January 2025 Newsbrief

https://cccts.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Newsbrief-image.png

The Cross Canada Cycle Tour Society January 2025,  Volume 43, Issue #1

Happy new year. Snowy numbers 2025 with bike wheel in a Christmas hat. Original template design for greeting card, banner, poster. Vector illustration on isolated background

 

HUB AND SPOKE DIRECTOR’S REPORT FOR JANUARY 2025 NEWSLETTER

For my final report as Hub and Spoke Director, I have a few things to share with you. Most importantly, we have an excellent line-up of Hub and Spokes in place for 2025, starting with our March event in sunny and warm Palm Springs. We then move on to a busy spring with a bike/kayak/hike event on Saturna Island, followed by two Hub and Spokes based out of Seattle, featuring daily ferry rides to nearby Puget Sound islands. Last in our spring line-up will be the return of the popular Comox Hub and Spoke, where 70 club members will get to experience scenic bike rides, ocean waves, a salmon BBQ and good old island hospitality. Palm Springs and Puget Sound trips are already full but with the possibility of cancellations, you might still secure a spot. The lotteries for Saturn and Comox will take place in January. See the CCCTS website, or go to your personal page “My Page” to register.

I’m also happy to announce that the Board has just completed a review of our CCCTS Ride Leader Guidelines, which prompted us to clarify or revise a number of our policies and procedures. If you’re thinking of organizing a Tour or Hub and Spoke, these guidelines will answer all of your questions. Wondering how the lottery system really works? Wondering about the use of private vehicles? Or when registration fees are refundable? Or what the ride classifications mean? Check out the new guidelines at https://cccts.org/ride-guidelines.

Next on our board agenda is to prepare guidelines for Ride Participants. Stay tuned for more on this initiative!

Lastly, as the organizer of our final 2024 Hub and Spoke I am happy to share some pictures from our cross-country ski week at Silver Star. This is an amazing place for early-season snow. I loved the way it was cloudy and dry down in Vernon, but as you drove up the Silver Star Road you suddenly emerged from the clouds to blue sky and plentiful fluffy snow. The groomed trails were in excellent condition and the snow in the trees made for great photography. Best of all you could ride the gondola up to the top with your cross-country ski pass, and ski down! Now that we have two ski trips under our belt, the Dolomites in early 2024 and Silver Star at the end of the year, I am confident we will be adding more ski trips to these destinations and others.

Happy New Year to all members across our beautiful country and beyond!

Our group of skiing enthusiasts from Ontario, BC and Idaho

Linda Graupner

Hub and Spoke Director, CCCTS

Travel Advisory For 2025. Click the link below to read.

The recent BAC Newsbrief had some info
about new travel requirements for the UK and Europe.
Perhaps CCCTS trip planners would be interested.
 
 

 Long Time CCCTS Member John Pringle Writes a Little Personal History.

by John Pringle

My late wife Kumiko Nitsui and I crossed Canada by bicycle in 2007. We were hardly cyclists before our trip, but after peddling 79 days to reach Halifax (6,500 km; and camping and cooking on 70% of the evenings), I dare say we became reasonably accomplished cycle tour riders. We then wondered if there was a cycle touring club that catered to seniors. Thus, one wet morning we followed a group of cyclists to a Central Saanich MacDonald’s, met Hans Kline and a few other yellow jacket Club members and we joined CCCTS. After speaking with Club President, Alan Buium, at a Chilliwack H&S I was approached to join the Board in the fall of 2008. At about the same time we registered for the Clubs first China tour in Szechuan Province and became avid CCCTS cyclists.

Board Membership Accomplishments

Membership Director (MD). My first Board role was MD, which I quickly learned was an entry level position that had no formal responsibilities other than reporting membership numbers at monthly Board meetings. The position was what you made it. I noted that on Vancouver Island there was a gap in Club members between the ~100 or so in Greater Victoria and the ~60 or so in the Comox Valley. I thought a first-ever Hub & Spoke (H &S) in the Cowichan Valley might attract a handful of local riders to act as a Cowichan Valley nucleus of riders. The hub and spoke was run, though failing to meet my membership objectives (one very senior local was attracted), but it proved to be a popular venue for later CCCTS events. And I was learning the effort it took to run a CCCTS event.

Tours Director (TD)

Lynn Stewart had recently been reappointed TD, but with the proviso that she be granted an assistant. I agreed to assist her, giving up my Membership role. Shortly afterward she left the position and the Club. I remained as TD with precious little tour organizing experience.

The late Dan McGuire and Chris Hogson had written a tours guideline booklet that was deemed out of date. Board member Larry Weldon and I rewrote the guidelines over the next few months. They are now online, and I believe kept up-to-date by the likes of Salmon Arms’ George Zorn, past H & S Director and others.

Up to this point our Board of Directors (B of D) were in part appointed only if they lived within driving distance of the lower mainland. Salmon Arm did not meet this criterium. George Zorn had great Club directorship potential. Teleconferencing without a screen was deemed inadequate. What to do? By this time Max McClanahan was appointed our very excellent web master, and I was President. I asked him to search for a technology would allow cheap audio and video teleconferencing. Max came up empty handed; George was appointed anyhow, and as luck would have it” Zoom” came along about a year later. We could now enjoy Zoom teleconferencing, and thus board members could come from across Canada i.e. the Ottawa Valley where we had an active group of members under very excellent leadership, but I’m getting ahead of my story.

First come, first served, as policy. I enjoyed the TD position over three to four years. We had a good group of Directors who were knowledgeable and enthusiastic cyclists. Doug McKenzie was President followed again by Alan Buium. A storm was brewing, however, over tour participation. Certain members were able to land tour placements while others were left without gaining access to tours. (Interestingly we were 40th on the wait list for the China Tour. We waited patiently and got to go to Chengdu but this was unique.) To further aggravate the situation this was a period of Club growth. It was the beginning of exotic tours to such places as China and Croatia. Folks could not get rides. The China tour was scrupulously democratically populated however by tour organizer, Les Hodgson. He carefully accounted date of registration with position on the wait list; “first come, first served”. But this tour was an exception. Other tour leaders would choose the participants without referencing date of registration. A very experienced tour leader said he wanted to “ride with his friends”, and I couldn’t blame him. The tour leaders organized tours with this in mind. When the Club was smaller this may have worked well. As TD it was my job to solve this aggravation. To me there was an easy solution; apply a policy of first come, first served which we did. It caused some grief. We lost a member of the Board over it. But a democratic process is now well ensconced in the Club.

Web sight development. The Clubs website had served us well, but it was old and creaky. Max McClanahan had recently joined the Board. He was a true geek who had taught computer science at places like Berkeley and later the University of Victoria. I was Club President, and thought Max’s offer to develop a user-friendly web site was a no brainer. “Let him at it”, was my advice. Bur other board members were not convinced. The developer of the current web site was lobbying from the sidelines” to retain it. We offered Max website master and accepted his offer to build a new web. A board member with little computer experience wanted to manage Max. Max wanted no management. Advice yes. But no formal management. We lost the potential manager, but we gained a beautiful and functional website thanks to Max who put in many hours to deliver a most functional web. Unfortunately Max deceased on a Maritimes tour. Alex Laird stepped in and kept the web site going.

Club Governance. Our club had grown to about 600 members with pockets of members in such places as the Fraser, Ottawa, and Comox Valleys, Victoria, etc. I was pondering a new governance structure. A Club member, Sandy Kirk, mentioned a similar problem confronting a wine making club he belonged to. They solved it by forming chapters. I reviewed chapters and the Board thought it might be a solution. Ed Fudge, board member from the Comox Valley, was most supportive and offered to develop a management structure that was compatible with our BC government Society status. Ed developed the organizational structure required to make the it work. Ottawa and Comox Valleys were most supportive and with Ed’s enthusiasm and management skills we now have a national board that handles those national matters that cross chapter boundaries, i.e. website development and management and tour offerings, etc. Chapters would manage weekly rides, hub and spokes, etc. Seven years and counting suggests the new governance model is a success.

Tours and Hub and Spoke Leadership. I busied myself with the Clubs overall leadership. There were those Board members such as Alan Buium, Bruce Daykin, George Zorn, and Robin Howe who could handle both tasks. I fooled with Cowichan Valley events and assisted Bruce Daykin with his first tour (Victoria to San Francisco) and Dan Carey/Robin Howe with a Hawaiian tour, and enjoyed these events very much but found that Club leadership was all I could comfortably handle. A stroke suffered in 2018 left me unable to fully carry on with the demands of Club leadership. Bruce Daykin became President and I filled the role of Past President for 4 years.

I owe the Club a great deal for the many happy memories from many tours and hub & spokes. All were joyous.

John Pringle

 

 

Upcoming Hub and Spokes

  • Comox Hub and Spoke 2025
    Status: Registration opens Sat, 11 Jan 2025 8:00 AM
    Dates: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 ‐‐ Fri, 20 Jun 2025

    Pedal the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island as well as Denman, Hornby and Quadra Islands

  • Saturna Island Hub & Spoke 2025
    Status: Registration opens Wed, 8 Jan 2025 5:00 PM
    Dates: Tue, 27 May 2025 ‐‐ Sat, 31 May 2025
  • Puget Sound Hub and Spoke June 8 2025
    Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
    Dates: Sun, 8 Jun 2025 ‐‐ Sat, 14 Jun 2025
  • Puget Sound Hub and Spoke 2025
    Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
    Dates: Sun, 22 Jun 2025 ‐‐ Sat, 28 Jun 2025
  • Palm Springs Hub and Spoke 2025
    Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
    Dates: Sun, 16 Mar 2025 ‐‐ Sun, 23 Mar 2025

    Let’s get on that bike for some spring riding in Palm Springs, California. Join other CCCTS cyclists March 16-23, 2025 for great riding through Greater Palm Springs, a desert resort city surrounded by four gorgeous mountain ranges with plenty of bike lanes and coffee shops to explore. We will enjoy 5 days of riding near and around Indio while enjoying a comfortable stay in fully furnished rental homes. Then off to spend the last two nights exploring Palm Springs.

Upcoming Tours.

This is the Golden Age of CCCTS Tours folks.  Check out this list and special thanks to everyone who makes it possible.
  • 2025 Albania UNESCO Tour
    Status: Registration opens Fri, 10 Jan 2025 8:00 AM
    Dates: Fri, 29 Aug 2025 ‐‐ Thu, 11 Sep 2025

    Albania…one of the least developed countries in Europe with much to offer!

  • 2025 Walking the Camino Primitivo, the Original Camino de Santiago
    Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
    Dates: Tue, 22 Apr 2025 ‐‐ Wed, 7 May 2025

    Come and walk the Camino Primitivo in Spain with CCCTS! While not the easiest Camino, it is a beautiful route of 235 km with time and space for contemplation and great views. At Santiago de Compostela, you will present your credencial to receive your official certificate of completion, the Compostela .

  • 2025-Oregon Scenic Bikeways
    Status: Registration opens Sat, 4 Jan 2025 5:00 PM
    Dates: Thu, 4 Sep 2025 ‐‐ Thu, 18 Sep 2025

    This 15-day tour will take us along the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway from Portland south to Eugene then carry on to Cottage Grove and the Covered Bridges Scenic Bikeway. Next, we will cycle the Historic Columbia River Highway 30 and Historic Highway State Trail  along the Columbia River Gorge. The Waterfall Corridor in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is home to dozens of magical waterfalls. Don’t miss this one!

  • 2025 Northern and Central Thailand
    Status: 12 slots are available.
    Dates: Tue, 18 Nov 2025 ‐‐ Thu, 11 Dec 2025

    This is a Thailand bike tour for the ages from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. We trace the routes shaped by Siamese kingdom builders over millennia and delve deep into the diverse cultural fabric of modern Thailand, from small hill tribe villages in the northern highlands to the skyscrapers of Bangkok. Over 24 exhilarating days, we leave no stone unturned as we discover the rich heritage and natural beauty of the “Land of Smiles”. 

  • 2025 Slovenia Tour – on the Sunny Side of the Alps
    Status: 8 slots are available.
    Dates: Sun, 11 May 2025 ‐‐ Sun, 25 May 2025

    Slovenia offers stunning scenery for cyclists, with lush landscapes, picturesque villages, and breathtaking mountain views.  Slovenians are a friendly people – and very proud of their country, its long history, its natural beauty, the fine wines, their unique cuisine.
    The tour begins in Croatia (Zagreb) and travels to the lovely, small country of Slovenia. Tour destinations include Slovenia’s capital city of Ljubljana, Lake Bled, the Julian Alps, and the seaside port of Piran. Enjoy lovely and unique hotels and accommodations, including the underground rooms on a wine estate (windows on the ceiling), beautiful alpine and coastal scenery, visiting and passing through vineyards. Spring is such a beautiful time to be cycling in Europe, not only before the busy season, with new babies being born in the fields, lamb, goats, calves. Storks are nesting, trees are in blossom!

  • Reduced price!! 2025 Hokkaido North Island Adventure
    Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
    Dates: Mon, 25 Aug 2025 ‐‐ Sun, 7 Sep 2025

    REDUCED PRICE!! This AWESOME tour will be the last word in cycling the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Travel traditional trade routes and country roads through The Volcanic Mountain range of Daisetsuzan National Park “translated from Japanese as the Playground of the Gods” to the Pacific Ocean and the Japan Sea. This tour features Farm experiences, Ainu Villages, Cultural interaction and local community support.  Don’t miss out!

  • 2025 Tour of BC’s Discovery Islands and the Sunshine Coast
    Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
    Dates: Sun, 21 Sep 2025 ‐‐ Sun, 28 Sep 2025

    British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast is one of Canada’s most beautiful destinations for a bicycle tour, offering stunning coastal scenery, charming towns, and lush forests. The combination of coastal beauty and charming communities promises to make this traditional bike tour a memorable experience.

  • 2025 Seattle and Eastside Suburbs Mini-Tour
    Status: Registration opens Mon, 6 Jan 2025 5:00 PM
    Dates: Sun, 28 Sep 2025 ‐‐ Sat, 4 Oct 2025

    A pannier ride exploring suburbs to the east of Seattle and several city neighborhoods too. We will have many fun stops, outings, and group meals.

  • 2025 Central Europe Tour
    Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
    Dates: Mon, 18 Aug 2025 ‐‐ Fri, 5 Sep 2025

    Cycle through the heart of Europe on this 18 day tour. Starting in Prague, we will ride through parts of the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and end in Budapest, Hungary. Our route meanders by castles, through rustic villages, and along waterways and winerys – as we enjoy the former territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Highlights include UNESCO heritage sites, national parks, and wine making regions.

  • UPDATE! 2025 The Sand Dunes of PEI and Cabot Trail Tour
    Status: 6 slots are available.
    Dates: Sat, 19 Jul 2025 ‐‐ Sat, 2 Aug 2025

    Come and explore PEI and Cape Breton N.S. as it should be experienced — by bicycle! The tour begins in PEI on routes that will have us cycling through a riot of colour: verdant pastures that stretch out to scarlet cliffs, which drop into azure waters, red sandstone cliffs, scenic fishing villages and towering sand dunes as we cycle the island from one side to the other. We then transfer to Badeck N.S. to cycle the Cabot Trail! One of the world’s most beautiful bicycle routes. The Cabot Trail winds through glorious valleys and hills, along an expansive coast as it traverses the Highlands. Pods of whales can be seen just off the coast, while bald eagles soar on the breezes.

  • 2025 Croatian Adriatic As it Used To Be
    Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
    Dates: Sun, 1 Jun 2025 ‐‐ Tue, 17 Jun 2025

    Come and cycle one of the most dramatic coastlines of the Mediterranean region. Enjoy the mountain vistas, coastal views, and medieval towns. This trip promises to be one you won’t want to miss.

Trip Reports

New Members

first_name last_name city province
Lynne Carter Delta BC
Marsha Woodgate Kanata ON
Murielle Gagnon Sidney BC
Lisbie Rae Victoria BC
Jill Matheson Vancouver BC
Frank Sommer Surrey BC
Tony Copping Victoria BC
Linda Doctoroff Victoria BC
April Huml Coquitlam BC
Philip Crump Santa Fe NM
Stan Nowakowski Washington DC
Maura Schwartz Washington DC
Craig Brown Edmonton AB
Alain Pedneault Burnaby BC

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.

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