Waterloo Cycling Club’s Annual “Big Ride” Sunday, September 12th - The Map Is Here

Let’s make it our biggest Big Ride ever!!

Every year the Waterloo Cycling Club holds our end of season ride to celebrate another great summer of riding and racing – the “Big Ride”.  The intent behind the ride is two-fold: to get club members and friends together for one last big club road ride of the year and to raise funds for a great local cause – the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region.

This year’s ride will be on Sunday September 12 and will feature two routes:

 

If you haven’t ridden these kinds of distance before, don’t sweat it.  Riding for a hundred kilometres when you’re riding in a group isn’t as hard as you’d think – and the bragging rights afterwards are great!  For each of the routes we will have two groups riding – a “faster group aka Racie” and a “not so fast group aka Cruisie”.  The faster group will be for those that ride groups 1 and 2 on Tuesday nights (so if you’ve been hanging back in group 3 grabbing sign sprints, now’s the time to move into group 1 or 2!!).  The slower groups will be for all other riders, provided they can average 25 km/h or so over 4 hours.  The intent is that groups start and finish together so that no one is left behind.  Word on the street is that there may be prizes for the most town sign sprint wins and for King of the Mountains – stay tuned!

The ride is open to all Waterloo Cycling Club 2010 members as well as anyone from another club who holds an OCA licence.

On the morning of the ride, Sign-n will start at 7:30.  The Cruisie groups will head out at 8 am while the racie groups will go at 9 am. Note: the Ride starts and finishes at Northfield Racquet Club on Northfield Drive.

Register

Due to our volunteer status, and to avoid burning out people helping organize the ride, we’re going to limit the Big Ride to the first 100 people that sign-up.  Don’t be disappointed, register now!! 

To register:

  1. Create an free account on this web site using the "Create new account" link on the right
  2. Login to your new account
  3. Click here to fill in the event registration form  YOU MUST BE LOGGED INTO THE WEB SITE OR A BLANK PAGE WILL APPEAR.  Make sure to check off the appropriate distance and speed info – we need to make sure we have enough people to warrant the two lengths and minimum of four groups.  The DEADLINE for registering is Tuesday, September 7th at 6 pm.

Cost

The Club and it’s BIG RIDE sponsors fund the ride costs – all we ask is that each participant contribute $100 toward the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region.  You can either write your own cheque or fundraise. (Click here for a printable pledge form).  Of course, you’re encouraged to fundraise more than the minimum, as Women’s Crisis Services definitely needs our help – see below.  Club member Paul Allan has generously provided a sweet prize for the person who raises the most funds.  Please Note:  you need to bring your minimum $100 donation/ funds raised to sign-in on Sunday morning.

What do you get?

  • a supported ride, with a lift to the finish if you or your bike just can’t make it;
  • pre-ride and during ride snacks/ drinks;
  • hearty snacks at the half-way point;
  • a BBQ at the end of the ride;
  • a chance to win some swag donated by our sponsors;
  • a great season-ending ride with your friends; and
  • bragging rights for riding 100 or 160 kilometers.

All that for less than a buck a kilometre!!

Want to help out?

Putting on the annual Big Ride does take some planning and a little grunt work.  If you’d like to help out, or know someone who might, we have openings for:

  • Sag Wagon drivers and navigators/ helpers;
  • Helpers to pick up food in days leading up to ride
  • Helpers for Ride registration/ set-up on morning of ride;
  • Event promoters
  • Ride Group leaders (just like Tuesday nights)
  • Helpers for end of ride BBQ
  • Someone to mark the routes on the day before the ride

Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region

For the past 9 years the Waterloo Cycling Club’s annual Big Ride has helped support Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region – to-date our riders have raised over $64,000 for them.  Women’s Crisis Services provides emergency help and shelter to women and children in our community who are victims of violence.  Here are some vital statistics that underscore the magnitude of the problem of violence against women in Canada:

  • women continue to outnumber men nine to one as victims of assault by a spouse or partner;
  • in 1996 half of all family homicides involved spouses;
  • between 1977 and 1996, three times as many women were killed by their spouses as were men killed by their spouses;
  • girls are at greatest risk of sexual assault by a family member while between 12 and 15 years of age;
  • In 1996 nine of ten crimes committed against older adults by family members were physical assaults.

(Statistics Canada's 1998 report Family Violence in Canada: a Statistical Profile)

Women’s Crisis Services is in the midst of a capital fundraising campaign to complete the construction of a new, larger facility for the community.  We’d really like to up the ante this year and help them out in a big way.  The money we raise will be focused on the creation of a new room in the new facility designed as a space to meet the specific needs of  the youth coming into the shelter.  As such, we’re challenging ourselves to raise $20,000 this year.  To help with your fundraising, here’s a pledge form.

Subject: Help Women's Crisis Services to win $25,000 in the Pepsi Refresh Contest

Women's Crisis Services is competing in the Pepsi Fresh Contest. Please help us to win $25,000 by going to the link below, and casting your vote -  you can vote daily. When you click on the vote now button, you will need to login with a password and email address. Once you have done this it returns you to the vote now button - press it to cast your vote. Voting goes till the end of August and we need you to go and vote every day!

Forward this to your friends and ask them to vote as well. It will mean a great deal to us at Women's Crisis Services . Thanks for your help!!

Here is the direct link to information on the youth room http://www.refresheverything.ca/movebeyondviolence.