Prominent CRW member Eli Post passed away on Sunday, January 19, 2025. Eli was a strong supporter and incredible contributor to CRW and the broader cycling community.
Eli joined CRW in 1993, shortly after he started to bike, and he said on the first ride he couldn’t keep up. But he came to love not only the biking itself, but every associated activity such as ride planning, gear research, article writing, and he treasured the many friendships he made.
CRW Volunteer Positions
Eli held many volunteer positions in his tenure with CRW. These include:
- Board Member – 2023 – 2024, 2019 – 2021, 2011 – 2014
- WheelPeople Editor – 2020 – 2024
- Secretary – 2023
- President - 2013 – 2014
- Century Committee – 2009 – 2017
- Executive Vice President – 2011 – 2012, 2015 – 2016
- Ride Program Coordinator – 2008 – 2012
- Introductory Rides Coordinator – 2006 – 2008
- Saturday Rides Coordinator – 2006 – 2008
CRW Awards
- 2016 – Ralph Galen Service Award
- 2014 – Volunteer Award for Promoting Bicycling as President of CRW
- 2006 – Good Shepard Award
Ride Planning
The ride planning and arrowing was a hobby of his unto itself. According to his son Alex, between his house and car he had enough spray paint cans to make a NYC graffiti artist jealous and if you looked at his car right now there will still be some spray paint. Once GPS became the standard for navigation, he joked that a future alien civilization would find some preserved arrows and spend years deciphering these ancient hieroglyphics.
He very much enjoyed delivering the pre-ride speeches. He used his trademark constant hand gestures, and constantly moved his feet around, his own ride leader dance.
For the century rides he enjoyed assessing which food would be snarfed down the quickest. Pizza and pie amongst the top contenders. He also felt he had perfected his recipe for lemonade/iced tea mix.
WheelPeople
Eli loved both writing articles and later serving as editor of WheelPeople. Even in the hospital just this month, he was working on a new article, to be included in an upcoming edition.
Some of his favorite articles over the years were the April Fools editions. A few that come to mind.
His perfect day might be something like: Have a summer morning breakfast of Iggy’s bagels while polishing up a WheelPeople article, lead a club ride, and meet up with friends and family for post ride calzones and a craft beer.
Eli’s Life before CRW
Eli was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1938. He went to the City College of New York where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Then earned a Masters in Public Administration from New York University.
His work career was in City Planning in New York City and later for City of Boston. Eli changed careers completely and founded a greeting card company called Rainboworld.
Check out pictures of Eli's life here.
Members share their thoughts about Eli….
When I first joined the CRW Board, I had the privilege of many conversations with Eli Post about his deep history with our club. His enthusiasm was contagious as he shared stories about CRW's evolution and the cycling community he helped build. Right up until his passing, we were collaborating on establishing a new club historian role - a perfect fit for someone who had helped shape so much of our history. His passion for CRW and cycling was truly inspiring. I will miss both his friendship and his dedication to our cycling community.
- Randolph Williams, CRW President 2024-2025
Eli was a gentleman. What a great life of giving.
- Mark Nardone, CRW Board Member
Eli was a member of the CRW Safety committee 10-15 years ago, and wrote a number of articles for the committee, published in WheelPeople. He served on the Board till term limited, then again when the term limit expired. He offered good advice and direction as editor when I took on the role of Safety Coordinator. I am also recalling the Intro to CRW rides he led -- Always a fine gentleman and dedicated to the club.
- John Allen, CRW Safety Coordinator
Eli did yeoman’s work for publishing the WheelPeople for so many years. He was also very humble when I urged him to run for the Board, despite his extensive prior experience. I enjoyed working with him on the Board and he had a really good sense of judgement and calm approach. The biking community lost a good soul.
- Edward Cheng, CRW President 2022 - 2023
For many years, I led rides followed by parties starting from my house in Carlisle, as well as after event volunteer parties for notable CRW events such as the spring and fall centuries and "Climb to the Clouds"...Eli was always most helpful with ordering food and helping to find assistance. He sure made hosting easier. Thanks Eli. I think these events added greatly to the "social fabric" of CRW.
- Mike Hanauer, CRW President 1986 -1987
Eli was a friend and a mentor. He recruited me to work with him on CRW centuries about 10 years ago and taught me the ropes. Eli had a lovely way of asking people to volunteer in a way that was hard to decline...When I was club president, I could always count on Eli for advice, support and elbow grease. He did a superb job as editor of Wheel People for many years, and I remember numerous “reminders” from him when I was late in delivering a column...I will miss Eli.
- Larry Kernan, CRW President 2019 - 2020
I remember Eli as transformative of the CRW centuries, setting a new blueprint for what they are today (with additional improvements along the way by newer members). In the “old days”, pre-ride snacks were not offered because, as I recall being told, one of the old guard pushed back because “They’re grownups, they can feed themselves breakfast”. Sheesh. Eli had persistence and patience with these “we’ve always done it this way” types. I thanked him for that over the years – pushing through with a vision for what the club could be. He really did help make this club what it is today - better, stronger, more welcoming, and more diverse in rides/abilities...In later years, Eli moved one town away from me and occasionally my route would take me by his house, and if his car was there, I’d knock on the door to say hi. Other times, I rode down to the Upper Charles Bike Trail near his house and at least twice, we met on the trail biking by coincidence and stopped to chat briefly. What a nice thing to see his friendly face there while out for a solo ride...And Eric Ferioli and I still offer one of Eli’s classic rides in the winter the “Natick Surprise” in South Natick. Maybe I will change the name to “Eli Post’s Natick Surprise” permanently? Very sad for our club to lose Eli.
- Ellen Gugel, Winter Ride Program Lead
In 2008, I met Eli on a Wednesday Wheeler ride. We became friends and he convinced me to get involved with the cycling community, especially CRW. From then until COVID hit we collaborated on many endeavors including the helmet policy, all manner of CRW policy as we were both on the board together, and the original Cranberry Century. We rode long distances in all kinds of weather until we both got too old for that. But beyond that he was a wonderful friend whose company I always enjoyed.
- Bob Wolf, Executive Vice President 2015 - 2017
Eli was truly a gentleman and someone beloved by so many. I know that he had been ill over the past several years. He was a nice person and will be missed by me and many others.
- Judi Burten, CRW Ride Leader
I first met Eli when I worked with him in New York City in 1969 or 1970. I worked for the City of NY Housing Administration and Eli worked for the NYC Planning Commission. He was a great guy and we had lunch together often. I left NYC in 1972 and moved to the Boston area, and lost touch with him. I never rode a bike around here until around 2009 and didn’t join CRW until around 2021. I never saw Eli the whole time in Boston, my loss.
- Bob Keller, CRW Member
He was such nice man and did a lot for CRW, especially the newsletter. I remember meeting him on an "Eli Post birthday ride" from Hopkinton - possibly one of my first Ashland Bike Club Rides; he treated everyone to pizza at Cornell's Irish Pub.
- Marlene Heroux, CRW Ride Leader
Eli was a CRW GIANT------- His leadership and diverse participation were Truly significant...
- Ilene Pincus, CRW Member
CRW and WheelPeople thank Barbara Jacobs and Alex Post for contributing to this article. Thanks also to Ted Nyder for creating the photo montage page.
