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:

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:

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

Tech tips by Lyle Opseth

EVCC provides two apps for your mobile phone, one for general members and a second one for coordinators.

Each app provides features for members to manage their registrations and coordinators to manage their rides. These apps do not provide a complete set of features available on your computer browser but, rather, provide complementary features you can use when on a ride or away from home. While these apps require a data plan to work best, they can also be used for reference without a data plan with a little bit of preplanning.

Find it on your favourite app store

There are Android and Apple iOS versions of these apps which you can find on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Search for “Wild Apricot”. Download and use is free. Members should install the “Wild Apricot for members” app and coordinators should also install the “Wild Apricot for admins” app.

The apps require you to sign in with your id and password, the same ones you use to login to the EVCC website on your browser but you should only need to do this the first time you open the apps.

The following discussion provides an overview of the features of each app. This description is not complete but outlines the most used and useful features. I use the Apple version of the app so the features may be slightly different than described in the Android version.

Wild Apricot for Members

Use this app to ensure you are registered for a ride, find the start location, find contact information for the coordinator or other ride participants, get the latest ride information, and to display your club membership digital card if you need to show it at a participating retailer for a discount.

When you open Wild Apricot, you will see four tabs at the bottom: “Members”, “Events”, “My Tickets”, and “My Profile”.

Feature #1 - Members: This lists the club members and their public information. You can use this to find the phone number of a member to contact them. For example, if you are going to be late to the start of a ride (e.g., got lost finding the start or held up in traffic) or you lose the route on a ride and there's cell service, you can look up a coordinator's phone number and call them.

I recommend that coordinators review their public information to make sure their contact information is correct and that your mobile number is provided rather than your home phone number.

Feature #2 - Events: Events lists all public upcoming club rides. You may use this tab to register for a ride, look up the start of the ride (if you can't find it), and review the ride description details and registrants.

Touching the start-location field from the overview page will open the map to show the location of the start. While the ride description may include the Ride With GPS map as a convenience, you will need to load the map onto the Ride With GPS app or your bike computer to get ride guidance. You cannot load the map onto a bike computer from the Apricot Map. Review the “Ride With GPS” information on the club website for information on using Ride With GPS maps.

While you can register for a ride on this page, you cannot deregister. Go to the “My Tickets” tab to do this.

Coordinators should review the location field of their rides in this app to ensure that the start location is properly displayed in a map. Sometimes I provide the GPS coordinates to avoid ambiguity. (This can be easily determined in Google Maps when creating your ride. I can provide help if needed.) A location description like “Train station in Banff” is too vague. Do you mean Banff townsite, Banff national park, or Banff Scotland? Apricot doesn't know. And even when using the location “Railway Ave., Banff”, Apricot may confuse it with Railway Ave in Canmore or some other town with a Railway Ave.

Feature #3 - My Tickets: Use this ticket to find all the upcoming rides for which you have registered. Use this page to deregister from a ride. Your contact information is also listed. Review it to make sure it is correct so the coordinator can contact you if needed (via text, email, or phone), or to get your emergency contact information.

Feature #4 - My Profile: This shows your public and private profile information for review. You can select “My Card” so you can show your club membership card. This can be useful to get discounts at partner retailers.

If you don't have a data plan or the start of the ride doesn't have cell service, you can preload ride information such as a map to the start location or the coordinator's contact information before leaving home in case you may need this information.

Wild Apricot for Admins

Coordinators can use this app for managing their rides. This app cannot be used to create or edit rides but it is useful for managing the participants registered for a ride. This app opens with four tabs listed at the bottom and the “Events” tab is the opening default. Coordinators will mainly use the “Events” and “Contacts” tabs.

Feature #5 - Admin - Events: The “Events” tab is used to find any ride. Rides are normally tagged when created and you can select tags as a filter to find a ride. Usually I just select “Upcoming Events” and then scroll to find my ride. Rides are listed chronologically. 

When you display a specific event, it will display similarly to the members app version with some additional information (e.g., the waitlist).

Selecting the “Registrations” tab displays the registrants and allows you to mark the attendance of each preregistered member. I sometimes use this to manage ride participants rather than a paper copy. If the start location doesn't have cell service or you do not have a data plan, you can preload this page and leave it open to manage attendance.

Feature # 6 - Admin - Contacts: You can use this tab to find the contact information and emergency contact for participants of your ride.

No Cell Service or No Data Plan

You can reference a page in either app even if you don't have cell service or a data plan if you open the app to the needed page and leave the app open to that page. For those with limited data plans, the data usage of the apps is minimal.

Dreaming of cycling season? So are we. While you wait for the snow to melt, gear up with this guessing game.

All of the photos below were taken either during an EVCC ride, or on a familiar EVCC route. How many can you identify? Share your guesses by clicking on the three vertical dots at the top left of this blog post, and selecting "add comment". Be as specific as possible and let us know if you have any great memories of riding these routes.  

Have fun!

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Order your new EVCC jersey today!

We are excited that our new club jerseys are ready to go -- along with matching shorts, bib shorts, arm warmers and leg warmers.  Our new kit is made by Louis Garneau and is now available for ordering on our website.  Order deadline is midnight on February 27. This deadline enables us to get 20% off the regular prices. Order Now!

Hello everyone,  You might have noticed that you received an email indicating that your password had expired.  This is what happened:

Stronger password requirements

To improve account security, Wild Apricot is strengthening its password requirements. 

Now, valid passwords must adhere to the following requirements:

• 12 characters or more
• both upper and lower case letters
• at least one number
• at least one of the following special characters: #?!@$%^&*- 

This policy will be applied to new administrators and new members once your account is updated to the new release. Existing administrators will be prompted to change their passwords a week or two after their account is updated. Thereafter, administrators will be forced to change their passwords every 365 days.

For added security, administrators will be automatically logged out of their account after 3 hours of inactivity.

         

Bob Ross was an avid cyclist and loved to ride the pathways from his home on Bow Crescent. 

An active member of the EVCC during the 90s and early 2000s, Bob participated in numerous supported mutli-day cycle tours in Alberta, BC and California.  When the EVCC produced a printed newsletter, Bob volunteered to address 850 envelopes and help collate, fold and stuff the newsletters while hosting the Cadence parties at his condo with his late wife, Diana.  These generous contributions spanned about 15 years, ending when his home was flooded in 2013.  By then EVCC had decided to go with an online Cadence only.

When Bob moved from a condo into his new home on Bow Crescent, he had the space and offered EVCC a free repository for the club’s Golden Triangle gear, saving the club about $2000 per year in storage fees.

Bob’s door was always open and his house was a popular stop on some of the club’s NW urban tours.  His freshly roasted coffee was legendary.

Pre-covid, when the pathways were clear of snow and ice, Bob, Henning Johansen and Don Whiting would meet at Eau Clair on their bikes, cycle back to Bob’s house in Bowness, hop in Bob’s SUV still attired in spandex and dine at the Market Mall food court at the same table every Wednesday.  Old friends would drop by and it became a weekly reunion where we celebrated Bob’s birthdays.

I’ll miss Bob and will remember his hospitality, warmth and generosity to myself and the members of the EVCC.

 

Don Hollingshead

Headline: Our new look captures the joy of the ride

We’re celebrating our 40^th birthday with a fabulous new look including a fresh logo design and new club colours.

The logo features the rivers, mountains, sunshine and roads of the Elbow Valley and surrounding areas where most of our club rides take place.

The vibrant colours also match the scenery – the blue of water and sky… the green of trees and grassy fields… the yellow of sun, canola, and fall foliage…  the charcoal black of the Rockies, roads, pathways, and bicycle tires!

Encircling it all is a wheel of sunshine, evoking the joy of a happy day spent on two wheels with great friends – whether on a road, mountain, pathway or e-bike.

We believe the logo captures the uniqueness of our club compared to other bike groups in Calgary and Western Canada. We want to stand out as a recreational club, focused on fun, fitness and friendship. We welcome riders of all levels, and we’re known for our wide variety of cycling routes with spectacular scenery and destinations.

Thank you to the logo team

The new look was developed by a team of EVCC volunteers with the help of Calgary graphic designer Isabel Duffy (photo below). Isa is an active cyclist, skier, and outdoor enthusiast who understands the EVCC lifestyle of fun and fitness. Thanks to Isa and the logo committee of Tanya Colwell, Helen Hayes, Maria Saley, Don Hollingshead and Heather Opseth.

New jerseys coming soon

We know you’ll be excited to sport this new look while riding this season – we are working on new jersey and clothing designs that will be available in time for Spring cycling. Please stay tuned for more details. 

Did you know?  The EVCC's 40th anniversary is on Monday, January 23, 2023.  Interested in the first newsletter?  Read it here:  Jan Feb 1983.pdf

How to adapt a ‘dumb’ trainer for virtual riding

Contributed by Claude Paré

As the outdoor season comes to an end many riders are looking at extending their season with indoor cycling. The popularity of online cycling software has made it fun and easy to join others or to train by yourself in an interactive cycling environment. This article focuses on how to use your old indoor trainer to connect to the world of online cycling.

There are two types of trainers that can be used with online cycling software: the classic “dumb” trainer and the more technologically advanced “smart trainer”.

What is a smart trainer? A smart trainer is any trainer where the resistance can be controlled by software. A dumb trainer can be described as one where the resistance is controlled manually.

Having a dumb trainer doesn’t mean you can’t use online cycling software to ride with your friends. What it does mean is that you won’t feel a change in resistance as the terrain changes. Online cycling software uses power output to calculate your speed based on the virtual terrain. A dumb trainer can only estimate your power using your speed as an input while a smart trainer can directly measure your power output and modify the resistance. Since the software cannot change the resistance on a dumb trainer, it modifies the speed calculated by the software to simulate the change in speed you encounter while riding on a changing terrain and allows you to be in sync with other riders.

Making your dumb trainer smarter

So how can you use an old-style dumb trainer on an online cycling platform? In order to register power and calculate speed, the software needs to receive data wirelessly from sensors on your bike via either ANT+ or Bluetooth protocols so you need an ANT+ or Bluetooth enabled speed sensor. Adding an ANT+ or Bluetooth cadence sensor and heart rate monitor will display more information but is not essential. Most newer sensors support both Bluetooth and ANT+ while older ones might only support ANT+. Finally, some are proprietary and will only connect with the head unit, often called the “bike computer”, and therefore will not work for online cycling. If you have a Garmin or similar sensors that transmit data via ANT+ or Bluetooth as well as a dumb trainer, you are pretty much good to go. Sensors for speed or optional cadence are readily available at any local bike store for around $60 for either speed or cadence sensors. There are many manufacturers of sensors but the most common locally available and reputable brands are Wahooand Garmin. You bike store can help you with selection.

A final option to connect online is to use a power meter whose output measured in watts can be used directly used by the software and therefore provides the greatest accuracy. The caveat is that unless you already own one or desperately want one, the price range for power meters is similar to that of smart trainers ($600-$1,800) and you won’t get the benefits of a smart trainer. Similar to other sensors, power meters support either Bluetooth or ANT+ protocols or both.

Since the connection between your bicycle’s sensors and your computer or mobile device is established using either ANT+ or Bluetooth protocols, you will need your device, whether it is your laptop, desktop, tablet, cell phone or the newest version of Apple TV, to support either protocol. Fortunately, most new computers as well as all mobile devices have built-in Bluetooth. If you have an older computer, you can purchase an adapter called an ANT dongle to connect your ANT+ sensors to your computer’s USB port. ANT donglesare available in local bike store for around $60. All brands of dongles are similar in functions and interchangeable.

The last step is to preset your trainer’s resistance based on the online platform requirements. This only needs to be done once. If your old trainer is not in the supported trainers list of your favourite online platform, do not despair as this also can be estimated but you will once again lose accuracy.

So, if you have a bike and an old trainer, all you should need is a supported speed sensor or power meter and a computer or mobile device and you can join your friends online and enjoy year-round cycling.

Helpful resources:

If you are thinking of joining club rides on Zwift or simply want to know more about setting up for online cycling, these links to ZwiftInsider have tons of great info to get you started.

• Smart trainer vs. dumb trainer – what’s the difference?
• How to get started on Zwift with a classic trainer

Happy roads and living rooms!

Thinking of cycling in an around Banff this weekend?  Please read the following:

SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2022 8:00am – 3:30pm FULL ROAD/TRAIL CLOSURES ➢ Bow Valley Parkway from Trans-Canada Highway (easterly access) to Johnston Canyon Campground ➢ Vermilion Lakes Road and Legacy Trail (west) from Lynx Street west to the Bow Valley Parkway The Banff Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K will take place on Sunday, June 19th and include runners of all abilities. The focus of the event is on community, Park stewardship and sustainability. The Banff Marathon is partnering with the YWCA Banff, where all fundraising efforts will be put towards valuable services in the community. We invite everyone to visit the free Health and Fitness Expo on Bear Street on Friday and Saturday and the free Kid’s Run on Saturday at the Banff Community High School. In order to allow for emergency vehicles, and keep the runners and volunteers safe, the Legacy Trail (west of Banff), Vermilion Lakes Road and eastern section of the Bow Valley Parkway will be closed from 8:00am to 3:30pm (please note that the Bow Valley Parkway is also closed before 8:00am for the seasonal wildlife closure). This closure occurs each year for the event (there are no changes from previous years). The following trails / roads are not affected and available as alternative routes: - Legacy Trail (from Canmore to Banff) - Bow Valley Parkway from Johnston Canyon westbound to Lake Louise (via Castle Junction) - Lake Minnewanka Drive / Scenic Loop - All routes available starting at 3:30pm Thank you in advance for working with us to make this a safe and enjoyable experience for locals and visitors alike, and for helping to protect the wildlife in Banff National Park. Your understanding and cooperation is greatly appreciated.

FOR MORE INFO: www.BanffMarathon.com