Well, the weather just continues to be perfect for cycling in Marin and I trust you are
taking full advantage of that. The golden brown hills of Mt. Tam and the sweet, salty air and
crashing waves at Stinson are just waiting for you. I have lots of updates, so here we go.
Watch Your Bike: The bike thieves are back and there have been a rash of thefts in
Marin recently, including my buddy’s bike that was stolen from the Roastery in San Anselmo
last Friday while he was taking a break and ordering a coffee. Bike theft is an opportunistic crime, don’t give
them that opportunity, always watch or have a buddy watch your bike if you can’t while
stopped on a ride. Many of us have been lucky enough to have avoided this misfortune, but I
promise you it will ruin your day if it happens to you, so don’t let it. One more thing, never
assume that bikes locked on a bike rack or stored in a locked car are safe, they aren’t. I have
spoken to the Fairfax, Central Marin and San Rafael police departments and they all
recommend that you remain ever so vigilant guarding your bike at all times. They also highly
recommend that you keep current photos and a complete description of your bike, including
any serial numbers. If your bike gets swiped immediately file a police report in the jurisdiction
where it happened and then call all the surrounding police and sheriff departments to notify
them of the theft and provide them with whatever information they request. If the police do
recover your bike, then they will impound it and try to contact you. If they can’t find you, then
they will auction it off, so the ball is in your court to make sure they have enough information
about your stolen bike to locate and contact you if they recover it. Of course, if you happen to
see someone in the process of stealing a bike, call 911.
Grateful for our 2019 Marin Century In-kind Sponsors: Last month I forgot to thank our
In-Kind Sponsors for their generous donations to the 2019 Marin Century so I will do so now.
This year we were blessed with product donations from Clover Sonoma (1000 pints of
chocolate milk and 250 cups of flavored yogurt), Epic (2500 protein bars), Hint (80 cases of
scented water), Daelmans (2500 Stroopwafels), GU gives us (2 cases of assorted GU energy gels),
Three Twins (200 ice cream sandwiches) and Honey Stinger (2 cases of mango energy gels).
Please support these vendors when you can as their generous product donations not only saved
Marin Cyclists a considerable amount of money but also enables us to donate even more
money back to our community.
Upcoming Events: We have a couple of exciting events taking place soon. The first is our
Marin Century Volunteer Appreciation Bike Ride and Picnic happening this Saturday, September
21st at Pixley Park. We are still working out the details of the rides that day, but they will be
posted on our website shortly. The picnic will start around 11 and there will be plenty of food.
The ride and picnic are for our 2019 Marin Century volunteers, but any Club members may also
attend by paying a nominal fee when they register. All those attending must register so we can
get a proper head count for food and beverages. Pixley Park is a large, beautiful park, with
plenty of parking and lots of large grass fields for games and playgrounds for the kids so come
prepared to spend the day there.
The second event is MCBC’s Biketoberfest in Fairfax on Saturday, October 12th, from 10-
5. There is no admission fee, but MCBC is selling discounted tickets for beer tasting on their
website if you are interested. Marin Century will be hosting a vendor tent and you are all
encouraged to stop by and even help us staff it. It is always a great time to immerse yourself in
the local cycling culture so come on out and have a great time, just don’t drive or cycle home if
you have been drinking as the Fairfax police will be out in force.
Club Kits: Many of you have inundated me with questions about the status of our new
club kits and I promise you we are hard at work putting them together. Once a design has been
selected by the board we will notify you via email and this newsletter how you can order yours.
You should know that after reviewing over 25 design options, we have narrowed down
the favorites to just six. Expect a final announcement in our next newsletter with the winning design.
It is our intention to use the club store concept so you can order whatever you want and pay the vendor
for those items directly. We won’t make any profit on the sales, but we won’t suffer any loss for
unsold garments either. This is the same process used by most cycling clubs these days.
I’d give you an exact date this will happen, but you’d never let me live it down if I was wrong,
so….you are just gonna have to trust me on this.
Road Closures: As you already know there is a tremendous amount of road work being
undertaken in Marin. The work on While’s Hill was stopped due to traffic problems which they
are trying to work out. I also just became aware of some closed roads in the GGNRA which can
be accessed at this link :Check Here
Ride Safe
Billy Farrer
president@marincyclists.com