By Tanya Colwell, EVCC Program Director
The club is run by cycling enthusiasts that accommodate many different levels of riders and organize various social events. We continue focusing on our core urban and road ride events, we are also looking into adding more multi-day trips, more mountain biking and perhaps even gravel rides.
In mid-March, we were excited to gather over 50 club volunteers at the Coordinator's Kick-off meeting in March to get organized for the season. We talked about coordinators' responsibilities, planned the rides for the months of May and June, and brainstormed about possible training for coordinators and participants.
Some suggestions included:
- First aid courses for ride leaders
- Safety cycling in traffic
- Workshops on cycling mechanical ABCs and basic road-side assistance
We will be following up on these ideas at a later date.
Keeping our rides safe
As coordinators, we want to provide a safe riding environment by:
- Planning ahead to anticipate, avoid and control hazards
- Communicating clearly about the safety expectations
- Making tactful comments if we see the unsafe behaviour
- Role modelling safe behaviours on the bike
With safety in mind, please update your emergency contact on your EVCC's profile page. We recommend having a local Calgary contact and not somebody who is on the ride with you.
Volunteer rewards
Volunteers with EVCC get a free membership for the following year if they coordinate 5 or more events. They get to choose the routes and distances they want to ride, and get a team of like-minded cyclists to ride with them. Thank you to our many volunteers for being a part of EVCC. If each ride coordinator posts just one or two rides a year we will keep Calgary rolling and smiling!
Tanya
