Health & Fitness

Clint Provenza (left) and Clif Dierking (right) announcing the 2011 mileage challenge winners. Photo by Nicole Gray

By Nicole Gray

On Jan.28, the Severna Park Peloton (SPP) Cycling Club held its annual awards and appreciation dinner for members at Hella’s Restaurant and Lounge in Millersville. Awards were given to participants of the Severna Park Peloton’s 2011 mileage challenge as well as to members who rode a large number of miles during the year.

The evening, hosted by SPP organizers Clint Provenza and Clif Dierking, began with dinner and a photography slideshow featuring SPP riders out on the trail and participating in various cycling events.

The Severna Park Peloton started in 1993 with a newsgroup of area cycling enthusiasts who met up in the Annapolis City Dock area for bike rides and bagels. Currently, the newsgroup consists of over 100 members, many of whom participate regularly in trail rides. Monday through Friday, members meet at 5:45am to cycle from Rusty Bridge to the end of the B&A Trail and back. There are also evening and weekend trail rides. The area trails have a wide range of terrain, making them suitable to all experience levels of cycling. Additionally, the club prides itself on its “no drop” policy, meaning no rider is left behind on the trail. Kristy Noeges, who joined SPP during the summer 2011 season, benefits from the group because cycling is good for her endurance, saying, “It helps me push my limits.”

A number of SPP members have made the transition to cycling from other sports, such as running. “We pick up a lot of runners from the trails.” Dan Oldale, an SPP cycler for almost three years, who made just sucha transition. Beingin the habit of waking up early to run, Oldale says he now does it to ride.

“It’s easier on the knees,” explains member Clint Provenza of the benefits.

Many of the Severna Park Peloton cyclists have participated in the R-12, a challenge to cycle 200 kilometers in each of 12 consecutive months. The challenge is organized by the Randonneurs USA, an organization for long-distance endurance cycling. Currently, 38 SPP members are randonneurs, participating in long-distance cycling events such as those hosted by the DC Randonneurs.

The mileage challenge started in 2008 as a way to encourage cycling. Each challenge participant puts forth $10 into a pool and makes a guess for the total miles cycled by all the challenge participants for the year. Guesses for the year must be submitted by the end of April. Each participant turns in their miles cycled every month for counting toward the yearly total. The winner with the closest guess to the year-end mileage total receives $100 gift card for any bicycle shop or restaurant of their choice. Prizes are also given out to challenge participants who have the highest miles cycled during a given month for the challenge year and members who are prompt in turning in their mileage stats for the month.

Awards for highest miles cycled in a month were presented to members such as Dan Oldale for January 2011, Janet Bodine for February 2011, and Chip Adams for August 2011. Janet Bodine took home the 2011 Mileage Challenge with a guess of 157,550 miles cycled by the group, the closest guess to the actual total of 157,622 miles. Ms. Bodine was also received a First Responders Award for her prompt reporting of miles cycled at month’s end. Awards were also presented to Kristy Noesges for Best New Member of 2011 and members who had reached the 10,000 miles cycled milestone.

Chip Adams presented SPP members Clint and Sherri Provenza and Dan Oldale with engraved pint glasses, courtesy of the DC Randonneurs, as a thank you for all their participation and efforts with DC Randonneur events.

For more information on Severna Park Peloton go to www.severnaparkpeloton.org.