Start the New Year supporting bicycle advocacy. Mark your calendars for the next BACA meeting, January 3, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. at the Oyster Bar, 3003 W. Markham. Teresa Marks, Director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, will talk about the Department's new "green" building, the bicycling and recreational facilities built into the building, plans to connect the building to the Arkansas River Trail by a new bike trail, and environmental issues associated with bicycling. The Department of Environmental Quality's headquarters is the gleaming, new, all glass multi-story building you see from the NLR Arkansas River Trail just before the Big Dam Bridge. The headquarters location was selected in part because of its proximity to the trail. It is great that the head of the primary state agency concerned with environmental protection is on our side and has accepted our invitation to speak. Please come to the meeting to let Ms. Marks know that the Department's efforts on behalf of bicycling are appreciated and that there is significant community support for those efforts. As always, there will be good food and good company.

I received this email a few days ago--

Gary,

Please ask around or post this email to ask if anyone is missing part of their bike. A bike part was found in CARP's parking area by patrol and turned over to me for storage. Call or come by to indentify the part and they can get it back. I will say this, they will not be able to ride their bike without this part!

Lt. Thomas Sponer
Camp Robinson Dept. of Public Safety
212-5280

Christmas Eve - Dec 24th - 1:30 PM

Time again for the annual Christmas Eve Jingle Bell ride. Be in the parking lot at 1:30PM we will have cocoa, coffee and refreshments available. We always decorate our bikes and helmets, full costumes optional. Bring your camera we will have a short photo session to document the occasion. Then a short ride and back to the holiday shuffle at home with the family. See you there!

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

*Ouachita Challenge Update - "Sorry, the tour and 60 mile race are full. If you still want a spot post something on the bulletin board!"

Ouachita Cycling Club bulletin board:
http://p073.ezboard.com/fbikearkansasmessageboardfrm36

Gary

Mark this down in your calendar. Registration for the Ouachita Challenge will begin on Monday December 17th at 7:00am. Last year it filled up in less than 24 hours so don¹t wait around. The race is tentatively set for April 5th and 6th, 2008. This year they are adding an additional 80 mile race that will be extremely difficult. So I would not sign up for it unless you have some long hours on the bike. They will still have the 60 mile race and tour as they did last year, the only difference is the tour course from last year will be the race course for this year and vice versa. If there is anyone out there who is semi new to mountain biking and wants to get into some distance riding the tour would be a great challenge.

www.ouachitachallenge.com

Christmas Party....

Don't forget the Annual ABC Christmas Gala. The Little Rock Road Runners, Arkansas Running Club, and CARP will be joining ABC again. This is a potluck affair but we will supply meat and cheese platters, soft drinks, and beer and wine.

Place: Hillcrest Hall (Garden Club), Kavanaugh at Lee Streets near Markham
Date: Saturday, December 15th, 2007
Time: 6:30 pm until ??

All Bicyclists, BACA, ABC, FGSG, CARP & CARVE - Bicycle Friendly Community Honorable Mention Presentation to Little Rock City Board, Tuesday, December 4, 6:00 p.m. The City Board meeting will be held at Little Rock City Hall, Markham and Broadway, City Board of Directors Meeting Room, Second Floor.

You are urged to attend the presentation of the League of American Bicyclists' award of Bicycle Friendly Community Honorable Mention status to the City of Little Rock. The award certificate will be presented to the City of Little Rock Board of Directors this Tuesday, December 4 at 6:00 p.m. The presentation will be made by City of LR BFC Committee Chair Ken Gould and will be the first item on the agenda of the Board's meeting so you should be able to leave by 6:30 p.m. if not earlier.

The award to Little Rock was achieved through the hard work of the Little Rock Bicycle Friendly Community Committee, which includes BACA representatives to the committee Jess Askew, Coreen Frasier, Ken Gould, French Hill, Ed Levy and Claibanne Williamson. Quoting from the recent notification of the award from the League, "honorable mention status is accorded only communities on the cusp of achieving full BFC status." Achieving Honorable Mention status requires showing significant tangible progress toward a city becoming bicycle friendly. Of the 24 applications considered, 7 were newly recognized bronze or silver BFC cities, 8 received honorable mention, and 9 were given no recognition. Little Rock's achievement has come in a relatively short period of time: compare the BFC honorable mention recognition with the posting on a bicycling website late in 2000 that asked respondents to name the worst places internationally and in the U.S to ride a bicycle - answer - "Cairo, Egypt and Little Rock, Arkansas." Come help us celebrate the Honorable Mention achievement and show the Board of Directors that there is significant community support for continuing the progress. If you are a BACA member, please wear your yellow BACA shirt. BACA shirts will be available at the Board meeting.

Ron Rizzardi, President, Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas