Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: spring valley park

Another photo from the 1978's Spring Valley Road Series, hosted at Kalamazoo's Spring Valley Park by the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club. I like the way this one shows so much motion. Camera: Minolta Zoom 110 SLR

We revisit the April, 1978 edition of the Spring Valley Road Series, sponsored by the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club at Kalamazoo's Spring Valley Park. The course had one short, steep, climb. The lead rider in this photo has just topped the hill, and they will all be sprinting for a prime a couple hundred yards along the course. Shot with the Minolta Zoom 110 Zoom SLR, of course. Believe it or not, I took these to illustrate a magazine article. Unfortunately the magazine went bankrupt, and the edition, although printed, never made it into circulation. I've always regretted that....

Pre-race activities at the 1975 Spring Valley Road Series, hosted by the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club at Kalamazoo's Spring Valley Park (makes sense, no?). Jeff Smith organized the race; Skip Obermyer served as chief referee. This gorgeous Kalamazoo Gazette photograph was taken by Paul Todd. Unfortunately, it spent part of its life pasted to posterboard for a KBC display.

Referee Skip Obermeyer prepares the USCF Midgets (looks like three of 'em) for the start of a race on a rainy day in April of 1978. (Or perhaps 1979.) I joined KBC in September of 1973, and attended my first club meeting a few days later. That meeting was dominated by a proposal from T.J. (Jeff) Smith that the club join the Amateur Bicycle League of America (ABLA--later the United States Cycling Federation) and begin promoting races. The issue was not decided at that meeting, but in the spring of 1975 the club hosted an early-season racing series at Kalamazoo's Spring Valley Park. The series would continue for several years; for most of those years I was the race promoter. Our role on the Michigan USCF schedule was to provide early-season racing opportunities for the state's racers; our objective in Kalamazoo was, of course, to introduce the sport to the community. It was fun, and the riders seemed to enjoy the event, but staging four early-season races can be pretty hard on your volunteers. My notes say the rider in the middle is a very young Frankie Andreu, who'd go on to bigger races as a member of Lance Armstrong's Posties. Spring Valley Park, Kalamazoo. Camera: Minolta Zoom 110 SLR

John Busack--my predecessor as KBC's president--leads the Class A pack at Spring Valley Park in April of 1975. This was the very first race promoted by the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club, and nearly the last KBC event John participated in before graduating from Western and moving away from Kalamazoo. I think the taller guy behind John is J. Brian Chappell of the Battle Creek Bicycle Club, but don't hold me to that. Kalamazoo Gazette photograph by P. N. Todd. I've severely cropped Paul's original photo, largely because of damage to the print.