MEMBER PROFILES:

It was a bright, sunny Thursday morning in June 1998 and the breakfast riders were gathering at the usual spot on the Bike Trail. On this particular morning, a tall, lanky stranger showed up. There was a stir,then a quiet murmur as one of the regulars recognized the stranger. In a low whisper, he said, "Hey, that's Jim Karver and he's a racer!" "O-oh!," said another. "What's he doing here? This isn't the Saturday River Ride!" The regulars started to sweat, but not from the rising temperature." I believe the pace has just been kicked up a notch!," chimed in another.

After Jim was introduced and cordially welcomed in by the Ride Leader John Hockenbury, the pack took off to Rancho Murieta for breakfast at a moderate pace along the bike trail. Jim's first impression of the Thursday breakfast riders was one of surprise with how friendly everyone seemed to be, not just the ride leader who is supposed to be nice to newcomers, but many of the others who cheerfully welcomed him to his first Wheelmen ride. Once out on Prairie City Road, the pace quickened and the lead pack zoomed off over the first set of hills. Jim, who hadn't been on a bike since his shoulder injury earlier in the year and admittedly out of condition, watched the riders quickly disappear over the horizon. He was quite shocked and wondered, "where in the hell did everyone go?" He heard these Wheelmen breakfast rides were social and pretty mellow. The macho regulars, not knowing of Jim's lack of conditioning, silently gloated as they dropped Jim early in the ride. "Heh, heh, heh!" snickered one of the leaders, "what's so hot about him?!"

Well, that was then and this is now. After months of steady riding and renewed training for an occasional race or two, Jim has emerged as one of the faster riders and is one of the new members who have created a new order along with Bill Powell, Gilbert Martinez, and Ron Hayashi as the new leaders of the Thursday Breakfast Club. Jim, age 61, was born and raised in Sacramento. He attended Christian Brothers High School, Sacramento City College, and Sacramento State College.

He has been married to Joyce for 39 years and they have raised two children, daughter Allison who also resides in Sacramento and son Eric who works and lives in London. Jim is especially proud of his grandson, B.J, who is 3 years old. Like her husband, Joyce is an avid athlete and has been a marathon runner for 16 years having completed 18 marathons, the most recent the London Marathon this past year.

Jim retired last year after having worked for one company his entire life, Design/Crafts, a window cover manufacturing/distribution business (formerly Wyman Fabrics) for 43 years. Now, that's loyalty. He started in high school working in the warehouse, became an on-road salesman for 30 years, and completed his career as sales manager for 8 years before retiring at age 60.

Jim's interest in cycling goes back to his youth, but didn't manifest into anything serious until he was in his early 40's. He started road racing in the masters category in the early 1980's and was on a 3 to 4 year learning curve. In 1985 and '86, his latent cycling talents came to fruition and won the Northern California Time Trial and Road Championships. In '87, he again won the N.C. Time Trial. Jim took a hiatus from racing for a brief period and returned in 1996 to win both the N.C. Time Trial and Road Championships.

He occasionally dabbles in racing these days, but admits that it's gotten very difficult at this point in his life and he's finally running out of age categories to compete in. "The Wheelmen have come into my life at the right time!," Jim enthusiastically states. With his racing days waning, he finds the friendly, yet competitive level of the Wheelmen rides to his liking. Jim has become a regular on the week day breakfast rides and joined in on several monthly Zodiac Trips. He loves them all. "At some point in your life, you need to meet new people and the Club allows that," he says, "and it's a great bunch of people from all walks of life." Coming from a racing background, he instantly noticed the difference. Jim says it's very difficult to be accepted into a racing group as a newcomer. The veterans are too suspicious of new racers and you have to prove yourself.

In contrast, he was amazed at the camaraderie and friendliness of the Wheelmen. Jim's wife, Joyce, says it best, "Jim belongs to many clubs-tennis, car, racing - but he has more fun with the Wheelmen than any of the other clubs!"

On July 4th of the following year, they departed on a two-month honeymoon, cycling from the Golden Gate Bridge all the way across country to the Empire State Building in New York City, arriving on September 4th. Most of their friends and family thought they were nuts to start their marriage off with the hardships of a 3,000+ mile bike trip, with most newlyweds having to go through an adjustment period on a kick-back honeymoon in Hawaii. But Rick describes the two months bicycling as the "best 10 years of marriage" as they were able to really find out what each other was like under the best and worst of circumstances, and 16 years later, are still happily married and cycling together. With a "Just Married" sign tied to the back of Monica's bike, the newlyweds encountered many acts of random kindness throughout their journey. The cycling newlyweds even received media coverage from many local newspapers including the Sacramento Bee, UPI, radio and television as they rode from state to state. They felt like Forrest Gump on bicycles, even being showered by rice thrown by a farm family as they rode by in Oregon.

Rick, age 51, was born in Detroit, Michigan. Rick's father was involved in sales so the family moved frequently around the western United States, having lived in Oklahoma, Texas and San Francisco. When Rick was 15 years old, the Pappas family moved to Sacramento where he attended San Juan High School and American River College. For 10 years, Rick was a professional drummer playing with several bands travelling all over the west coast, mid-west, and south. He played both country western and show tunes with the likes of Merle Travis and Ernest Tubbs, and singer/actress Patti Suzuki of Flower Drum Song fame. He nostalgically recalls those care-free years of his youth, playing with big-name musicians and being on the road for 6 months at a time.

Rick later suffered a "case of severe disorientation" as he describes it, when he worked for Motorola for 17 years in the field of audio electronics. A year ago, he started his own consulting business in multi-media design where he is CEO, CFO and head janitor of Presentation Point. The many years spent in the audio electronics field honed his computer wizardry skills, when Rick dazzled the Club meeting last winter with his "Ciao Italia" multi-media presentation. He recently has taken on the job as sales engineer for Baker Integrated Technologies, a company which provides 911 emergency dispatch equipment to public safety agencies.

Monica was born and raised in Alliance, Ohio. She went to the local high school and graduated from Kent State University with a degree in Interior Design (never call Monica an interior decorator!). She happily moved from the mid-west to California right after graduating from college. Upon arriving in Sacramento, she worked at various jobs beginning with selling wall paper, working at Wilson's Contemporary Furniture, and doing commercial and office design work. The last 14 years, she has worked at U.C. Davis as an Architectural Associate in Design Services. Her main responsibility is designing interiors for on-campus student facilities.

Although she likes her job, this outdoor enthusiast is looking forward to early retirement in a few years so she can spend more time enjoying her passions of cycling, hiking, and skiing. Another one of her life's goals is to reconnect with her Italian roots having many relatives in the mountains of Northern Italy. She spent her summers as a child living with her grandparents in Italy. Her father spends the summers working as a hiking guide at a resort in the Italian Alps. Over the last three years, Monica has taken Rick to visit her ancestral homeland and cycle toured extensively in the Alps. This July, they are leading a group of 16 Wheelmen and friends on a two week magical tour of Monica's Mountains on what is to be a trip of a lifetime for many members.

Rick and Monica joined the Wheelmen when they got married 15 years ago to cycle with others in the community. They share this thought about the Club: "The Wheelmen give us the opportunity to celebrate our favorite things. World class rides to wonderful places featuring challenging terrain, spectacular scenery, and most importantly, the ability to share it all with the best group of cycling buddies anyone could ask for!"