30th Annual TCBC Watermelon Ride! - Twin Cities Bicycling Club

BACK OF THE PACK
Herb Bench Dedication Ride
and Picnic Set for June 26
Just east of the Sabo Bridge over
Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis sits
a new bench alongside the Greenway,
inviting bicyclists to sit and relax.
And that’s most appropriate, because
the bench was placed there this
spring – paid for by TCBC members
-- to honor the late Herb Schultz,
surely one of the most welcoming
ride leaders the TCBC has ever had. It
carries a plaque saying, “In Honor of
Herb Schultz … Friend – Bicyclist
– Mentor … a favorite Twin Cities
Bicycling Club Ride Leader.”
The club will be dedicating the bench
on Sunday, June 26, with three 10 AM
rides – for B, B/C and C riders –
preceding the 12:30 PM dedication at
the bench. All rides will leave from
Brackett Park, about a mile east of
the bench, stop at the bench for the
dedication, then proceed back to
Brackett Park. (The park is along 28th
St. E, just east of 36th Ave. S.)
A picnic will held at Brackett Park at 1
PM following the dedication. The cost
will be $5 per person to help defray
the cost of food and renting the park
shelter.
All club members are invited; even if
you don’t choose to ride, you’re still
welcome to join your fellow members
at the picnic. If rain wipes out the
rides (hey, Herb didn’t like to ride in
the rain, either) the dedication and
picnic will be held inside the park
shelter at Brackett Park.
RSVPs are necessary for the picnic.
You can email your RSVP to
HerbPicnicRSVP@bikeTCBC.org by
the deadline, June 21, or check the
TCBC home page for a link to the
RSVP.
Please RSVP by June 21st.
TCBC ONLINE STORE
Limited supply of TCBC jerseys,
along with map clips and
personalized
bike name plates.
For more information
and to order, go to:
www.biketcbc.org
click on TCBC Online Store.
"Get them
while they last!"
Herbie
The quintessential back of the packer
was Herb Schultz. Herbie didn't have
to ride at the back. He also didn't
have to gather up new riders, some
young and some on the other side of
young, to come to his rides. He didn't
have to encourage folks just getting
back into cycling after decades of
watching an old bike with deflated
tires sit in the garage to join his riding
bunch. Herbie didn't even have to
arrive an hour early for bike rides just
to "set a spell" and visit with a few
people who would come ahead of
time to exchange updates on life,
work, friends, and pie. But he did just
that because he was Herbie. So in his
memory, which brings a smile to
many of our faces, I asked a few of his
cycling companions to share a
memory of Herb.
For me, riding with Herb started with
a phone call about finding a place to
stay in the Lanesboro area for his
annual fall ride along the trails along
the Root River. He could have simply
said here is a list of hotels and most
are booked, which is a cold reality of
that time of year in SE Minnesota.
But Herbie instead knew who was
coming, and who had a spare bed in
their room and might be looking for a
roommate. He knew this not because
he was helping coordinate lodging
but because he knew his people so
well and in casual conversation; they
shared with him where they were
staying and what their roommate
situation was. He also asked me
about myself and calmed my anxiety
about going out of town with a group
of people who I didn't know and had
no idea if I would fit in with, let alone
be able to ride all day with them on
my old bicycle.
That weekend I was warmed by the
friendly "Herb bunch" and realized
this was far more than a cycling
weekend. It was a group of friends
that chose to share their lives
whether they were on the bike,
eating dinner, going to the theater, or
sitting around a campfire. An
amazing realization was that age,
ability, and appearance didn't matter,
nor did whether you opted in or out
of each suggested event. And I
learned that Herbie was a good
cyclist but chose to lead from the
back of the pack, most often quietly
observing his "pack" with occasional
reminders to the front runners to
keep it to a C riding speed.- Karen J
Here are several others’ favorite
memories of Herb....
I didn’t often ride in back with Herbie,
because I was one of those who
frequently showed up an hour early
to sit with him in his big Explorer and
discuss life, love, and leisure. His
rides were often mapless, and he’d
enlist me to ride “point” with only a
vague description of the route and an
admonishment to avoid hills. The
bunch would pedal along with me up
front trying to hold things down to a
C pace while trying to outline
upcoming turns for the folks wanting
to ride ahead. I’d often glance to the
back of the pack to make sure Herb
was in sight and occasionally he’d
shout out to slow things down a bit.
After a stop for soup we’d return to
the ride start, and Herb would always
wrap things up by saying: “Let’s hear
it for Jeffie!”, and I in turn would say:
“Let’s hear it for Herbie!” (the
quintessential back of the packer).
Herb is gone, and it is infrequent that
I’m up front, but if I am I can’t help
but glance back to see if Herb is
there, and his requests to slow it
down still echo in my ears. Most days
slowing down and hanging in back
still seems like fine advice! - Jeff R
I rode literally hundreds of rides with
Herb over the years, and co-led
dozens of them with him. So I often
rode at “the back of the pack” with
him, as he played mother hen to all
the guests on his rides. Herb was
almost always back there to help if
you had a flat or other mechanical
problem.
Mind you, Herb helping didn’t
necessarily solve the problem quickly,
but he was always willing to try.
Once, several years ago, Herb, I and
the rest of the Bunch all left a
restaurant in Cornell, at the end of
the Old Abe Trail, to head back down
the trail to Chippewa Falls. Herb
started off in his usual last position, I
was second-to-last, and about a half
a block ahead of us was the rest of
the Bunch, including Terry Osell.
Anyone who’s ever been on a “Herb
ride” where Terry was riding knows
that Terry was the unofficial “tire
fixer” when anyone has a flat. Terry,
who designs and builds bikes, and
owned a bike shop for many years,
sees changing a flat tire as about as
challenging as putting on a biking
jersey. Watching him is a 90-second
free clinic on how to fix a flat tire.
So, a half-block from the restaurant,
when I heard a “pop” from my rear
tire and we braked to a halt, Herb’s
and my first thought was not,
“Where’s the spare tube?” but
“Where’s Terry?” There he was, a
18 JUNE 2011 TCBC NEWS www.bikeTCBC.org TWIN CITIES BICYCLING CLUB