A New Era for MtLCCC — Jill Greco Bodnar

My dad started the Mt. Lebanon Cycling and Caffeine Club (MtLCCC) in 1988 and he hand-coded a website to get its information out on the World Wide Web in the 1990s. One of the best parts of the website was the page of thumbnails and links (and sublinks and sub-sublinks) to photos of the great rides they did together.

Fast forward nearly 30 years and the legacy of the MtLCCC is largely an oral history passed down on the long slog up Southern Avenue on Saturday morning. I found myself digging through the archive of photos and finding wonderful history of the members that needed to be day lighted. One of those founding members, Eric Obye, passed away from M.S. in 2011 and is why the club raises money for the BikeMS 150 ride every summer.

I decided to surprise my dad with a shiny new website for Christmas. Like most other things, a few of the club members were in on the secret and provided me information and a trove of “vintage” photos.

On Christmas morning he opened a present from me with simple typed instructions to open his laptop and follow the link in an email I sent. The link opened his browser to the new website. When he realized what he was looking at, I believe his words were, “This is really special.” That meant everything and with my mom, we sat down to look through all the photos on the big tv and hear his stories and laugh together. I also loved knowing that the older members, some whom have moved away or can’t ride as much, got to relive those great days too. The newer members got to see the depth of the club and that those “old guys in tight pants” have accomplished quite a bit the past 30 years.