                From the League of American Bicyclists Newsletter

      HELP US EDUCATE DRIVERS

        ABOUT BLIND ZONES

RESEARCH/POLICY
by Connor Herbert

All drivers should know about blind spots, the areas to the sides of our vehicles that we can’t see through our rear-view or side mirrors. Newer model year cars often have indicator lights warning drivers about objects in these side blind spots. But there’s another big blind spot on many cars: hoods of vehicles can obscure a massive area directly in front of the car or truck. This is called a front blind zone. Front blind zones are less of an issue for sedans and smaller cars, but as the size and weight of American cars and trucks continue to get taller and heavier, the danger to the safety of people biking, walking and rolling grows with the blind zone.

Large-scale cars, trucks, and SUVs, like the Ford F-150 and the Cadillac Escalade, put their drivers in a position away from the front of the vehicle and lifted into the air, meaning that drivers cannot see the ground for ten to twenty feet directly in front of them. This means they cannot see small children, like preschoolers, who might cross in front of their car. In fact, the image of the Ford F-150 shown below demonstrates that its front blind zone extends the length of over a dozen preschoolers. This epitomizes the most significant danger of blind zones, and why the League is asking you to help educate decision-makers and the public about the danger of increasing vehicle size.

 

 

 

Image: Blind Zone Calculator

HELP US EDUCATE DRIVERS ABOUT BLIND ZONES!

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center has been developing a crowd-sourced web app in partnership with the Olin College of Engineering that enables people to submit data identifying and measuring a vehicle’s blind spots. This tool, called VIEW, will enable drivers, fleet managers, and future car buyers to have a sense of a particular vehicle’s blind zone danger and compare it to other vehicles to make more informed purchases. You can submit data for your own vehicle here and help expand the dataset available.

HOW TO SUBMIT OR VIEW BLIND ZONE DATA

On the site, you can either add a vehicle to the database or use the visualizer to see existing blind zone data. If you go to the visualizer and click on “details” on the side of one of the vehicles, like I did here, you’ll see a drop-down that enables you to visualize how far a front blind zone extends out based on the different types of vulnerable road users. 

 

To submit data for your vehicle, you will need a yardstick, a tape measure, your phone, and ten to twenty minutes. In this example video, engineers demonstrate the measuring process on a large garbage truck, but for your viewing pleasure, I went ahead and completed the process on my own 2013 Chevrolet Equinox. You can follow along with the full instructions provided by VIEW here.

I highly suggest finding a flat ungraded road to do these measurements!

 

 

 

Here is the panorama shot from the driver’s perspective.

 

 

 

Here is me getting the measurement from the ground to where the camera was for the panoramic shot.

Here is the photo of me getting the passenger-side measurements. 

Knowing that there is a blind zone in front of my vehicle leaves me with a little more caution about the way that I drive and interact with other road users, but it also means that I can do a better job at responding to situations as they arise. We strongly encourage you to take the time to measure out your car, take a panorama, and upload it to the VIEW app whenever you get the chance!
Piazza in Napoli with a Bianchi
Off the ferry, onto Shelter Island
View this Newsletter on our Website at Club/Newsletters
Return to Previous Page