Sunday, March 28, 2010

Important Information for New and Returning Gears Girls members

Attention all new and returning Gears Girls members!

Many of you have asked about starting the Gears Girls season earlier than the end of May (which was originally announced). I know that many of you are participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer and Bike 4 Betty, so getting on the road earlier is a definite bonus! With that in mind, I am happy to start the Saturday rides on May 1st (at 9am), but I will need all of you to either renew or pay your 2010 membership so that everyone’s OCA insurance is up-to-date. You cannot ride if you do not have OCA coverage!

Membership fees for returning members is $50 – this includes OCA coverage. Fees for new members is $135 – this includes a Gears Girls cycling jersey and OCA coverage. Membership fees can be paid in person at Gears Bike Shop (www.gearsbikeshop.com). Please keep in mind that if you would like to start riding with us on May 1st, you will have to be a club member.

Following are some important dates that you might want to mark down:

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 – Gears Girls 2010 Meet and Greet:

Drop by Gears Bike Shop anytime between 6pm and 8pm to renew or pay for your 2010 Gears Girls membership; meet current and new members; purchase Gears Girls clothing; and of course chat about the upcoming ride season! Check out the evite for additional information: http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/GEFUQDZIXGKWLWBNSVYS/gearsgirls. Feel free to forward the evite on to anyone you think might be interested in joining or helping out with Gears Girls.

Sunday, April 18th and Tuesday, April 20th – Start of the Oakville Cycling Club Touring Pace season:

If you are a Gears Girls member and have also paid ($25 in addition to club fees) to ride with the Oakville Cycling Club, this is the start of their ride season. Check out the OCC website, specifically the touring pace page: http://www.oakvillecc.com/ for additional information.

Saturday, April 24th and Sunday, April 25th - Women’s Learn to Race/Ride Skills Camp:

The Eat-Clean Diet® Women’s Cycling Team – sponsored in part by Gears Girls – is pleased to host this awesome 2 day camp. You don’t have to be interested in racing to take part in this camp! Participants will learn intermediate to advanced bike handling skills…sure to make you a stronger and more confident cyclist! Only a limited number of spots are remaining – check out the website: http://www.womenscyclingteam.com/camp.html for additional camp information and online registration form.

Saturday, May 1st, 2010 – First Saturday ride of the 2010 Gears Girls Season:

Ride will start at 9am from Gears Bike Shop. This will be an easy ride to get the blood flowing after the winter followed by coffee at Starbucks or brunch at Sunset Grill. Be sure to renew or pay for your membership fees before May 1st so that you can participate in the ride. A full ride schedule for the 2010 season will be forwarded soon!

Saturday, May 15th, 2010 – Gears Girls refresher/warm up clinic:

Offered free to all Gears Girls members, this clinic (time and location TBA – will be before noon on the 15th) will teach you some on-bike cycling basics and work on important bike handling skills.


Sunday, May 30th – Bike 4 Betty:

Bike 4 Betty (http://www.bike4betty.com) is an awesome annual charity event that raises funds for Trillium’s Betty Wallace Women’s Health Centre and recently opened Betty & Buster Lockwood Cancer Detection and Treatment Centre. Gears Bike Shop is one of two founding sponsors for the event – this is a great opportunity for Gears Girls to help support the shop that made our club possible. If enough people are interested, we can form a Gears Girls team and participate; otherwise, we can register as individual riders. I would like Bike 4 Betty to be become an annual tradition and start of the Gears Girls season! If you’re interested in participating, please let me know as soon as possible!

Wednesday, June 2nd – First official weeknight ride:

Meet at Gears at 6:15pm, ride at 6:30pm. Depending on amount of day light, the ride will be either 1 or 1.5 hours. We will extend the ride to 2 hours as the season progresses and we have more daylight. Not a bad idea to bring lights if you have them – white for the front, red for the rear.

I will be forwarding a more complete schedule with information about individual rides and start locations soon. In the interim, feel free to drop me a line (gearsgirls@hotmail.com) with any questions you may have. Also, be sure to check out our blog: http://gearsgirls.blogspot.com/ for regular updates.

Looking forward to riding with all of you soon!

Mel

Monday, March 22, 2010

Gears Girls 2010 Meet and Greet

Thinking about joining Gears Girls for the 2010 season?

Drop by Gears Bike Shop on Wednesday, April 14th, anytime between 6pm and 8pm to meet current and new members; ask questions about the group; pay membership fees; buy Gears Girls clothing; or just chat about the upcoming cycling season!

If you have any questions about the meet and greet or about Gears Girls, drop us a line at gearsgirls@hotmail.com. Also, be sure to check out the Gears Girls blog at http://gearsgirls.blogspot.com/ for regular club updates.

Check out the evite for additional information about the meet and greet: http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/GEFUQDZIXGKWLWBNSVYS/gearsgirls.

Feel free to extend this invitation on to anyone who might be interested in joining or helping out with Gears Girls!

This is going to be a great season. Looking forward to riding with all of you soon!

Mel

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Women's Learn to Race/Skills Camp

Attention all women cyclists! The Eat-Clean® Diet Women's Cycling Team is excited to be hosting the 2010 Women's Learn to Race/Ride Skills Camp for female road cyclists on Saturday, April 24th and Sunday, April 25th. Meet fellow female riders, improve your efficiency on your bike and have a blast in the Oakville area!

In-class and on-bike segments include safety, nutrition, hill climbing, cornering, sprinting, race tactics/prep, group riding/paceline and time trialing! Check out the Eat-Clean® Diet Women's Cycling Team website: http://www.womenscyclingteam.com/camp.html for additional camp information and to find out more about the brand new women's developmental cycling team: The Eat-Clean Diet Women's Cycling Team!

Camp registration is now open. Only 40 spots are available – register early in order to avoid disappointment!

http://www.womenscyclingteam.com/

Hope to see you on April 24th!

For additional team or camp information, please contact either Leigh Hargrove at leigh@risemediadesign.com or Mel Crosby at gearsgirls@hotmail.com.

Monday, March 8, 2010

24 Hour Spin Update - Thanks!

Hey Girls!

Hope you all had a great weekend. The weather was amazing...made me really look forward to the upcoming Gears Girls season! I spent the weekend at the Toronto Bike Show helping out at the Gears booth. I saw a lot of members - so great to see everyone - and I met a ton of potential new members. Spending the weekend talking about bikes - and to women just getting into cycling (or back into cycling) - made me so excited for what's to come this summer!

I also got to participate in my first 24 Hour Spin this weekend. What a cool event! I was on the Gears Girls bike from 9:30pm until midnight. The music and energy was great - the time really flew by. Special thanks go out to Rosemarie Wallace for organizing the Gears Girls bike and for taking care of all the scheduling details. Thanks also go out to Kevin and Ira - co-owners of Gears - for sponsoring the Gears Girls bike. Thanks so much to all three of you...and of course to all the women that participated in the event as part of the Gears Girls team.

Some cool upcoming things to think about:

1) A Gears Girls meet and greet for all current, new or potential members - I'm hoping this will happen mid-April. More details to come soon!

2) A Women's Learn to Race/Ride Skills Camp taking place the weekend of April 24th and 25th, being hosted by the women's team I'm racing with this summer - The Eat Clean Diet Women's Cycling Team. Details aren't yet finalized, but there is some interim information here: http://www.womenscyclingteam.com/. If you're interested, mark down the dates and check back often to the site.

3) Gears Girls casual clothing! I'm hoping to have Gears Girls "apres cycling wear" ready for the season. Hoodies, technical shirts (long sleeve and short sleeve), and possibly jackets. All with Gears Girls inspired logos! My plan is to have samples ready for the April meet and greet. Again, more details to come soon.

Drop me a line if you have any questions or suggestions about Gears Girls. Hopefully, with the good weather fast approaching, you'll all be getting out on the road soon!

Ciao for now!

Mel