Another Johnny Ray is in the books! Thanks to all the help and support that YOU the membership gave to this event, it just doesn't happen without you. There will be a lot of post discussion on the event so come ready to tell your tail and hear others. I'm sure we'll hear all about the "chip seal" again.
Also the post wrap up and I believe some talk on vintage bikes.
Sound be a livejy meeting at the Church of the Highlands at 7:00pm on October the 12, like how I fit that in. So don't miss this one!
Dave
Davis Phinney Foundation thanks eacc
On behalf of the staff and Board of the Davis Phinney Foundation, we thank the Johnny Ray community for your time and generosity to the Davis Phinney Foundation.
The Davis Phinney Foundation was founded in 2004 with the mission to help people with Parkinson’s to live well today. Our programs are life-changing, unique, and innovative. Having impacted nearly 200,000 people living with Parkinson’s last year alone, with a relatively small operating budget, we are proud of our work and also know there is much more work to be done.
The generosity and efforts of the Johnny Ray riders, sponsors, volunteers, donors and organizers will help us impact the lives of so many more in 2015 and beyond.
Eileen Mullin-Gasteier
VP of Development
Davis Phinney Foundation
Johnny Ray a huge success
Wow! We had an incredible 13th annual Johnny Ray Century. Thank you to all 250 riders, our generous donors, and fabulous volunteers for making it such an unbelievable success. Please stay tuned as the bean counters total everything. Forthcoming, expect to hear how much you all raised for the Davis Phinney Foundation, a ride debriefing, rider evaluations and all that rich ride wrap up stuff.
In the meantime, if anyone has pictures they’d like to share of their 2015 JRC journey I’d love to post them on our website. Send them to johnnyray@eastalabamacyclingclub.com.
Johnny Ray pre-Century
EACC Members & JRC Volunteers: Pre-Ride the Johnny Ray Century
7 am, Saturday, 19 Sept. 2015, Trinity United Methodist Church
This from the indomitable Tim McDonald:
There are many perfectly legitimate reasons for not riding the Johnny Ray Century on 26 September. Maybe you'll be out of town cheering on your heroes in Richmond as they chase the rainbow jersey. Maybe you're a fan of finger foods and beer and want to spend that Saturday with 100,000 of your closest friends. Maybe you just don't like to be interrupted by so-called 'rest stops' on your long bike rides.
Or maybe, just maybe, a certain Angela has twisted your arm and you've 'volunteered' to take one for the club and be one of those people whose service it is that makes the JRC such a standout in the ABC Series and one of the finest bike rides in the South.
Whatever your excuse, there's simply no excuse for missing the JRpC, aka the Johnny Ray pre-Century, this Saturday, 19 September. Come join us at 7:00 AM at the Methodist Church in Opelika as we of the EACC grandly depart the parking lot for 105 miles of simple pleasure over simple country roads, without all those speedier out-of-towners constantly passing us by and then having to breathlessly chat with them at the next rest stop about their $10,000 bicycle - ugh.
Those helping out on JRC Saturday AND completing the JRpC will be rewarded with an ABC Series medal. What's not to like about that? Join us for a more relaxed century!
-Tim-
Johnny Ray elevation profiles
Preparations for the 2015 Johnny Ray Century are well underway. There's been a stream of folks looking for authoritative elevation profiles. Well we've got you covered. Profiles have been added to all route cue sheets. For the GPS-enabled rides routes are also up on Ride with GPS. Check them out on the Johnny Ray event page.
The Fort Morgan Ride
The below is from member Kirk Iversen published in Bicycling:
The Fort Morgan Ride
This 40+ mile, out-and-back ride leaves and ends in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The route is flattish with paved shoulders and is not very heavily travelled except during special coastal events. The western end of the ride is at Fort Morgan on the southeastern side of the entrance to Mobile Bay. If you like, a ferry ($5 round–trip for bike & rider) will take you across the bay to Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island, where one can ride several miles and enjoy the island before returning to Ft. Morgan and heading east back to Gulf Shores.
Along the way are convenience stores and restaurants. Bon Secure National Wildlife Refuge offers a small visitors center, hiking trails, and paved roads to the white-sand beaches, where sea turtles and their nests are protected. Alligators live here, too. Forts Morgan and Gaines, which defended the Bay (for awhile – Admiral Farragut made it famous with, "Damn the torpedoes – full speed ahead!"), can be toured. Dauphin Island offers an estuarium, Audubon refuges to walk through, restaurants, and a laid-back atmosphere.
If 40-ish miles is too short or long, Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores has about 10 miles of paved bike trails that go through different ecozones. The towns of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach offer miles of bike lanes along the beaches and intracoastal waterways and lots of restaurants. One is Lulu's, owned by Lucy Buffet. Good food & music. Sometimes her brother, Jimmy, drops in.
The Ft. Morgan ride is on AL Hwy. 180, beginning at the intersection with AL Hwy. 59. The Gulf State Park ride begins at the same intersection, going a west a half-mile to the park entrance. At the intersection is a shopping center with lots of parking. There are also several motels there, including a very bike-friendly Holiday Inn Express.