Happy Fall Yall! We have a bit of news regarding our velodrome access this winter. Note that this can all still change, as it has yet to be finalized.
ERTC is back to a once per week schedule starting Monday, October 5. These sessions will be coached by Amanda and will focus on safe track habits, skill development, and learning about different workout types, race types, and the skills and fitness required to do them. These sessions will be 8pm to 9:30pm on Monday Nights. All certified members are welcome to join, as long as you remember to RSVP. Generally speaking, you should be ready the hit the track warmed up right at 8:00pm, with the infield and gym open for us prior to set up rollers to warm up. Amanda will giving instructions at 7:40-7:45. If you miss the first set of instructions, you may not be able to participate in the drills until someone catches you up. For the sessions from now until the end of the year, we will be running the drills in 2 streams, one for if you are freshly certified or have not ridden the velodrome since our winter sessions last year, and one stream for those who have been continuing to ride at the velodrome throughout the summer (or has completed Beginner Structured Training/BST over the summer). Session from the New Year onward will be separated into pace groups.
Our aim with these sessions is to replace the BST and IST (Intermediate) sessions that the AVA offers, however we may recommend you attend those sessions to brush up if the once a week sessions aren’t enough to build your confidence. We will work with the AVA to try to offer a discounted rate on these as well. We would love to be a shining example of knowledgeable, and safe velodrome riders in Edmonton.
ERTC will not be offering certification at our own sessions. We will be partnering with the AVA to offer them at a reduced rate (hopefully 50%), so that you have maximum flexibility in booking your sessions. This is to be fairest to those who have already certified on their own time and dime (or last year) so they can hop right into our sessions. With an entire year of certification under their belts, we also believe the AVA instructors will be able to do a better job of preparing you for the velodrome.
We have enough people “in-principle” to opt-in to additional sessions. This hasn’t been fully hashed out yet, but is looking like it will be Friday evenings. At $100, we have enough to do another session every other Friday. At a public rate of $20/hour, $100 for 13 sessions is an absolute steal. As more people are certified sign on, we may have enough for even more sessions! I will be putting together info on how to pay for this additional fee (likely e-transfer, non-refundable). These sessions will be focused more on race practice and workouts, and will assume that you are able to operate semi-independently (like at open track). If you are newer at the velodrome, we reserve the right to have you attend more Monday sessions or BST before attending these sessions.
As usual, your membership gets you access and insurance through December 31. Because of how insurance works, you will need to reup your membership by January 1st in order to ensure you have uninterrupted access to the velodrome, it would be far too difficult to decouple club dues and insurance coverage.
So enough velodrome talk - our weeknight rides now definitely end in the dark. Please bring lights, or you will be told to head home.
Thursday hills - Forwards hills will start at the regular time and end at the usual time, which means half of the ride will be during dusk or dark. Reverse hills will start at 5:30 at Gallagher. Can’t make 5:30? The group will be at Legislature at approximately 6:30-6:35 (and stay until 7ish), and will end around 7:30.
Want your photo in the next newsletter? Send them in!
Pic: Nathan with his signature look C: Tim B.
Club Updates:
Gravel Curious or know someone who is? Our Croken Classic Gravel Event is coming up. The registration is open to all comers and you (or your friends) do not need a race license. It is the year’s cheapest gravel event, and any profit we make on it goes right back into the club. You can learn more and sign up here: https://www.ertc.org/crokenclassic
Velodrome Updates:
Winter Season Begins October 5!
Activity Messenger Linkie: https://activitymessenger.com/org/4494/
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:
All is quiet on the home front.
Racing/Event/ABA Updates:
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.
Next ABA race is this weekend, down in Canmore. Check it out - https://www.albertabicycle.ab.ca/alberta-race-calendar
General Reminders:
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!
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.
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.
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