Williamsport Bicycle Club

By Mark Burke:

I found this story (Opinion: Plenty of Pie for All) on Facebook, posted by “Bicycle Times.”  In it, author Anna Schwinn writes how our own close-mindedness around forms of riding, riders from different molds and evolutionary technologies create barriers to the growth of our sport.  Like most riders, I’ve found myself from time to time so focused on one type of riding that other genres seem off topic, even to the degree of not being cycling to me. It takes a change in mindset to rid ourselves of cycle-myopathy and one of the greatest resources to help us broaden our perspective is a great bike club like WBC.

Take a tour of the posts on the site and you’ll find club members riding roads, rail trails and mountain single tracks.  And, you’ll see many of the same faces in pictures across all forms of riding.  Those faces belong to highly motivated folks who are more than willing to share their experiences, skills and technical advice in all forms of cycling.  WBC is a club that embraces cycling, not cycling in the right clothing, on the right bike, on the right course, in the right weather.  Getting everything “right” is hard work that wouldn’t help any bike club.

Clubs like WBC expose riders to thinking that is hard to experience as an individual.  While I would never be so bold as to say every cyclist needs to join a club, I do see clubs as key to broadening and evolving our sport.  And, to ensure our sport does grow, clubs should be as diverse as WBC.

This is my personal thanks to the officers of WBC and the members.  I feel like I found a true gift in the club.