You have to scramble for bike rides now. But on New Years day the Cycling Saddlemen sponsor the First Dozen bike ride in Dearborn. Twelve miles, all in Dearborn. One municipality, one police department, one road commission for snow removal. I admit I don't preregister, but I've ridden it most every year. This year they will have homemade soup made by a volunteer at the end. I'm starting to check the 10 day weather forecasts.
In my last post I said that I was getting used to the winter cold. I was wrong: it got down to 18 degrees on Friday. My hands got so cold that I could barely turn the key in my front door lock. I've got a ways to go. On the brighter side, we have a puppy who has never seen snow and we were worried about her reaction. She is pretty high energy and if she couldn't go outside during the winter, we were in trouble. We found out she loves snow and that cold doesn't seem to bother her. Now if I could just take after her.
I was looking at the LMB website. They've revised and updated it. While I was there, I went to their Routes and Maps page. Click Route 1. It's a route across Michigan along the very southern part of the state. You can download a map and commentary on the route for free. If you check out the route, they go through a lot of cities that we've gone thru or had as sites during our southern routes: New Buffalo, Dowagiac, Colon, Constantine, Sturgis, Three Rivers, Coldwater, Hillsdale, Adrian, Hudson, Tecumseh, and Luna Pier. There is a lot of good information on self contained touring and the history of the area. The website itself has a slideshow of 75 photos that the people who created the map took while they were riding the route. They also agree that Monroe County has the worst roads in the state. Check it out.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
How Registration Works
It's really winter now. When it snows, it doesn't go away. But I'm beginning to get used to temperatures in the 20s and the days are getting longer.
You have until January 1 to email PALM or email me and get on the mailing list for PALM applications. But you can still get an application mailed to you after January 1. If you email PALM, ie Ellie, after January 1, she will take your name and address an application for you by hand. It's work for her, but she'll do it. It will be mailed a couple of days after the mailing list applications are sented out because she won't have any applications until then so you'll be behind everyone. So it's better for you and her if you email us your mailing address before January 1.
Here's the registration process. First Ellie picks up the mail at the PALM post office box in Ann Arbor. She opens all the envelopes and counts all the riders. (This is one of the many other things she does for PALM besides her staff position. She's the Mail Granny: the one who answers the PALM phone and all the PALM emails.) The day we get the application for the 700th rider is the cutoff date. Every application we receive that day is on the ride. This means that we will actually register more than 700 riders, typically 50 more. We count on cancellations to bring us back down to 700. Since we register 50 riders more than our cutoff, we don't keep a waiting list.
Then Ellie sends the applications to Vickie to process. Before January 31 this is easy: the post office, Ellie, and Vickie are all in Ann Arbor. After January 31 it gets a little harder because Vickie is in Florida, poor girl. Vickie first checks all the applications. Have the releases been signed? Are parental consents necessary and have they been signed? If there are any riders under 18, do they have adult rider sponsors and have the sponsors signed? Is there an emergency contact on the application? Have the t shirt sizes been marked? Do the dollars add up correctly? Is the check/money order for the correct amount? If you forget to include a self addressed, stamped envelope, she has to make one out for you or you won't get a confirmation letter from us. If there are mistakes, she will have to get in touch with you, either by phone, email, or snail mail. She might have to mail you back your check so that you can send the correct amount this time. She's not done. Now she assigns the rider number, fills out the paperwork for our accountant, and sends the applications to me. This is a lot of work, esp if there are errors in the application. It's not like it's winter where she is and she's snowed in. There is a beach right outside her door. And yet she still does work for PALM.
Then I get the applications. I have the easiest job. The applications have already been checked and I get them in batches of 50 to 80 at a time, perfect for efficient processing. Everything I do is automated. I enter the application into a program I've written. I use Mail Merge to generate the confirmation letters. I produce t shirt counts, bus and meal lists using the data saved on the computer. It is winter where I am. Every application I do brings summer that much closer. I'm motivated.
The applications go thru several sets of hands. There really is too much work for just one person to do it all. There are 3 locations involved: Ann Arbor, Florida, and Detroit. Generally things run pretty smoothly but last year was a disaster. We mailed out applications on January 25 and we were filled by Febuary 5, a new record. Vickie went to Florida two weeks early and then broke the wrist of the her writing hand. (Remember she fills out a lot of paperwork and self addressed stamped envelopes by hand.) And the applications had an incredible amount of errors and for every error Vickie had to at least contact the rider by phone or email. About 100 applications were missing self addressed stamped envelopes. Remember this means that Vickie must stop and address an envelope. And she's in Florida and the sun is shining right outside her window. In the middle of the rush, I went on vacation and everything stopped on my end. What a mess. We didn't get done until May just in time to start handling the riders who wanted to cancel or transfer their application to someone else.
This year we are mailing out the applications earlier. We hope to mail them out around January 15. Given how quickly we filled last year, there is a good chance that we will hit our 700 rider limit before Vickie leaves for Florida so that she can take all the applications with her. She promises not to break her wrist this year. This year I'm taking time off around January 10 and I'll be back when the applications start coming in. And you, gentle reader, will do a much better job of filling out the applications correctly and sending in self addressed stamped envelopes. Things should go much smoother.
Suppose you do make a mistake on the application/check. What happens? If you read the application, it says that your application will be returned and your spot on PALM will be jeopardized. That's not the way Vickie does things. Vickie tries to get in touch with you by phone or email. She returns your check only if it is wrong. She holds your spot if you need to send a new check or a new application (in the case of missing signatures). She may even assign you a rider number. You do not lose your spot on PALM. One other thing: she doesn't deposit your check until she processes your application. If you are waiting to see if your check clears to see if you are on PALM, that won't work. You'll get the confirmation letter before the check clears.
You have until January 1 to email PALM or email me and get on the mailing list for PALM applications. But you can still get an application mailed to you after January 1. If you email PALM, ie Ellie, after January 1, she will take your name and address an application for you by hand. It's work for her, but she'll do it. It will be mailed a couple of days after the mailing list applications are sented out because she won't have any applications until then so you'll be behind everyone. So it's better for you and her if you email us your mailing address before January 1.
Here's the registration process. First Ellie picks up the mail at the PALM post office box in Ann Arbor. She opens all the envelopes and counts all the riders. (This is one of the many other things she does for PALM besides her staff position. She's the Mail Granny: the one who answers the PALM phone and all the PALM emails.) The day we get the application for the 700th rider is the cutoff date. Every application we receive that day is on the ride. This means that we will actually register more than 700 riders, typically 50 more. We count on cancellations to bring us back down to 700. Since we register 50 riders more than our cutoff, we don't keep a waiting list.
Then Ellie sends the applications to Vickie to process. Before January 31 this is easy: the post office, Ellie, and Vickie are all in Ann Arbor. After January 31 it gets a little harder because Vickie is in Florida, poor girl. Vickie first checks all the applications. Have the releases been signed? Are parental consents necessary and have they been signed? If there are any riders under 18, do they have adult rider sponsors and have the sponsors signed? Is there an emergency contact on the application? Have the t shirt sizes been marked? Do the dollars add up correctly? Is the check/money order for the correct amount? If you forget to include a self addressed, stamped envelope, she has to make one out for you or you won't get a confirmation letter from us. If there are mistakes, she will have to get in touch with you, either by phone, email, or snail mail. She might have to mail you back your check so that you can send the correct amount this time. She's not done. Now she assigns the rider number, fills out the paperwork for our accountant, and sends the applications to me. This is a lot of work, esp if there are errors in the application. It's not like it's winter where she is and she's snowed in. There is a beach right outside her door. And yet she still does work for PALM.
Then I get the applications. I have the easiest job. The applications have already been checked and I get them in batches of 50 to 80 at a time, perfect for efficient processing. Everything I do is automated. I enter the application into a program I've written. I use Mail Merge to generate the confirmation letters. I produce t shirt counts, bus and meal lists using the data saved on the computer. It is winter where I am. Every application I do brings summer that much closer. I'm motivated.
The applications go thru several sets of hands. There really is too much work for just one person to do it all. There are 3 locations involved: Ann Arbor, Florida, and Detroit. Generally things run pretty smoothly but last year was a disaster. We mailed out applications on January 25 and we were filled by Febuary 5, a new record. Vickie went to Florida two weeks early and then broke the wrist of the her writing hand. (Remember she fills out a lot of paperwork and self addressed stamped envelopes by hand.) And the applications had an incredible amount of errors and for every error Vickie had to at least contact the rider by phone or email. About 100 applications were missing self addressed stamped envelopes. Remember this means that Vickie must stop and address an envelope. And she's in Florida and the sun is shining right outside her window. In the middle of the rush, I went on vacation and everything stopped on my end. What a mess. We didn't get done until May just in time to start handling the riders who wanted to cancel or transfer their application to someone else.
This year we are mailing out the applications earlier. We hope to mail them out around January 15. Given how quickly we filled last year, there is a good chance that we will hit our 700 rider limit before Vickie leaves for Florida so that she can take all the applications with her. She promises not to break her wrist this year. This year I'm taking time off around January 10 and I'll be back when the applications start coming in. And you, gentle reader, will do a much better job of filling out the applications correctly and sending in self addressed stamped envelopes. Things should go much smoother.
Suppose you do make a mistake on the application/check. What happens? If you read the application, it says that your application will be returned and your spot on PALM will be jeopardized. That's not the way Vickie does things. Vickie tries to get in touch with you by phone or email. She returns your check only if it is wrong. She holds your spot if you need to send a new check or a new application (in the case of missing signatures). She may even assign you a rider number. You do not lose your spot on PALM. One other thing: she doesn't deposit your check until she processes your application. If you are waiting to see if your check clears to see if you are on PALM, that won't work. You'll get the confirmation letter before the check clears.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Changes for PALM 2010
Basically the biggest changes in PALM every year are the sites. If you look over the last 5 years of PALM on the website you'll see that while we always go from west to east, every site but one has been different. (South Haven is the only duplicate. Not a bad choice.) If you ride PALM you'll see lots of Michigan.
One of the awkward things about PALM is that it's not a round trip: you finish 200 miles from where you started. We charter buses that take you, your luggage, and your bike to the beginning site on Saturday before the ride starts and other buses that return you to the start site after the ride is over on Friday. We arrange for week long parking at the ending site for the Saturday people and the starting site for the Friday people. Roughly 200 people take the bus on Saturday before the ride starts and about 100 take the bus after the ride is over on Friday.
If instead you are planning to take your car and/or camper from site to site, we've made a few changes that you'll be able to see from the application. If you know that you'll be taking your car and/or camper from site to site, you will need to indicate whether you are taking a vehicle and/or a camper and their approximate length in the fields provided below the city/state line on the application. (We need to know how much parking we will need at each site.) At registration on Saturday you will receive a PALM vehicle pass as part of your registration packet. We ask that it be visible from your vehicle at all times. Basically we rent the sites at which we stay and are responsible for them. We need to know that everybody on site is part of PALM.
We know that you may not know that you will be driving your vehicle site to site until just before PALM starts. You'll be able to sign up for a PALM vehicle pass at registration at the start of the ride. But if you do know you'll be doing this well beforehand, please let us know so that we can plan.
Everyone who is on PALM must register whether they are a rider or not. If someone is going to come with you to drive your vehicle from site to site, they still have to register even if they don't plan to ride. Up until last year we had separate non rider registration fee, but it was rarely used (the most we ever had was 13, generally it was around 6.) so we dropped it this year. Everyone who registers for PALM will get a t-shirt so be sure to indicate your size.
Some other things to know about taking your vehicle and/or camper from site to site. When you are driving to the next site, stay off the bike route. This is a safety issue. There will be 700 bikes on the route contending with existing local traffic and they don't any extra. You'll be provided with an alternate route to the next site. There will be a designated area for you to park. You must park there (or you will be asked to move). The luggage trucks and repair shops need parking too. Don't park or setup tents at the next site until 12:00 noon. Officially the site is not ours until 11:00. Any earlier than noon means that you will beat the site co-ordinator there. (Their first official duty is to police up the previous site before going on to their own site.) Please let the site co-ordinators setup shop before they have to start handling issues. These are rules that we've always had even though some have not followed them.
Some things though stay the same on PALM year to year. It's still Michigan. Midsummer's night will still occur on PALM. And for this year the registration, meal, and bus fees have also stayed the same.
One of the awkward things about PALM is that it's not a round trip: you finish 200 miles from where you started. We charter buses that take you, your luggage, and your bike to the beginning site on Saturday before the ride starts and other buses that return you to the start site after the ride is over on Friday. We arrange for week long parking at the ending site for the Saturday people and the starting site for the Friday people. Roughly 200 people take the bus on Saturday before the ride starts and about 100 take the bus after the ride is over on Friday.
If instead you are planning to take your car and/or camper from site to site, we've made a few changes that you'll be able to see from the application. If you know that you'll be taking your car and/or camper from site to site, you will need to indicate whether you are taking a vehicle and/or a camper and their approximate length in the fields provided below the city/state line on the application. (We need to know how much parking we will need at each site.) At registration on Saturday you will receive a PALM vehicle pass as part of your registration packet. We ask that it be visible from your vehicle at all times. Basically we rent the sites at which we stay and are responsible for them. We need to know that everybody on site is part of PALM.
We know that you may not know that you will be driving your vehicle site to site until just before PALM starts. You'll be able to sign up for a PALM vehicle pass at registration at the start of the ride. But if you do know you'll be doing this well beforehand, please let us know so that we can plan.
Everyone who is on PALM must register whether they are a rider or not. If someone is going to come with you to drive your vehicle from site to site, they still have to register even if they don't plan to ride. Up until last year we had separate non rider registration fee, but it was rarely used (the most we ever had was 13, generally it was around 6.) so we dropped it this year. Everyone who registers for PALM will get a t-shirt so be sure to indicate your size.
Some other things to know about taking your vehicle and/or camper from site to site. When you are driving to the next site, stay off the bike route. This is a safety issue. There will be 700 bikes on the route contending with existing local traffic and they don't any extra. You'll be provided with an alternate route to the next site. There will be a designated area for you to park. You must park there (or you will be asked to move). The luggage trucks and repair shops need parking too. Don't park or setup tents at the next site until 12:00 noon. Officially the site is not ours until 11:00. Any earlier than noon means that you will beat the site co-ordinator there. (Their first official duty is to police up the previous site before going on to their own site.) Please let the site co-ordinators setup shop before they have to start handling issues. These are rules that we've always had even though some have not followed them.
Some things though stay the same on PALM year to year. It's still Michigan. Midsummer's night will still occur on PALM. And for this year the registration, meal, and bus fees have also stayed the same.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wind Chill is Back
Last weekend the temperature dipped down to 27 and the wind picked up to 15 mph. My hands were so cold when I was jogging that I thought it was really cold. I knew it was going to be about 20 degrees colder this winter and I was wondering how I was going to survive. The first thing I did was to remember to wear mittens over gloves. When my hands weren't aching, it didn't seem so cold. But now it's 18 degrees and the wind is 20-25 mph. I've pulled out all my winter gear and I still have to prepare for temperatures 10 degrees colder. This is going to be a challenge. At least I know where all my winter clothes are now. I can't complain yet. In SW Michigan we only got a dusting of snow. The western part of the state got 5 inches or so. Nothing like starting off winter with a bang.
I've had some people ask whether they were on the PALM mailing list or not. If you got an application last year and you haven't moved, you are going to get one this year. If you have ever been on PALM, you'll be getting applications until you disappear or ask to be taken off the mailing list. If you didn't mail in your application in time to get on the ride last year, I put you on the mailing list (or tried to) and you should get an application this year. If you emailed palmbiketour@yahoo.com with your mailing address, you're on the mailing list. So far the mailing list contains 3300 addresses, about 300 more than usual. You have until Jan 1 to get me your mailing address before I have to put the mailing list together for the printer. On the application itself: I've completed the corrections to the proof and I'll be sending it back to the printer Monday. They should be all set.
On the garden front, I did harvest my last collard plant when the temperature got down to 27. I need daylight to work in the garden so my window of opportunity is down to the weekend. I was trying to wait out the pea sized Brussel sprouts and now they are frozen. I'm going to need a pick ax to clear the rest of the garden. My compost heap is a frozen lump. If a compost heap is active it's supposed to be warm, over 100 degrees. It looks like it wasn't active enough and now it will have to wait until spring like the rest of us. Well, there is the First Dozen. I did get a postcard for it today.
On the garden front, I did harvest my last collard plant when the temperature got down to 27. I need daylight to work in the garden so my window of opportunity is down to the weekend. I was trying to wait out the pea sized Brussel sprouts and now they are frozen. I'm going to need a pick ax to clear the rest of the garden. My compost heap is a frozen lump. If a compost heap is active it's supposed to be warm, over 100 degrees. It looks like it wasn't active enough and now it will have to wait until spring like the rest of us. Well, there is the First Dozen. I did get a postcard for it today.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
PALM 2010 Application
I marked up the 2009 application with some changes for 2010 and have taken it to the printer. They will typeset it and send me a proof to review. (Typeset is an anachronism here. There is no type involved. In fact the guy who does it for them lives in the UP and does it all by computer.) So we are on our way.
We plan to mail out the applications in the middle of January, a week earlier than last year. Our next PALM meeting is January 24. This is the chance for staff to pick up applications that they can distribute to friends, bike shops, bike clubs in their area. This will be a week after the applications are mailed out. Last year we mailed out the applications around January 25 and we were filled by Feb 5. There is a good chance that the ride will almost be filled by the time we have the PALM meeting. If you are waiting for the application to show up at your bike shop so that you can sign up for PALM, your odds are not so good. We put the application on the website about a week after the applications are mailed. (A lot of our riders are not friends of the web and we want to give them first crack.) If you are waiting to download the application from our website, you could be way behind. If you think you may want to do PALM, please, please, please get on our mailing list by January 1. (Email your mailing address to palmbiketour@yahoo.com or email it to me at palmwebguy@ameritech.net) We mail out the applications by 1st class mail so that everyone will get the application at the same time (well, close to the same time) and have an equal chance of getting on PALM. If last year is any indication, the ride could be filled by the end of January.
The middle of January is when everyone gets their credit card statements that cover Christmas shopping. Michigan's economy is bad: 15% unemployment and a huge turmoil in the auto industry. (In the last year, I had to find a new job twice. ) When you get the PALM application, you may be low on funds. You don't have to pay for everything at once. To get on PALM you only need to pay the registration ($110 for 18 and over, $65 for 11 - 17 year olds, $55 for people less than 11) when you mail in your appplication. You have up until May 15 to add any meals or bus rides you may need. January is pretty early to commit to a week off in June. If you have to cancel, it will only cost you $15 for an individual, $20 for an application. Keep your eye on the mail and mail in your registration payment soon.
Just because you have to mail in your application quickly doesn't mean you don't have to fill it out completely. We got an unbelievable amount of incorrect, incomplete applications last year. We had people who left their names off the applications. The biggest problems were missing emergency contact information, incorrect dollar amounts, and missing/misplaced signatures. For these errors we (actually Vickie) has to contact you and you have to mail us corrections. This takes time (especially if you break your writing hand, like Vickie did last year). 77 applications did not include a self addressed stamped envelope. So how do we mail you a confirmation to let you know you are on the ride? Not only does it cost us money, but we have to fill out the address (with our nonbroken hand). It took us (well, me actually) forever to finish the registration last year. We hope that by starting a little earlier and getting your help, we can do a much better job.
We plan to mail out the applications in the middle of January, a week earlier than last year. Our next PALM meeting is January 24. This is the chance for staff to pick up applications that they can distribute to friends, bike shops, bike clubs in their area. This will be a week after the applications are mailed out. Last year we mailed out the applications around January 25 and we were filled by Feb 5. There is a good chance that the ride will almost be filled by the time we have the PALM meeting. If you are waiting for the application to show up at your bike shop so that you can sign up for PALM, your odds are not so good. We put the application on the website about a week after the applications are mailed. (A lot of our riders are not friends of the web and we want to give them first crack.) If you are waiting to download the application from our website, you could be way behind. If you think you may want to do PALM, please, please, please get on our mailing list by January 1. (Email your mailing address to palmbiketour@yahoo.com or email it to me at palmwebguy@ameritech.net) We mail out the applications by 1st class mail so that everyone will get the application at the same time (well, close to the same time) and have an equal chance of getting on PALM. If last year is any indication, the ride could be filled by the end of January.
The middle of January is when everyone gets their credit card statements that cover Christmas shopping. Michigan's economy is bad: 15% unemployment and a huge turmoil in the auto industry. (In the last year, I had to find a new job twice. ) When you get the PALM application, you may be low on funds. You don't have to pay for everything at once. To get on PALM you only need to pay the registration ($110 for 18 and over, $65 for 11 - 17 year olds, $55 for people less than 11) when you mail in your appplication. You have up until May 15 to add any meals or bus rides you may need. January is pretty early to commit to a week off in June. If you have to cancel, it will only cost you $15 for an individual, $20 for an application. Keep your eye on the mail and mail in your registration payment soon.
Just because you have to mail in your application quickly doesn't mean you don't have to fill it out completely. We got an unbelievable amount of incorrect, incomplete applications last year. We had people who left their names off the applications. The biggest problems were missing emergency contact information, incorrect dollar amounts, and missing/misplaced signatures. For these errors we (actually Vickie) has to contact you and you have to mail us corrections. This takes time (especially if you break your writing hand, like Vickie did last year). 77 applications did not include a self addressed stamped envelope. So how do we mail you a confirmation to let you know you are on the ride? Not only does it cost us money, but we have to fill out the address (with our nonbroken hand). It took us (well, me actually) forever to finish the registration last year. We hope that by starting a little earlier and getting your help, we can do a much better job.
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