Page 2 - Whitehorse Wheels October 2020 issue_Classical

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the online uniform shop opens 2 - 16 November. Many thanks to Tiana for managing the club’s
uniforms.
• A Personal Locator Beacon was purchased to be used on multi-day rides in case of personal
emergency in remote locations that lack mobile phone coverage.
• Bicycle Network Bike Counts provide the club with our second income stream (other than
memberships) with $1,120 from the November Bike Count and $1,620 from the Super Tuesday Bike
Count. Some 9 +25 members volunteered their time and most donated funds raised to our club.
Thank you.
• $15,766 was generously raised by donation from club members for Max Adams following his
serious accident earlier last year. While Max was still at Royal Talbot Hospital a small group of
members visited to present the money, for which Max is very grateful.
• An IT sub-committee was formed to oversee the Website Upgrade. Whitehorse Cyclists applied for
a Community Grant of $3,000 from Whitehorse Council to employ the services of a professional
website building company to create the new website: our members will complete the task. I am
delighted to report that our application was successful. Further update on the website is in the
newsletter.
2020 was a year of being flexible and creative:
• January BBQ was postponed a week due to poor air quality caused by bushfires
• Covid-19 saw the Ride calendar suspended. From late March to mid-June members rode alone or
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in pairs, and for four glorious weeks (9 June - 8 July) club rides resumed with maximum 10 riders
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and essential bookings. Social distancing was now the norm! 9 July saw club rides suspended
again, and by August Melbournians were confined to their 5km radii for one hour of exercise. One
hour was extended to two, and we wait with baited breath for the next installment!
• Committee meetings continued remotely
• Club meetings were suspended late in March and resumed remotely in July
• From April to June the club’s newsletter, Whitehorse Wheels, was published twice monthly as the
primary means of keeping members socially connected, informed and entertained. Special thanks
to Anna for her energy and creativity in producing our newsletter during these times, and thanks to
the many members who contributed articles, stories, reminisces, quizzes, photos, poetry, etc.
Particular thank you to those who participated in the series of members’ interviews – both
interviewees and interviewers;
• Many ride groups reached out to each other by hosting weekly ‘gatherings’ via zoom, WhatsApp,
etc. which continue to this day
• Our annual Mid-Winter Movie & Soup Night was held in our own homes.
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• Ride statistics showed a healthy return to club rides 9 June - 7 July: sixty-three riders across the
easy, medium, MAD and hard groups rode on the first Tuesday. Ride coordinators and committee
members devoted a zoom meeting to discussing the successes and challenges of club rides in this
period to ensure a smooth resumption of the ride calendar in the future.
• Some changes in ride coordinators – Dick van Gelderen hung up his hat as coordinator of Tuesday
and Thursday Medium Rides after 6 years of dedicated service to the club. Terry Ryan is the new
Tuesday Medium Ride coordinator, and Ross Jacob is coordinating the Thursday Medium group.
Barry McCaig is taking over from Bruce Easton as Thursday MAD coordinator.
• Newsletter photos changed from traditional group shots, to socially-spaced group shots, to zoom
meeting screen shots!
• Many special milestone birthdays occurred this year without celebration with family or WCI friends.
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Happy Iso-birthday to you all. Especially to Pat Miller (Happy 85 ), our eldest active woman
member who is an inspiration to us all.
• Sadly we mourned the loss of long-term member, Jacques Fievez who passed away in April. The
committee created a new award in memory of Jacques, “The Spirit of the Club Award” for members
whose efforts embody the spirit of our cycling club.