The Cross Canada Cycle Tour Society         March, 2019 Volume 36, Issue #3

 

President’s Report                                                                    John Pringle

And the Good News Is …

Treasurer appointed. An adventurous woman she is, Doris Maron, having ridden around the world on a motorcycle, and written two books of her adventures; “Untamed Spirit” and “Untamed Spirit II”, two books I will definitely add to my bookshelf along-side such authors as Dervla Murphy, Josie Dew, Rosie Thomas and other adventurous females who walked, cycled or drove in various parts of the world beyond North America.

2001 saw Doris sell her house, and other belongings she couldn’t carry on her 750cc Honda, and set off from Edmonton to tour the World. She crossed forty-four countries on six continents, riding mostly solo. Gone for nearly three years, she’s now living in Kelowna. Two years ago she rode her first CCCTS tour, and last year she led a most successful Olympic Peninsula Tour. (Sign up for her 2019 Selkirk Tour and get to know this adventuresome lass.)

We were most pleased that someone with her qualifications answered our ad for Treasurer; Doris is a professional bookkeeper and worked in the profession. She comes highly recommended; Tour Director, Bruce Daykin was brimming with enthusiasm, giving her an A+ for her bookkeeping on the Olympic Peninsula Tour. Max, who has these skills, was pleased to report, after his interview with Doris, that she was just fine.

Welcome to the Board, Doris. We all look forward to working with you. I can’t help but point out that you are the third female on the Board; and in a key role as are the other two. Now can we find one more to be VP in 2020?

Monies to Chapters: We’d always planned to give Chapter administrators a percentage of Club operating funds for the Chapters use in running their operations. The money is for your use. You don’t have to account to the Board on its spending. We haven’t had an economic analysis done for a while so we are not sure where the Club stands financially, but we felt we should be able to finance $400.00 per Chapter as an initial allocation. The transfer from past-treasurer is planned for February’s end. Bruce McLean will be back to assist in determining our financial situation. Soon after, we will send cash to each Chapter Treasurer.

As an aside, we would like to see a Vancouver Chapter organized, and maybe one in the Okanagan Valley as well.

Code of Conduct. Occasionally there is a need to remind a Club member that their behavior was less than appropriate. Whether it be internecine or personnel beyond the Club; a barista, a server, a bike mechanic, etc., who has borne the brunt of rude remarks or harsh actions from a Club member: Hence, we felt it necessary to remind members that there is a standard of behavior below which we will not tolerate.

Janet Whitehead word-smithed the following, which was passed at the February Board meeting:

• Every member has a role in treating others with respect, courtesy, fairness and equality;

• Every member contributes to the well-being and functioning of the group as a whole – on and off the bike;

• Safety is a primary concern for the Club. When we choose to participate in a Club ride we agree to abide by the traffic laws of the jurisdiction we are riding in and to our safety guidelines; and

• Every member takes responsibility for their actions, and if we choose not to follow the Code of Conduct, we may be asked to leave a ride, a tour or the Club.

Ride Scheduling. Our tour Guidelines give the following in an attempt to reduce the co-occurrence of events, “Ride dates will be chosen by the Tour Leader with the Tour Director’s assistance in an attempt to avoid conflicts with other Club rides and functions.” Conflicts yet occur. A major reason, George Zorn points out, is due to a narrow window in Canada for the pleasurable holding of events: 81% and 84% of tours and hub and spokes respectively occur between approximately May and September. Our early springs and late falls are just not reliably warm and dry to schedule a multi day event. As a result tentative event leaders come to their respective Director with near-fixed dates, and often with partial bookings. There is little “wiggle room” for the event Directors to manipulate dates; hence overlapping or near co-occurrence of events takes place.

The Board suggests that events for the following year should now be submitted to the appropriate Director (Hub & Spoke or Tour) by November 1^st of the previous year. The aim would be to review these at the November Board meeting, and if necessary, hold a December Board meeting for event submission, review and approval. This would allow time to permit scheduling with little or no overlap. A side-affect would be an annual events schedule available in January.

This is yet conceptual – a work in progress. You have time for input. Submit your ideas to George Zorn (gjzorn@shaw.ca ) or Bruce Daykin (bdaykin@gmail.com ).

Wednesday, 27 February 2019

 

Fun With The CCCTS Website    by Alex Laird

I regularly get asked for peoples email address.   Someone will ask “I know this guy whose first name is John and I wanted to write him to ask him something.  Could you send me his email address”?  For privacy reasons we don’t give out peoples email addresses but did you know there is a function right on the website that will let you write any other member?  Well there is and this is how it works.

1.   Once you have logged onto the website click on the “home” tab in the upper left corner.

 

2.   On your Home page click on the second tab from the left marked “Message”.

3.   Type as much of the name you know in the recipient box.  The software will show you every member in the club with those letters in his name.  In this case I typed in “joh” and got the list you see underneath.  Click on the name of the person you want to contact.

“Oh yeah!  It was that short happy guy with the white hair”.  Pretty much describes 75% of our members but I digress. 

 

 

4.   After clicking on the name you can write your message in the box and hit the send message button on the lower right side.  It will go to them as an email.

Now you know how to message anyone in the club. 

 

Upcoming Tours

2019 Gaspé

Wait list.

2019 Selkirk Loop

Wait list

2019 Southern Vancouver Island   

Still 8 slots left for this tour.

Southern Yunnan Provence

In progress.  Ending March 10, 2019.

Tour Report

Hawaii Trip report.

Upcoming Hub & Spoke

Seattle Hub and Spoke

2019- Guelph Ontario Hub and Spoke

Wait listed.

Vancouver Hub and Spoke

Duncan Hub and Spoke

Wait list.

Chemainus Hub and Spoke.

6 slots still available.

 

Published at least ten times a year by The Cross Canada Cycle Tour Society, a non – profit organization for retired people and others who enjoy recreational cycling. 

Items for the NEWSBRIEF must be received by the 28th of the month. The Editor reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity and suitability of publication. The views expressed in the “NEWSBRIEF” are not necessarily those of the CCCTS or the Editor.

Speaking of which I am asking for your help in this regard.  I would love to have your pictures, trip reports, magazine articles and just anything you think would be of interest to our readership.  Send it along to me at the address below.

Submissions for NEWSBRIEF should be emailed to alaird212@gmail.com

Please be sure to notify the office of any changes in your personal contact information; be it address, phone or e-mail.