It’s finally here, the first ride of our official cycling season! For the first ride the emphasis will be on safety and group riding tips. We’ll take it nice and easy and no one gets left behind. To learn more about what all the ride levels mean, or to refresh your memory, check out “Club Rides”.

Bring your bike, helmet, water, appropriate clothing (layers are good for this time of year), membership card or membership form and payment (or waiver and $5).

Please reply by leaving a comment if you plan to attend as it helps us with planning.

Date: Monday, May 1st
Start Time: 6:30 sharp
Ride Leader: Maria Siemiaszko
Meeting Location: Industrial Park on Wilmott St.

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Meet your Ride Coordinator: Maria Siemiazsko
Maria has been a member of the NHCC since it’s first year of operation. As a volunteer at Cycle Transitions, a certified Can-Bike Instructor, and former volunteer with the Bicycle Action Committee of Cobourg, Maria brings a wealth of knowledge along with a great big smile to the Level 1 program. Maria is also the Vice-President of the NHCC.

Spring is here, and so too is the start of the 6th official cycling season for the Northumberland Hills Cycling Club. Evening rides start this Monday and they all start at 6:30 until mid-August when they’ll start earlier. The details of every ride get posted on the website a couple of days in advance and all rides are weather permitting. If a ride gets cancelled we’ll post that too!

New for this year: Level 2/3 combined ride on Monday evening! We’re going to give it a try for the month of May to see how it goes.  If it’s a success we’ll carry it throughout the season.

Just a few tips before you plunge into the cycling season:

• Safety First! The NHCC has a number of CanBike safety instructors highly trained in cycling safety, and present on most of our rides. They are here to help members build confidence in cycling safety. While you are at it, check out this great safety video, Bike Traffic Skills.
• If you want to be sure you’ll never miss any club information, do like the rest do and subscribe to receive email notifications of new Posts. It’s located in the right hand column of the website. Also be sure to confirm your subscription!
• When you plan to ride, it’s really appreciated if you take a moment to leave a comment letting others know you’ll be riding
• If you aren’t sure about what level of difficulty you might want to try, start at a lesser level and work your way up until you are comfortable
• Bring your membership card to every ride
• If you haven’t completed a membership form, bring one with your payment to your first ride
• Guests are always welcome, subject to signing a waiver (and $5 guest fee)
• Monitor weather conditions by using the weather links (Satellite, Environment Canada etc.) located in the right hand column of the website
• The third Wednesday of every month is our All Levels Ride & Social night
• Be on time for rides! When the departure time says 6:00, it means 6:00 sharp
• Remember: All the folks who lead rides, plan routes, and make themselves available to the NHCC are volunteers and give their time generously and we couldn’t do it without them!

Happy cycling, and we’ll see you all on the road!

Morning Ride:
Another ride along the lakeshore, but this time we’ll be heading west towards Wilmot Creek. It’s a beautiful ride with lots of views of Lake Ontario and moderate hills. We end up at Bondhead Parkette for a break and a snack before heading back. There are no shops around there so bring something with you. To keep the ride within a reasonable distance we will start in Port Hope.
Start Time: 10:00 AM
Start Location: Gilmer’s Home Hardware Parking Lot, 177 Toronto Rd Port Hope
Distance: 53Km
Level of Difficulty: 3
Ride Leader: Carmelo Amenta

Evening Ride:
This is a great route! Lots of rolling ups and downs, with plenty of downhill (we won’t talk about the uphills). You’ll see some fabulous scenery over Rice Lake and some excellent pavement along Rice Lake scenic drive. We’ll stop briefly in Harwood to re-load water bottles. Just a measly 38km for you, but we’ll make it speedy!
Start time: 6:30pm
Start location: Hamilton Township Offices parking lot (Burnham and Majestic Hills Rd.)
Distance: 38km
Ride Leader: Debbie Parks
Route Map: Level 4, Rice Lake South (reversed) 38k route map here Link to route on Ride with GPS

Just in case any fabulous NHCC women are interested, we are passing along the following information about an event at Wild Rock in Peterborough for women only.

Welcoming all Women to Wild Rock on Monday, April 24th for our 2017 Wild Rock Women’s Night event!

Come on down to 169 Charlotte St. for an evening of food and drinks by Brio Gusto, shopping, and schmoozing with all the most interesting women of Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Exclusive one-night only discounts and spend-to-win prizes!

Rebecca Christensen, Wild Rock’s Trek Women’s Advocate, will be there to launch women’s cycling season in Peterborough, and we will be holding clinics on how to change a flat, women’s specific bike-fitting, and information on women’s specific bikes and clothing.

Finally! A nice sunny Sunday is in the forecast and for the NHCC that means The Sandy Flats Pancake Ride! Pre-season rides are always weather dependent so if the weather suddenly turns nasty things could change. Take a look at some photos from past Pancake Rides! This can be a challenging ride—suitable for crazy level 4s, or strong level 3s, mostly because there are hills and it’s the first ride of the season for most of us. You can count on some sore legs after this 60k ride, but hey….it’s a great way to plunge right into cycling season! If 60k scares you just a bit, you can just take it easy and do 30k. Read on….

Here’s what we do: We start the ride in Baltimore, bike to Sandy Flat Sugar Bush, devour some scrumptious pancakes with maple syrup (sausages too if you are so inclined). All is good, sugar and laughs ensue. Then we pedal home again. Hills! No flatness on this route! If you are a little squeamish about those hills because your bike has been hidden in the garage all winter and you’ve maybe watched too much TV, you may wish to start in Centreton rather than the Baltimore Community Centre, reducing the distance to about 30k.

NOTE about starting in Centreton: If you are starting in Centreton, be sure to have your bike ready to go as soon as the group passes through—warmed-up riders can’t stop for more than a minute or two without chilling.

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

Date: Sunday April 23, 2017
Ride Leader: Anita Macklin
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

Bring some $$moolah with you if you want 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!

Tonight is Part 1 of the NHCC Cycling Safety course taking place at Cycle Transitions. If you haven’t already registered you can still do so by firing off an email at nhcycling2010@gmail.com to us to let us know you want to participate. We promise that by the end of the course you’ll be transformed into a cycling-safety, helmet-wearing, confident believer!

Now that the warmer temperatures are here what better way to spend a Tuesday morning than with a hike with a great group of NHCC members, followed by a coffee and social time? This week’s hike starts of heading in a NW direction and returns via Monks Cove and the boardwalk.
Date: Tuesday, April 11th
Time: 9:30
Meeting Location: behind Craft Food House
Distance: approximately 6km
Hike Leader: Roy Martin

We’re enjoying a beautiful weekend and thoughts of cycling are on many people’s mind. If anyone wants to get out for a spin, Presqu’ile Parks offers quiet roads, pretty scenery, and different options if someone is looking for a longer ride. We will meet at the parking lot just west of the boat launch (outside the park) and then head into and around the park. That would be a Level 1/2 ride which can be made longer by then heading outside the park.
If you have not yet renewed your membership for 2017 you can bring the completed form and payment to the ride, otherwise you need to bring a completed guest waiver and $5.
Please comment below so we can gauge how many to expect and plan the ride accordingly.
Date: Sunday, April 9th
Time: 1:00 (be ready to start riding then)
Meeting Location: parking lot just west of the boat launch
Ride Organizer: Maria Siemiaszko

The NHCC Cycling Safety/CanBike2 course is a two-evening, one full day comprehensive Cycling Skills and Safety course being offered through a combined partnership between the NHCC and Cycle Transitions and available both members and non-members. Participants will learn to ride defensively, and develop skills and attitudes suitable for cycling either individually or a group, including:

• good traffic judgement and anticipation
• assertiveness in traffic
• knowledge of the rules of the road
• understanding potential hazards
• communication techniques
• collision avoidance techniques
• group riding dynamics and etiquette

Instructors: Rick Nonnekes and Anita Macklin are certified Can-Bike instructors and are confident that regardless of experience, everyone will learn something new and be challenged by advanced bike handling skills.

Dates:
Tuesday April 11th, 7-9pm (Part 1)
Tuesday April 18,7-9pm (Part 2)
Saturday April 29, 9am-4pm (Parts 3-5)

Cost:
Members of NHCC: $10* (payable to Cycle Transitions)
Members of Cycle Transitions: FREE
Non-members: $25*
*participants wishing an official CanBike2 certification upon completion of the course will incur an additional cost of $10 to cover administration fees.

Registration: RSVP is important, as space is limited. Please send us an email at nhcycling2010@gmail.com or leave a comment to let us know you plan to participate.

Location: Cycle Transitions parking lot, 739 D’Arcy St. Cobourg (behind the building)

Important: Please bring your bicycle and helmet. Cycle Transitions has indoor facilities for bike handling skills training that will be covered at each session.

Cycle Transitions will be hosting another Women’s Workshop. This is a hands on opportunity to learn how to clean your bike, clean and lubricate your chain, and change a tire. Wear some old clothes and bring your bike. You do not have to be a member of NHCC to participate, but pre registration is mandatory.
There will be another workshop covering the same material Thursday, May 11th that is open to all genders. Another post for this will be coming soon.

The cost of each workshop is $10. However, if you are a member of Cycle Transitions, there is no charge. If you wish to join Cycle Transitions, please visit their website. One year memberships are $30 per person or $50 for a family, plus online registration fees.

Date: Thursday, April 20th
Time: doors open 6:30, workshop 7:00 to 9:00
Location: Cycle Transitions, 739 D’Arcy Street
Pre register by emailing NHCC at: nhcycling2010@gmail.com or phone Cycle Transitions at: 905 377 1278. Please provide your name, contact number and email.