BABES News and Notes

Questions and answers about the St. Louis Cycling Club/Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society

What's the cost of joining STLCC?

Membership fees are $30 for a full adult membership and $35 for families. Full membership includes a 20 percent discount off parts and accessories at The Cyclery, which sponsors STLCC, the opportunity to purchase Continental tires at greatly discounted prices and a $30 discount off the purchase of your first STLCC jersey.

How can I join STLCC?

Go to our Join Us! page and follow the instructions.

Will we still charge for non-members?

No. Under STLCC the vast majority of our rides will be construed as training rides. Training rides are open to members, but we are currently welcoming non-members to try us. The only rides we will charge for are major fundraisers.

Does STLCC have a senior citizen discount?

Not at this time. But as more of us become voting members, we certainly can ask STLCC to implement one.

Will we have to have a fundraiser?

Yes! It's the Tour de Stooges! The 2012 event takes place Saturday, May 5, in Highland, Illinois. Proceeds from the Tour de Stooges will be used for activities of the STLCC/B.A.B.E.S., and our long-term goal is to support bicycling in the St. Louis area.

Will we still have to sign waivers before every ride?

Yes. Most insurance companies require clubs to have their riders sign a waiver.

BABES newsletter format changes

As we've mentioned before, ride leaders have expressed a desire to have more flexibility to announce last-minute rides, and the current newsletter format is cumbersome for those purposes. We have developed a different messaging format open to members and regulars that will give ride leaders the opportunity to get the word out on their rides.

For now on, only members and regular riders will be receiving newsletters on a frequent basis. The new version of the newsletter will be sent via a new e-mail address, bicycle2eat@gmail.com. You can contact us through that address or with the current address, bike2eat@rogerkramercycling.org, although that address primarily will be used by Roger Kramer for BABES-related activities.

The current 500-plus name mailing list will continue to exist, but it primarily will be used for major events such as the Tour de Stooges. Information that was available in the newsletter will be available on our Ride Calendar and News pages.

New Ride Calendar page

To give ride leaders more flexibility in scheduling last-minute ride, we have created a new Ride Calendar. You can find it at http://babes.rogerkramercycling.org/calendar/

If you have bookmarked the old Ride Calendar page, you will be automatically redirected to the new Ride Calendar.

We will continue to post our rides, plus other rides of interest from Illinois, Missouri and other Midwestern states. If you are a coordinator of a ride, you can submit a ride, but it will have to be approved by a ride leader before it's posted on the calendar.

We are always looking for new ride leaders, if you're interested in becoming a BABES ride leader, contact Arlene Willmann at awillmann@gmail.com.

Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society on Facebook

For those of you are part of the social networking site Facebook, The Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society has its own page. You can view it here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Belleville-Area-Bicycling-and-Eating-Society/45579538139

To fully view the page and take advantage of its features and become a fan, you will have to sign up for Facebook. It's free, and you can reveal as much or as little about yourself as you want. If you are a fan, you can make wall posts and upload photos and videos from our events,

Monroe County bicycle ordinance

In 2000, Monroe County passed an ordinance requiring permits for rides of more than 50 people. Most of our rides that go into Monroe County have fewer than 50 people and therefore do not require permits. But we are posting the ordinance (PDF file) in case the BABES ever has a ride of more than 50 people going through the county or in case we are questioned by law enforcement officers about our presence in the county.

Rules of the Road

In recent years, members of the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society have seen lots of violations of Illinois cycling laws on a wide range of group rides, including, unfortunately, BABES Wednesday Evening Rides. Under Illinois law, you must ride as far to the right of the road as safely possible. Riding two abreast is allowed as long as the normal and reasonable movement of traffic is not impeded. Keep in mind that it doesn't take much to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic on narrow country roads. Riding three or more abreast is prohibited except on bicycle paths or parts of roadways set aside for bicycles only.

In 2008, it is also the law that motorists must give at lease three feet of clearance while passing a bicycle. Bicyclists also may extend their right arms to signal a right turn.

For a breakdown of Illinois cycling laws, download this PDF file from the League of Illinois Bicyclists.

Submit an article

If you want to write about your favorite bicycle adventures or vent off some steam about a cycling issue, you're invited to submit a story. You may e-mail the story to us. Photos and graphics are welcome, but be sure they are either in JPEG, PNG or GIF formats so they can be posted on the Web site.

We do request that that all articles are in good taste.