The next NCC directors meeting

When:  Tuesday, February 23.  7pm

Where: The Hume – Emporium Room

Who:    Anyone is welcome!

First Meeting of 2010

Directors meetings for the NCC literally came out of the living room, with great success. Fourteen members joined the six "official" directors at the first meeting of 2010 at the Hume Hotel Emporium Room on January 19, 2010. Enthusiasm was strong, ideas flew about the room and it looks like we are going to have one helluva bike season this year. 

The meeting kicked off with a presentation by Len Dunsford of the Nelson Area Trails Society – the group that has created the Ward's Ferry Trail between Glade and Rover Creek. There are strong reasons for the NCC to somehow amalgamate with NATS – greater strength for grant proposals, local government support and insurance to name a few. A subcommittee is forming to investigate the options – if anyone is interesting in helping out, contact Mark Crowe at mcrowe@rdck.bc.ca. 

This year's bike swap will happen in mid-April at the North Shore Hall. This is a great event to pick up awesome deals on bikes as well as a great time to renew your membership. Stay tuned for more details. If you would like to help out with the bike swap, contact Mark Holt at sales@sacredride.ca. 

Joel McBurney has stepped up to the plate to take over as trail stewardship coordinator position since Mike Bragg has moved over to the Fat Tire Festival. Thanks for the enthusiasm Joel! Anyone who would like to help out with trail work, contact Joel at joelmcburney@gmail.com. 

Paula Owen, now in charge of membership has some great ideas to expand out club  - combined with all the other ideas that were thrown out at the meeting, we should have a very successful membership expansion this year. April will especially be a pump it up month with events and membership drive happening in full force. This years membership will continue to receive emails until late spring (exact date to be announced) after that, the member list will be refreshed with renewals. Make sure you renew your membership early so you don't miss out on any of the news. Anyone who would like to help out with membership drive efforts, you guessed it, contact Paula at paulaowen@shaw.ca. 

Thanks to Maddie's liaison, the Nelson Star is keen to be involved with the NCC – look for information about membership drive and events coming to you from the Nelson Star. 

It looks like the Fat Tire Fest will be taking place in late July this year – likely July 23-25. Coordinator Mike Bragg has plans to pump it up to a full blown festival with events, demos, sponsors and participants happening all weekend. There is talk of changing the format of the downhill events, moving the cross-country to Smallwood, hailing the Crit again AND adding the Rosemont Pump track to the roster. This event is a biggie and requires lots of work starting now, so don't delay, contact Mike at mikejbragg@gmail.com and volunteer to help out at the Kootenay's premier mountain bike event. 

Speaking of events, the downhill toonie rides will be joined by ROADIE events this year. Roadie coordinator, Scott Vodden, has a roster of paved events – one per month to join the "Bombie Summit" (sorry Ross, that's what it's known as…) and the weekly evening rides and traditional Friday morning Cinny-bun ride to Proctor. Wanna help get road events off to a great start? Contact Scott at: outlastconstruction@telus.net 

Mountain bike toonie rides will kick off as early as April. The Sacred Ride is planning the first Chinese Downhill to be in April – add a little snow to the mix. They figure that attendance may be a little lower with some folks still on the ski slopes, but the energy and enthusiasm will be bigger than ever. Maddie will be coordinating all of the toonie rides, so yeah, yeah, if you want to help out: madsk8r53@hotmail.com. 

Watch for a calendar of events being added to the website and keep up with the news.   

The next meeting will take place February 16, 2010. You are all invited.

NCC Meeting - Tuesday 19th January @ 7pm (Hume Emporium Room)

Agenda:

1) Recap the ideas from the Annual General Meeting (AGM)

2) Confirm positions and roles (e.g. we now need a trails coordinator / organizer)

3) Fat Tire Fest – Thanks to Mike Bragg, coordinator for 2010! When is it and what needs to happen?

4) Plan for a great bike season filled with flow, fun, trails, events... and if this mild Winter weather keeps up, it'll come sooner than you think.

See you there.

NCC Welcomes New Board of Directors and Volunteers

Following the AGM on November 24, 2009, the Nelson Cycling Club welcomes the 2010 Board of Directors. Enough hands were raised to fill the vacancies and many enthusiastic volunteers stepped forward to help out. It looks like we are going to have a strong and enthusiastic group of people to lead the NCC into the next decade.

Directors

Joel McBurney – Trail Stewardship Coordinator
Marc Crowe – Land Use Liaison
Kathryn Gardner – Communications Coordinator
Garett Lumley – Treasurer, yelmul
Paula Owen – Membership Coordinator
Scott Vodden – Road Rider Liaison

Mike Bragg - Fat Tire Festival Co-ordinator

Enthusiastic Committee Members
Marg Craig - Membership Executive Assistant
Sylvain Turgen - Membership Assistant
Andrew McBurney - Trail Stewardship Executive Assistant
Tom Dool - Communications Executive Assistant
Alan Danks - Webmaster
Nick Cima (Rick Sneider) – Bike Park Liaison
Pat Wray / John Krebs - Smallwood Cr Trail Coordinator
Deb MacKillop - Secretary
Maddie Fulton – Event Co-ordinator

Bev Seip - Fund Raising

Vacant Committee Positions
Event Organizers
Fund Raising
Proposal Writer
Bike Swap Coordinators

The next meeting will be Tuesday January 19, 2009. Meetings will be held at public venues (TBA), with all members invited to attend and participate. Many great ideas were generated by the members at large during the AGM, by opening director meetings up, the NCC hopes to harness the enthusiasm of our many members.

Local rider, Trent Zoobkoff, entered in video contest

Dan Poirier has just completed a new video for local rider Trent Zoobkoff, which they've now entered in a video contest with MonaVie Emv. The contest runs from December all the way through January. And the grand prize is a Smart Car. Their hope is to promote the video as much as possible and get as many hits so they can to win the contest. If they win, they hope to sell the car and use some of the proceeds to help pay Trent’s costs for racing next summer.

Your input into the “Active Transportation Plan" for the City of Nelson

Dave Wahn, the Senior Planner for the City, is very interested in getting the Nelson Cycling Club's input into the "Active Transportation Plan". There is of course a catch - time is very short. Mark Crow and Tom Dool have generously donated their time to get as much input as possible on such short notice.

 

Mark and Tom will be at Oso Negro from 11:30 to 1:30 on Monday November 30, 2009 with a map and a pack of highlighters. They would like anyone who can to come on down and highlight routes within the city that are of significance to cyclists, including:

 

1. Trunk routes that get the roadies in and out of town (bike lanes!)

2. Trunk routes that cyclists travel up to the trails (BNR, Svaboda, Silverking)

3. Urban trails

4. Key infrastructure like the BNR, Art Gibbon Park

5. Anything else people think is important

 

The goal here is to provide the city with a key piece for their plan. The more we engage the city in processes like this the more focus we receive in their corporate documents. The more they talk about cycling in those documents the easier it is for us to go to them with requests for support, resources and partnership. This stuff is important so if you can take a few minutes out of your

day to come down please do.

 

If you can't come at lunch but still want to take part, contact Tom at tdool@rdck.bc.ca. He will set up a time to meet you at his house.

 

Please let everyone you know about this, even if they are not (yet) cycling club members. We need as much input as possible. 

Nelson Cycling Club AGM - Tuesday November 24, 2009, Spirit Bar at 7:30 pm

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH… WHO?

 

Nelson Cycling Club Announces "It is time to change hands on the board of directors."

 

It is time for the Nelson Cycling Club AGM and among the issues facing cycling in the area is, "does Nelson want a cycling club?"

 

Since its inception as the "Fat Tire Society" in 1995, the club has been key in the local bike scene. Transformed into the volunteer-run, registered, non-profit Society that it is today, the club has taken the responsibility for improving and maintaining trails and trail access. Notably, the Mountain Station trails and the Rosemont Bike Park are direct results of the efforts of key members of the Nelson Cycling club.

 

The club has fostered community events such as the annual Kootenay Fat Tire Festival and group rides, as well as worked tirelessly with local government and private landowners for the privilege of riding where trails currently exist.

 

However, it is time for a changing of the guard, explains long time president, Pat Wray. "The club needs some fresh blood and new energy," explains Wray, who is ready to pass the torch. New energy and new ideas will enable the club to rise to a new level.

Issues facing the future of Mountain Biking in the Nelson region include sustaining the trail maintenance program, a multitude of land use issues including: logging in areas currently containing trails, permit and land use agreements, access of motorized vehicles on NCC trails, impacts of potential fuel reduction activities on trails, as well as bike park management and maintenance; volunteer trail maintenance activities, group rides and events. "Having an active role in the club is awesome," says Wray. "You get out of it, what you put into it."

The club is looking for several enthusiastic people to join the board of directors. Paula Owen, Mike Bragg, Garett Lumley and Kathryn Gardner have committed to working on the board, however, there are still a few seats to fill. Not to mention the need for volunteers to take on committee roles for jobs including trail maintenance, events, land use liaison and fund-raising.

 

How important is the cycling club? The answer will become evident at this year's AGM. The club invites all members and nonmembers to attend the AGM. Whether you can volunteer a little or a lot, will determine the future of the Nelson Cycling Club.

 

The Annual General Meeting will take place:

Tuesday November 24, 2009

Spirit Bar at 7:30 pm.

Sorry, no minors.