CROSS. IS. HERE. With shortening days and leaves starting to turn, it is about this time we look for our 33mm tires, and start practicing shouldering your bike. Our weekend road rides will continue but may see some decreased attendance for those who choose to come to the dark side.

The end of our midweek evening rides are now during dusk. Please ensure you have “to see” lights, rather than “to be seen” lighting on your bikes if you intend on attending!

  • Join us in celebrating the arrival of cross with the first Wednesday Night Worlds happening at Argyll this week at 7pm. You’ll have already seen the strava invite, but this is purely for information. Come by to check out the vibes or to race. ERTC members race for free.

  • Cross-interested? We will be hosting 2 skills-clinics taught by Ken Germaine of https://rubberside.ca/ to help dust off your skills for the upcoming season. Sept 1 and 8, Details on strava! Free for members.

  • ERTC is putting on a Cross Race Sept 5-6 and we need a boatload of volunteers. Volunteering helps us out greatly, and new for this year, volunteering for a full 4-5 hour shift nets you a $50 credit per shift, on next year’s fees, with NO LIMIT on how many shifts you take, as long as we can put you to work. This means that if you volunteer for 4 shifts this weekend, that’s $200 off your fees! You can sign up to volunteer here: https://volunteersignup.org/HBBAR - partial shift credits will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, but don’t make this annoying for me ;) Not sure what the positions are? Take a read here: https://www.ertc.org/socvd . We still need a couple of critical shifts (marshalls).

Want your photo in the next newsletter? Send them in!

Pic: CJ with a 3rd place on the Masters Kilo at Track Provincials C: ??

Club Updates: 

  • The Croken Classic is back for another year! As usual, we are looking for volunteers, you can sign up here: https://volunteersignup.org/B7PKE

  • And of course, if you want to participate instead, you can read and sign up here: https://www.ertc.org/crokenclassic

  • Century Ride has been posted for Sept 12 with BBQ to follow. Details Forthcoming.

Velodrome Updates: 

  • Activity Messenger Linkie: https://activitymessenger.com/org/4494/

  • Track League has started! More information on the slack channel and the link above.

  • Velodrome Session on Sept 15 - remember to sign up!

  • Please continue to RSVP on both Activity Messenger and strava, however only RSVP on Activity Messenger if you are certain you are able to attend, and if you must bow out, to let somebody know ahead of time, as slots are limited to ensure a good experience for everyone and to ensure we are not in violation of safety regulations. We recommend only RSVPing for sessions 1 week in advance, as it has happened where people RSVP for multiple sessions in advance and have forgotten / no showed. 

  • For velodrome access going forward, you will need to either present your confirmation email or your digital pass (i suppose you could also print your digital pass) to access the velodrome. To do this you will need to log in to your activity messenger account - you can do so at the "club rider sign in" on the left and then going through the process of linking your email, a process you will need to repeat every 30 days. once you are into your activity messenger account you can view your digital pass, add it to your digital wallet, and also manage any session bookings.

Ride Updates:

Racing/Event/ABA Updates:

General Reminders:

  • Official Rides are posted on strava. If you haven’t requested to join, please do so here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/2845 if you’ve applied and haven’t heard back, e-mail me, but first, make sure your strava name matches your registration name. Strava RSVP is REQUIRED for 2026. Ride leaders reserve the right to send people home if the ride is over capacity, especially if you RSVPed near the ride start time. We use strava to ensure that rides have adequate resources. An early RSVP (more than 12 hours prior) is preferred as it gives us time to ensure there are enough ride leaders.

  • Front and Rear lights are now required for all rides. If you forget, first time is a warning (and shaming) and second time you are sent home. Lights not charged counts as not having them. As long as they can be adjusted in intensity and mode, they are good to go, as these are “to be seen by others” lights, so nearly any light will do.

  • Day to day communication and general chatter is via slack. You can join here: https://join.slack.com/t/edmontonroada-7u36621/shared_invite/zt-1t5qvezds-JotWB~e_EJcXrD9NArQarA - this is where you can get real time updates about unofficial rides, talk bikes with club members, and sell your stuff to other club members! If you identify as female and would like to be included in the WoERTC communications and event announcements, please message Heather Curtis on Slack to be added to the private WoERTC channel. Please remember to use the “reply in thread” feature when using slack (especially in the general channel, think about all the group chats you are in, general is like a 400 person group chat) Starting January 19, 2026 the Reply in Thread Policy will apply in ALL channels. You will be reminded to reply in thread if you dont. 

  • River Valley Hospitality (Owners of Dogpatch, Little Brick, and Bread+Butter) is joining us as a sponsor for 2026. This means 10% off all regularly priced food and drink with presentation of your membership cards at any time. Don’t have a membership card? Ride leaders carry a few on them, so just ask! Also especially for members is for all morning rides that start at Little Brick, They will be doing a $5.50 Tea/Coffee + Pastry Special or a $8.50 Premium Coffee/Latte and Pastry Special before the ride, so make sure you come early enough to capitalize on it!

  • We’ve partnered with the City of Edmonton to offer 20% off monthly memberships and 15% off punch passes at all COE Recreation centers. If you want to use to program, send me an email or a message and I will write you a letter you can present to the front desk (showing them the email is fine) You can find out the full pricing and information here: https://www.edmonton.ca/activities_parks_recreation/corporate-wellness-program