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Messages

Among the features of the BRBC website initiated by the late Greg Wilcox are the random messages displayed on the home page. Below is the description Greg wrote after implementing that feature.

Recently our website home page began displaying random messages. These messages all have a common theme -- they encourage you to ride your bike. We are a little alarmed at this development, since we do not know where the messages are coming from. We think they might be due to a hacker attack. If so, the hacker apparently was not malicious, since none of the messages caused any damage to the site.

Here is what we know so far. Every time you refresh the home page, the message changes. The messages appear at random, and some of the messages themselves even seem to change in subtle ways. There are currently 33 messages in total, and more keep being added all the time. We hope their positive theme will continue, but we have no way of knowing for sure. Please let us know if you spot an objectionable message, and we will do our best to get it removed.

Many of the messages contain links to outside websites. These links are underlined, as is the convention. Again, as best we can tell, none of the linked websites have any objectionable content (unless you are offended by Harley-Davidsons or Segways.)

Whoever it was even set up an email address on our website so we could contact him (or her, as the case may be). We have written to this address several times, but we always get the same reply: "Stop sending email and go ride your bike!" We do not know if the hacker will take requests. But if you have any messages you would like to see added, please send them to this address: (the address he listed is no longer valid)

Some club members are amused by the messages. Michele Trantham said "Oh, now that's just too cool!" Claudia Nix couldn't stop laughing. However, we are taking this matter seriously, and we intend to get to the bottom of it. In any case, we agree with the sentiment of the messages: computers are a waste of good riding time. Turn off the computer and GO RIDE YOUR BIKE!

Following is a list of all the currently known messages. Please note that the last message is considered politically incorrect by some people. Fortunately, it is never displayed on the home page. If you are easily offended (or voted for George Bush), please do not click on it. Thank you.

• Random message
• It's a beautiful day out there.
• Bike, bike, that magical wheel.
• The Hindus that say breath is life.
• The dishes are dirty, the lawn needs mowing...
• Einstein said mass is equivalent to energy.
• She's lonely and she misses you.
• When you're old and wrinkled and gray,
• I'm always buying stuff for my car.
• Yeah, darlin' go make it happen,
• Go ride your bike, go ride your bike.
• Some people like to go out dancing,
• Flights of black horsemen soar over churches,
• I knew a guy who had all the toys.
• Ride it on the street. Ride it in the dirt.
• Ride a red bike.
• Starting out in the granny gear, little cog.
• Asheville has lots of stores:
• Please? Please?
• (There's a carton of ice cream waiting for you...
• Funky helmet and goofy glasses -- check.
• The sun is shining, the birds are chirping,
• Tires singing on pavement...
• Most folks ride to work, and work to eat.
• Let's see... I'm overweight, stressed-out,
• "Road." "Touring." "Randonneur."
• Green means go, and RED MEANS STOP.
• Here I am stuck at the office again.
• He: "Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak in the East."
• "My tires need air." "It's too late in the day."
• "Almost half the forests that once covered the Earth are gone,"
• HEY YOU! Yes, we mean you.
• Let's see--when would be a good time to go for a long bike ride?
• A Cadbury survey found that half of all women
• Things to do this week:
• Want to shed those ten extra pounds?
• If everyone rode bicycles instead of driving,
• People wanna know what I'm on.
• A bike ride. Yes, that's it! A simple bike ride.
• If everyone rode bicycles instead of driving,

Awards

We received the Golden Web Award in May 2003. And we are consistently voted as one of the top ten websites in the Carolinas, as polled by Top North and South Carolina Web Sites. Click here to vote for us!

Webmaster

The webmaster for the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club website, Gregory Wilcox, died April 27, 2005, in a cycling accident. We are extremely grateful for the legacy he leaves behind in this website and in our memories. Mike Thornhill has now assumed the role of BRBC webmaster. You may contact him at this address: webmaster@blueridgebicycleclub.org.

Technical

Our domain is blueridgebicycleclub.org. It is hosted by Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN). The usage statistics may be viewed online. A chart of the top 30 URLs for April 2003 is here.

This website was created using Microsoft FrontPage Express, Netscape Composer and GNU Emacs (and is now maintained using Adobe/Macromedia Dreamweaver). It uses frames to display the heading and toolbar on each page. It uses a cascading style sheet to control the look of the pages. Access to the Members Only section is controlled by a .htaccess file. Three custom CGI scripts run various tasks; they  are written in Perl.

• interests.pl: filters the member database by interest category.
• message.pl: displays messages at random on the home page.
• random_image.pl: displays pictures at random on the home page.

The messages are called by server side includes in the content frame.

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© Blue Ridge Bicycle Club Inc. 2006