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May and June , 2020 Due to the Covid-19 outbreak all meetings are suspended. All group rides are at the discretion of the ride leaders. Welcome to the Granite State Wheelers Web Site We are currently in the process of updating our website. The new site will have a more modern look and feel. We expect to have the new site up and running in the spring of 2020. CANCELLED 2020 Seacoast Century Weekend The 2020 Seacoast Century Weekend has been cancelled. Rider and vounteer safety is our first priority. Due to Covid-19, we cannont offer the type of rider experience we've provived in the past. Please put September 25-26, 2021 on your calendar for the next Seacoast Century. We deeply regret having to cancel this event, after 46 consecutive years of hosting the Seacoast Century. But hopefully, next year we'll have a treatment to ensure we can keep folks safe. Refunds for 2020 Riders -If you registered for the 2020 Seacoast Century, your registration fee and any merchandise you purchased(jersey, long sleeve tee shirt or extra soups) will be refunded to your credit card within the next two weeke. Seacoast Century Jerseys -We will wait until July 2021 to place an order for custom Seacoast Centruy jerseys. Special thanks to the Century Team for all your efforts to prepare for the Century. We'll be able to roll your work forward to make 2021 a success. Results of GSW $25,000 Grant Program We received 19 grant applications.
After reviewing, scoring, and taking two rounds to break ties, the
Board wishes to congratulate the following recipients: Depending on profits from our Seacoast Century Weekend come September, the GSW may offer another grant program early next year. Please keep in touch with the club as we try to make New Hampshire even better for cycling. Click the
button below for our
May/June Rides Calendar Summary Please email the GSW-Office@comcast.net for a listing so that you can try our rides and then join the club! 2020 GSW Social Information & Schedule Meetings are
normally planned monthly, March through November from Introduction of all attendees Free snack items including pizza are provided by the GSW. Mark your calendars and join us for the next monthly meeting.
Ideas for agenda items / speakers for the Social Information Meetings are always welcome. As for all GSW general meetings, members and guests are welcome to socialize, meet Board members and ride leaders, learn more about the club, and enjoy some free snacks. GSW Ride Leaders are needed in all New England areas! Do you have the right stuff to lead a Granite State Wheelers' ride? What you need: GSW membership (see GSWheelers.org) We would love to have you! If interested, please contact Mark St. Denis:
E-Bike Legislation Update - April 2019
If you have been following the trend of greatly increased e-bike sales and how the Bike-Walk Alliance of NH has been pushing NH e-bike legislation, you will be glad to learn the e-bike bill HB148 received unanimous approval from both the House and Senate Transportation Committees. A floor vote comes next but without any request for funding via a Fiscal Note the chances of enactment is very good. The bill will be in effect 60 days after passage so by this summer the State of NH should have good legislation in place concerning e-bikes. The NH legislation follows the three-class model provided by People for Bikes. All three classifications (LSEBs, Low Speed Electric Bicycles) have electric motors that do not exceed 750 watts (1 HP) and cannot propel the bike over 20 MPH by the motor alone. The electric assist cuts-out at 20 MPH on Class 1 and 2 e-bikes while assistance is provided up to 28 MPH (45 KPM) on a Class 3 if the rider is pedaling. Restrictions may still be placed for areas and trails at the discretion of the owners or managers while the default usage guideline is that Class 1 and 2 e-bikes can be used anywhere a typical bicycle is allowed. E-bikes that are more powerful and faster than LSEBs are not even called “bicycles” by Federal or manufacturer definitions. They are “Out-of-Class Electric Vehicles” (OCEVs) – note the word “Vehicles” -- and fall into the OHRV category along with dirt bikes, ATVs, and UTV side-by-sides. They are not legal on roads, non-motorized rail trails, or mountain bike trails as they are effectively electric motorcycles with pedals that don’t have to be used. They are allowed on private lands, some parks, and trails / back roads designated for OHRV use. Of course, identifying the various classes can be a challenge when all the LSEBs look much like conventional bicycles with a large water bottle or rear luggage rack. Enforcement of local regulations is another challenge between limited manpower and not being able to easily tell a Class 1, 2, or 3 apart from each other until the bikes display identification labels as required on sales made in 2020. Bottom line, there is much education, documentation, and enforcement ahead in NH but HB148 sets the basis for our state to be the 13 th in the country to enact model e-bike legislation. For more info about e-bikes, please contact me or visit the BWANH web site at www.bwanh.org for a whitepaper / brief as used in support of the NH legislation. Submitted by Dave Topham, BWANH Board member, dave@bwanh.org
In bygone years, the GSW used hand-drawn or photocopied paper maps for some of our routes but they were not available except for a given ride or event. With modern technology you can now have access to over 90 GSW routes on your home computer, tablet, smartphone, or Garmin bike computer at no cost over your basic GSW membership. And if you develop a good route just by riding it, you can email it to the GSW for inclusion in our route library for all members to access! The GSW Club Ride with GPS account was created in April 2017. As a GSW member starting at $15.00 per year, you can use the full set of "Premium" RwGPS options valued at $80.00. These include: -- Routes sorted as desired by name, starting location, distance, and/or elevation with available downloadable maps, cue sheets, and GPS files for your Garmin or similar bike computer. -- Smartphone apps for Android and iPhone devices provide interactive navigation while cycling with turns indicated via maps and voice. (Using a Bluetooth earbud and backup battery can be helpful.) -- Use your own free personal RwGPS account to plan or log your rides with trip details uploaded from your bike computer or entered manually from your computer or smart device. -- Share your favorite route by simply emailing a link to the GSW-Office@comcast.net . After review, your ride will be added to the club library of routes for other members to access. Be sure to send your “route” with cue sheet and navigation aids, not just your “ride” that does not capture important details. To get started: Follow directions in Pedal Talk to set up an account. Please consider sharing your favorite routes! If you are not already a GSW member, consider joining the now to enjoy this "new $80.00/year perk" as part of your basic club membership. Visit our web site to sign-up or renew your GSW membership! http://www.granitestatewheelmen.org Privacy counts! This GSW Club Ride with GPS account is for GSW members only. The listed rides and personal information will not be available to the public, sold, used, or otherwise targeted for spam. Disclaimer: The GSW is not responsible for the accuracy of posted rides, road or traffic conditions, accidents, or any liability concerning use of the route library. Ride leaders are encouraged to schedule club rides using the listed routes and doing so counts toward personal club mileage totals via the usual ride sign-in sheets and club guidelines. Simply riding on a listed route without it being a scheduled ride in Pedal Talk or MeetUp will not count as club mileage. Enjoy all the GSW "perks" -- and cycle safely!
The State of NH has an ever-expanding network of rail trails, some paved, most hard-packed gravel thanks to thousands of volunteer hours and private funds combined with some Federal and State grants. The most ambitious and longest project is the Granite State Rail Trail from Salem to Lebanon, some 115 miles which is about 60% completed now but the sections are not all connected. To view the details of surface, parking, trailheads, etc., visit the Facebook page at: If you wish to explore unpaved, gravel roads in scattered locations around the state to stay away from most distracted drivers without “being confined” to a rail trail, check out the new unpaved road layer on the NHDOT on-line Interactive Bicycle Route Map and instructions at: https://www.nh.gov/dot/programs/bikeped/maps/index.htm To learn more about specific NH roads including who owns and maintains them, average daily traffic counts, and more, visit: http://gis.dot.nh.gov/projectviewer/ Information available via the above resources can make your cycling.
Rail Trails Picking Up Steam Have you noticed all the development of NH rail trails in recent years – and the number of bicyclists, walkers, runners, roller-bladers, and skateboarders using them? Users of all ages from 5 to 95 are seen out there on the non-motorized rail trails. Just getting away from drunk, drugged, distracted, and deliberately-aggressive motorists can be a prime reason in popularity while health, exercise, lack of noise, fumes, and dust pollution are more reasons. Of course, rail trails are not for everyone! They don’t “go everywhere” like public roads as needed for commuting and active transportation, plus some recreational cyclists find them boring – too straight, often “in the woods”, grades not over 4%, and the surface might not be paved. That said, there is a definite up-tick in the sales of hybrid and gravel bikes as more and more people are exploring rail trails and dirt roads. On the flip side, road bike imports and sales have fallen between 7-14% in the past two years based on industry reports. Those of us riding road bikes seem to be dwindling in numbers due to perceived angers, age, families, health, or general interest. For whatever the reasons, our GSW headcount is declining with loss of about 200 in the past five years now having about 400 active memberships as we enter 2018. Any idea of ways to turn around this trend? Read More HERE Rail Trail Etiquette With more and more people using the rail trails in New Hampshire thanks to on-going development and a lot of hard work by volunteers, we hear of incidents which make biking or walking on the trails less than the best experience. Sometimes guidelines are posted at trailheads, parking lots, etc. but they are commonly not seen or ignored if they are seen and read – unfortunately. The following list has been compiled from various on-line sources and might provide some guidance for the next time you are using a rail trail – or at least you could tell someone else about established guidelines. Just like on-road cycling, a little common sense and courtesy goes a long way! See Tid-bits page Why do Tandems go faster down hill than single bikes? If you answered “gravity” you are only partly correct. Galileo showed in the 1600's that, in the absence of air resistance, two objects of different mass, when simultaneously dropped from the same height, will land at the same time. Did Galileo not ever experience a tandem rolling down hill??? At the risk of readers ignoring this article and going directly to their club mileage, I am going to introduce a little physics. First, the difference between mass and weight. In the imperial system pounds are used for both mass and weight—very confusing. Mass is the amount of matter present. Let’s say you have the mass of 50 kilograms (kg) (at one time I am sure this was your mass). Earth’s gravity will tug at you with a force of about 500 Newtons (N). If you were taken up into deep outer space your mass would still be 50 kg, but your weight or force due to gravity would be 0 N. You would be weightless, but with unchanging mass. Get Connected Here's how YOU can join the conversation: Our Facebook page and other social media are up and running with many interesting postings already. Your involvement on our various social media platforms helps GSW make a difference. Please like, share, tag and submit pictures from your rides, etc. www.facebook.com/granitestatewheelmenbicycling www.instagram.com/GSWbicycling http://www.meetup.com/Granite-State-Wheelmen-bicycling/ www.strava.com/clubs/GSWbicycling
Join the GSW E-Group How do you like to receive our bi-monthly GSW Pedal Talk newsletter? Options are available for 1 and 3 year memberships. 1 year memberships 3 year memberships Some people don’t want anything on paper but rather like the speed of email delivery, lower cost, and wish to be as “green” as possible. About 70% of the GSW has now “gone electronic.” Other people “hate” email, don’t use a computer, want nothing to do with the Internet, and/or like the convenience of taking the paper version of Pedal Talk with them wherever they go. Some members have expressed an interest in receiving both versions of Pedal Talk delivered for on-line reference and having the paper newsletter on the coffee table, in their car, or wherever. This “dual delivery” option is available at no extra cost above the normal “paper rate.” If you are interested in this option and are currently receiving the paper Pedal Talk via mail, just let me know and I will code your membership record accordingly. Anyone joining the GSW or renewing their membership at the $25.00 / $70.00 “paper rate” should request the “dual delivery” option if interested. We aim to please our members, so “have it your way!” Dave Topham, It is not unusual for Hetty (the GSW ride mileage tracker/recorder) to find poorly printed and non-decipherable names on the sign-in sheets (there are separate signature and PRINT columns; PRINT clearly). Also, sometimes, no mileage is entered at all next to names! Hetty is very conscientious about seeing that everyone receives proper mileage "credit." She should not have to scratch her head and struggle as she records mileage. Before any sheets are mailed to Hetty, they should be made legible and, maybe, tweaked a bit for clarity. Ride leaders should always be certain everyone in their group has clearly printed their name and entered mileage. If you need help, feel free to contact me and I will try to assist. Hetty will appreciate our efforts! Thank You! Cathy Yeager, GSW Member
Are you Curious about Yoga? Our Pedal Talk Editor, Laurie Daley is also a certified Yoga Instructor! Click HERE for more information Click on the rides links above or select the category of your choice in the left-hand column then join the fun! Are you wondering how to get started with the GSW? Check out the "Where Do I Start?" page for some suggestions. Please view our Meetings page. Once you see everything offered by the GSW you may just wish to join the club for only $15.00 a ear. Click over to the Memberships page to read more about the club. Check
out our many rides and events
including some local bicycling news and non-bicycling activities
listed on our Special Events,
Weekend Events, and "Tid-Bits"
pages. Don't
see a ride to your liking? Then volunteer to lead your favorite
rides,sharing it with new friends. GSW is always looking for energetic,
creative volunteers.
Updated 03/25/2020 |
WELCOME Info for Concord Members
SPECIAL EVENTS In 2010 Linda Gould, a long time member of the GSW, rode the Great Lakes/Northern Tier Route from Buffalo, NY/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Read More
HERE "When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." H. G. Wells
Membership Info
President's Message
RIDE INFO
Ride Ratings
Ride Schedule Summary
GSW Meetup
Club Ride with GPS
Routes Library
WEEKEND
EVENTS
2020 Seacoast Century
Rider Mileage
OTHER RIDES
Charity Rides
Invitational Rides
MEETINGS
Club Info
Board and Committee Update
Bike-Walk Alliance of NH
NEWSLETTER
Tid-Bits
EDUCATION
Update
CLASSIFIED ADS
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