Hi,

For those new to the club whom I haven’t met, I’m Tiffany. I’ve been riding with ERTC for the past 8 years, and formed the Women of ERTC (WoERTC) in 2015. And I’m the textbook example proving you don’t have to be fast, a racer, or have much experience riding at the front to be a leader in cycling. I truly subscribe to ‘if I can do it, so can you’ - and this is the driving force behind the WoERTC.

The WoERTC is a group within ERTC geared towards anyone not identifying as male. Our structure and focus has morphed through the years, and we completely paused WoERTC specific rides during COVID. Given this long pause, and influx of new members, the WoERTC is going back to basics for 2021.

Our focus will be developing group riding skills and comfort first, fitness and miles second - although depending on your road riding experience, you may develop the latter while focusing on the former!. Our regular ERTC rides certainly address fitness development, so we will aim for WoERTC rides to both be a stepping stone, creating comfort and confidence to try the regular club rides, as well as an opportunity for the women/not identifying as male club members to ride together.

What does that look like for the rest of the season?

  • When: Weekly on Monday evenings, 6:15pm until usually around 8:30pm-ish.

  • Where: Start location and routes will vary between the following, and will be communicated weekly in the WoERTC Slack channel:

    • Millbourne Mall : Riding southeast of the city out Millwoods Road

    • Hawrelak Park: For a city loop or a forward-hills circuit

    • Terwillegar Rec Center: Riding west towards Devon out Cameron Heights

    • Research Park: Interval/cornering/speed work

    • Muttart: Reverse hills circuit

  • Distance: Anywhere between 25-50km with breaks. Estimates will be given each week depending on the route.

  • # of riders: For now, I’m capping the rides at 10 riders. RSVP’s are required on Strava, similar to all club rides. After a few rides, we may increase to 15 or add an additional group (pending response to the next bullet) .

  • Ride Leaders/Sweeps: I’m looking for experienced riders to either lead a second group or be responsible as a sweep on rides. Ride leading experience not required to be a sweep - just good knowledge of group riding and the routes.

Next week’s ride is up on Strava, and the bulk of informal communication regarding any WoERTC rides will be communicated through our Slack channel. If you haven’t been added, please let me know! And if you haven’t joined ERTC’s Slack space at all - CLICK HERE.

If you have any questions about what to expect, or anything else WoERTC related - feel free to reach out either via Slack, or to Women@ertc.org.

I’m (tentatively) hopeful that this is truly our path back to a more normal cycling season, and am looking forward to riding with you all!

See you on the road!

Tiffany