Tuesday Ride (9/29) is cancelled due to wet conditions

Team Evesham

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Summer’s End Smiles

Hey Team Evesham!

This past Labor Day Weekend we had some beautiful weather for cycling. As the days get shorter and the end of summer gets close (by my dismay) the weather is becoming ideal for cycling. We had another new route created by Scott Downie that took us on some familiar roads with a different path to get there. We hope that you had some time to rest this labor day, and of course do a lot of cycling!

This weekend also marked the start of the virtual Foster 100. Some riders have already gotten their mileage in and are complete! Don’t forget our Team Evesham organized Foster event will be this coming weekend September 13th, or possible the 12th depending on weather. Please keep an eye on our website, emails, and Facebook for last minute adjustments. As of now Saturday looks to be a better day! We have a fantastic route planned for you that is just about complete and will be posted by Friday. This multi-loop route will bring us back by the start for those that have already gotten some of the mileage in. We will be starting from Ott’s Greentop in Berlin where we can enjoy some hard earned social activities after our ride! We thank everyone that is participating in the Foster 100 and making this such a fantastic event. Don’t forget your new Foster 100 Jersey!

We will still be holding our regular team ride from Rastelli’s on Sunday, weather permitting. Check our website for last minute updates.

Looking forward to seeing you all on the road this weekend for the Foster 100 event!

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A New Start

We have not done a ride recap in a while… I can’t give a good reason why, just life and cycling this year have been different. We know why this is, (The C Word) and it has affected everything we do. We have been riding in smaller groups, “socially distancing.” Meeting in different zones of the parking lot, not having a mass start with announcements, etc. Heck there really hasn’t been too much to talk about other than COVID and cancelling charity rides, and Team Evesham events like the Grill and Chill and Welcome Back events. Heck, I really miss the good ole days when we had announcements and everyone got to see everyone else at the start, and we talked about upcoming events. Hopefully in time to come things will clear up and we can go back to that.

Today was different and it sparked my desire to write a quick recap (or not so quick) about our ride. Route master Scott Downie plotted a course for us to the north… starting from Lumberton to get us further into the Columbus area and some different roads. I forgot that we didn’t have start zones set up there. Also with the need to make a few quick announcements about the route, well, we had to gather at a distance again like the good ole days! What a feeling it was to be together with all of our pace groups. I know, not the safest thing, but we kept our distance. Being so used to not having announcements I failed to give a shout out to Nick Liermann and the upcoming Foster 100! Sorry Nick… and by the way, we are still planning a Team Evesham Joint Ride for the Foster 100 on September 13. We have had some route challenges, but it’s coming. So, we made some quick announcements and off we went towards Columbus!

What a great route it was, new roads, some hills, long straightaways and some new riders that had recently joined to spice things up in the A Group.

I want to thank the Ride Leaders that stepped up to lead today, they did an awesome job today. Mark Thornton lead our A Group, Scott Downie led our B+, Maurice Finnerty and Michael Gibbs led the Long B, Brad Davis and Carrie Salsbery led the Short B, Ross Polinow and Dennis Dahms lead our C+ group, and Jimmy Sweet and Chris Seip lead our C group. Yes that is correct and not a typo, Jimmy Sweet is back from an injury and led our C group, I’m sure Chris kept him in check.

If you are planning on riding the Foster 100 with us keep an eye on the website, email and Facebook for details for September 13, with a possible rain date of Sept 12. Details to follow as we finalize the route. We are planning to leave from Ott’s Greentop in Berlin and have a double loop route, one approximately 65-70 miles and the second the remainder of the 100 to complete the Foster ride requirement.

Thanks for joining us and we look forward to many more rides this year, socially distanced starts or otherwise!

– Scott

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COVID-19 – A cyclist’s update

COVID-19: A cyclist’s guide, part 2. What we’ve learned.

Jason Gallagher, PharmD, FCCP, FIDP, FIDSA, BCPS

 

It has been a few months since I wrote about COVID-19 for Team Evesham, and after receiving a few questions on a ride today I thought I would provide an update. Reading my original post led me to reflect on both the massive changes that have happened in our society and on how much we have learned about SARS-CoV-2. One change that has happened on my side is that I’ve been appointed to the guideline panel for the treatment and management of COVID-19 of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, which I only mention because it keeps me in touch with new therapies as they are developed. I am not writing on their behalf. 

Since I last wrote, New Jersey has experienced a horrific toll from COVID-19. In the US, New York City was affected most severely, and in NJ the northern counties had a much worse experience than we did in South Jersey. As of now though, we’re in pretty good shape – much better than the majority of the US.

(Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/new-jersey/)

As of mid-July, at Temple, we have had >2,600 confirmed cases of COVID and treated more than that, because 20-30% of people with likely COVID did not have positive tests (for 2 reasons – the test is not very good, and there were shortages). Philadelphia has over 24,000 cases as of 7/19. I have seen this first-hand, treating patients with COVID, including many who died. I’ve also had several friends and colleagues who were infected and recovered. Pennsylvania is dealing with an increase in cases now that needs addressing, but they are still in better shape than in the spring. 

(Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/pennsylvania/)

 

What we know

Transmission

We have learned that the spread of COVID is primarily respiratory – coughs, talking, singing, and even breathing spread disease. Contaminated surfaces appear to play a smaller role than first thought. There is a lack of evidence for transmission by food, mail, sweat, or other bodily fluids. There is a debate about how exactly the virus is transmitted by the respiratory tract, which in public health parlance is a debate about “aerosol” vs “droplet” spread. Why does it matter? Aerosols stay in the air for hours, go through or around many masks, and can spread many feet from where they start. Droplets fall to the ground after a few feet- where the “6-feet distance rule” comes from. There is evidence on both sides of this issue, but in my interpretation it seems that it spreads as a combination of both, but is likely either primarily spread from droplets or short-distanced aerosols. Reasons include the increasing evidence that masks prevent transmission and may even protect the wearer from others (this is being looked into now), and that the infectivity is not as high as “true aerosol” spread with something like measles. A couple recent cases illustrate this. In one, infected people on an airplane wearing masks did not spread infection. In the other, two infected hair stylists wearing masks took care of >130 customers also wearing masks and nobody else was infected (the first stylist infected the 2nd). 

Either way, what matters practically is that the virus is spread efficiently indoors in close quarters and poorly outside and at a distance. Increasing evidence that masks work well – even homemade ones – to block transmission and possibly even prevent acquisition is fantastic news. 

There is a debate about how much disease spread comes from asymptomatic people, but there is no debate that it exists, and may be substantial. This is another area where semantics block effective messaging, since some people who are asymptomatic when they infect others ultimately develop symptoms later, and WHO doesn’t consider them asymptomatic in that case. What matters though is that not only can people with no symptoms spread infection, we know that they are probably most infectious during this time. That is very bad news and makes spread difficult to control. It is also why masks or face shields need to be worn all the time to prevent transmission between people. There is no ‘safe’ person unless you know everything about their contact history and their contacts’ contact history, etc. 

 

Risk factors

Risks related to COVID-19 can be broken into two categories: risks for acquisition, and risks for mortality. The acquisition risks are logical and come from what I mentioned above – close quarters. If we are on a ride and you stop close to me at a light, I’m moving away – it’s nothing personal. This is also why the demographics of COVID-19 infection are changing. The average age of COVID+ patients has dramatically dropped in the US- young people are now the largest group of new cases in many states. This has brought the mortality rate down, but may be a temporary effect as they go on to infect older people. 

Factors that increase the risk of death are things you have heard on the news. Age is the strongest risk factor – consistently, older people die at much higher rates than younger patients. It is really dramatic. Below is a graph from the UK showing the chance of death from COVID in the general population – not in people who are infected, but in everyone – as the pandemic progressed. This pattern has been seen over and over in studies.

(Source: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2521-4)

Other risk factors include male gender, chronic illnesses, cancer, diabetes, immunosuppression, and others. High blood pressure and asthma do not seem to be the risk factors that they were first thought to be. Also, none of the medications that were originally concerns (“ACEIs, ARBs, and NSAIDs”) have turned out to be.

With many viruses, there is a “dose effect” (the trade word is “inoculum”), where a higher amount of “dose” of virus leads to worse disease than a lower inoculum. Personally, I think this is likely with COVID-19, but it is a difficult thing to prove. It is another reason why wearing a mask is important though, because even poor masks will decrease the amount of transmitted virus. 

 

Treatment

On the treatment front, there is good and bad news, depending on your perspective. Hydroxychloroquine has been extensively studied now and is a failure. That is a shame, because it is cheap, well-tolerated on the whole, and widely available. But it doesn’t work, and not a single randomized study has shown anything positive with it.

Two therapies have shown to be effective and are now recommended. Remdesivir is an antiviral that has modest effects. It was the first drug to show anything positive for COVID-19 and shortened hospital stays in a study from 15 days to 11 on average. Dexamethasone is a steroid that has been shown to decrease mortality in hospitalized patients – the first therapy shown to do that in a controlled study. However, note that both of these drugs are for hospitalized patients with severe disease, and steroids seem to make COVID worse if they are given to the wrong patients, so don’t ask for them from your doctor. 

There are other therapies being studied, but they are mostly for hospitalized patients with severe disease. I’m afraid I don’t see anything useful coming for outpatients – where most people are treated. Also, in general, we do not have good therapies for acute viral infections. There is no miracle drug like penicillin coming for COVID. If you hear about anything new (or old) found to be a cure, be skeptical. 

 

Vaccines

This is the good news. Vaccine development is happening much faster than I expected, and under Dr. Fauci’s proposal, the government invested in several of them “at-risk”, so they are being developed as they are being studied. That means that they are working on producing vials of vaccine for us at the same time they are figuring out if it works, not waiting to see success first. The risk is financial – if it doesn’t work, there will be billions of dollars of worthless vaccine lying around. Normally, companies do not take this risk, but the government assumed the risk by guaranteeing purchases. It should shave many months from the time from approval to availability.

There are many vaccines being developed – over 150 the last time I checked. At least 4 are deep in development, and one may even be available by the end of the year or early next year. The NYTimes has a great site tracking this: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html?searchResultPosition=4.

Vaccines are tested in thousands of people before they are approved so they show safety and efficacy. They may be like the flu vaccine and not be perfectly effective, but even if they blunt severe COVID to make it moderate COVID, that is a victory (and they may be more effective than that). We are fortunate in that several of the vaccines being studied were already being worked on for other coronaviruses (SARS and MERS), so some of the technology was already developed and they just changed the target to SARS-CoV-2. 

 

Cycling

There is no data at all looking at the interaction between bicycling and COVID-19. With rates where they are in NJ now, I feel comfortable in group rides. People breathing as they ride will likely disperse any virus quickly into low concentrations that don’t worry me, but nobody has studied this. I believe that the greatest risk of transmission for our club is at the beginning and end of rides, at rest stops, and when we stop and congregate. We need to keep our distance in these scenarios – it is important. 

 

Looking ahead – One man’s opinion

The state of viral spread in the US is grim right now, and now increased deaths are starting to follow increased cases, as it usually takes a few weeks to die from COVID. It is not true that increased testing is the reason we are seeing more cases, though it is true that it reveals more of them. You can tell that testing doesn’t explain rising cases for 2 reasons – the percentage of positive tests is increasing (it would go down if testing explained everything), and the hospitalizations and now deaths are increasing also.

(Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/)

 

It is a sad state of affairs, and it was preventable. New Jersey is proof. As bad as the news of record daily cases in the US is now, it is still reversible. The shortage of testing in March and April meant that far fewer cases were identified, so the wave of infections in NY, NJ, Philly, etc may actually have been even worse than Florida, Arizona, and Texas are seeing now. But those northeastern states shut down to prevent transmission to a greater degree than is occurring now, and that is worrying.

Personally, I think it will take mass vaccination to get past COVID-19. I am very encouraged by the data that I have seen with three of the vaccines being developed, and I would sign up in a second for any of them right now. I hope that our current climate does not prevent effective vaccine use by the public, though I am concerned about this. To me, this is an easy equation. Any vaccine that gets approved will be much less harmful than COVID-19, a disease that kills 1 in every 100-200 people it infects, and that I have seen kill people my age (43). I’m not counting chickens yet, but at least there are some good looking eggs!

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Hi Team Evesham Teammates!!

This past weekend we had many riders participating in the Foster 100, including myself for the first time. The Foster 100 is one of our promoted Charity events of the season. Nick, the event promoter, calls this “a Charity Ride like no other” and I have to agree. Riders stay together in “platoons” with the spirit of no rider left behind. These platoons are much like our ride groups on our Sunday rides with a leader keeping riders together and organized. They had some amazing rest stops and the after party at the Aviation Museum in Wildwood was fantastic!

This coming weekend is another cyclists’ favorite event – the MS City to Shore. Many Team Evesham members will be participating in this event including a team called Kelly’s Hero’s. Kelly’s Heroes is named for Kelly Comber who suffers from MS. Kelly’s husband, Kevin Comber, is a long time Team Evesham Member and put this team together to honor his wife and help support the MS society. We wish all of the MS City to Shore riders a fun, safe weekend of riding.

Our Sponsor, The Heart House, is working on a special event for Team Evesham members, stay tuned for details. Here is their latest newsletter about Heart Health.

As promised on social media, stay tuned for Team Evesham Non-Cycling Apparel. We will Have Polo Shirts, T- Shirts, Ball Caps, and Fleece sweatshirts available to order at the end of this year. The polo shirts are modeled below by our Board of Trustees…

Lastly, Save the Date! Team Evesham’s Annual After Holiday Party will be Saturday, January 25th from 6-10. Stay tuned for more details!

https://teamevesham.org/2019/09/17/56024/

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Foster 100 Update & Mini Clinic

For those of you signed up to participate in the Foster 100 on September 14th, 2019, representatives from Foster 100 will be on hand before our regular Sunday ride on September 8th to distribute rider packets and rider information! If you’re not yet registered, waste no time in following this link for more information!

 

JOIN US SUNDAY MORNING FOR OUR FIRST MINI CLINIC

Join us Sunday Morning at Rastelli’s at for our first mini clinic starting at 7:15am. To add value to your Team Evesham Membership we will be holding a series of mini clinics before our Sunday rides to help teach basic bike maintenance and safety skills. If you have a topic of interest please email Scott@TeamEvesham.org and we will add it to our list of mini clinics.

This past Sunday was a great day to be a Team Evesham Member and cyclist. We once again held our fall BBQ event – The Grill and Chill and it was a huge success with fun for all that attended. We had over 125 members ride with us and enjoy the party at Ott’s Greentop where they BBQ’d and treated us like royalty. We had beautiful weather, a great ride and awesome food as we enjoyed hanging out with teammates enjoying camaraderie and celebrating cycling.

This week we will have our regularly scheduled rides including the Friday Morning C+/B ride, Saturday Morning C+/B/B+ ride and Sunday all level ride. We look forward to seeing you on the road!

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It’s Time to Grill & It’s Time to Chill!

Join us Sunday, August 25 for our All Level Ride followed by our Fall get together dubbed the “Grill and Chill”. This event is FREE to all members, but you must sign up in advance so that we can get a headcount for food. Go to www.teamevesham.org to register.

You are welcome to bring guests & family members, for the low price of $15.00/person. They can also be registered at www.teamevesham.org.

This year we we’ll ride from Ott’s Greentop in Berlin on Rt 73 with three different Route Options, 65 mile “Foster 100 Training Ride”, a 45 mile route and a 36 mile route! This event has always been a Team favorite as we get to hang out together, eat some delicious food and talk about all of our riding experiences! Check the website for the routes and start times.

This past week offered some beautiful weather for Cycling. Unfortunately, we did have to cancel our Wednesday night C+ and B+ ride due to the phantom storms, the weather report was just too ominous. Friday we had our C+/B pace morning ride, Saturday morning we had our usual Rastelli’s ride and also had a Hill Ride lead by Michael Gibbs. Thank you Michael for stepping up and leading this ride! Sunday, of course, we had our All Level ride with some great routes to Nixon’s in Tabernacle. A favorite stop for Cyclists to take a break and get some refreshments. The weather was hot and muggy, so this stop was well deserved!

 

Upcoming Rides

Don’t forget our future events: Save the dates…

  • Foster 100 – September 15th
  • Ian Cameron Ride – September 29th
  • Post Holiday party – January 25th

We hope to see you all on the road this week!

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Join Us for Grill & Chill!

That’s right, Team Evesham’s Fall get together, the “Grill and Chill”, will be held on August 25th. This year it will be held at Ott’s Greentop in Berlin. We will have three route options that morning including a 38, 45 and a 65 mile Foster 100 Training Ride. Members of the Foster 100 Team will join us on this route. The 38 and 45 mile routes will depart at the normal 8am time, however the longer route will depart early so that those riders will be back in time for the event. Lunch will be served at 11am. You MUST pre-register so that we can get a head count for the food at the after party! This event is FREE to all members of Team Evesham. Family members are welcome for a small fee of $15.00 per person. They must also pre-register so that we have an accurate food count. Register here today!

If you have not registered for the Foster 100, do it now! There are only a few spots left and this is a truly unique Charity Ride.

This past week was great for cycling! We had to cancel our NEW Wednesday B+ and C+ ride due to weather, but we did have our Friday morning B Ride with Rich, Dennis and Ross, Saturday B and C+ Ride led by David Breslau, Scott Downie and Dan Zingaro, and Sunday we held our All Pace ride. The weather was beautiful to get in some miles. Keep an eye on the website for more upcoming Team Evesham rides with new starting points and new rest stops.

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Talk About a Heat Wave

This coming weekend will bring some of the hottest temperatures that we have seen, Team Evesham will still be riding but we will mandate that everyone has TWO water bottles. Please use every bit of caution when riding this weekend. You should go through at least 2 bottles per hour according to this Bicycling Magazine article.

This past weekend was full of sunshine, beautiful weather and bike riding!

Not only did team Evesham have our usual Saturday B ride, we also added a C+ and a B+ ride to give more value to our team members. Thanks to Dan Zingaro, and Leslie & David Breslau we will now offer three ride levels on Saturday! If you’re looking for a bike ride on Saturday, check out the Team Evesham ride.

This past Sunday Team Evesham embarked on one of our favorite routes, taking us to Riverton and along the Delaware River Bank. There were three different length routes for riders to choose from to keep everyone smiling. Several members stopped along picturesque Bank Street in Riverton (above) to pose for photos that are already circulating around social media. Riverton was once a getaway community for the wealthy from Philadelphia. Riverton is known for its beautiful Victorian homes, river front views, Quaint downtown area, and the Riverton Yacht club.

Team Evesham cycling gear is here!

Order your 10th anniversary Team Evesham Gear before it’s too late!!!
The team Evesham store is again open through our vendor Voler. Voler clothing is made in american and is top quality. Follow link to the team store from our homepage where you can select from different Jerseys, shorts and bibs, jackets and accessories. The store will only be available for ordering until July 21st so order now before time runs out!

2019 Grill and Chill

The 2019 Team Evesham Grill and Chill is on! August 25th we will Ride from Ott’s Greentop in Berlin at 8am. Ott’s will have restrooms available at 7:15 for people. Afterwards we will return for Lunch on the back deck and inside area. Stay Tuned for more details, Save the date!

Foster 100 Training Ride

This Sunday along with our normal team ride we will be holding a longer ride in preparation for the Foster 100 Charity event that Team Evesham Supports. There will be multiple stops along the way and multiple pace groups for this ride. Join some team mates that will be riding the Foster 100 and get in some extra miles. .

Join us this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for Team Evesham rides. Check our homepage for dates & times.

Remember: In life; it’s not where you go, but who you ride with…

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Last Minute Luck

Hello Team Evesham Cyclists!

With some precarious weather this past weekend we decided to cancel both our Saturday Hill ride and Local ride because of the forecasts of possible rain. Well, the weather decided to throw us a curveball and it didn’t rain until the afternoon. So we regrouped and watched the forecast closely and decided to wait until the last minute to make a call on Sunday’s ride. This, fortunately for us, was the right decision and we had a beautiful morning to ride some great routes to Murphy’s Market in Tabernacle.

With this the first ride of July we have many more weeks of riding and events to share with great teammates! Remember “In Life, it’s not where you go, but who you ride with!”

The Envy of Cyclists Everywhere

Here (click to enlarge), seen Modeled by Team Evesham Captain Scott Santos… the Team Evesham 10 year anniversary Cycling Kit.

That’s right the Team Evesham jersey has been spotted in Japan, Italy, China, Jamaica, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Australia, and a score of other places. Folks in those countries can’t buy one. But you can join the cool kids and order the entire line up of incredible looking Team Evesham cycling gear from our supplier Voler right now. These garments are made right here in the USA and if you order now, your kit will ship at the end of August.

Many of our members have found the Voler cycling gear to be of exceptional quality and at a more affordable cost than their competition since you are purchasing the gear at our team’s wholesale cost. Order now and remember this gear is for our members only. Please don’t sell these items to other riders.

Here’s how to purchase your Official Team Evesham Cycling Gear:

  1. Click on this link to access your team order site: Team Evesham
  2. Click on “LOGIN” to enter your Login/Billing Info. Click on “Create Account” to save the information and to create your new User ID and Password. You will automatically be directed to the home page for your team order. If you are a returning customer, please use your original Login and Password.
  3. Click on “Begin Shopping” to gain access to the orderable products page. To place items in your shopping cart, click on the item you want to order, then the options you want to select, then the “Add to cart” button. You can choose to “View Your Bag” or “Continue Shopping” after adding each item. Repeat these steps for each item you want to order.
  4. After placing the last item you want to order in your shopping cart, click on “View Your Bag” to display the items. Carefully review the items and make any necessary modifications or deletions. Because each item is custom built, refunds and exchanges will not be accepted. After you have confirmed your order is correct, click on “Proceed to Checkout” to complete the secure checkout process by entering your credit card payment information.

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Bridges, Breezes & Biking to Beaches

Another excellent week of cycling is in the books but we’re looking forward to much, much more this year!

On Sunday, June 9th the Team Evesham all-level ride was cancelled because many of us participated in the American Cancer Society’s 47th annual Bike-a-Thon from Philadelphia to Atlantic City. The weather was spectacular but 20mph head-winds on the AC causeway made for a challenging finish. Team evesham, with over 80 members participating, raised almost $25,000 for the care and prevention of cancer!

Next Sunday, June 16th is Father’s Day and there WILL be a Team Evesham ride.

HOWEVER the following Sunday, June 23rd will be the all-team Ride for Olivia and once again there will be no regular Team Evesham ride. Please consider participating.

Finally this month, on Wednesday, June 26th at 6pm please plan to ride with us for the Joe Vitale|D&Q Bike-n-Dine. This is a ride to benefit Joe and to thank him for his years of service to the biking community of Southern NJ. If you can’t make it to the ride, we are finishing up at P.J. Whelihan’s in Medford (61 Stokes Rd, Medford Lakes, NJ 08055) at 7:30pm where you are welcome to join us and wish Joe a farewell.

UPCOMING RIDES & EVENTS

  • Friday, June 14th – ride will roll out at 9:00am – C+/B level ride from Rastelli Market Fresh at 710 NJ-73, Evesham Township, NJ.
  • Saturday, June 15th at 8:00am – C+/B level ride from Rastelli Market Fresh at 710 NJ-73, Evesham Township, NJ.
  • Hill Ride – Saturday, June 15th, 8:00am. Route and start point information will be posted prior to the ride.
  • Sunday, June 16th at 8:00am – All level (A, B+, B, C+, C) from Rastelli Market Fresh at 710 NJ-73, Evesham Township, NJ.
  • Ride for Olivia – Sunday, June 23rd – No regularly-scheduled Team Evesham ride this Sunday. 45 miles, 30 miles and 15 miles. Register here.
  • Bike & Dine for Joe Vitale – Wednesday, June 26th – 6PM bike ride from Taunton Forge, 7:30pm dine at PJ Whelihan’s. More information here.

 

Always wear a helmet and practice safe riding habits!

And remember: In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you ride with…

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