I’m the one who didn’t take one step back­ward when the ques­tion was asked “who wants to be pres­i­dent” so here I am. I must say that I was very ner­vous about what lies ahead. But after our first board meet­ing, I’m con­fi­dent that with the peo­ple that were there, it’s going to be a breeze. I look for­ward to 2010 and the work ahead of us. Its good to see some old timers and newer mem­bers com­ing together on the board. I look for fresh ideas to counter some of our old ways. I think it’s going to be a good year for our club. Santa Clarita Velo is a real trea­sure. We have a top notch cycling club with many tal­ented rid­ers and great group rides. You can’t ask for better.

All of this makes me think about all the work that has been done in the past, and the ben­e­fits that we have all enjoyed due to the hard work of others. Therefore, I would like to take this oppor­tu­nity to thank the 2009 Board for their com­mit­ment. A spe­cial thanks goes to Irene John­son, who is a wealth of knowl­edge and wis­dom. We are all grate­ful that she will con­tinue to be the Race Direc­tor for the Chuck Pon­tius Cri­terium, and the Cen­tury Ride. Rick Skalak and I will be the Punch­bowl Direc­tors. Thanks to Tom Bar­ron for the Punch­bowl race notes, which will make the task much eas­ier. Thanks also goes out to Mark Lof­tus for all the work that has gone into our great new web­site as well The Echelon.

There is much to do: two races and a cen­tury ride, all before April is over. As always, we count on the help of all club mem­bers to make these events suc­cesse­ful as they have been in the past. These are the three days in the year that we ask for your par­tic­i­pa­tion, so please con­tact Irene or myself to vol­un­teer for the races and the Cen­tury. Also, please keep open Wednes­day evening, May 19, as Irene is help­ing to orga­nize a ride of silence to com­mem­o­rate fallen cyclists. These events are now being con­ducted all over the world, and we will have ours in May.

We will also be look­ing into list­ing our club and activ­i­ties in The Sig­nal as well as The Santa Clarita Mag­a­zine. We will con­tinue with the break­fast rides, open to all mem­bers, with the next one sched­uled for the first Sat­ur­day in March. Stay tuned. Our new ride dic­ta­tor has put up some cool new rides that we don’t do very often, such as May Canyon, and the Simi, Moor­park, Grimes loop. Bart is also open to sug­ges­tions, so let him know what you think.

The club cloth­ing is due to arrive on Feb­ru­ary 15^th. We have very lit­tle extra cloth­ing ordered, if you want cloth­ing and haven’t ordered it, you should con­tact Daniel Van­Dalsem to check on availability.

The next board meet­ing will be held on Mon­day Feb­ru­ary 15 at 6:00 PM at my home. All are wel­come to attend. See you on the road.

Rino Barba­gio­vanni