For years you have heard me talk about our amazing adventures on the Tour De Pain and Bike Camp down in California, along with many other trips with a great group of like minded cycling friends. We ride road, mountain and gravel - along with eating great food and drinking coffee.
Well, the guys who organize these trips, lead by the one and only Magnus Verbrugge, have established something very special to reach out and involve many more of our circle of friends (and future friends). I am on the Board of this new not for profit venture….. Read on.
Introducing a whole new approach to group travel: The Bicycle Sportive Travel Club!
I’ll let Magnus take you on this mental (and I mean mental
) journey: "Imagine this: You’re riding your bike on sinuous roads in a faraway place. There are hardcore climbs, stellar views and killer descents. Your ride finishes at a local pub and there’s a group dinner later in the evening. Or... imagine bikepacking through pristine wilderness, camping as you go and with no email or traffic noise for a hundred miles.
Now, imagine repeating for a few days (or more!) without having to worry about the details. And imagine it not costing all that much ‘cause your friend is doing all the organizing!
For over ten years I have been organizing summer bike trips in the Pacific Northwest (and winter bike trips in SoCal) for myself and my riding buddies. Many of you have been on those trips! But a problem has developed: there are a lot more people interested than there are places available. And my interests have expanded beyond road riding, to gravel, MTB and bikepacking. What to do??
Five years ago, Lindsay Carswell set out to create a Bike Tour Company that focussed on cycling, eating and competing. It was a dream. He got to lead trips to the Okanagan, California, Europe and Asia. They watched pro races, entered gran fondos and drank lots of wine. But it wasn’t perfect. It was still work, after all. During that time, he realized how much fun it was to ride with friends. And he never felt comfortable charging his friends retail prices.
After a few rides and a few drinks, we came up with an idea: merge and expand our existing platforms to create an adventure cycling travel club! That is, a non-profit club where members organize and lead their own bucket list bike trips for other members.”
We want to invite you to a launch event for Bicycle Sportive Travel Club. You can RSVP at the link.
Please join us! (If you know someone who would be interested, please forward this email to them, or bring them with you.)
Vancouver
Red Truck Brewery, 295 East 1st Ave
Tuesday, September 24
7:00 - 8:30 pm
OR
Victoria
Fernwood Inn, 1302 Gladstone Ave
Wednesday, September 25
7:30 - 9:00 pm
You’ll learn more about the club, and the don’t-want-to-miss-out trips that we have planned for 2020.
We don’t want to cause any alarm but for the first year we will need to cap the number of members to ensure we get things properly underway. Membership will be cheap: $50 to join and $25 per year after that. If you are already convinced, you can sign up now at this link:
https://ccnbikes.com/#!/events/7727-bic ... ravel-club
We promise that the 2020 trips list will generate enough drool to justify the membership fee, before you even turn a pedal.
I look forward to seeing you at the launch event and sharing ideas and a pint or two.
Dave Attwell
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