Grande Prairie Wheelers Cycling Club

Looking to get a head start on your training for next season? The Festive 500 may be what you're needing! https://www.rapha.cc/ca/en/stories/rcc-x-zwift

The 'spring' classics are the best races of the year.

What a sprint to finish the Tour de France! What did you think of the race in the COVID reality?

UPDATE (July 16, 2020) - The Muskoseepi Park trail north of 68 Avenue near Mission Heights is now open to the public. Trail users are advised to stay on the tra...il and exercise caution in the area between 68 Avenue and 72 Avenue, as natural water movements may cause creek bank movement. The City of Grande Prairie continues to monitor and assess the area. There is no concern for nearby homes. We thank residents for their continued caution when accessing this portion of the Muskoseepi Trail system. IMMEDIATE TRAIL CLOSURE (July 2, 2020) - The City of Grande Prairie is advising the public of an immediate pathway closure near the Mission Heights neighbourhood. The Muskoseepi Park pathway located east of 102 Street from south of 71 Avenue to 68 Avenue is closed to the public due to bank erosion occurring adjacent to the pathway. Pathway users are being detoured through the Mission Heights neighbourhood: west on 71 Avenue and south on Kateri Drive. The City is assessing the condition of the slope and is working to mitigate the situation. There is no reopening date at this time. More here: https://bit.ly/31BWWla

UPDATE We are organizing group rides beginning this week! We are going to start with Thursday MTB rides 7pm and Saturday Road Rides at 11am. There are a few things to cover to ensure everyone is safe while we go forward. First of all, if you have not registered yet, there is now a COVID waiver included. If you are underage, or the parent of an underage athlete, I will email you the COVID specific waiver for underage athletes after I receive your registration. Memberships a...re available here https://zone4.ca/reg.asp?id=22990 Secondly, ride specific guidelines are as follows: Everyone will be required to complete an online COVID pre-screening before each ride. I will email the link to everyone on Thursday mornings and Friday evenings. We will also place it on the website and Facebook pages. If you screen out, you are asked to not attend the ride to maintain safety of the group. Ride leaders will also do a quick symptom check before each ride. We must keep track of who attends the rides in case anyone is infected and AHS needs to contact you. Rides will be limited to 10 people max, including the ride leader. If more than that respond, we will need another ride leader to lead a 2nd group. Ride leaders have extra guidelines to follow so contact me if you are interested in being one. Physical distancing (2m) is required before, during and after all rides. For roadies, that means drafting will be difficult so be prepared to possibly get dropped. We'll regroup when it is safe to do so, but depending on the route, there may be limited opportunities. Everyone must bring their own hand sanitizer. No sharing of food, bottles, tools/equipment. You must be self-sufficient, so have everything you need to get home should you have a mechanical (phone, flat repair tools, tubes, chain-link, food, water). No spitting/snot rockets unless you are at the back of the group. This is a usual etiquette thing but, especially now, it won't be tolerated. If you feel the need to blow your nose or spit, pull to the side and let the entire group pass you before you do. If passing on single-track, communicate with the person ahead of you that you would like to pass. The slower person should pull off the trail to allow faster riders to pass. Always maintain 2m physical distance. In the event of a crash, or someone requiring first aid, ride leaders will have PPE (mask, gloves) and phones to call EMS if the injury requires medical attention. These guidelines will be enforced by ride leaders. Anyone not willing to follow them shouldn't come to our rides. Thank you for your understanding with this.

This was expected, but it is still a bummer. Those of us who attended last year had a great ride. Consider supporting this event next year!

Anyone got one of these?

Great news! The Wheelers is your local cycling club if you're looking to get into road, MTB and gravel riding or wanting to ask local cyclists questions.

Many features that were free will now be included in their premium service. Thoughts?

Here's a simple strength training program from Cycling Canada that requires no equipment!

UPDATE With the event restriction in Alberta until August 31, there's a good chance there will be no group rides until September and all races in Alberta have been cancelled until that date. If we receive any further direction we will inform you. We are able to do some challenges or virtual rides. So keep an eye on that in the near future.

Mental wellness is a huge part of sport, especially in a sport as demanding as cycling. The GP Regional Emergency Partnership gathered mental health resources from a variety of sources if you require any assistance. https://www.gprep.ca/covid19/mentalhealth/

Take this time to practice some fundamental skills at home to become more efficient on the trails.

"The lessons on resilience that we’ve learned in sport will carry us through life’s tough moments." Check out Dan Proulx's (MTB national team coach) blog post for some words of wisdom about resetting and looking forward towards new goals.