Hello BCI Members

This is my first "article" for the Pacelines as your president so I will start off by introducing myself. I think most of you know me but for those of you who don't, my name is Mike Farrell. My BCI number is 1259, so I have been around since 1989. Been here awhile. I was also president from 2004 to 2007. Some of you remember me as being the originator of the Bear Training rides which have been going on since the mid 1990's, and several of the Remote rides which I will be kicking up again, like the Tour De Five Cities which starts in Dana Point, and the Carlsbad Remote ride, which by the way I have just scheduled for March 19. In addition, some South county coastal rides starting from Dana Point. So look forward to some of those in the summer months.

Anyway, in the last few years, I have not been seen much due to a Spinal Stenosis condition and two resulting back surgeries which have slowed down my pace considerably. I can still bike long distances but am usually somewhere considerably behind everyone.

This year, we went into 2016 with four vacancies on the BCI board after the elections. Fortunately 3 of those positions have been filled, along with our 2 Directors at Large, thanks to members who have stepped up and volunteered and we expect to appoint the 4th volunteer at our next Board meeting, so the board is now at full strength. I volunteered for the President position, and having served in the past I felt I could be of service and was appointed by the board at the January 29th board meeting. Most of the board members have been close friends over the years so I'm happy I'll be working with them. Also on a personal note, I felt it would be a good way to get back into the middle of things, get to meet a lot of you who have joined morerecently and maybe get to ride a little faster to keep up. BCI has been family to me for many years and I hope to keep up the family ties. So here I am.

I made an announcement at the 2/13 Saturday ride start that I would be submitting this article and would be including my email address and phone number for the purpose of beginning an ongoing dialogue with the membership. Having been appointed by the board on behalf of the membership rather than being directly elected by the membership, I want to say that this is YOUR club, and I am YOUR president, and serve at YOUR pleasure. I believe that one of my prime responsibilities will be to represent and be the voice of the members as best I can. So I invite you all to contact me as often as you wish with your comments, suggestions, questions, criticisms, and complaints, if any, and I promise you will always be listened to and your

feedback addressed or considered, and you will receive a reply as soon as possible.

That said, I also prefaced my remarks Saturday by asking how many had checked out the web site in the past two weeks for any reason other than to look at the upcoming ride routes. I think about 5 or 6 people raised their hands. There has been a considerable amount of work done at the board level to put the present web site together and it is an ongoing process that is still happening. Presently this is the main method of and almost the only means of club communication at this point in time. If hardly anyone reads it then the communication is kind of one sided. In years past the Pacelines was an actual newsletter, sent by mail to the members. Then the snail mail was replaced by email; and you read it that way. Then it went on the web site and became sort of on an ongoing blog. The only problem is that now you have to turn on your computer and click on to it without some sort of physical reminder. So I want to encourage you to check out the web site as often as possible to stay updated with announcements, articles, upcoming club activities both riding and social, and be kept updated at all club levels.

Our next general meeting is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 29th 7-8.30 PM at the Irvine Water District on Sand Canyon Rd. One of the topics will be use of the new web site. That will no doubt be very helpful and informative. I'll be there of course, and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible.

In closing, here is my contact info.

president@bikeirvine.org or mksplfarrell@gmail.com
949-466-6641

I look forward to meeting and talking to all of you at some point.