February 2015 - Permian Basin Bicycle Association

The Official Newsletter of the
PERMIAN BASIN BICYCLE ASSOCIATION
WINDBUSTERS
Volume XX, Number 2
February 2015
The Permian Basin Bicycle Association was created to promote bicycle safety and education. Based
in Midland/Odessa, Texas, the P.B.B.A. is associated with the League of American Bicyclists, the United States Cycling
Federation, the National Off-Road Bicycle Association, Texas Bicycle Coalition and many local organizations. They are
involved in sponsoring local bicycle touring events, USCF Racing, mountain bike rides, safety programs, riding clinics
and many local civic programs. The membership is dedicated to providing a safe riding environment.
To help
achieve this they are educating both cyclists and motorists on the rules of the road. Remember, cyclists use the
same roads and have the same rights as any other vehicle, but also remember we must obey the same rules.
Everyone must SHARE THE ROADS
Officers of the PBBA
President: Roger Masters rogcochisemasters@yahoo.com (432-349-4940
VP/Programs: Tammy Lorenz; eliteoilservice@yahoo.com (432-687-3441)
Secretary: Tammy Lorenz; eliteoilservice@yahoo.com (432-687-3441)
Treasurer – Jennie Banta jennieb@chevron.com (713-443-5045)
Food Czar: Cochise Masters; rogcochisemasters@yahoo.com (432-978-8000)
Tour Director: Doug Randel bikerider_1192@yahoo.com (432-254-8905)
Newsletter: David Eggleston; dmeengr@suddenlink.net (432-352-3681)
Mountain Bike Steve Mitchell stmpetro@gmail.com (432-934-2277)
Cyclefest Chairman: Jasha Cultreri jashac@aol.com (432-559-8948).
Other people will be asked to help by agreeing to take over the other jobs necessary to run the
PBBA for another year.
CALENDAR OF WEEKLY RIDES
Tuesday & Thursday - From Race Pace to Intermediate - Leaves S.E. corner of Loop 338 & Hwy
191 (The Professional Center) at 5:30 P.M.
W
E
E
K
L
Y
R
I
D
E
S

Tuesday – Beginner Ride. Or whoever shows up. A no drop ride 6:00 pm Grande

Wednesday – On hold till DST. Replaced with the Rosa’s no ride ride. 7:00 Rosa’s

Thursday- City ride by John Beane. Call Peytons for info. Leaves from Windlands
Stadium – Call Kelly Brammer for information. – On hold till DST.
on Midland Dr. Regular Evening Ride Schedule (6:00 PM Ride Off) Starts March 11.
Park, ride off at 6 pm, bring lights as the ride will be after dark. Ride to a restaurant,
eat, return.
Monday, Wednesday and Saturday Morning Rides – Odessa to Goldsmith - Call
563-0179 for information
MTB Rides: Daily at the Odessa Mountain Bike Park
Sunday: Easy Rider 3 pm from Peyton’s Bikes no drop ride.
Feb 16th, PBBA Monthly Meeting Monday 7 pm. , Beal Park Clubhouse
We are looking for another meeting venue – Any Ideas, Contact Roger Masters at
rogcochisemasters@yahoo.com
Women’s Self Defense Class
The Midland Police Department has been hosting Women’s Self Defense classes for several
months now. The class has been very popular. I thought I’d check with my friends at the PBBA to
see if anyone is interested.
Classes currently in session are full, but new classes can be planned. We would meet on a Friday
evening from 6p-9p and Saturday morning from 9a-noon. There is no charge for the class. We
are trying to get a feel for interest. Please email John Kerrigan with Midland PD at
jkerrigan@midlandtexas.gov.
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Lajitas Ride
Big Bend 2015
Friday
Due to the long drive and wanting to enjoy as much of the trip as possible, we took the day off on Friday to allow
ample time for the travel and get in a ride that afternoon. The group of Odis Franklin, Richard Arthur, Toby Keel,
and John Carter carpooled and did the same. After check in at the resort, our motley group was joined by Fred
Hunley for a short ride to Terlingua and back.
Once back and after a quick shower Linda and I walked over to the restaurant/saloon for refreshments and dinner
with those PBBA members able to get there by that time. As a side note, you should experience the sunset of the
Rio Grande valley from the resort patio, really nice.
Saturday loaded up the bikes and made the 25 mile trip to the national park entrance. Once inside the park, bikes
were unloaded, ride preparations were made and then the obligatory group picture was taken (still managed to get
a set of bunny ears – Odis).
Only one flat doesn’t seem too bad for a group this size (27 riders). We set out on the trek to the basin, like normal
the groups broke up from somewhat race pace to casual.
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Thanks to John Carter and Fred Hunley, everyone managed to get to the Chisos Basin and back to the vehicles
without incident. Everyone got cleaned up and a small bull session broke out only to be broken up by dinner at the
Starlight Theater. I know of several “Diego” burgers that were attempted but as of yet none of
our cycling group has been able to accomplish the feat. Bellies full, the bull session resumed around the outside
fireplace with s’mores for those with room.
Sunday
The biking continued this morning on the river road toward Presidio to the “teepees” roadside park and back.
This seems like an easy wind down ride but is actually quite challenging. As is normally the case there are a few that
cannot stand the challenge of getting that close to a hill without climbing it (the view from there is spectacular).
Once again back to the resort for showers and loading of gear. The last business of the day before checking out and
traveling home was a greatly appreciated picnic lunch by the pool of the resort.
The weather was great and the company was good all weekend. One of the best PBBA club rides that you could
do. Those that were unable to get there this year, we hope to see you next year. Thanks go out to Kelly Brammer
for hosting a wonderful event once again.
Thanks
Doug
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Ride Schedule for 2015
Thanks to Doug Randel for compiling the following ride schedule for 2015. You can lay out your
riding schedule from this.
yes
Date
25-Jan
Feb 7-8
28-Mar
Spring
Spring
19-Apr
20-May
10-May
25-May
June
July 25 & 26
August
September 19 & 20
yes
yes
December
December
Confirmed
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
no
Yes
Date
March 14-21
21-Mar
28-Mar
April 3-5
9-May
May 30-31
June 27-28
July
29-Aug
Oct
7-Nov
Nov
Confirmed
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Yes
Description
Friendship Ride
Big Bend/Terlinqua
Tamale Ride/Mountain Bike Park
Robert Lee
Coleman Ride
Balmorhea Ride
Ride of Silence
Police Memorial Ride
Memorial Day Ride
Ruidoso Ride
MS 150 Midland-Lamesa-Lubbock
Watermelon Ride/MTB park
Cyclefest
Moonlight Ride/Monahans Sandhills
Midland Christmas parade
Christmas Light Ride
Ride Leader
Doug Randel
Kelly Brammer
Steve Mitchell
Doug Randel
Gary Pitts
Open
John Floyd
John Kerrigan
Kent Crowell
Fred Hunley
Kent Crowell
Steve Mitchell
Jasha Culteri
Open
Kent Crowell
John Kerrigan
Rides of Interest
Hell Week 2015
Steam N Wheels
LBJ 100
Easter Hill Country Tour
Fredericksberg Gran Fondo
24 hrs in the Canyon
Rough Riders 200
Tour de Gap
Hotter Hell Hundred
MDA Ride
Tour de Gruene
Fredericksberg Fall Foliage Frolic
Place
Fredericksberg, Tx
Abilene, Tx
Fredericksberg/Stonewall, Tx
Kerrville, Tx
Fredericksberg, Tx
Canyon, Tx
Angel Fire, NM
Buffalo Gap/Abilene, TX
Wichita Falls, Tx
San Angelo, Tx
Gruene/New Braunfels, Tx
Fredericksberg, Tx
Contact #
432-254-8905
432-559-5346
432-254-8905
432-254-8905
glpitts@centex.net>
jfloyd@midlandtexas.gov
432-553-1432
432-528-2891
432-638-5715
432-528-2891
432-559-8948
432-528-2891
jkerrigan@midlandtexas.gov
We have lost Joe Hassell
For those who knew Joe Hassell, we lost a huge part of our cycling community Sunday. Joe passed away
at the age of 93 at his home in Odessa. For those who didn’t know Joe, he managed Peyton’s in its earlier
days, hosted and volunteered in club rides and events and lived and breathed bicycles. Funeral services will
be held at Hubbard Kelly Funeral Home in Odessa on Thursday at 2:00 PM. He will be missed by
everyone who rides a bicycle!
David Ham
Lois and I rode with Joe on the PBBA Sunday morning rides. Jay and Georgia came for a few
years, and then Joe Waite and Larry Ritchie, David & Linda Shortes on their tandem, and others.
We left at 7:30 from the old Golden Corral on 42nd St. We rode over to Loop 338, S. to the N.
service road for I-20, West to Loop 338 W, N. to 42nd St, and then back to Golden Corral for
breakfast together. People sometimes sat at our favorite table, so Joe made a special place
marker reserving the table for PBBA members.
At one point, Joe got interested in recumbents and got a Vison R-40 which he rode for a few
years. He told me that biking was how he stayed alive.
He was a craftsman and made several ukulele replicas that he presented to Lois and me. We
really enjoyed his company, and are sorry to lose him.
Lois and David Eggleston
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To bring everybody up to speed on Joe and his bicycle history, we include an article written by
Linda Shortes in 2010 .
***************************************************************************************************************
Member Profiles
By Linda Batte Shortes.
In 2005, Joe Hassell, age 82, was the first person to introduce David Shortes to the bicycle community and took
him on the Breakfast Ride in Odessa, Texas. In fact, he was the only one who showed up to ride that day. Joe
was coming back from a nasty crash that resulted in a broken collar bone, broken shoulder blade and three ribs.
One of the ribs punctured a lung. After 10 days in the hospital he was ready to get back on the bike but his
friends took it to David Ham where it was held hostage until Joe was stronger.
Joe started riding seriously at age 65.
―”I worked twenty years in a bicycle shop and never rode bicycles till I retired”.‖ he said. ―”I took up riding
when I stopped smoking because I didn‘t want to gain weight. I actually started walking first, but there were
cigarette butts everywhere. I was afraid I‘d stop and pick one up, so I got on the bike.”‖
Two years later, age 67, he rode his first fundraiser tour with the League of American Wheelmen—now called
the League of American Bicyclists. ”I thought I was real smart”, he said. The tour started in Portland, Maine and
ended in Orlando, Florida. Somewhere along the road to Florida I realized I wasn‘t so smart”.
He rode 1,620 miles, 70 miles per day from September 22nd to October 19, 1990 to raise money for his favorite
charity—The Ronald McDonald House. Joe showed me his T-shirt he got from the tour. It was in pristine
condition.
“I Spent 22 Days Behind Bars”
Bicycle handlebars, that is.
He, Jay Kelly, Carl Murdock and Nelson Schott were a few of the pioneers of the first Midland-Odessa bicycle
club. Joe was working for Peyton‘s Bikes when there was still one in Odessa, Texas. He worked in both Midland
and Odessa stores. When he retired from Peyton‘s, David Ham presented him with a card that read something
like this—you‘re not retiring, just entering a new cycle. Along with the card he gave him a brand new red, shiny
Waterford bicycle which Joe rode for a while but then mounted on the wall in his den.
Joe‘s ridden three times from Odessa, Texas to Amarillo Palo Duro Canyon with Jay and Georgia Kelly, Carl
Murdock, and at least twenty other riders—one hundred miles each day for three days. They rode to Amarillo to
attend the outdoor production of Texas. One of them even drafted off a John Deere tractor.
Before the Palo Duro ride Joe and Don Sanderson rode a hundred miles to Brownfield, Texas to make sure they
could ride a hundred miles in one day.
When asked if he had ridden Cylcefest, he said, ―”That‘s seventy-five miles of hills. I‘m not a hill man.”
Joe showed me a newspaper article about the tour from Maine to Florida with a write-up on Worcester, Maine,
the hilliest part of the ride. The tour leader said that starting out would be the worst part of the ride with a 16
percent grade of Dead Horse Hill in Leicester.
According to legend, the hill received that name because a horse pulling a wagon died when it reached the top.
It was also reported that Joe Hassell, a sixty-seven year old rider from Odessa, Texas was running out of steam
and called for the sag wagon. Joe told me he told the driver, ―I‘m not doing Dead Horse hill.‖
The driver said, ―You‘ve already done it.‖
Joe was the promoter for ten years of our Joe Hassell Friendship Ride that started in 1996.
A few years ago he became ill. That with bad weather and the loss of some of his neighborhood riding buddies;
he stopped riding—for awhile.But now, he‘s back. He told the doctor he was going to keep riding until he was
ninety. The doctor said, ―Why stop then?‖
Joe took exception once to the Odessa American and the Seniority Newsletter when they called him an Oldster
at age sixty-seven—I don‘t blame him. He’s eighty-eight years young and still rolling.
This month the Spotlight’s on you, Joe and may you see many more years of rolling down the highway!
**************************************************************************************
We will miss Joe Hassell, but will keep riding, remembering him and his spirit.
David E.
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From Joe Clement
It started simply enough; some old guys sitting around talking about racing cyclocross. Then it turned to talk
of how the Lubbock/Amarillo ‘cross series was cancelled, There was no word on Comanche Cross in Odessa, and the
San Angelo series didn’t happen. Someone had the big idea to do a local ride, and the idea almost died. Then Randy
Stevens called one day and said “I’ve found the perfect place, and my company will sponsor it”. The 1st Annual
Stanolind Oil / Beal Park Cyclocross race was born, and the real work began.
It turned out that Beal Park was the ideal location, and the City of Midland was agreeable to a race, as long
as there wasn’t mud. That was a huge disappointment, but picks and shovels came out, the YMCA came on as a
benefitted, and the course was laid out. Russell Potter with Turf Specialties brought his Skid Steer for the heavy
lifting. Then the course was modified. Then re-routed. Then lengthened, and changed. I had no idea how many
iterations it might go thru. I think the course only quit changing because we ran out of time.
Race day Dec 13th came, and the course was laid out with help from a lot of gear from Peyton’s Bicycles,
and course markers a race promoter from Amarillo brought down (he ended up winning, imagine that). Twenty five
people came out to give it a shot, and the fun was on. The race started on pavement, went onto the dirt berm,
around through sand, onto the grass, and back on pavement. The first group did 45 minutes, and the second group
did 30 minutes. When the dust cleared, the results were as follows –
Class A
1 – Alex Morgan – Amarillo
2nd – Landy Adkins – Midland
3rd – Oscar Salazar – Odessa
st
Class B
Beginners
st
1 – Justin Low – Amarillo
1 – Jeff Ledford – Midland
2nd – Randy Stevens – Midland 2nd – John Norwood – Midland
3rd – Billy Priebe – Midland
3rd – Craig Felty – Big Spring
st
We didn’t have a Women’s division, but if we would have, Rachael Harvey and Erin van Evera-Welch would
have been 1 and 2.
Plans are underway for next year. The City has agreed to mud, which any proper cyclocross race should
have, and the YMCA wants to turn the event into a fitness festival / fun run. Thanks to the guys who worked so hard
on the course, and their numerous test rides – Randy Stevens, Billy and & Kenneth Priebe, and Russell Potter.
Thanks to Peyton’s for their help and advice, and all the volunteers who helped with the start, and counted laps. We
hope everyone will come out next year, and experience the fun of riding your bike like you’re a kid again!
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Ride the Rockies?
Kent Crowell provides the following info for people who want to refresh their souls and prove
their fitness by climbing beautiful mountains in Colorado for a week in June 2015.
http://www.bicycletourcolorado.com
The Permian Basin Bicycle Association
Would Like to Thank These Sponsors
IT IS TIME – Renew your PBBA Membership Now!!
PBBA Memberships are now on an annual basis with all memberships expiring on January 1st
So, unless you have joined or renewed after September, 2014, we need for you to fill out a
Membership Application and mail it to us as soon as is convenient.
NEWSLETTER DEADLINE IS THE 25TH OF EACH MONTH. PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ARTICLES,
PICTURES OR ANNOUNCEMENTS TO David Eggleston dmeengr@gmail.com.
Note from the editor
Thanks to all who contributed. If you get this newsletter via snail mail, you are missing out on pictures in
color and live links to associated websites. If you would prefer to get it via e-mail, please let me know.
Dust off your writing. photography, and humor skills with articles for next month.
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