Category Archives: Officers

Cycling Hall Of Fame, Member News, Officers, President, Volunteer Opportunties

President’s New Year’s Message & Invitation

Thank YOU for being a member of the Chattanooga Bicycle Club, for loving cycling and riding your bikes; for leading and riding in Club rides; for helping with rest stops, marshalling, and marking routes for CBC-sponsored rides, especially Cycle Sequatchie; for organizing and attending club events; for serving on the Executive Board of Directors; and for everything else you do to promote cycling. The Chattanooga Bicycle Club exists because of you and for you.

Annual Meeting, Dinner, and Hall of Fame Ceremony

The CBC’s Annual Meeting and happy hour, followed by dinner and Hall of Fame (HOF) ceremony take place on Saturday, January 25, 2025. The meeting begins at 4:30 at the Finley Stadium Skybox, with social hour starting at 5:30 at the Ultra Club at Finley Stadium. The annual CBC dinner and HOF ceremony follow from 6:30pm to 9:00pm. Register HERE for the Annual Meeting and/or Dinner/Hall of Fame ceremony.  

Why attend the Annual Meeting? There are two very important aspects of the Annual Meeting. First, you’ll hear from your current Board members, who will give their annual report—the State of the CBC, and second, you’ll elect your Board for 2025. These are the folks who keep the CBC ticking and you should be active in their selection. (A third reason to attend is for a chance to win one of the door prizes—a Garmin Varia radar, a set of Continental Grand Prix tires, and a gift certificate of $125 for the Club team store). Members who attend the annual meeting also get a free drink coupon for the social hour that follows the meeting.

The following members are running for re-election or election to the 2025 Board of Directors.  Please note that we still need candidates for Social Media Director, Membership Director, and Social Director.

Elected Positions

  • President                                 Thomas Hand
  • Vice President:                     Sharon Russell
  • Treasurer                                 Jennifer Fiori Kreafle
  • Secretary                                 Kevin Whiteside
  • Event Coordinator              Deborah & Sam Beck
  • Road Ride Coordinator     Peggy Olsen
  • Social Media Director      TBA (very important – we need you!)
  • Membership Director       TBA
  • At Large                                   Rich Rudner
  • At Large                                   Bill Jennings

Appointed Positions

    • Advocacy Director               Ben Richards
    • Social Director                      TBA (very important—we need you!)           

Why Attend the Annual Meeting + Dinner and HOF? It’s a fun, gala evening for only 20 bucks. The dinner is a natural extension of the Annual Meeting. Spend the evening with your friends and fellow riders celebrating the CBC and the sport of cycling. 

We Need You to Take a Pull in 2025 – Please

 You Too Can Run for the Board of Directors!  We are especially eager to have candidates for Social Media Director and Social Committee Director.  The Social Media Director promotes Club interests and markets Club events on social media, while the Social Director lead the committee that plans and implements CBC social events. Candidates for president and vice president must have been members for two years. Please step up to serve in one of these important positions for 2025. Please email your expression of interest to Tom Hand ([email protected]) and Sharon Russell ([email protected]).

Cycle Sequatchie & Other Cycling Events. Those of you who have been CBC members for a while know that the 3 Mountain 3 State Century, which was a fantastic ride, was a rallying point for member contributions and volunteer efforts and kept us in the black for many years. That ride is gone, but today we have the Cycle Sequatchie Century and Three Mountain Challenge, which the CBC co-presents with Velo View Bike Tours. The brainchild of Shannon Burke and Celeste Cyr, Cycle Sequatchie has become one of the premier organized road rides in the Southeast. If you’ve ridden it, then you know what a wonderful ride and event it is. Cycle Sequatchie is also the only thing keeping the CBC in the black today. 

In 2025, the CBC will be much more involved in every aspect of Cycle Sequatchie, providing all volunteers needed for the event–from marketing and registering riders to route marking, rest stops, marshalling, and other logistics. We will be calling for and will need your help in 2025–both before, during and after the event. Please make time to serve. It’s good for cycling and essential for the CBC.

Once again thank you for being a member of the CBC and the cycling community in the Chattanooga area. I look forward to seeing you at the Annual Meeting, Dinner and HOF. It really is about the bike…and the rider!

See you on the road,

Tom

Member News, Officers, Ride/Event Info

Annual Meeting and Party

A quick reminder that the deadline for registration for this year’s Annual Membership Meeting and Party is 11:59 PM January 11, as required by our event venue .

Don’t miss this opportunity to fellowship with your fellow club members, enjoy a great meal, and participate in the election for this year’s club officers. See the full slate of candidates below. We will also accept nominations from the floor prior to the vote.

This year’s event will again honor three new inductees to the Chattanooga Cycling Hall of Fame: Chris Brown, Jay Young, and Tom Owen Sr.

As always, there will be drawings for gift certificates and swag from our local bike shops.

Candidates for 2024:
POSITIONNAME
PresidentThomas Hand (returning)
Vice PresidentSharon Russell (returning)
Treasurer
SecretaryKevin Whiteside (returning)
Event CoordinatorScott Self* (new)
Road Ride CoordinatorMargaret (Peggy) Olson (returning)
Communications DirectorDonna Killian* (new)
Social Media DirectorJennifer Fiori (returning)
Membership DirectorRebecca Buckles (returning)
At LargeRichard Rudner (returning)
At LargeBill Jennings (returning)
Social Director (Appointed)Sam & Debbie Beck (returning)
Advocacy Director (Appointed)James (Jimmy) Rogers* (new)
Candidate Slate – CBC Board of Directors 2024
Officers

How Are We Doing?

The purpose of CBC shall be to educate, promote, advocate and
develop bicycling for transportation, fitness, and recreation; to
serve the community; to provide opportunities to ride with others;
to defend and protect the rights of cyclists; to secure safer and
more bicycle-friendly riding conditions; to advocate the allocation
of facilities for cycling on public lands; to promote bicycle safety
by requiring the use of helmets on all rides and observing traffic
regulations.

As 2023 draws to a close, our board members would like your feedback. How are we doing in fulfilling our mission, as stated in our bylaws?

  • What are we doing right?
  • What are we getting wrong?
  • What do you most value in your CBC membership?
  • How might you help?

We want to hear from you. Please send your feedback to [email protected].

And a plea for help

On that last point, I’d like to again call attention to a critical need to ensure the club’s continued operation into 2024. We are in desperate need of a Treasurer. Our current treasurer is retiring off the board at the end of this year. We need someone who can make sure our bills get paid, oversee filing of our government reports, and prepare the annual budget. We hire an accountant to do most of the heavy work, but the Treasurer position does require some basic financial skills and the ability to devote a few (sometimes a few more) hours each month to keep us on track and fiscally responsible. Per our bylaws, a candidate for this job shall have been a club member for not less than 24 months on the date of their election. As with all our board positions this is an unpaid volunteer job.

If you can help or know someone who might, please drop an email to Sharon Russell or Tom Hand .

(If you’d like to discuss the job in more detail with our current treasurer, please email Mike Sabin.)

Thanks for reading this far!

Sharon