In Attendance (via Google Meet):
Mike Hagen, Colin Fingler, Anna Bonga, Deirdre Arscott, Murray Tough, Dara Poon, Wim Kok, Vincent Deslauriers
Regrets:
Peter Stary
Agenda:
Approval of agenda: additions: Maple Leaf Populaire; inviting Vanessa to meetings; cue sheets.
Minutes:
- Approval of June minutes: accepted: 1st: Deirdre; 2nd: Mike
President’s Update
- Rides are happening
- Vincent mentioned solo riders and following cars; Stephen Hinde sent a thoughtful response
Financials
- Balance is $13,800; still waiting for Fleche receipts. A few other receipts to be paid.
- Term deposits about $31,000
- Membership is at 231.
- We are where we would be in a typical year for cash flow
Ride Co-ordination reports:
- Peace: No report, have a new member from Dawson Creek.
- Lower Mainland: Chris Cullum is concerned he wasn’t seeing a pre-PBP boost.
- Deirdre would like an easier 200 than a summit finish. Discussion about difficulty level of rides.
- Co-ordinate with the Island for tough/easier, especially the 200’s. Manfred would like to do a Buchaneer 200 in August. Action: Mike to talk to Chris about co-ordinating with Mark about ride difficulty so there is a mix of easy and hard between the Lower Mainland and the Island.
- Dara has gotten database access from Etienne.
- Maple Leaf Populaire:
- Discussion about distance. Do we need to offer a shorter ride, and should we keep adding a km every year?
- Discussion about why we had fewer people this year. Reason unknown, possibly the amount of gravel, or distance. Will go back to traditional route next year. Several new names. Should keep on doing the Populaires. Concerned that volunteers were all people who’ve been out before, no new faces.
- Inviting Vanessa:
- Discussion about inviting Vanessa to the board meetings so she can see what is happening with the club as she is doing the website and newsletter.
- Action: Deirdre to offer Vanessa a standing invitation to the meetings. Murray to add her to the distribution list. Also to go to regional co-ordinators if they would like to attend.
- Cue Sheets:
- Mike and Stephen had a meeting about cue sheets. Stephen showed Mike an easier way to revise and create a cue sheet. Discussion about what it will look like in the end. Action: Mike will write up a guidance document about how to do this.
- Organization from Quebec:
- Vincent will contact the organization from Quebec that does ultra marathon cycling races.
Following cars:
- Discussion about use of following cars during the night on a long, isolated route. There is a precedence for this. Through Rogers Pass tunnels for example. The car must stay at least 30m behind the rider, rider must still have their own lights, and still be self-sufficient. On longer brevets, offering water is ok. Put some guidelines on the website for following cars.
- Suggested guidelines: Organizer and regional co-ordinator must approve it; Must add safety to the rider; Must not create hazards for other road users; Follow only close enough to provide security; No-high beams, as the rider can loose night vision; Following car must use 4-way flashers and stay on the shoulder; Only emergency support, general support at controls.
- Discussion about these guidelines. Add a few lines about this into the ride organizers guide for the future.
- Action: Anna and Wim to discuss ideas and possibilities for following riders
- Amendment to minutes: (added 6 August): Dara would like to include the following objection to the car proposal: Dara objects to the idea of following cars as it creates a hazard, changing the risk calculation, and is too prone to abuse and may give an advantage to those who wish to abuse it. Following cars are subject to further discussion.
Round Table
- Discussion about involvement in other rides such as the ride for cancer. Action: Vincent to find out what is involved.
- Deirdre sent Eric the gift certificate for a restaurant. He was delighted.
- August 1st Grando will be 85 km in honour of Manfred’s birthday.
- Mike talked with Charlotte about our social accounts, and forwarded the information to Etienne. We are now on Instagram.
Next Meeting: 6th August 2026, 7:00 pm
Adjournment: 8:22 pm