editor’s note:   The following post was made this afternoon by Andrew Hoodwin. This is an urgent message that we would like all riders to read and heed ASAP.

Those PBAers that have been riding with us for a while remember our old start location at Legacy and Independence and how traumatic it was to have to leave. If not for a couple of grumpy tenants we would probably still be there. Hopefully, we as a group learned from that experience and can use those lessons at our current start location. In other words, we don’t want to move again. The key is to keep the tenants that use this shopping center for their livelihood as happy as we can.

After discussions with shopping center tenants and its landlord, please use the following parking guide:
* Before and during your ride, please park:
1. In the rear, but not against the building. Those are for the store’s employees
Or
2. Out near where our trailer is parked and then ride your bike to the start. (Consider it bonus blocks.)

*After the ride, even though you may then be a customer, please do not park in front of a store entrance. Either park:
1. Facing towards Spring Creek.
2. Around the back where the rides start and end.
Or
3. In the front, Coit Road side, between the 7-11 and the center, again away from the building.

For those that ride their bikes to the start: Thanks for helping us deal with the car issue. Please use good judgment as to where to park your bike when dining afterwards. We will search for a solution with the landlord.

Other concerns they had:
Please don’t ride your bike on the sidewalk or park it against the storefront glass as both of these are potential problems for other customers and are not wanted by the tenants.

We know this is a hassle and not what we’ve grown accustomed to, but it’s the reality of our predicament. Pretend you’re not a bicycle rider and your favorite weekend restaurant is being run over by 200 spandex clad and sweaty bicyclists all talking in some strange language riding and parking their bicycles all over the place. Let’s face it; we tend to take over that whole side of the building after our rides. We have enough trouble with public perception without alienating our shopping center tenants and patrons. We need to make every effort to be invisible and hope you understand that this is for the long term good of our club. As we grow in size, parking will become more of a problem and we need to do what we can to keep everyone happy.

This kind of thing will be an issue anywhere we go, so we might as well deal with it here. Recently there was a lot of discussion of how we weren’t taking care of our rest stops as in junking them up and not spending any money while there; we all responded extremely well to that and now are well received at our stops. We hope you’ll respond in the same manner so that we can continue using this location.