President- Steve Perret LO4-8533
Vice-President- Alan Moberg 584-6490
Secretary- Joan Ready 474-2849
Treasurer- Steve Newton LO4-8533
Touring Captain- Jack Williams 627-1931
Racing Captain- Gary Singleton 474-3523
Political Captain- Dan Feldhaus SK2-0794

Tacoma Wheelman’s Club Newsletter
630 FIR PARK LANE, TACOMA, WA. 98466

October, 1975

Come one and all to the Tacoma Wheelmens' First Annual Fall Century. Most of the route is through gently rolling forest land with afew lakes and rivers thrown in for added interest. Lunch is not furnished but there are grocery stores and resturants along the way. Patches are awarded for completion of Century or

Half-Century.

Meetings are held the third Wednesday of each month at the Swasey Library,
7001-6th Ave, at 7:30 PM, Steve Schaefer, Schwinn's Cycling Activities
Chairman for the West Coast Area will be at the October 15th meeting. He will
show a film, "Wandering Wheels across the U.S.A." and answer questions about
racing and touring.

Dues are $3.00 per individual or $5.50 per family. They may be paid to Steve Newton at any monthly meeting or mailed to him at 630 Fir Park Lane, 98466.

SOUTHWELL’S
Schwinn Cyclery
5408 SOUTH TACOMA WAY
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 98409
GR 2-1374
WE SERVICE ALL MAKES

Bicycling With Jack. The Mt, Vernon Century, Sept. 14, 1975. After a quick
breakfast at the insane hour of 4 AM, I met Bob and Pat Branson at Fife square.
They had kindly invited me to ride up with them. I was & little early and round
waiting in the empty parking lot a little spooky in the early morning darkness.
Bob arrived about 5 A M and we headed for Mt. Vernon, arriving there about a
quarter to seven.

With a growing line of cars and vans loaded with bicycles following behind him, Bob drove wildly about the sleeping town searching for the starting place which had been changed from last year, We came upon a truck loaded with bikes and the driver claimed he knew where the place was. With a much longer caravan of cars behind us, we finally located the starting point at the Fair Crounds.

Here was a beehive of activity. People were unloading bicycles, pumping up tires, trying to decide what to wear, registering and paying their money.

We quickly checked out and were off in a cloud of dust. The route led out onto the Skagit River flats past vast fields of corn and cucumbers and green pastures dotted with cattle, Many of the farms had grand old houses, some nicely restored, others in their original condition. Far in the distance, on the flat near Bay View Park, was an old deserted mansion. It stood with dilapitated turrets yet still majestic in it’s way. These are the things that are fun to explore when cycling liesurely by yourself. One house - shack is more like it - had the yard filled with all kinds of junk and bottles, some piled up in obvious attempts at art. I stopped and asked one of the characters if he was the artist. He admitted he was bot I still didn't learn the purpose of it all. Real wierd!

Due to mismarking of the route, many of us went considerably out of our way the first time around. Following the corrected marks on the second lap and comparing odometer readings, I found we went an extra three miles. The story was that pranksters had altered the arrows. Sounds like a good story, or maybe somebody just goofed. No extra credit for that three miles, by the way.

Forty miles out I came upon enterprising children doing a land office business selling Cool Aid to thirsty cyclists. Pulling up to the stand, I saw three cents a cup or two cups for a nickel. Stewart Curry, on a tandem with his daughter, Reb- ecca, quickly recommended the grape over the lemon.. Leaving the stand, I followed Stuart for a while. He held his spedometer right on 20M PH. This torrid pace soon became too much for me and I dropped back to my regular speed - somewhere between slow and slower.

Back at the Fairgrounds, lunch was served. It consisted of a sack with two chicken legs, a roll, an apple, an orange, a candy bar and a half-pint of milk. Not bad at all. Those of us who elected to ride the full hundred miles ate our lunch, rested, filled water bottles and soon took off down the road.

Fred Spong, one of our new club members, rode along with me on the last fifty
miles. Maintaining an easy, steady, yet mile eating pace, we found ourselves
passing exhausted riders walking with their bikes. One rider was spread-eagled
alongside the road and feebly waved afinger to show he was still alive. The pace
of the whole group pretty well slowed down on the last 20 or 30 miles. But it
was a perfect day for cycling and a great ride. On behalf of the Tacoma Wheelmens'
Club(43 of us rode) I would like to thank Fred Strong and the Northwest Bicycle
Touring Society for the hospitality they extended to all of us.