Northumberland Hills Cycling Club

Cycle Transitions is excited about re-opening for business again! It’s been seven and a half months since they closed the doors for the last time on D’Arcy St. Their new facility at 390 King St. W. in Cobourg looks great!

They need your help and are looking for volunteers.  Will you consider helping out? They will train you and always schedule you with a “senior” or mentor mechanic. If you have any mechanical inclination, you’ll learn in no time at all. And it’s not all work, there’s lots of socializing and discussing the issues of the day.

Their hours of operation are as follows: Monday and Wednesday evenings, 6:30 to 9:00 pm, as well as Saturday mornings.

If you’re interested in checking out this volunteering possibility, please send a message to cycletransitions@gmail.com .

In light of the current Environment Canada Special Weather Statement, we will postpone the Sandy Flats Sugar Bush Ride by one week to Sunday, April 22, 2018 (Earth Day).

On behalf of the Board and our great volunteers, welcome to another season of great cycling in our beautiful Northumberland County!  It was  great to see so many of you out to Membership Night.  We have been working hard to continue providing a great ride experience for NHCC members.  Here is a bit of what’s in store for 2018.

Soon we’ll be heading out for our traditional pre-season ride to the Sandy Flats Sugar Bush in April.

Our 2018 ride calendar has been populated.

Pre-season Rides: Everything  before our “official” season starts on May 1st is considered to be preseason. That means that rides may be irregular in schedule and announced only when weather permits. The best way to keep up to date is to monitor the website or better yet, subscribe to receive email notifications.

Regular Ride Season starts Tuesday May 1st: After the 1st, the regular schedule applies. Variety is the spice of life and more weekly evening and day rides have been added this year!  Thank you to all of those who have volunteered as ride leaders.  However, we can still use a few more (hint, hint).  The more ride leaders we have the more successful (and fun) our season will be. Just leave us a comment to say you might be interested in taking our ride leader training and we’ll take it from there.

On the social side of things our Anniversary Ride and BBQ is on May 6th.  Mark the third Wednesday of each month on your calendars as our All Levels Ride and Socials.  We are planning to vary the locations for these each month.

Sundays will be varied ride levels and distances this season.  We will be offering some special out of town rides throughout the year.  Newly retired Randy has taken on coordinating some weekday rides and he also plans on hosting a Cycling Film Festival sometime in April.  Watch for more details on all these events as they happen.

As in previous years, we are hoping to provide our membership with some Informative Workshops and here is where we can also use your help.  We are looking for volunteers willing to lead simple, short workshops.  We would like to offer two or three at various times over the season.  Here are a few suggestions:·

• Tire changing workshop
• Basic Bike Maintenance
• What to look for when buying a bike
• Gearing and conquering the hills
• To clip or not to clip
• Hydration/nutrition on a long ride
• Cycle touring
• Riding in a group.

Please let us know by commenting below or send an email to info@northumberlandhillscycling.com.

Stay tuned and get that bike ready! Pray for warmth and endless sunshine and dust off those helmets! It’s going to be a fun ride!

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow night (Thursday night) is our Membership Night at the Mill Restaurant  990 Ontario St, Cobourg, ON K9A 3C7 , 7:00 pm .   In addition to getting your memberships for just $40 for an entire season of great cycling, we’ll also have some great cycling merchandise on-hand available for purchase.  We can all mingle, have a bevy, eat some yummy food and wait in anticipation for the cold weather to pass.  See everyone soon!

Sadly, NHCC lost one of our members this week .  David Pollack passed away unexpectedly at Campbellford Memorial Hospital March 13th .

David had been a member of the NHCC since 2012 and served as our treasurer for three years, offering astute financial advice and guidance .  A partner in Orchard Hill Homes, David also gave much back to the community. Along with his role on the NHCC executive, he was one of the first co-chairs in Bike Up Northumberland, a founder, board member, and supporter of Bridge Hospice in Warkworth, helped found the AH Centre in Warkworth, and at the time of his passing was Vice Chair of the Campbellford Hospital Foundation where he had been a board member since 2013. From 2010 to 2013 he was a  member of the CMF Foundation Board of Directors. David was also treasurer of the Campbellford and Warkworth Food Banks, member of Warkworth Service Club, Trent Hills Physician Recruitment and Retention Committe, Westben Theatre, and Trent Hills Refugee Committee.

Despite heavy demands on his time, David enjoyed being active whether it be working out, cycling, or swimming, loved to cook and recipe swap, as well as socialize over a cup of coffee or glass of wine.  He was always willing to help others out, find the humorous and quirky side to things, and will be greatly missed by his wife Liz, his cycling friends and the incredibly large circle of people he knew.

David requested no funeral and Liz is honouring his request.