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         SIBA Notice sent out by Club's President, Corie LaRocco.
                                           Sent June 10, 2020.


As everyone is aware this is a year like any other and we thank everyone for being part of the SIBA family.

The main goal for everyone is to keep ourselves and everyone we ride with safe. Everyone has been really great about keeping distances, no touching. Masks when we are close up and/or riding. It is tough but we all need to stay the course.

We tried to keep the hope alive for some time, but we had to cancel the social activities for this year. I think pretty much everyone figured this out already, but it was only right to let everyone know officially.

I hesitated writing this because it makes me sad, but it is the right thing to do. Because we are a small bike club, I think we are a pretty close knit group. We like to do things with our group and significant others. So, if we can’t do the things we like to do, how we like to do them AND ensure everyone’s safety, it is best to hold off for now.

So, that being said, it’s great to see everyone out there riding.

We’ve got Sunday & Monday rides posted for B & B+ groups respectively this Sunday so check them out.

Gail’s been volunteering time to take a social Boardwalk ride most Wednesday & Friday evening so check the calendar for that schedule in the coming weeks as well.

Corie

 

Notice sent out by Club's President, Corie LaRocco to the members 
on June 10, 2020 
.


Hi everyone! As all of you probably know the city was able to enter phase 1 on Monday 6/8/20.  With that, we can officially start our bicycling season with SIBA starting Saturday 6/13! And since we missed the first Saturday of the month for Club riding, this Saturday show your SIBA club pride and wear a SIBA jersey if you have one!

 

Every Saturday:

Where: Miller Field (by the abandoned hangars)

When: 8:30 AM (ready to roll!)


But these are not normal times and while we want to see everyone out there riding as a group again, we have to ask everyone to follow a few guidelines.


Our goal: You can still be social while being socially distant!  

  1. Have a mask or facial covering with you and be able to wear it at short notice.  Note: We have members that want to ride but are concerned about being infected or infecting loved ones & they will most likely be wearing a mask during the entirety of their ride. If you are riding without a mask, be courteous and ask others in your group that are riding with masks if they are comfortable with you not utilizing one. Make necessary adjustments such as riding in the rear of the group.
  2. When nearing someone else outside of your family unit (another cyclist, walkers, people at the rest stops, etc., please be courteous and cover your nose and mouth when you cannot be 6ft apart or more from someone. 
  3. Keep groups 10 or less when possible. Larger groups we ask you to go out in waves. If your group is slightly larger than 10 (11 or 12), it is up to the discretion of the ride leader how to proceed.
  4. Try to space out as much as possible.  For Saturday rides, most of us know the routes we take. Discuss with your group before you start pedaling so everyone is on the same page.
    1. Space out when stopped
    2. Ride a long single file
    3. Use hand signals when possible
  5. As always, if you have new people in the group, make sure you have a leader or designated person for them to follow and wait for them (if necessary) so they can learn the route.  If we are more spaced out than usual, we do not want to lose anyone unintentionally.
    1. B & C groups, are always “no drop”.  Continue to make extra sure any new members are not left behind. 
    2. B+ may not always be “no drop”.   It is at the discretion of the ride leader.  If you are concerned, please ask your ride leader for this type of ride (or ride with B or C pace rides.)
  6. When stopping at the gas stations, coffee shops, etc. please observe the rules of the store.  if possible, minimize the number of people going in at once. An observation from those that have been riding, many public bathrooms are not open or no longer open to the public.
  7. No snot rockets please! Bring a tissue, wear an armband, use your sleeve. Keep it as contained as possible! 

The ride leader has the discretion to add or modify theses rules if they feel it is necessary.  In addition the board will review and implement changes as needed for upcoming rides.  

  

Be sure to check out www.SIBIKE.org for Sunday rides being scheduled as well.  Location and meet up time & place will be posted on the website with the ride information. Any Sunday ride suggestions & leaders are always welcome.


Hopefully we can continue to stop the spread while in phase 1. We hope to continue to do our social activities whenever it is allowed. For right now, enjoy riding with our group again. 


See you Saturday! We missed you!


Corie




A New SIBA Jersey for the members.

Here we are in mid-February
and it won’t be long until we find ourselves cycling in our neighborhoods, looking at our events calendar, browsing the web and talking it up with our riding buddies.  Planning on what event rides to attend and looking for new places to ride and explore.  If you’re like me, you’re also thinking about your bike’s maintenance and what cycling gear to have on hand for the season.

 

This past SIBA Board meeting, February 11th, all board members voted in favor to introduce another club jersey.

 

This is great news:  Here is an opportunity for another club jersey, a different jersey. We’ll refer to it as a SIBA Club Jersey or the sibike.org Jersey or just the Other Jersey. Please note that the jersey many of us have and own continues to be SIBA’s Official Club Jersey and the Official SIBA Club Jersey will continue to be made available to all members.

 

We will offer the members an opportunity to order the Official SIBA jersey and other matching apparel in late spring.

 

This other SIBA or sibike.org Jersey will have our SIBA logo, the sibike.org URL and the year 2019 will be found on it as well.  It will be available for ordering in the upcoming weeks and once the order is in, no reordering will take place (shorts, vests and jackets will not be available for ordering at this time).

 

Check and look in our website for images of this Other SIBA Jersey. The Jersey fit is an athletic/club fit.  A link to the sizing chart to help in selecting your size will also be available.

 

Pre order your jersey if interested.

Send an email to armandolisojo@sibike.org with the following information.  Male/Female size and how many.  Send no payment at this time. Just indicate in the email if you will be paying by check or through PayPal.

 

The cost for the Jersey is $75.00 for an order of 15 (minimum) to 24 pieces and $69.00 for 25 or moreWhen I’m ready to place the order I will send out a notification for payment via email.

 

Note: Voler, the company that produces our cycling apparel requires full payment up front. This Cycling apparel is custom made but because it’s custom made, all orders are final. 

 

An additional note: Voler also produces custom orders for other teams and clubs, this is time sensitive since orders are produced on a first come first serve basis.  I will keep everyone informed as to the status of our order as I receive the information from Voler.

 

Thank you.

 

 Posted by: Armando armandolisojo@sibike.org




Looking Back at our 2018 SIBA Year


 

Frequent rainy weekends were a pattern that started well before our cycling season began this year and it went on straight through the fall into the winter. 

 

Many of our rides where interrupted because of rain, even one of our favorite weekend getaway ride’s the Amish Country Bike Tour was a wash.  Although a few of our members rode on that rainy day in September, a few of us did manage to set some new personal bests, but it certainly wasn’t done in the preferred weather of choice.  I even thought to myself that I could salvage my cycling (my riding) by getting in some mountain biking later in the season thinking the rain would come to a halt, but unfortunately the rain just never let up and unless you like playing in mud, the trails were un-rideable. 

 

Let’s dwell on the good.  Here are some of the accomplishments we had this year:

  • For the first time, our enhanced website simplified membership renewal and allowed new members to register online. 

  • For the first time, we ordered SIBA apparel at the start of the season.  In addition, we reintroduced SIBA shorts to complement our Jerseys.  Having coordinating Jerseys and Shorts led to a second order for apparel for the first time.   

  • Membership increased this year and both our B+ and C group riders grew.

  • For a second year in a row we had our annual Dinner at Lorenzo’s on March 13th.  Initially, we were concerned that we wouldn’t meet the attendance required to keep the same private room as last year so we gave it up.  Sure enough as we neared the day of our dinner, more members signed up.  Although we gave up the private room Lorenzo’s still accommodated our group nicely.  Shortly after the dinner a survey was put out hoping to find out why we had such a low turnout and what we could do to entice more members to participate in our Annual Dinners.

  • In May our New and Renew Ride was rained out, however, we had a New and Renew post ride Pizza Party at Gennaro’s which was exceptional.  At the party we introduced our SIBA Pins which Nancy handed out to all the members.  These Pins bare our URL (sibike.org) making it the first time our web address is found on SIBA’s swag.  

  • On the weekend of the June 29th, we had a large attendance, which included all ride categories, for the getaway and ride weekend Roy named “The Penn Dutch Stay and Play”.  Three years ago Roy reached out to the Lancaster Bicycling Club and arranged for a SIBA weekend of cycling with evening socials.  It went so well that we returned the following two years.  This year after our Saturday ride a bunch of us got together for lunch.  I’d like to say it was our first beer and burger social.  Incidentally, I even squeezed in a Garmin GPS Clinic.

  • In October we had our Flagship Brewery social.  Although it was a small turnout, we had a great evening of conversations, laughter and of course many beers with our SIBA members and friends.

  • On December 2nd we had our first Breakfast Social at the Annadale Diner, an idea which was brought up at our November Board meeting.  Surprisingly, we had an unexpected large group.  Twenty five members and guests were present for breakfast.  Maybe next year we’ll get a private room.

Not a bad year after all.

For 2019, SIBA hopes to continue in same fashion and momentum. Until then, we’ll see you out there… somewhere.

Happy New Year!

 
Posted by Armando on behalf of the SIBA Board:



ropaf via SIBA NOTICES <SIBANOTICES@sibike.org> Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 1:21 AM

Thank you to all who were able to make it to our SIBA barbeque on August 4..

And special thanks to all those who helped to make it a success.


First Jack took up the challenge (and the spatula) to command the grilling.  His first mate was a later volunteer, Dan.

Transportation of the tables, chairs, and assorted equipment from Marion to Michele's house was done by John Warner, Steve Greenstein, Glenn Storman, and myself.  Followed by a nice breakfast at Z2.  And except for Steve, we brought the stuff back today.

Vin volunteered to show up early on barbeque day for the set up.  Dorothy volunteered to help with the clean up.  Many of you were very helpful in the final clean up. So helpful in fact, that Michele was delighted.

Michele was again very gracious to host our event in her backyard.  Even the weather cooperated. The prediction the day before was for rain all day. But we had sunny and mostly cool weather.

Many thanks also to Lex, who helped with the shopping, as usual. And always helps to prepare and bring out the food with Michele.

Corie was another helper in the kitchen.

I hope most of you got to sample those delicious flan desserts made and brought by Nancy.  And her paella, excelente!

Now my disclaimer: I am not responsible if I left out some who brought other dishes or helped in other ways. I was not aware of everyone's contribution.

I think we all got at least one plateful of the food that was on the tables. Followed by the coffee, ice cream and cakes!

Now we're all going to have to do more bicycle miles to work off those calories.  All the pictures that I took are now on our website.  If anyone has other pictures of the barbeque that they would like me to post; just send them to me via text to 718 887-1854 or e-mail at Ropaf@aol.com



Thirty Years & Counting

August 2018 I will celebrate my 30th year as a member of SIBA.

One of the best things I ever did was to join SIBA back in 1988. I would like to thank the club for affording me the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. I have rode with; doctors; nurses; lawyers; phycologist; educators; therapists; engineers; firefighters; policemen; auto mechanics and many others.

What is especially gratifying for me is that at one time or another I led them on an off island ride. I may have led more NJ rides than any other member. I have led rides for more than 25 years and in 2012, I was named by my peers as “The Greatest Ride Leader on the Planet”! In 2016 at the age of 80 I led a NJ ride! I repeated that again in 2017. I am positive I am the oldest member to lead a ride in NJ. Maybe I should change my name to “The Oldest Ride Leader on the Planet”.

I have served the club in many ways; board of director; on various committees; head ride coordinator; B group coordinator; awards and dinner MC, writer for the newsletter. Yes; at one time at the annual diner the club presented awards to members. And yes; we had a newsletter that was mailed to each member every month.

I have developed and created new rides and some are still in use by the club. Other club rides I have altered to be safer and with more right turns and less left turns. However, what I am most proud of and gave me the most satisfaction; was leading rides. There is something to be said for being a ride leader; you get to decide on what ride you will lead and most important where and when the lunch stop will be. You get to ride out front and dictate the pace and everyone is following you. They have to because you have the only que sheet!


I also enjoyed taken new members on their first NJ ride. Showing them what a difference riding in NJ is as oppose to doing the same rides on Staten Island. What I like about riding in NJ; less traffic; better roads; more scenic and the drivers are friendlier towards cyclists.

SIBA also introduced me to the many cycling events held in different states. I started attending these events back in 1991. Last year at the age of 81, I attended The Amish Tour in Dover and rode 54 miles. I have attended more than 40 cycling events in eight

states. Not a bad way to view the country; from the seat of a bicycle!


The friendships I have made through the years have endured to this day. Although some of them have stopped riding, we still get together for lunch several times a year.

I am not alone as a 30 year member our very own VP John Warner; former VP Frank

Beninati; former VP Vince Grazaino are members of this exclusive club. Next year former VP Michele Pirone will celebrate her 30th year. Do you see pattern developing here? Since I am not a former VP you can say I broke the precedent and now any member can be eligible to join the 30 year club!

When I was a young C rider of 52 years old I asked one of the senior members how can I become a more accomplished rider? He said I’ll give you three pieces of advice: ride the bike; ride the bike; ride the bike! You know what? It worked. The proof is I am still riding and have no plans to retire.

It is my understanding that the club was founded in 1977 by several guys who rode together. After 40 years the club is still flourishing and hopefully will continue.  A tip of the helmet and many thanks to SIBA; for giving me the opportunity to ride with such a great group of people.

See you on the road.


Tony Iadisernia

AKA Tony I






ANNUAL SIBA PICNIC BBQ 

 

SIBA's annual Picnic BBQ will be on Saturday, August 4th, at 1 PM at 658 Drumgoole Rd E - (Michele's house). It is FREE to all 2018 paid SIBA members and their significant other.

Eat, Drink, and enjoy each others company.  

 

Register for this event by Wednesday July 30th

You must Register so we can plan accordingly.

  

 Go to the events calendar, and click on SIBA picnic on 29th date
Click on Register now.

If you are bringing your significant other or additional person for the picnic,

click the circle "additional non-member" and complete the registration.




The Staten Island Bicycling Association's

Official “Club Jersey” and Cycling Apparel

 

A Member’s Exclusive.   

 

The debut of the SIBA logo cycling shorts was received well at the New and Renew ride event.  The SIBA logo shorts goes well with the official SIBA cycling Jersey and the members that had missed out on the opportunity to order the shorts have been asking about getting a pair.

 

If you missed the opportunity, or was just undecided and didn’t order a pair of the shorts, here’s your chance. We have contacted Voler, the company that produces our cycling apparel, and we still have a chance to get another order in.

 

We will start taking your order immediately for the shorts or any of the cycling apparel you may be interested in, including the Official SIBA Cycling Jersey. This opportunity is only for a short time. All orders and payments must be received no later than June 31st.

 

** Use our sibike.org website to assist you with your order (must be logged in) **

On the home page, on the right side of the apparel slide show, and below our announcement.  Click on the button that reads *Cycling Apparel*. You will be re-directed to our Storefront, where you will find all the tools needed for selecting the desired apparel, and placing your order.  You will find information regarding the product lines, size charts and links to Voler’s website.  You will also find the link to download an order form. The instruction to place your order is in the order form.

Note:  Voler, the company that produces our cycling apparel requires full payment up front. 

 

Additional Note: The Cycling apparel is custom made. Because your order is custom made, all orders are final.  Voler, the company that produces them also produces custom order for other teams and clubs, this requires time since they are produced in a first come first serve basis.  I will keep everyone inform of the status of our order as I receive the information from Voler. 

Posted 6/1/18








New and Renew Ride and Pizza Lunch Report, 5/28/18


Our New and Renew Ride and Pizza Lunch, was originally scheduled for May 19th.  The Ride was cancelled due to rain. However, that didn’t stop us from having our Pizza Lunch Social Event, scheduled to take place after the ride.  The social gathering was well attended. We had a better than expected attendance.  We all moved about, interacting and were well engrossed in each other’s conversations.  Some of the members were disappointed that the New and Renew Ride had to be canceled, suggesting that we make it next week. As a result, our club president moved to reschedule the ride for the following Saturday.


Saturday May 26th.  Members attending our start of the season New and Renew Ride, along with our invited guests, gathered at Miller Field. It was an impressive gathering with a good showing of riders from every ride category.  Most of our members wore the Official SIBA Cycling Jersey, the bright colors drawing attention from all directions.  It was clear something good was happening here this day.

All of SIBA’s ride group categories were present for this ride and the weather was great.  New members and guests got a moment to get acquainted with club members and joined us for the ride.  All ride group categories rolled out with an impressive number of attendees.  Roy Fischman, our Club President had a pretty big group himself with the Social/Casual attendees. We hope their ride was enjoyable and hope to see them again as the cycling season progresses.


Thank you to the members expressing interest in our New and Renew Ride. Your opinion counts your voice was heard.

A note about our SIBA apparel:  This year the SIBA Logo Shorts made its debut. Members that had ordered the SIBA Logo Shorts paired them up with the Official Club Jersey at the New and Renew Ride event.  Due to the high interest expressed for the SIBA Logo Shorts, for those of you who missed the opportunity to order a pair, we are exploring the possibility of re-ordering again this year.  Look for an announcement in the coming weeks.

Our cycling apparel is a member exclusive. You can only order them if you’re a member.