Emailing - Huntington Bicycle Club

Date: 12/31/2025
Subject: Folks on Spokes December, 2025
From: Huntington Bicycle Club

A Message from the President

Happy New Year to all!

Below are some pictures from the past year by month, highlighting Club involved events. What's great is that there were so many activities that involved all the club members together, and not just riding.

2025: From April until November there has always been something going on! From the Ride Leader meeting in March until Thanksgiving, there have been rides originating from many remote areas (Manhattan, Bronx, Mattituck, The Hamptons and Poughkeepsie to name a few), plus innumerable rides from Smith Street, Bethany and Breezy Park. The Gold Coast, our signature event, continues to unite the Club with all the volunteers working together in order to run a great cycling event. The party afterwards was another uniting event as well as the Holiday Party in November.

It certainly has been a privilege to be the voice of the Club these past 5 years, and of course I will continue to be actively involved in many of the programs being sponsored by the HBC. Grateful thanks to the many Board members who have assisted me through my tenure. I would be remiss if I did not mention the continued support from VP-John, Treasurers-Gregg and Anthony, Secretaries-Pam and Pat, Board members Scott, Steve, Sal and Allan. Then there is Malachy, who has created and maintained our way of communicating with each other and by doing so, has made our Website the envy (and gold standard) of all the other clubs. This is a team effort as you know.

I look forward to Sal's leadership initiatives for the future. We will all be in great hands!

Looking ahead to next year:

Repair Cafe at the Harborfields Library-they need 2 people, with tool sets to help out. Feb. 28, 1-4PM- Sign up on the Website. (this is our "Thank You" to the library for their continued support)

First Club Meeting of 2026 will be March 4.

Ride Leader Meeting will on March 12 at the Library.

Huntington Earth Day at Manor Park will be Saturday, April 25.

Gold Coast East, July 12.

Club members passings during my presidency:

Alec Dick

Joan Krawzyk

Steve Tobias

Bruce Feinberg

George Fabian

Rich Lubasch

On a personal note, I was fortunate to ride with all of these guys/gal! Each one had different and interesting life experiences to share. All of them are terribly missed both in and out of the saddle.

Lastly, a huge acknowledgment to my husband, Tom for his constant support and guidance.

Rides continue to be posted throughout the winter, weather permitting. Watch for different departure times or locations depending on outside conditions on any posted rides.

See you on the road!

Karen

Passing the Gavel!

One more personal reflection on my years as president:

I learned about the creation of the Huntington Bicycle Club.

When it was decided we would have a 40th Anniversary Gold Coast ride, I contacted Jerry Wallens, a co-founder of the Club who now lives in South Carolina. Through him and co-founder, Don Auriemma (pictured reclining above at the first Gold Coast), I got to hear about the origins of the Club and how it went from informal meetings at the South Huntington Library, showing up on Saturdays to ride "wherever", and eventually meeting at Don's house to create the By-Laws instituting the HBC. Then the Gold Coast was started.

Karen

A Message from the incoming President, Sal Levy

Let me begin by wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year!

As the newly elected president on our club, I am looking forward to another riding year and hoping to help make it a great one for each of us both on the bike and at all our gatherings. To accomplish these goals, I will be seeking your input along the way. I am thankful for the help I know I will receive from our board members and especially from Karen Gellert.

Karen has officially presided since 2021. In my 27 years as a club member, I have seen many presidents lead our club. May I say that Karen has been exceptional in her dedication and in the leadership she has provided. Through her efforts, our club has expanded its involvement in the cycling community. We have participated in both local and state events and issues. I hope to continue that involvement by staying connected to the initiatives she began and by extending our efforts to new ones.

As one of my goals, I hope to inspire our elected officials to create legislation that will make our streets safer regarding the use of throttled electric bikes (e-motos). I have initiated communication with the Huntington State Senator and Assemblyman about this issue.

I am also hoping to increase the number and variety of social events during the year. Our club is like a huge extended family for many of us. I would like that feeling to be experienced by more of our members through these events. Of course, the principal function of our club is to provide enjoyable, memorable and safe riding experiences for our members. That will always be where we place our strongest focus.

So get that bike in top condition and get ready to ride. The cold weather won’t last forever. I look forward to seeing you both on and off the road.

Sal

Huntington Earth Day.

3 different groups went out and met at Manor Road Park for the rest stop and festivities.

The Tour de Cure in May. Great team effort!

Happy December and January Birthdays

to our Members

Owen Kassimir

December 29

Michael Gold

December 30

Terry Causin

December 31

Salvator S Levy

January 1

Dennis Rosen

January 1

Robert McLaughlin

January 2

Vladimir Drozdoff

January 2

Peter Hay

January 3

Thomas J Fierro

January 4

John Greene

January 5

Mitch Gilbert

January 7

Solomon Walden

January 8

David Shertzer

January 8

Michael C Gibbs

January 11

Glenn DeBaere

January 16

Michael P Becker

January 18

Sheila M Acker

January 20

Cindy Denbaum

January 21

James Oszlak

January 23

Mary Mills

January 26

Memorial Day ride to the Veterans' Monument at Bald Hill

Malachy's Tech Corner

Above are the registration stats for this year.

The left side shows sign-ups by category.

B-ish are the Crankin Rides, and they are the rides with the most registrations.

Also included on that side are the Gold Coast, Club meetings and the party.

The right side shows all registrations by month.

2026 Website Update.

The HBC website now has a new look with a new Menu format.

Hopefully this new menu will make the website easier to navigate. For logged-in members, there are less main menu items and less sub-menus. For non-members and members not logged-in, there are now no sub-menus on the main menu.

July means only one thing, The Gold Coast!

This is what would be missing if road markings were eliminated from the Gold Coast.....

August ride to Orient Point from Riverhead

September's Huntington Senior Citizen Health Fair

September Bicycle Rodeo Volunteers

October movie shoot. Great Club jerseys!

(Ariana loved them!)

November's RAM into da Bronx!

How to Stay Fit When Work or Life Keeps You Off the Bike

There are three main categories that could be keeping you from riding: You’re sick or injured to the point where training of any type isn’t advisable; you’re injured for cycling but still mobile or able to build fitness in other ways; or you’re simply not around your bike for a while due to a vacation or a work trip.

Here are a few tips for each scenario so you can learn how to maintain your cycling fitness no matter why you can’t ride.

As mentioned above, when you’re not able to train on the bike, you can use that time to make huge gains in your health and fitness by dialing in other important parts of your life.

If you’re someone who’s not getting the requisite seven to nine hours of sleep every night, use the newfound hours previously spent training to catch up. Sleep is often the biggest factor missing on a training schedule, especially for serious endurance athletes who often sacrifice zzzs in favor of doing Zone 2. Sleep is where much of the recovery process happens, so if you want to get back on the bike faster, sleep is the best medicine.

Plan Ahead

Assuming you have a training schedule of some type, you have—or should have!—rest weeks built in every three to five weeks. Note upcoming vacations, work trips, or times of the year where it’s too busy to get in big hours on the bike, and make those times correspond with rest weeks. That way, you’re not missing your biggest weeks of training, and you’re better able to fully enjoy vacation or focus on work. You can do the same by shuffling around your schedule to work with your time off.

Up Your Strength Training

A simple set of planks, wall sits, and squats (with or without weights) can lead to big gains on the bike—and can be done in your hotel room if there’s no gym access available. Try yoga to work on both strength and flexibility.

If you’re unable to ride simply due to a lack of a bike, hiking or running are great alternatives for maintaining fitness on a temporary basis. But don’t start running for an hour if you haven’t been on a run since doing the mile in gym class back in high school! Start with brisk walking, run/walk intervals, or hiking uphill if you’re not a regular runner already.

Dedicate Time to Building Your Strength

If you’re recovering from an injury like an ACL tear, you’re going to be limited in terms of movement, but you may still be able to keep your fitness by working on your weak points. Leg-based injuries offer a great opportunity to shift focus to your core and upper-torso. A strong core, arms, and shoulders can improve your cycling immensely when you do get back on the bike, so focus on strengthening those areas rather than lamenting what you can’t do.

Go for Walks

Starrett says that often, cyclists are actually not walking nearly enough from a health and longevity standpoint. Use this time to fix that! Walking is the number one weight bearing exercise. If you’re able to walk while in recovery from an injury or while dealing with a body limitation (like pregnancy, making it tough to reach the handlebars!), aiming for 8,000 to 12,000 steps per day is a great goal—and it will help you maintain that bike fitness so when you’re ready to start pedaling, you’ll be back to your old paces in no time.

Use the Indoor Trainer—Cautiously

There are some injuries like hand/wrist, collarbone, and even concussions where the indoor trainer may be an option for you, if used carefully and cautiously. Start really slow and easy, focusing on just spinning to get some blood flowing. Make sure that you can balance easily, that it’s comfortable and that you’re not over-compensating anywhere. If you can’t balance and feel as though you’re overcompensating, skip the bike in favor of walking.

View this Newsletter on our Website at Club/Newsletters

hbcli.org

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