The Cross Canada Cycle Tour Society January , 2019 Volume 37, Issue #1
Presidents Report
January 1, 2020
Here’s What Happened behind the AGM
For those that attended the Annual General Meeting on December 2nd, you will recall the list of candidates for new and returning directors was read out and a call for other nominations was invited. Since no others were proposed, the names put forward were duly elected. The directors then went into a huddle and confirm the positions each will hold for the next term. A pretty typical process for clubs of volunteers. What is notable is how volunteers are found for the board. When members are invited to join the board, some accept and others decline. Some are found by answering ads for specific positions. Some step up and volunteer. Turnover at the board is essential to avoid burnout of the incumbents, due to workload that can at times be significant. It also allows new voices a chance to be heard, and find new energy and ideas and have representation from all the chapters.
John Pringle has been our President for four years and has done a brilliant job of leading the club through an era of some big improvements. We now have official chapters, a better website and registration system, a distribution procedure for our legacy funds, and better incentives for tour leaders. John really wanted to step down a year ago but the Directors persuaded him to stay on for 2019. He has made a tremendous contribution to the club and we are very grateful, and delighted he will be staying on as Past-President.
Max McClanahan offered to take the President’s position for 2020 but as you know, we lost him in his sleep one night on the Gaspe Tour in August. Max had built and operated the club website and was a Director for 6 years. I joined the Directors at the same time as Max and we really worked well together and had long conversations on many subjects, so I miss him a great deal. It has been a challenge to replace his role with the website since there was no transition. However, it is coming together. Craig Miller acted as a transition webmaster. We have engaged a Consultant, Mary Scheidegger of Wordart as Webmaster. Alex Laird has volunteered to be Assistant Webmaster and join the Directors, and we are so pleased to have him do a lot of the daily work on the website and be the primary contact between the Club and our Webmaster. Don Parker, a club member from Vernon, is also assisting us with his knowledge of website security and backup systems.
This fall, I offered to take on John’s position, even though his shoes are very big to fill. This required finding someone to fill the Tour Director’s position, which I had held. Doris Maron of Kelowna said she would love to be Tour Director, and we knew she would be a great person for the job with her tremendous experience as a world traveler and tour leader with the club. However, that meant looking for a new Treasurer, the job that Doris has been performing for a year.
Jurgen Harding answered our recent ad for a Treasurer. He is a club member from Victoria and has the bookkeeping skills and experience that are well suited to the job, so we are delighted to welcome him to the board, starting in May. Also, to fill out the executive, we are pleased that Maureen Weston of Victoria has volunteered to join the Board, starting as Safety Coordinator, and she brings her skills from her experience as a school principal. The other Directors have agreed to stay on. You can see the full list of names and posts on the website under club information/ contacts. The list includes non-director positions as well.
Meanwhile the club activities are thriving. Many of the riding events for 2020 have now been signed-up, and there are a few more to be published soon. We were amazed this fall at the interest in Hub & Spokes, many of which had double the number of registrations that were provided for. However, leaders were found for duplicate events so the massive wait-lists have been eliminated. For example; Oceanside, Shuswap and Chilliwack will all have two events.
I wish you all a Happy New Year and enjoyable and safe riding for 2020, which will be the 37th year for the club.
Bruce Daykin
Well here in Victoria we have our own CCCTS Poet Laureate. This is a poem he
he wrote and recited at the annual Christmas Party.
Enjoy.
The Great Bike Jersey Order Disorder 2019
Well cyclists are fond of the motion
Of swishing and swooshing along
In Victoria right next to the ocean
That’s just where we feel we belong.
The wind in our hair and the sun on our back
As we glide Oh so smooth down the trail.
Yes we’ve got the style and the speed and the knack
To race forward uphill and down dale.
And of course human nature it is what it is
What can help us go faster and quicker
Our bikes must be lighter, must phweet and must whiz
And our gear we love stylish and slicker.
The bikes oft are carbon as light as the air
Little bits of titanium and things
And even electrics nowadays are not rare
It’s as if we were flying on wings.
As exotic as frames that we hop on and mount
So need be our gear and our kit
From our top to our toes it’s stylin’ that counts
It’s the looks and the feel and the fit.
And so new Club jerseys attracted attention
Something spiffy and sexy and svelte.
Guaranteed to add speed whate’er your dimension
Or the extra holes punched in your belt.
For our fellow Club mates may be losing our youth
And a secret we hate to divulge
In the torso department we must face the truth
That our Spandex is starting to bulge.
The shape in our mind is not the one that we find
When we eagerly see our reflection
We trust that the mirror at least will be kind
Though we’re straining in every direction.
Modern miracle fibres are all made so strong
Sure to goodness they’ll keep us bound tight
And we’ll find extra speed as we’re whizzing along
Showing dash and pizzaz, quite a sight.
The spiff jerseys arrived and Lord what a fuss
With squeezing and straining of zippers
It must be the tailors; just couldn’t be us
Have my hips really got so much hipper?
One big breath in and hold it while zipping
Who knew we could do such contortions
Our youthful physique is in danger of slipping
Displaying our less glamorous proportions.
There was talk of resizing with exasperation
There was grumbling and muttering of lips.
My Petite is too small it prevents inhalation
And I can’t see the end of the zip.
There was general consensus that if God had meant us
To fit into such garments’ constrictions
Then all of our angles would not be so obtuse
These sizes must surely be fictions.
But one of our crew put his pride before reason
And determined to strut in his kit
If he’d ordered a Small then a Small he would don
And be damned if the thing didn’t fit.
He thought of the ladies and of days gone by
How they’d swooned as he pedaled along
With his chest stuck out proud and his head held up high
Quel cycliste – so young lithe and strong.
And when he’d arrive at some little café
Broad shouldered slim waisted Adonis
The women felt faint and all shouted Ole
Tis a god on a bike come among us.
Well such were his dreams as he thought of his youth
And so into a Small he would squeeze
And then fighting the bulges with words quite uncouth
He writhed and he squirmed and he wheezed.
And at last there he stood like a sausage quite stuffed
A large man in a very small shirt
Like a wee little balloon that’s been overly puffed
And with one prick of misfortune will burst.
But undeterred and with teeth quite clenched through the pain
He contrived to end up in the saddle
And struck a brave pose as he set off again
His mind blinded by pride and quite addled.
He’d not gone very far when he noticed his breath
Was constricted and his face getting redder
But he would persist he would fight to the death
To keep scrunched in his tight little sweater.
The zipper was straining the fabric stretched thin
His innards were all quite contorted
The peleton crew were all gazing at him
His panache speed and style had been thwarted.
His appearance was that of a big sack of spuds
Adorned by a helmet on top
And the poor little jersey – yes, his brand new duds
You could tell was just yearning to pop
And Bang! pop it did in the midst of the crowd
Just exploded and flew up in tatters.
Then fluttered down soft like a warm summer cloud
Or a gentle Spring rain pitter patters.
And our hero stood there unfettered and free
Quite bare as the day he was born
Spilling out in his glory a sight quite to see
And grinning as bright as the dawn.
I’m off he said gaily I’ll ride in the buff
My comfort’s much better by half
And of stylish new jerseys Well I say enough
But next year could I order a scarf?
( Size Small of course! Petite.)
(by Don Mais, Victoria Chapter, 2019)
