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Greater Arizona Bicycling Association Inc
Where cycling is more than just riding a bike
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Upcoming GABA Meeting Presentations
January & February
The monthly GABA meetings are back! Below you will find information about the January and February meetings. Meetings are now being held on the third February of each month, starting at 7 pm, in the H230 conference room at the Catalina United Methodist Church at 2700 E Speedway Blvd (southwest corner of Speedway and Treat). Parking is directly across from the church in their parking lot on the other side of Treat
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January GABA Meeting
Thursday, January 9, 2025
In January, GABA will restart its monthly meetings, with speakers giving presentations about their bicycling adventures and other cycling-related issues.
Meetings will be on the second Thursday of each month. The first meeting will be on Thursday, January 9 at 7 pm.
Our speaker for that first January meeting will be Lael Wilcox, a world-famous bicyclist. She recently set a new speed record for bicycling around the world, completing 18,125 miles in 108.5 days. She’ll be sharing her adventures with us at the January meeting.
After that first meeting, meetings will continue to be held on the second Thursday of every month through the winter season – January through March this winter, stopping for the summer, and then resuming next winter from October through March. So, mark your calendars.
Meetings will be held in the H230 conference room at the Catalina United Methodist Church at 2700 E Speedway Blvd (southwest corner of Speedway and Treat). Parking is directly across from the church in their parking lot on the other side of Treat.
Please plan to come and hear Lael’s amazing presentation in January, and consider coming a little before the 7 pm start time to socialize with other GABA members.
Finally, if you or anyone you know might have some bicycling adventures to share at future GABA meetings, please contact the program coordinator:
Barry Weiss at bdweiss@arizona.edu.
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February GABA Meeting
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Up the Rhine, Down the Danube - A Bicycling Journey through the Heart of Europe
Join Mark and Sandy Doumas, Kathy and Jon Kaiser, and Dave Bricklin for a slideshow about their recent self-planned and self-supported cycle tour across Europe following the Rhine and Danube River corridors. The route began in Amsterdam and headed upstream along the Rhine and Main rivers through Cologne, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg. Then, downstream along the Danube through Regensburg, Vienna and Budapest. Experience the Roman walls, medieval castles, cathedrals, wonderful people and cuisine encountered along the way.
Meetings are held in the H230 conference room at the Catalina United Methodist Church at 2700 E Speedway Blvd (southwest corner of Speedway and Treat). Parking is directly across from the church in their parking lot on the other side of Treat.
Finally, if you or anyone you know might have some bicycling adventures to share at future GABA meetings, please contact the program coordinator:
Barry Weiss at bdweiss@arizona.edu.
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Join GABA's Next Supported Ride:
Owl's Head Butte
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Route Distances: Metric Century or 40 Miles
Registration for GABA's Owl's Head Butte Metric Century or 40 Miler is Open!
This years ride will be on Sunday Feb. 2, 2025. If you rode last year, you know how beautiful the area is and we hope you sign up again. If you didn't last year then now's your chance to ride amongst some amazing sahuaros and enjoy some GABA hospitality.
For more information just check out our website: bikegaba.org or here is a link to our information page of the ride: Owl's Head Metric Century and 40 miler 2025
Register now, prices will increase January 2, 2025.
Hope to see you out there!
John and Ginger
GABA Supported Rides
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A Message of Thanks for GABA’s Bike Repair Program
While the program operates under the auspices of GABA, the program could not function without the generous donations of time and effort of over 40 GABA members who have volunteered for bike repair.
Our bike repair program has collectively contributed over 1050 hours to GAP ministries, the Pascua Yaqui Boys & Girls Club Tucson (PYBGCT), the Pima County Health Department (PCHD), and El Tour Bikes for Change to put more bicycles into our community - contributing both to our robust cycling culture and public health.
At GAP ministries, this year while contributing 736 volunteer hours, 277 bikes were repaired during 17 repair events. These bikes, returned to “big box” stores were purchased by GAP by the semi-trailer load, and would otherwise be discarded but through these volunteer efforts are repaired and then sold at a reduced cost to members of the GAP community.
At the PYBGCT, this year 85 bikes were repaired over 155 volunteer hours. Many of these repaired bikes were ridden in El Tour de Tucson by the club members. As part of that work, GABA conducted one Bike Rodeo, where bike handling skills were emphasized.
GABA repaired 34 out of a planned 48 bikes for use by PCHD during 66 volunteer hours. The other 14 will be repaired in 2025.
During four and a half hours at El Tour's Bikes for Change event at Amphi Middle School, 20 GABA Bike Repair volunteers (a total of over 90 volunteer hours) constructed 82 new bikes that were donated to the community living near Amphi Middle School.
I would be remiss if I did not recognize those who have volunteered more than 50 hours of their time to our community this year through the bike repair program:
• Bob Willman
• Barb Sterling
• Wayne Cullop
• Timothy Connor
• Scott Rosmaier
• Tom Mouch
Thank you for your generous contributions to our community and our bike repair program this year. We couldn’t do it without you!
And there is the opportunity for others to join: all Bike Repair events are advertised on Meetup (just like our day rides). So please sign up and help out, no matter your bike repair skill level.
Matt Harmon
President
The Greater Arizona Bicycling Association (GABA, Inc.)
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Thanks for Making this Year's GABA Toy Ride a Success!
Hello to all of our GABA members and friends of GABA. Thank you for helping make this year’s Toy Ride a success!
We gathered more toys than ever for The Salvation Army to give to kids that Santa might otherwise overlook. Here are a few stats – all very happy numbers.
The 2024 GABA Toy Ride:
· Had five rides – with more than 125 riders
· Collected 500 toys
· Raised more than $1,400 in monetary donations through the GABA website. We used these funds to purchase additional toys and also donate dollars to The Salvation Army’s efforts.
· Collected more than $900 in checks made out directly to The Salvation Army, which we handed to them at the event.
We were part of a larger project:
The Salvation Army, helped by GABA and others, including volunteers and donors from the Voyager RV Resort, provided toys to 4,817 children
And we had a lot of fun…
Happy Holidays! And thank you again.
Bruce Tucker
GABA Toy Ride Committee Member
btucker4sos@cox.net
520-661-6210
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Tour de Cookie Registration is Now Open!
The Rotary Club of Marana is very excited to announce registration is now open for the 2025 Tour de Cookie Bike Ride at rotarytourdecookie.org. The ride is scheduled for March 8th, 2025. To help assist with the safety of our participants and not overload the Loop Bike Path, the magic number has been determined to be 500 riders. So please don’t hesitate to get registered as we have had to close registrations for the past two years well before the ride date.
We have some amazing news about this year's route, it is 100% in the Town of Marana. The opening of a new bike path North of Avra Valley Road has made this possible. This is exciting for two reasons, we are the Rotary Club of Marana and the path in this area will not be as congested as previous years.
Another major announcement to share is that the proceeds from this year are not only benefiting the Rotary Club of Marana, but we are excited to introduce the Mayfly Project. A portion of your generosity will benefit local foster kids. The Mayfly Project is a national organization that uses fly fishing as a catalyst to mentor and support children in foster care. The Mission of The Mayfly Project is to support children in foster care through fly fishing and introduce them to their local water ecosystems, with the hope that connecting them to a rewarding hobby will provide an opportunity for foster children to have fun, build confidence, and develop a meaningful connection with the outdoors. You can learn more about this amazing project at themayflyproject.com.
We have not determined the best place for packet pickup, but will keep you informed as we get close to March 8th.
Please register by February 21st to ensure the proper shirt size is ordered. Also, remember this is a wonderful family event and would make a great Holiday gift. So order soon and share with your friends. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly at rotarytourdecookie@gmail.com.
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Take our survey to help finalize our 20-year transportation vision!
RTA Next is a 20-year $2.46 billion transportation plan that Pima County voters must approve in a future election to replace the prior 20-year plan, which funds over two-thirds of transportation improvements for drivers, bikers, and walkers through a half-cent sales tax.
Please help us finalize our plan. Without voter approval, progress may grind to a halt on new bike-ped projects
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Announcing a new GABA members-only Strava club
We have learned that GABA members would like a members-only Strava club. Rather than close the existing GABA official Strava club off from public participation (because it allows GABA to promote its existence in the community), the board has created a second, closed Strava club that is available to GABA members only.
To join the new Greater Arizona Bicycling Association (GABA) (Members Only) Strava club, login to Strava and go to:
www.strava.com/clubs/gaba-membersonly
and click on the button labeled “Request to join”.
If your GABA membership is current, an administrator will approve your request to join.
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Looking to Join One of our GABA Day Rides?
Discover our MeetUp Page!
Look for Tumacacori Century and El Tour Training Rides along with our fantastic social and scenic rides!
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Send us Your News, Story Ideas,
and Articles!
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Do you have something interesting to share with the Tucson cycling community? A link to an event? An article that we don't know about? A topic that might be worth looking into?
If you have something that you think others would like to find out about, please share it with us so we can add it to the next Paceline by clicking the button below.
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GABA Classifieds
Do you have a bike-related item you would like to buy, sell, or trade? We have 2 ways to get the word out.
#1 - Post it on the GABA website
In order to post you must be a GABA member - one more good reason to join GABA. To find out how to post click the below button.
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#2 Post it on Paceline
To post on Paceline please click the button below to send us an e-mail.
Please be sure to include all details, including your contact info. We can take a single photo for your item and we will run it for 2 issues.
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Need help registering for a GABA Supported Ride? Click below for a step-by-step instructional guide to signing up for our supported rides! | Did someone forward this Paceline newsletter to you? Click the button below to join our mailing list. | Changed your email address? Send us your new one and never miss an issue. | | |
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Mailing Address
PO Box 43273, Tucson, AZ 85733
Phone Number
(520) 999-7655
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