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.

NOTE: POSTPONED UNTIL SUNDAY APRIL22 Our Annual Sandy Flats Pancake Ride is set for Sunday, April 15th! Pre-season rides are always weather dependent so if winter rears its ugly head again, we have an alternate date of Sunday, April 22nd. Take a look at some photos from past Pancake Rides! This can be a challenging ride—suitable for level 4s, or strong level 3s, mostly because there are hills and it’s the first ride of the season. But, it’s a great way to dive into the cycling season! Never fear, if 60k is not comfortable for you there is a 30k option.

Here’s how it works: We meet at the arena in Baltimore, bike to Sandy Flat Sugar Bush, nourish ourselves with some scrumptious pancakes and maple syrup (oh yeah, there are sausages too!). With full tummies, we pedal home again. Hills, baby, hills! No flatness on this route! If you would like to avoid a few of the hills you may wish to start in Centreton rather than the Baltimore Community Centre, reducing the distance to about 30k.

NOTE about starting in Centreton: Be sure to have your bike ready to go as soon as the group passes through—people chill super-fast if they have been riding and then stop for more than a few moments.

Route Map: Printable Map here or Link to it on Ride with GPS

Date: Sunday April 15, 2017, alternate date – April 22nd
Ride Leader: Debbie parks
Starting place (for the 60k): Baltimore Community Center (10:00am)
Starting in Centreton (30k): Main intersection (10:30-10:45, approx. Be ready to ride!)
Anticipated arrival at Sandy Flats: 12:00-ish

Don’t forget to bring some $$ with you if you plan to feast on pancakes.

Please let us know you are coming by leaving a comment below, letting us know where you plan to start from (Baltimore or Centreton). It really helps us to plan ahead if we know who’s coming!

A sure sign of springtime and the anticipated cycling season is the NHCC Membership Night! Bring a friend (or several), or just come on your own, everyone is welcome. We’ll be hanging out upstairs at The Mill Restaurant from 7:00-9:00 in order to share some NHCC awesomeness. (Psssst….we have a little secret to share…..we have a whole lot more rides going on this year! We’re talking 10 regularly scheduled rides per week!) There are plenty of reasons to come out! Here’s just a little of what we have in store for ya:

• Join the NHCC: Get your membership for just $40
• Size up a jersey from the Garneau Fit Kit
• Nab a jersey from our existing (limited) inventory for cash & carry
• Meet and yak with ride leaders & coordinators
• Find out what’s on the 2018 schedule
• Cycle Transitions will be there to tell you about their future plans

PLUS:

• NEW! World famous artist Pamela Tate will be present with a few pieces of her original cycling themed artwork for sale (they are beautiful!)
• NEW! Chandel from RYB Denim Inc. will be there with some cool things to wear (You might have seen her at BikeUp this past fall). “RYB Denim Inc. is a design company tailored specifically to making the best denim products for the active individual. We have a focus on movement-oriented products  inspired by the cycling community.”

Lots of groovy NHCC folks will be on deck to answer questions and let you know what to expect. Everyone is welcome….members, non-members, friends, etc. Drop in for a drink, order up some munchies, and just be social!

NHCC Jerseys with some new variations! 

• NEW! Technical T ($40)
• Sleeveless ($65)
• Short Sleeve ($75)
• NEW!  Long sleeve LIGHT ($80)
• Long sleeve HEAVY ($85)

This is your chance to get one early in the season and be ready to roll. After Membership Night the special membership rate will end and the regular rate will apply ($45)

Date: Thursday, March 22, 2018
Place: The Mill Restaurant, upstairs (990 Ontario St.)
Time: 7–9pm

The days are getting longer! That means there’s actually a little daylight at the start of our evening hikes and that means that cycling season is right around the corner. However, it’s not here yet so in the meantime, we hike! 

Start time: 6:00pm
Start location: Port Hope Town Hall Parking lot
Hike Leaders: Randy & Anita (Jim if he’s back in town on time!)

The hike this week will head westward along the lake towards Pebble Beach and right back to Craft for coffee and social time!
Date: Tuesday, March 6th
Start Time: 9:30
Meeting Location: parking lot behind Craft
Hike Leader: Paul Mills
Distance: approx. 6km

This is the weekend! The Toronto International Bike Show starts on Friday and goes until Monday. It’s an opportunity to check out the bargains, see what’s new for the coming season and basically just have a good time. Admission is $13 per adult and tickets can be purchased online. If you are thinking of going and interested in carpooling, how about leaving a message to see of there are others to travel with?

Dates & Times:
Friday, March 2, 2018 – Noon to 9 P.M.
Saturday, March 3, 2018 – 10 A.M. to 7 P.M.
Sunday, March 4, 2018 – 10 A.M. to 6 P.M.

Location:
Better Living Centre
195 Princes’ Blvd,
Exhibition Place, Toronto

The following is a Message from CT:
Great news! The Town of Cobourg has agreed to lease space in the old Public Works yard (390 King St W) to Cycle Transitions. The building is a 7000 square foot refurbished storage/work garage of which CT will make use of approximately 2000 square feet. We expect to move in mid-March with a re-opening to take place the first week in April.

As more details are worked out and we are able to set dates, we’ll provide you with more information including a call for volunteers to assist with moving in and setting up. We’re looking at two March Saturday mornings, one for clearing space and installing partition fencing, the other for unloading the storage semi-trailer and setting up the shop.
A reminder that all memberships will resume with the re-opening.

We give many thanks to Cobourg Council and staff for assisting and supporting us. They really stepped up and made things possible!

New start location for this week! Deanna (with two N’s) 🙂 has volunteered to lead the evening hike starting from the Baltimore arena in Cobourg. We’ll cover about 7-8km then enjoy a post-hike hydration at the newly opened Turtle Johns in Cobourg. Thank you Deanna for leading!

Start time: 6:00pm
Start Location: Baltimore arena, west side parking lot
Hike Leader: Deanna