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| Cycle for Cecil riders at the start, at the Patsy DuPont Farm |
In an effort to find out what is going on, a 1stbikes.org PT journalist reached out to Mr JW Haupt, who has been President of WCBC for many years. We wanted to know why, if it were true, the Club did not fully support this charity event ride. We asked for any commentary that Mr Haupt might have for an upcoming editorial in 1st State Bikes, regarding Cycle for Cecil. We had found out on the day of the ride that WCBC had been Ambivalent, unhelpful, even refusing to share their e-mail list to help publicize the ride, when approached by the Cecil Land Trust. But why would WCBC act in this manner, given the immense importance of a rural Cecil County to club rides in particular? With many of WCBC events canceled, and considering the very basic nature of help CLT asked for, it seems unbelievable. Land and farm conservation should be a natural fit for WCBC as an outdoors non-profit org itself.
This request set off a bizarre, and unexpected response. Although we emailed him directly, Mr Haupt did not reply to us, instead, a CLT volunteer did. Although the response was very polite and positive, it appeared that the volunteer had been bullied and shamed by the President of WCBC. The volunteer profusely apologized for "misspeaking" to us, saying that he was "wrong and naive" in how WCBC treated the event. This confused us, because, as explained below, there is only the barest minimum of mention of the CFC ride, certainly not what the Club would be capable of, given their powerful reach to the cycling community. The volunteer went on the say that he and CLT would support WCBC in their efforts, even going so far as to volunteer to help WCBC in the future.
In our reply, we affirmed that nothing in the CLT Volunteer's email appears naive or inappropriate. Contrary to what Mr Haupt said, WCBC should have gone a lot further than a brief Cycle For Cecil blurb in an "out of bounds" section (the last section) of their webpage. In doing a search we found that the Cycling Sistahs of Baltimore, with no vested interest in Cecil County in particular, did promote CFC. It was refreshing and beautiful to see diversity in the ride. They even created an Event page for their members to promote CFC. In contrast, WCBC did no active promoting -- despite the critical nature of a rural Cecil County to its members.
Yes, WCBC is a busy club, with 4 major rides every year (one of which, the Shore Fire, was launched by yours truly) to organize. However, they have had to cancel several due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the basics of promoting an event such as CFC hardly qualifies as "work", as the Cycling Sistahs of Baltimore readily showed. The CLT draws on orgs in Baltimore for publicity and attendance, which is a sharp move and gives the ride its wonderful diverse and welcoming character. But it's a sad day when a club with the resources of a WCBC exists right nearby, and they all but ignore this charity ride, as they have done since its inception.
We commend the commitment of the CLT to land conservation. Those of us who fought, and still lost (to mass govt corruption) the Orphanage Property in Ogletown, the last remaining green space/habitat area of its kind, understand the struggles that CLT are facing. In a world where biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate, and the planet is headed for climate catastrophe, we are very grateful for orgs like theirs. We will continue to support their efforts, and, as we have in the past, promote the Cycle For Cecil Event on our pages.
