The Cross Canada Cycle Tour Society, March  2026,  Volume 44, Issue #2.

 

TOUR DIRECTORS’ CORNER – February 2026

By Robin Howe, CCCTS Tour Director

Canadian Rockies near Lake Louise

2025 Tours Wrap Up

We had another great year for tours in 2025!

• We offered 11 tours, led by 19 volunteer leaders. There were 168 club members who went on the tours.
• There were 7 International tours and 4 Canada tours.
• Canadian tours took place in western Canada, eastern Canada, and the Maritimes.
• International tours included destinations in Asia and Europe.
• We think people had lots of fun. It sure seemed like they did for the tours your two Tour Directors were on.

Moving on to the 2026 Tour Season

The 2026 tour season has already begun. We are cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and alpine skiing on the Frozen Triangle Tour, our first tour of the year, as this article is being written. It is stunningly beautiful. Janet Whitehead and I are working hard on putting together a tour season that offers lots of variety and adventure. Some tour plans are confirmed, and people have already registered. We are hoping to see more tour postings for this year still coming.

So far, we have 7 tours on our draft Tour Schedule, with 5 of them being international tours. We need more tours, especially Canada tours! More about that further on in this article. We are also working on tours for 2027 and beyond. One 2027 tour – the South Island of New Zealand – got enough registrants that we can offer three groups instead of one!

The ladies in their Yukatas on Hokkaido tour

Tour Leadership

Please consider volunteering to lead a tour for the club. We need you to step forward in order to continue offering fun and exciting cycle adventures for the club. If there’s a place you have been wanting to go or a tour style/format that you like best, this is your chance to plan one exactly as you like it. The club has over 700 members so there are members out there who like just about every style of tour that you can come up with. If you are familiar with a nice area for cycling because you have lived or vacationed there in the past, please consider leading a tour for the club. We will help you if you need support and mentoring. We were all first-time tour leaders at one time. If you’re interested in organizing a tour that is based on hiking, skiing, kayaking, snowshoeing, or ??, we are also happy to discuss any ideas you might have.

There are many good reasons to lead tours. Here are a few:

• If you lead it, you know you will get on. That isn’t a given with our very popular tours that oversubscribe more often than not.
• It is a great way to give back to your club for all the fun tours you have been on. You can feel good about helping to create fond memories for all of your fellow tour members.
• You can make the tour exactly the way you like it. You can plan to have long cycling days, or shorter days, layover days or no layovers, lots of cultural and experiential activities, hiking activities, thrifty bare-bones accommodations or luxe hotels. It is all up to you as long as the Board approves it.
• You can get two tour fees covered for tours that are member-led and one tour fee covered for tours that are contractor-led. A nice perk.

Longtail Boats on the Mae Kok River in Thailand

Tour Postings

Details for each tour will be posted when tour proposals and budgets are finalized and have been approved by the Board. This list in the Newsbrief is meant to give you a heads-up for your travel planning purposes until the final tour details are ready for publication. So, please watch your CCCTS emails and the website since tours will be posted one at a time as they are ready; all members will be notified via email when a new tour posts. Tour plans are always changing; as of today, this is the best information we have on the tours for the 2026 season, and a draft list for 2027.

Terraced fields in Vietnam

2026 – Tours Draft List

1. Frozen Triangle ski Tour – Lake Louise, Radium Hot Springs, and Golden – January 6-15 Completed
2. Japan – Setouchi Islands – March 31-April 15 – Tour is full with a waitlist. 
3. Portugal –April 15-May 1 – Tour is full with waitlist.
4. Rockies Camping Tour – summer
5. Tuscany – September 7-22 – Tour is full with a waitlist. 
6. Montenegro – September
7. Morocco – Marrakech to Marrakech – October 2-18 – Registration opens February 2.
8. Ultimate Vietnam – November 15 to December 7 – registration opened January 26th

Some Early Tour Ideas for 2027

Lake Louise and Canmore X-C ski tour, New Zealand – South Island (already registered with 3 groups going), Luxury Camino Walking Tour, Cross Canada, Installment #1 – Victoria to Edmonton, England and Spain, Tuscany, Yugoslavia – Once Upon a Time, Japan – Setouchi Islands, Taiwan

Please give us a call or send an email if there is a tour you would like to lead. We are open to considering any tour idea you have if it is a safe place for cycling. (Robin Howe, robincooksandsews@gmail.com, 206.899.7255 or Janet Whitehead, jmwhitehead55@gmail.com, 604-516-9455)

Enjoy the fall cycling!

Portugal final hotel

 

Ask Richard: Bike Tech Talk

I received two questions on the topic of creating events on Ride With GPS (RWGPS) recently. We can handle them together.

Question 1:
Hi Richard. I am setting up a tour in Canada and have all the routes on my personal RWGPS account. How do I get them onto the CCCTS area so participants can download them for the event?

Question 2:

Hi Richard. We are doing a tour in Asia and the tour operators have created the routes and an Event in RWGPS. Some of our members don’t have paid memberships so they can’t get the turn-by-turn voice announcements on their phones. How can we fix that?

Answer:

Many of our club rides—both here in Canada and overseas—use RWGPS to share routes and logistics. But setting up an event can get tricky when the organizer or participants are in different countries. Here are general directions to make sure your CCCTS events work smoothly no matter where you’re riding.

Step 1: Log into into the Club Account and set up an Event

1. Go to: https://ridewithgps.com/organizations/1903-cross-canada-cycle-tour-society
2. Click the orange “Sign into Club”
3. Go to Event→ Create Event
4. Enter all the information on your Event
5. Go to “More” and Sign out of Club. Your event is now on the database and calendar within RWGPS where others can find it. (Later use the URL of the event to send to participants rather than each of the routes individually).

Step 2: Copy Your Routes from your account to the Club Account

For each route you want to include:

• Go to your personal RWGPS account.
• Open the route.
• Edit→ Edit in Planner (but then you don’t really edit anything but go to Save at bottom)
• Add the following information in the Save form: Save as New Route, Visibility → Public, Account → CCCTS, Organize in Event → (click on the name of the one you just created), Save
• Then go to your next routes and do the same steps
• When you have entered all the routes into the Event, go back and make sure everything is there: https://ridewithgps.com/organizations/1903-cross-canada-cycle-tour-society
• Click the orange “Sign into Club”
• Go to Event and find your event. If all is perfect, go to “More” and Sign out of Club.
• Done!

Additional instructions if the Event is being run by a Tour Operator:

1. The CCCTS organizer should request that RWGPS routes be made available for all participants.
2. If the Tour Operator is in an area where English is not the normal language on their computer, they should change the language of their browser to English when creating the routes. Otherwise the generated cues will be in their local language.
3. The Company can get a Tour Operator subscription from RWGPS. This allows them to set up Events and invite participants to the web site. The participants can download the routes and get turn by turn instructions in the same way as on the CCCTS site.
4. If the Tour Operator does not have such an account and is not willing to pay for one, and wants to ensure their routes are kept private, they can request from the CCCTS RWGPS Administrator (rstobin20@gmail.com) temporary Ride Manager authorization to be able to set up the Event on the CCCTS account on RWGPS. They can set up the security parameters and invite only the registered riders to the site. Failing that, one of the Club members can set it up (and if necessary, get Ride Manager status). CCCTS members at the event then have Club privileges from RWGPS (i.e. free turn-by-turn audible directions from their cell phone).

Thanks for reading! Keep those questions coming—I’ll respond as quickly as possible, and your question may appear in a future column.

Richard Tobin

CCCTS RideWithGPS Administrator

rstobin20@gmail.com

Tours

• 2026 Morocco – Marrakech to Essaouira
  Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
  Dates: Wed, 30 Sep 2026 ‐‐ Fri, 16 Oct 2026

  Embark on an unforgettable 17-day bike tour through the North African Kingdom of Morocco. We begin in Marrakech, journey into the rugged valleys of the Atlas Mountains, where centuries-old fortresses cling to the hillsides and traditional Berber villages dot the landscape. Then, we descend into the desert and experience the contrasts between the dry Pre-Saharan plateaus and lush oases, before reaching the Atlantic coast and looping back to Marrakech. Each day brings new scenery, cultural interactions, and adventures. We will travel with a local Moroccan friend for several days of the tour.

• 2026 Ultimate Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Hanoi (23 days/22 nights)
  Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
  Dates: Sun, 15 Nov 2026 ‐‐ Mon, 7 Dec 2026

  This 23-day Ultimate Vietnam cycling tour takes in Hanoi and Saigon, the beach resort of Nha Trang, historic Hoi An, the imperial city of Hue, and the far north, with the Hoang Lien Mountains and some of Vietnam’s most spectacular scenery: Dien Bien Phu, Sapa and Bac Ha. Tour includes a flight from southern Vietnam to northern Vietnam.

• 2026 Tuscany Tour
  Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
  Dates: Mon, 7 Sep 2026 ‐‐ Tue, 22 Sep 2026

  Italy: where pasta, history, and breathtaking landscapes come together to create a dream cycling destination!

• 2027 Trails and Tastes of the South Island – New Zealand
  Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
  Dates: Sat, 13 Feb 2027 ‐‐ Mon, 8 Mar 2027

  A spectacular three-week, “once in a lifetime” cycling adventure.
  Journey around New Zealand’s South Island experiencing genuine and authentic Kiwi hospitality, breathtaking scenery and delicious New Zealand food. Peddle past snow-capped mountains and lush sheep-dotted pastures, cross viaducts and rail tunnels and enter charming towns and villages before experiencing some of the best seafood, lamb and wine in the world.

• CANCELLED DUE TO LOW REGISTRATION NUMBERS – 2026 Cross Canada part 1 – Victoria to Winnipeg
  Status: Registration closed
  Dates: Fri, 17 Jul 2026 ‐‐ Sat, 29 Aug 2026

  This is the ultimate way to see your country – or at least the western third of it. Begin at the beaches of western British Columbia, move into mountain territory, then the Okanagan, the stunning Rocky Mountains, and drop down into a rural landscape of the farmlands and small towns of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as well as the big cities of Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg. This tour is a six-week camping tour with 12 hotel nights. (This is the first section of the Cross Canada ride in what we hope will be a three-series ride.)

• 2026 Portugal – The Alentejo, Atlantic, and Algarve
  Status: Registration closed
  Dates: Wed, 15 Apr 2026 ‐‐ Fri, 1 May 2026

  Enjoy early season cycling on quiet, country roads bordered by cork, olive, lemon, and orange groves in the sunniest part of Europe, the Alentejo and neighboring Algarve regions of southern Portugal.

  Hub and Spokes

• 2026 Quebec’s Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Hub and Spoke
  Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
  Dates: Mon, 25 May 2026 ‐‐ Sat, 30 May 2026
• 2026 Victoria Hub and Spoke
  Status: Ride is full, wait list only.
  Dates: Mon, 11 May 2026 ‐‐ Fri, 15 May 2026

  Experience Canada’s most beautiful blooming city this spring!

• 2026 Shuswap-North Okanagan Hub and Spoke
  Status: Registration closed
  Dates: Sun, 7 Jun 2026 ‐‐ Fri, 12 Jun 2026

  Welcome to the beautiful and diverse landscapes of the Shuswap – North Okanagan.

Trip Reports

• Frozen Triangle

  Winter Skiing trip in Central B.C. Frozen Triangle Trip Report

• CCCTS Northern and Central Thailand Tour

  CCCTS Northern and Central Thailand Tour (Chiang Mai to Bangkok) Nov. 18 to Dec. 11, 2025 Ride Leader: Robin Howe   Day 1: All participants arrive in Chiang Mai. Sequestered at the Rachamankha Hotel. Day 2: (Nov. 19) began in Chiang Mai with bike fitting and a short 44.7 km ride from Wiang Ku Kan … Continue reading CCCTS Northern and Central Thailand Tour→

• 2025 Sunshine Coast Tour

  Sunshine Coast, Discovery Islands Cycling/Camping Tour This was a change, a cycling and camping trip close to home, what’s not to like? At least for west coast CCCTS members. No flights involved, private accommodations, no need to rent a bike or even box it up, fantastic scenery and all meals included. Yes, the cycling was … Continue reading 2025 Sunshine Coast Tour→

• Hokkaido Japan 2025

  Hokkaido Report

• 2025 Albania Tour

  Albania Trip Report This first CCCTS Albania UNESCO Tour, capably led by CCCTS member Janet Whitehead working with Cycle Albania, ran from 29 August-11 September 2025. There were 14 hotel nights with 8 days of riding. Of the 20 participants, 13 were on E-bikes and 7 used pedal power. Total distance ridden was 438 kilometers … Continue reading 2025 Albania Tour→

• 2026 – South Okanagan H&S

  This is not a Trip Report. It is a temporary storage location for the Ride description until we figure out why it is not showing up in the normal location.

• 2025 Vancouver H&S

  VANCOUVER HUB & SPOKE, August 11-14, 2025   Orientation Ride UBC – CCCTS Vancouver Hub & Spoke staying @ UBC Pacific Spirit Hostel, 5 days cycling 45 participants            Day 2 Vancouver Neighbourhoods –  Shaughnessy – the old money mansions, False Creek, Kitsilano. Yaletown CCCTS Vancouver Hub & Spoke staying @ … Continue reading 2025 Vancouver H&S→

  New Members

  first_name	last_name	city	province
  Ellen	Halliday	North Vancouver	BC
  Crystal	Bode	St Albert	AB
  Mary	Horton	Victoria	BC
  Frank	Kis-Toth	Richmond	BC
  Luce	Ouellet	Granby	QC
  Ezra (uzi)	Keren	Kapiti	BC
  Ana	Ristic	Vancouver	BC
  Cheryl	Fisher	Edmonton	AB
  Rick	Lymer	Ottawa	ON
  Jay	Dobberthien	Edmonton	AB

  Newsbrief

  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