Welcome to the 2023 cycling season! Last year, our calendar went public! No more password! We’re hoping this makes life easier for Freewheelers and for their guests. We also have a few spots available for new members in 2023, so want to help them decide which of our exciting rides they wish to join in order to get a feel for our club. 

Subscribing to the Google Calendar

The Ride Calendar below lives in Google Calendar. Click on any ride for more details and it will take you to a Google Calendar and full details. You can also copy the event to your own calendar so that it gives you a reminder. 

If you wish to subscribe to the calendar from a gmail account and are not sure how to do this, contact ganaraskafreewheelers@gmail.com and Ruth can walk you through the setup.

Timing & Hosting of Official Weekly Club Rides

Our club rides twice weekly.

Tuesdays, we start at 10:00 a.m.

Fridays, our default ride time is 10:00 if the ride does not have a host. If one of our members steps up to host, they pick the start time and day – typically Friday, but can be Saturday or Sunday, especially if there is a cool event happening that day like the Omemee Bike Museum or the Millbrook Farmer’s Market.

Members typically host at least one ride per season, but can certainly host more than one if they like! Routes are normally between 40 and 50 kilometres, taking weather and daylight time available into consideration.

Make sure you choose a route that avoids heavy traffic or increased riding risk. Include alternate shorter routes or short-cuts. Also, pre-ride the route to confirm that it is suitable to ride – i.e., no emergent construction activities.

Ride Coordinators for 2023

For any ride date that is titled “Ride Needs Host” that you’d like to host, contact your Ride Coordinator to claim the date.

For 2023, Brian Hedney is your Friday Ride Coordinator from April to July.  Gail Lupton picks up from there to end of season.

Sue Pott is your Tuesday Ride Coordinator from April to July. Paul Buttimore continues in August to the end of the season.

If you wish to email them the details, you can find their email address in the password-protected Member directory. Alternatively, check in with one of them on a ride and let them know your preferred date(s).

Details that are helpful for your Ride Coordinators to know to include in the ride posts include:

• Ride start location (with parking instructions if applicable).
• Ride route map (which could simply be a reference to one of our pre-existing routes on the GFW Website) and ride distances (typically around 50 km in length with one shortcut or more). You always have the option of saying something like “maps will be handed out at the start of the ride” if you are not linking to an exist GFW route.
• Après-ride arrangements. This is wholly at the discretion of the Ride Host.

Update for 2023: Facebook Group Events feature

For 2023, we will continue to update the calendar below, as hosts claim their rides. On this page, you will always find an up-to-date calendar of all rides. 

In addition to rides being posted on this calendar, we will continue our 2022 experiment with posting each official ride using the Events feature on our private Facebook group. The goal will be to post Friday rides on Tuesday and Tuesday rides on Saturday.

If you are a member in 2023, please aim to have a Facebook identity. The Facebook group is private, and accessible only to 2023 members. If you are concerned about being tracked in the Metaverse, feel free to use an alias, rather than your own name – just make sure you let us know what your alias is so we can approve your request to join.

If you don’t wish to join Facebook, that’s ok. Just visit this page to make sure you’re aware of weekly ride start locations and the route. If important changes occur, we will update the above calendar.

The Facebook Group EVENTS feature is available to be used by all members. However, to avoid confusing members, we request that if you wish to invite others to join non-GFW rides in the community, please share them within the DISCUSSION tab on the Facebook Group, rather than the EVENTS tab.

Guests and New Members

REMINDER! Members can now have guests join our group rides! Guests MUST sign waivers. There is a limit of three free rides per guest per season.

Ride Hosts, you are encouraged to have waiver forms handy in the event we have unexpected guests join us! Remember to ride or drive your route in advance to anticipate road or safety concerns!

Members, if you have invited guests to join the ride, please print out the waiver form, have your guest sign it, and remit it to one of the Club’s executive members. Also, as a courtesy, let the Ride Host know in advance.

If you know of individuals in the community who might like to join our club, feel free to share the link to our Member information. 

COVID-19 in 2023

The 2023 season will continue to follow COVID-19 precautions for social distancing, which as of March 21, 2022 no longer required masking and restricting indoor activities. However, we invite members to use their own discretion to decide whether to host a picnic style event as has been the custom the last 3 years, an indoor or patio restaurant or a potluck at their home – indoor or outdoor.  

Your Executive will monitor the status of COVID-19 throughout the season from month to month. We look forward to a less restrictive cycling season, but are prepared to change course as necessary in order to comply with Ontario government COVID-19 regulations and maintain safe practices.

If you plan to join a ride in 2023, you must sign and submit to the Ride Leader or member of the Exec the COVID-19 Waiver and read the GFW Response to COVID-19 which you can download here. You need to sign it only once for the season. Most of you will have signed it at the November AGM.