VCC and ECC Combine

ECC and VCC Combine to Increase Your Riding Options

I know we say this every year but next year is going to be our best season ever! And to support that bold claim we’ve got some incredibly exciting news to share.

You know and love VCC (Velocity). So do we. And there’s a really good chance that you also know and love ECC. So do we. In years past you’ve had to choose which one to join and ride with, and although our two clubs put together a deal so you could join both it was still double the registration, double the emails, double the ride sign-ups, double the choices, etc.

Well this year we’ve fixed that! Starting in 2024 Velocity and ECC are one club. The official OCA affiliated club is ECC however all the things you know and love about each club will continue with some excellent enhancements.

Our anticipated weekly ride schedule looks like this:

Monday

5:40/6:00 am – ECC Morning Ride

6:00 pm – VCC Tips and Clips

Tuesday

5:40/6:00 am – ECC Morning Explorer

5:30/6:00 pm – VCC Breakaway / Peloton

Wednesday

5:40/6:00 am – ECC Ford

9am “Gravel” Tempo – Out of town gravel ride

6:00 pm – VCC Tempo

Thursday

5:40/6:00 am – ECC Morning Ride

5:30/6:00 pm – Breakaway / Peloton

Friday

5:40/6:00 am – ECC Fritter Friday

Saturday

8:00 am – DPH   + Espresso and Machiatto. Tempo / Peloton / Breakaway. Usually heads to Oakville. Faster riders option to extend the route.

Sunday

8:30 am – Tempo/Peloton Get Outta Town Ride

ECC Sunday Morning Ride

 Things that will stay the same with the added support of ECC:

Velocity Charity support and rides (Tour d’Abernathy, Tanya’s Ride – September 7, 2024)

Things that will stay the same with the added support of VCC:

Tour d’ECC

Things that will be improved and possibly combined:

Velocity Monday Evening Development Rides (Clips and Tips)

ECC Tuesday New Riders Rides

Things that are still being worked out but will result in a single process for riders:

Ride Sign-ups vs Spond

Club Clothing

Next Steps For You

Watch for the email announcing that registration is open, join the club, and get ready for a great season.

Technical Details

Velocity Cycling Club as an entity will wind up operations during 2024. The current VCC Board members will work with the ECC Board to finalize a new structure of Directors, Advisors, etc. The specifics of this are to be worked out but operationally ECC and its current Board will run things until we finalize the new structure.

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Title

Velocity Cycling Club is following the lead of the Ontario Cycling Association (OCA) concerning cycling activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to May 29th, the OCA had cancelled all sanctioned events due to COVID – 19.

On May 29th the OCA followed in lock step with the Ontario government which has now permitted group riding with up to 5 participants provided they remain 2 metres apart. The OCA subsequently provided directions to permit sanctioned group riding of up to 5 riders to begin on June 4th. While this is positive news there are requirements to be followed including pre and post ride procedures for the club and riders to follow, PPE requirements for all riders to carry and a waiver is also required to be signed. All of these must be followed to permit sanctioned rides to begin and thus have insurance coverage available.

Your board will be evaluating these requirements and conclude on whether it makes sense to recommence VCC group rides along this timeline, a delayed timeline or to wait until there is further opening up of the restrictions. Watch your club e-mails for updates as the re-commencement of club activities progresses.

Please see the latest OCA update here : May 29 – OCA Return to Cycling

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Tanya’s Ride 2023

Tanya's Ride 2023

Just a quick note to say that we had a great day for our 6th Annual Tanya’s Ride. The weather cooperated, we started this year with a second local road ride and the gravel and road rides from Albion Hills had great representation. Overall we had over 30 participants and raised $20,000 for the Brain Injury Society of Toronto (“BIST”). We also waned to thank all of those who generously donated that were unable to attend the event.


As usual, we had a strong showing from the Luder family and their “fresh” legged young friends. Kudos to Peter D for representing the “vintage generation” and coming in with the lead group. 



This event remains the major funding event for BIST and we have now provided over $150,000 to this great organization. Laura from BIST attended the event and provided a huge thank you to all.

Last chance to help out if you have otherwise been unable to do so :  Donate to Tanya’s Ride

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Ride Calendar Update

Ride Calendar Update

Please note the updates on our key group rides for the remainder of 2023.

 Steve Hancock Memorial Ride – Saturday, July 22nd

We’ll be re-routing several of the Saturday morning rides through the airport as part of the annual Steve Hancock Memorial Ride. Let’s have a bigger showing than usual for this important ride.

 Tour d’Abernethy – date TBC in August

We’re still working on confirming a date for this usual ride up at Beaver Valley.

 Tanya’s Ride – Saturday Sept 9th 

We’ve moved the date up to catch more of the warmer weather. And we are planning to add a second ride from Humbertown, for those who cannot make the trip to Albion Hills.

 Expecting the 2nd order of Castelli kit by the end of the month

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Click here to learn more about our sponsors.

Title

Velocity Cycling Club is following the lead of the Ontario Cycling Association (OCA) concerning cycling activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to May 29th, the OCA had cancelled all sanctioned events due to COVID – 19.

On May 29th the OCA followed in lock step with the Ontario government which has now permitted group riding with up to 5 participants provided they remain 2 metres apart. The OCA subsequently provided directions to permit sanctioned group riding of up to 5 riders to begin on June 4th. While this is positive news there are requirements to be followed including pre and post ride procedures for the club and riders to follow, PPE requirements for all riders to carry and a waiver is also required to be signed. All of these must be followed to permit sanctioned rides to begin and thus have insurance coverage available.

Your board will be evaluating these requirements and conclude on whether it makes sense to recommence VCC group rides along this timeline, a delayed timeline or to wait until there is further opening up of the restrictions. Watch your club e-mails for updates as the re-commencement of club activities progresses.

Please see the latest OCA update here : May 29 – OCA Return to Cycling

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Click here to learn more about our sponsors.

Title

Velocity Cycling Club is following the lead of the Ontario Cycling Association (OCA) concerning cycling activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to May 29th, the OCA had cancelled all sanctioned events due to COVID – 19.

On May 29th the OCA followed in lock step with the Ontario government which has now permitted group riding with up to 5 participants provided they remain 2 metres apart. The OCA subsequently provided directions to permit sanctioned group riding of up to 5 riders to begin on June 4th. While this is positive news there are requirements to be followed including pre and post ride procedures for the club and riders to follow, PPE requirements for all riders to carry and a waiver is also required to be signed. All of these must be followed to permit sanctioned rides to begin and thus have insurance coverage available.

Your board will be evaluating these requirements and conclude on whether it makes sense to recommence VCC group rides along this timeline, a delayed timeline or to wait until there is further opening up of the restrictions. Watch your club e-mails for updates as the re-commencement of club activities progresses.

Please see the latest OCA update here : May 29 – OCA Return to Cycling

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Click here to learn more about our sponsors.

Spond, Longest Ride of the Year and Kit Ordering

Spond, Longest Ride of the Year and 2nd Round of Kit Ordering

We are excited that the cycling season is in full swing, despite the introduction of the forest fire smoke from our friends out east.

We wanted to update the membership on the following three areas:

Ride scheduling and chat app progress

The introduction to Spond has had its bumps but looks to be in full swing now. It is important to note that if you are not seeing rides you are interested in, or not getting invites to them, or have any other questions, please email pdouglasmartin@gmail.com or talk to the host of the rides your frequent. It means you are not registered for that ride sub-group and currently we have to add you from the administrative accounts.

Given the progress, we will cease use of the calendar on the website for ride scheduling.

  Longest Ride of the Year – Sunday, June 18

Join the Summer Solstice ride being hosted by ECC and VCC. Here is what you can expect:

We will be riding together with our ECC friends to the Tin Roof Café in Erin. Two distance options will be offered, a 184k option starting from Humbertown and a 105k route starting from Hornby Park at Steeles and Sixth Line. If we have enough riders we will break into smaller groups with different paces.

Start times will be confirmed closer to the date so please sign up on Spond to indicate your interest.

  Second Round of Kit Ordering Open til June 14th

Given the favourable reception to the new design, we have decided to re-open ordering for just the jersey and bib shorts for a limited time. Please click on the link below in case you missed us on the initial order. With some luck, they should arrive before the end of July.

Order your kit here

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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2023 Ride Schedule Open and Moving to Spond for ride scheduling

2023 Season Opening and Move to SPOND app for ride scheduling

A couple of quick ones to start:


– the 2023 kit should arrive any day. Pick up instructions at HQ will be sent to the individuals who ordered.
– haven’t signed up yet?  – Sign Up for 2023
– thanks to all the VCC riders who have volunteered to be ride leaders for the jack ride. And special thanks to Rich Martyn for volunteering his time on the gravel ride committee

2023 Ride Calendar Open

Apologies for the delay in opening the ride calendar. We’ll be starting with the following and then opening up the rest.

– Tues / Thurs Breakaway is being lead and managed by Craig Tyndall through his WhatsApp group
– Tues Peloton, which is new to 2023, is just a tad slower than the Breakaway. This will be managed and lead by Rich Martyn.  More to follow on a Thursday option.
– Wed Tempo will be lead by a gaggle of ride captains as we generally have several capable riders to overseeing this ride
– Thurs Gravel will be a formal VCC event this year and Keith will lead these morning rides and start locations. For those gravel interested riders, keep an eye on the calendar
– Saturday DPH ride is being lead by Keith Luder. As the interest rises ,and people get in top cycling conditioning, this ride will split into the traditional route and the option of an extended group
– Sunday Outta Town Rides are being lead by Rich Williams which is also managed through a WhatsApp chat group given the variety of rides and start locations

Monday Tips and Clips has a large number of new to group riding potential members so Greg and Rich are holding a training ride this coming Wednesday. Following this session, the rollout of the regular ride schedule will be posted

Integration of the Ride Calendar and Messaging (pay attention here)

We are excited to move the majority of our ride scheduling to an app called Spond (https://www.spond.com/).

Spond has the following benefits:
– as you would expect all rides can viewed in the app, the start time, location and expected distance
– communicating specifics to each ride such as weather issues which eases the burden on the Ride Captains
– it is available for iPhone and Android as well as desk top version
– the app allows Ride Captains to communicate specific to each unique ride. Even if you haven’t signed up you can see the communications
– users can choose to get notifications specific to those rides they are interested in. Or to receive no notifications.
– it is relatively simple for the users and there is no cost to users

This will take a bit of patience to get configured but once you are set, you just have to check on the rides you care about and ignore the rest

We are working on a rollout plan which will follow soon and as of the date of this message we will upload all members to Spond who have registered with VCC and you should be notified directly from Spond once this is done. 

We will continue in parallel with the website calendar for a period until such time as we get everyone comfortable with Spond. We will only be uploading your name and email into Spond. The roll out plan will be emailed to those who were uploaded and also be available on the Home Page of the website

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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DPH Rides and Kit Update

DPH Rides begin, 2023 Kit Update

Just a quick note that Keith is back from the successful Gravelocity/VCC trip to West Virginia and looking to re-start the Saturday DPH rides. Check the calendar on the website, and sign up so we can see the overall interest. It’s a 9am start to accommodate the unusually cooler temperatures.

As well, Castelli has advised that we should expect delivery of the 2023 kit order to HQ on or around May 16th. Once we have the order sorted, a direct e-mail will be sent to all who ordered to advise pick up instructions.

We expect the ride calendar to expand to its usual format around mid May.

Haven’t registered yet for VCC?  – Sign Up for 2023

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Click here to learn more about our sponsors.

Title

Velocity Cycling Club is following the lead of the Ontario Cycling Association (OCA) concerning cycling activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to May 29th, the OCA had cancelled all sanctioned events due to COVID – 19.

On May 29th the OCA followed in lock step with the Ontario government which has now permitted group riding with up to 5 participants provided they remain 2 metres apart. The OCA subsequently provided directions to permit sanctioned group riding of up to 5 riders to begin on June 4th. While this is positive news there are requirements to be followed including pre and post ride procedures for the club and riders to follow, PPE requirements for all riders to carry and a waiver is also required to be signed. All of these must be followed to permit sanctioned rides to begin and thus have insurance coverage available.

Your board will be evaluating these requirements and conclude on whether it makes sense to recommence VCC group rides along this timeline, a delayed timeline or to wait until there is further opening up of the restrictions. Watch your club e-mails for updates as the re-commencement of club activities progresses.

Please see the latest OCA update here : May 29 – OCA Return to Cycling

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Click here to learn more about our sponsors.

DPH Rides Begin for 2023

2023 Start of DPH Rides

Just a quick note that we will continue with the Saturday DPH rides for the next two weeks. They will start from Humbertown and be departing at 9am. Please use the calendar on the website so that we can monitor numbers.

We expect the ride calendar to expand to its usual format after the first week of May.

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Click here to learn more about our sponsors.

Year End Social Update

Year End Social Update

Don’t Forget to Sign Up

For the social event of the year being held on Tuesday November 29th at 7pm at the High Park Brewery. HPB website.

Please sign up on the club calendar so that we can manage matters with HPB https://www.velocitycyclingclub.com/

We have you covered, we just won’t tolerate any drinking and driving so plan accordingly.

And a quick update from Bill and the gang at Chain Reaction:

  • they are offering VCC members a discount on bike tune ups after a long season until December 3rd.  Call to book an appointment.

           Pro Tune Up –  reg $119 for $89
           Pro Tune Up with drivetrain cleaning reg – $179 for $139
           Trainer Tune Up and cleaning  – $45

  • all in stock Smart Trainers on sale up to 40% until Nov 28th

And they have a few fat bikes coming in so if you have interest you know who to call

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Year End Social

Year End Social / First Aid Training

                                                     Year End Social Event Date and Time
 

Good news, we have selected a new location and date for our much-anticipated 2022 Members Meeting and social event which will be held on Tuesday November 29th at 7pm at the High Park Brewery. HPB website

For this event all you need to know other than the date and location is the following:

What we are providing:

  • We have a dedicated room for the event so it should be much improved from last year
  • A great selection of food and libations

What you need to do:

  • Get the date in your calendar and spread the word
  • Transportation to and from the event

Please sign up on the club calendar so that we can manage matters with HPB https://www.velocitycyclingclub.com/

Hope to see a great turnout, and of course, absolutely no drinking and driving.

Once again, we are expecting to have a full Castelli fit kit available for trying on as 2023 will be our three-year anniversary with the current kit and we will be unveiling , early in the New Year, our updated design.

                                                          

                                                                    VCC First Aid Training

I wanted to give a big shout out  to the 12 participants who completed the 8-hour on-line session and 8-hour full day of practical first aid training that was concluded today. Thanks also to the Ontario government for their funding to support this important training to strengthen the overall expertise within the club should the need be called upon.

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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Tanya’s Ride and Weekend Ride Update

Tanya's Ride and Weekend Ride Update

5th Annual Tanya’s Ride

Thanks to all who participated at Tanya’s Ride last Saturday. The day started off cool and finished in the early afternoon with lovely weather. In all we had 45 register with good representation across all three ride groups. We all enjoyed a meal and some stories afterwards at Albion Hills.

More importantly, we were able to far exceed our previous fund raising total by raising $45,000 this year. A big thanks to the Luder family for their participation and fund raising efforts as this event has now exceeded $130,000 fund raising over its initial 5 years.

Weekend Ride Update

Keep an eye on the calendar as rides are continuing while the weather co-operates. This coming weekend we have the DPH and Get Outta Town rides scheduled.

If you have questions about the article above, send us an email.

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