Yes carried: 213 to 188. NCCC held up its end with NCCC members making up more than their share of (I presume) the No vote. Sadly, one of the clubs with more than 500 members couldn't round up just 25 more votes. The Yes contingent had a big social media campaign to get new people, with no prior support of SDCBC, to join for free at the last minute and vote yes. No harm in doing that. Just like elections everywhere, you lose if you can't get out the vote for your side.

So, what happened with the vote?

FROM CALBIKE:

Have you ever experienced being buzzed by a car at high speed just two or three feet away, even when there was an adjacent lane for them to use to pass you? Do you get frustrated that it's hard to "take the lane" as you're allowed and should do for safety, because motorists are unwilling to change lanes to pass?

CalBike is working to fix that. The OmniBike Bill (AB1909) will require motorists to change lanes to pass bicyclists whenever they can do so legally. It's just one of four bicycle-friendly uniform vehicle code reforms that California will adopt if AB 1909 passes.

Support this crucial change to the Vehicle Code. Email your senator today and tell them to vote YES on the OmniBike Bill so motorists will change lanes to pass.
For more, see https://www.calbike.org/omnibike-bill/

Watch out for horses.

Likely Swamis new gravel ride. We have bells on our bars which unlock so that when riding the bell rings pretty much constantly on the trails, this alerts horses of our presence so they are less likely to spook. It's not enough to give a horse clearance when on a trail horses will spook if someone appears suddenly, this can cause serious injury to the rider and horse and even the bike rider. Works for dog walkers too as it alerts the dog hopefully alerting the person with both earbuds in.

All,

My apologies but there will not be a ride leader for the Regular Roadies on August 6th.  I am stuck on the East Coast due to many flight cancellations.  I maybe stuck in Maine this weekend. 

Have fun and ride safe.

R/
Ken O

Everyone received an email from your NCCC rep on the Board at the San Diego County Bike Coalition (SDCBC), Ken Chin-Purcell. He makes compelling logical arguments why you should take 15 minutes of your time to vote NO on July 27th at 6:30pm. Please register to vote here. If you are not receiving SDCBC newsletters, please join for free here to ensure your right to vote.

I am going to keep this simple to provide the truth about the hidden agenda that is behind this and give even more reason to vote NO. Don't be bamboozled by the words diversity, democracy, "progressive intersectional bicycle advocacy." This is truly about removing experienced (sometimes willing to speak their minds) individuals from the Board. Without naming names these are direct quotes from two of the folks leading the charge for these new Bylaws.

1. "For those unaware, the Bicycle Coalition has been held hostage for years by a group of cyclists who are against building the safe, protected bicycle infrastructure San Diego County needs to get more people riding bikes. These cyclists — mostly older, white men — have held our organization hostage, bullying anyone who disagrees with them and causing massive internal issues in our advocacy work."

2. "I hope you also know that there are people like me who have been involved for more than 10 years trying to get us to this historic vote. It has been years of struggle to get our board to a place where we could put this before the membership and finally have a chance to eliminate the hold the cycling club / VCs have on this organization."

Without providing all the reasons that #1 is nonsense, be assured that all these experienced club Board members / VCs are all in favor of building SAFE, WELL-designed bicycle infrastructure to get more butts on bikes and have always held that position.

If "VC" is new to you, it is shorthand for vehicular cyclist, a cyclist who is following all the things taught in Smart Cycling; people who bike in traffic like most NCCC members whether you have a Smart Cycling diploma or not. The term VC has become a derogatory term used by certain bicycle advocates on social media. You and I are most likely a VC and proud of it. I certainly am also an older white male, out of my hands.

Can you also see the hidden agenda? You must register to vote NO by July 25th. The people with the hidden agenda have access to who has registered and they feel they need ~300 to vote Yes by signing up new "members" for free. Every NCCC member is also a SDCBC member by virtue of Ken representing you on the SDCBC Board. Help NCCC, yourself, Ken, me because if all 200 NCCC members vote NO, it only takes a couple of other clubs to squash this unnecessary restructuring of the SDCBC Board. Then SDCBC can settle down and get back to the business of making cycling better for everyone, including those who are yet to become bicycle riders.

Thanks - Karl

Some weeks ago, I received a lengthy complaint regarding cyclists scaring horses and riders in the unincorporated areas of RSF. It quickly emerged that we were not the club - large peletons of very fast riders in an area we rarely if ever ride. When I pointed out the average age of our members and the size of our ride groups, the complainant immediately agreed that it was certainly not our club.

HOWEVER, I was asked to remind members that it is very easy to scare horses and throw riders. If you do meet horses and riders, please ensure that you give at least the 3' clearance that CA law requires motorists to give cyclists when passing and preferably announce your presence before passing.

For myself, I find horses to be rather large and occasionally unpredictable creatures I would prefer to avoid. Go carefully

Attached is a slide deck that I made that makes the case for voting No on the San Diego County Bike Coalition proposed bylaws. The fellow who runs the Council of Clubs decided on a different strategy, so this won't be used at Thursday's informational meeting. But this at least is how I would position the issue.

-- Ken C-P

To boldly go where no Roady has gone before.
Videos from a group of us out on the trails, too much fun!
I have a Redshift suspension stem so the camera picks up the Wahoo when I pull up on the bars. The GoPro smooths out all the bumps, twisting etc.
The skinniest tires were Bill's 33mm's on his cyclocross bike, I run 40's.
Anyone can view this shared album at: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0Q5aVbMKXtgly