Table of Contents From the President Moving Toward Bicycle-Friendly Packman's Corner

From the President
A Letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa,

It's been a long time since I've written you a letter, for sure more than 50 years. Between then and now I've been more on the receiving than the sending end. But with 20- and 30-something sons, even receiving was a long time ago.

So you know it must be for a really important reason that I'm writing this letter. Not teeth or a BB or bigger gun, even though I probably could use both. Not one more bike, 25 pounds off or $25,000 more.

I need miles, 600 to be exact. That's how many I need for my 25,000-mile jersey!

I know you're not a member of the Louisville Bicycle Club and therefore don't visit the excellent statistics Web site that Carl and Sandy Davis maintain. If you did you'd see that I'm about 600 miles shy of 25,000. Thirty-two club members have received this jersey. Probably two more will qualify this year.

What do they have — aside from the technicality of having actually ridden the miles — that I don't?

Santa, you also don't read the letters that I write to club members that usually appear in this space. If you did you'd already have had an earful of my mileage-deprived rantings. In January I set the goal of two rides a week (see January 2007 Newsletter) to get a total of 1,450 this year. I didn't make it.

Shouldn't dreamed-of miles count for something? And isn't time spent on hard seats in municipal offices of as much importance as time spent on the saddle?

Santa, there are some real mileage hogs in this club. These people accumulate miles they don't even need. Just miles for the sake of miles. Mindless miles.

For example, two club members will receive the 25,000-mile jersey. They will have several hundred miles to spare. What a win-win if they donated the extra miles to me.

Do you think these thoughts are too childish? Well, I'm in good company with the other letter writers. And I've probably been as good as most of them.

You never disappointed me when I was a kid, Santa. I know you won't start now. I can already see myself at the annual awards banquet as Chad Green, VP Touring, calls the names....

P.S.: Please make sure that the jersey is an XL.