Meet old and new friends at our Spring Social at the Laurier Heights Community Hall.
You can start the afternoon at either 2:00 p.m. with our indoor Bike Maintenance Demo or 2:30 p.m. with a scenic Walk. Register for one of these events below.
The Pizza Social follows at 4:30 p.m. Register below so that we can order food, non-alcoholic drinks, beer/wine (cash bar for the latter) for the right number of members.
| Pizza Social, 4:30PM | Register |
Please read description and requirements below before contacting Terry. If you are interested and feel this tour is a good match for you, let Terry Fannon know at tfannon@shaw.ca. Please provide your name, email address and phone number.
Dates: July 29-Aug 1
Time: Leave 7AM sharp on Friday July 29; return about 6PM Monday Aug 1
Ride rating/focus: Challenging; culmination of training
Intended participant members: 26 riders; all intermediate-advanced
EBTC is pleased to be able to again offer this 312 km tour over 4 days (July 29-Aug 1). It is the most challenging ride in Alberta with severe elevation gains: 1390m gain on Icefields Up (including 11km at 8%) and 800m gain during Bow Summit Up over 36 km. Target rider members are strong intermediate to advanced riders able to sustain 24+km/hr on flat terrain and manage long climbs (lol). Given the challenge providing support, riders must be able to stay with the main group and cannot be picked up and driven up hills. Therefore, members selected to participate will either have completed Enduro 160 or Stamina Builder Ardrossan 100 (weekly on Sundays) or Ultime (weekly on Saturdays) or be known by Ride Coordinators to be able to complete this tour. All cyclists must be prepared to ride in cold, rainy or even snowy conditions. Note: Riders must be available for full day on Friday with early start.
Included: accommodation HI Jasper (1 night) & HI Lake Louise (2 nights): 7 rooms with 4 each (bunks) with showers; breakfasts (3) and lunches (4); bus transportation Edmonton-Jasper, shuttles & Canmore-Edmonton. Not included: 3 suppers. Forecast cost for 26 riders approximately $600. EBTC deposit and refund policy will apply.
Detailed Tour Notes
Day 0: Thursday, July 28: 7PM load bikes in trailer (wrap bikes in rented blankets); requires 3 volunteers; location: Capilano Mall
Day 1: Friday, July 29: load luggage at 7AM at Capilano Mall; truck & trailer with bikes and bus leave Edmonton; drive to Jasper (372kms; 4.5 hours with 30 minute coffee stop at Edson); stop at HI Jasper and unload bikes; lunch (.5 hour; provided); cycle Jasper to Sunwapta Falls (54kms; about 4 hours); arrive 5PM; shuttle back to Jasper; stay HI Jasper; participants select restaurant of their choice for dinner
Day 2: Saturday, July 30: Breakfast at HI Jasper (provided); shuttle to Sunwapta Falls; cycle to Saskatchewan River Crossing (98kms); lunch at Columbia Icefields (provided); shuttle to HI Lake Louise (78kms);dinner: participants can use HI restaurant or participant’s choice in Village.
Day 3: Sunday, July 31: Breakfast at HI Lake Louise (provided); shuttle back to Saskatchewan River Crossing; cycle to HI Lake Louise up Bow Summit (78kms)(lunch at Bow Lake; provided); stay HI Lake Louise secondnight; same dinner options as Day 2.
Day 4: Monday, Aug 1: Breakfast at HI Lake Louise (provided); cycle to Canmore (lunch in Banff at train station; provided) using H1A & Legacy Trail (82km); cycle to Elevation Place Rec Centre; load bikes; showers available at Elevation Place Rec Centre; drive to Edmonton (391km); drop participants & bikes at start location (Capilano Mall)
If you are interested and feel this tour is a good match for you, let Terry Fannon know at tfannon@shaw.ca. Please provide your name, email address and phone number.
Join Scott Keast for Cycling 101, a progressive hands-on series of 6 workshops over 7 weeks focusing on delivering the essential skills and knowledge that a successful cyclist must have. These weekly Tuesday evening workshops start on April 19 at 7:00 p.m. They will take place in Goldbar Park at the Pavilion – 10955 50 St NW, Edmonton, AB, and will run 1.5 to 2 hours in length.
The sessions will consist of:
Participation is limited to 15. Register each week in Karelo
our AGM is Sunday, February 28 at 7 pm. Register here for this zoom meeting.
Last fall we asked all members to complete a short survey. We had 177 responses, a little under a 50% response rate. Some of the highlights have already been presented in two Newsletter articles. Frequency distributions for all questions have been posted on the website as a pdf file.
A few interesting items include:
Almost a quarter of all respondents were new to the Club last year. (From registration data, about 30% of members were new.) Despite restrictions on rides and many people hunkering down due to COVID, many people want to get out and about outdoors. (It was difficult to find bikes and cross-country skis in the shops last year.)
Thirty percent of respondents did not go on any Club rides last year. Some were undoubtedly very COVID-cautious. A few reported health issues but hoped to be back in the saddle this year. Despite all the disruptions, a quarter of respondent went on more than 10 Club rides last year.
Road ride are the most popular (68% of respondents would Often go on Road rides) but almost two thirds would go on Trail rides at least Sometimes and 35% would go on Winter rides at least Sometimes. 2021/22 is the first year that we have had winter rides.
Social/recreational rides are clearly the most popular, including with breaks, although three quarters of respondents would go on Training rides at least Sometimes.
Road rides of 40 to 60 km are most popular though over 80% said that they would go on rides of 60 to 100 km at least Sometimes. While less than 1/3 of all respondents would Often go on rides under 40 km, almost ¾ of new members would often go on short rides.
The majority of respondents found it Easy (61%) to find rides on the web site and found ride descriptions Very Useful (58%); however, over a third didn’t agree.
Less than 40% of respondents found the ride rating scale Very Useful and close to a quarter hadn’t read it. These results together with anecdotal reports from ride leaders suggest that we need some improvement in this area.
Most respondents (61%) found the web site Very Useful but over almost 40% did not. Similarly, 2/3 found registering for rides Easy, but over a quarter did not.
The majority (70%) of respondents who found that a ride they wanted was full did put their names on the waitlist but about 30% did not. Could we have done a better job of letting members know that additional start times were most-often added?
Almost half of respondents (44%) joined the Club Facebook page and quite a few found it informative. However, it was shut down due to problems with administering it and liability concerns. We need to work on a replacement.
Respondents are generally very favourable to the newsletter, especially information about upcoming rides. See the pdf file for details and for information about Education topics.
Almost ¾ of respondents (71%) installed RWGPS on their phones so over ¼ (29%) didn’t. However, remember that 30% didn’t go on any rides. 20% of those who went on no Club rides, used Club RWGPS routes on their own rides. Over 80% of those who went on at least one ride did install RWGPS, still leaving one in 5 who did not.
Most (82%) of those who went on at least one Club ride and who installed RWGPS actually used it on at least one Club ride and about half of those who installed it used it to record rides. Over half (60%) of those who installed RWGPS used it to navigate Club routes on their own. Respondent comments and anecdotal evidence indicate that some members found the routes very useful for their own rides. We may want to look into making it easier for members to find routes they want to navigate on their own. One possibility is adding RWGPS collections based on ride characteristics (limited to one dimension) and/or using RWGPS tags (which could have e.g., type of ride, distance and location tags).
Over 1/3 (36%) of those who installed RWGPS used it to plan routes.
As we indicated in a Newsletter item, RWGPS was a major success story last year.
Whether you are an old pro at winter cycling or a newbie, here are some useful tips from our Nov 21 Newsletter
Keen to Ride This Winter? Sign up for EBTC’s ‘Ad Hoc’ Winter Rides!
They’re everywhere and they’re multiplying. No, not viruses but just as resilient: Winter Riders!
EBTC members, who proved our resilience in the summer’s heat, can now enjoy this fun winter activity with the Club. Since weather and riding conditions can change quickly in winter, rides will be ‘ad hoc’. This means they’ll be offered close to the ride date and, unlike summer rides, won’t be posted in the calendar on the EBTC website.
So, how will this work? Two simple steps:
First, you need to be on the ‘EBTC Winter Riders 2021-22’ list. If you’re interested in winter riding, register for this List using the Karelo Link below.
Second, once you are on the list, you will then receive an e-mail notification whenever a ride is offered. When a ride leader plans an ‘ad hoc’ winter ride, they will send an e-mail to members on the EBTC Winter Riders list. That e-mail will have the link in Karelo to register and the ride description, including the meeting location and time. There are no RWGPS routes as winter rides are mainly off-road, and riders stay together to follow the leader.
We’ll use this first season of EBTC winter rides to gain experience. There will be a limited number of ride leaders and many fewer rides than in summer. Also, the nature of winter riding requires that ride leaders set low caps on the number of registrants for their rides. Karelo registration, however, is the same process as in summer: you can sign up for the waitlist if a ride is full; you can cancel your registration for the EBTC Winter Riders list and/or for a specific ride if you so choose.
We all look forward to future Newsletters with super pictures and reports of EBTC members’ winter ride adventures. Let it snow!
While the summer cycling season is winding down, it isn’t over yet! Day rides are planned to Dog Rump Creek (Sept. 11) and Chickakoo (Sept. 26), in addition to the Tour of the Falling Leaves (Sept. 19). Several weekly rides continue, notably the Mon. Recreational Ride, Thurs. City Trail Ride, and Fri. Quiet Roads Ride. Register and enjoy more cycling this month.
Another milestone has been reached with Stage 2 of Alberta’s Covid 19 ‘Open for Summer Plan’ coming into effect . Among other changes, it states:
With the easing of restrictions, especially for adult sports, the EBTC Board is thrilled to advise you of the following welcome changes to the 2021 cycling program, effective immediately:
Of course, members still have the option to wear a mask, and are expected to comply with the ongoing public health restriction for masking indoors (e.g., in the Ardrossan Recreation Centre).
Here are a few benefits of participant lists created on-line by Karelo: no messy and hard to manage paper sign-up sheets at rides; ride leaders can contact registrants before a ride about such changes as weather related cancellations; proof for the Club’s insurance that all riders were EBTC members should an accident occur; useful data to plan an interesting ride program; contact tracing if required.
As communicated at the AGM in February, ride leaders are in the position to know whether a cap is warranted based on their ride characteristics, the mix of riders and their own preferences in leading.
Please take advantage of the great rides planned for 2021 to fully enjoy the remainder of spring, the summer ahead, and the fall too.