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Saskatoon Cycles July 2026 Newsletter

Bike Valet Update

The Saskatoon Cycles Bike Valet 2026 season continues to roll on! The weather for big city events has been cooperative this year, and people are enjoying their bikes!

Here are the most recent numbers:

  • Venues = 12
  • Total volunteer hours = 451
  • Bikes parked = 3022!!!

These numbers are pretty amazing. The Jazz Fest was massive, and now we’re well on our way to CRUSHING last year’s totals for bikes and volunteer hours, with a bunch of big venues left to go. Remember, we’re always looking for folks to help out, so please check out our upcoming shift opportunities and grab a spot that works for you:

Shifts are two hours, but they go by quickly. Many volunteers stay later and keep parking bikes because they find it fun! If you haven’t volunteered yet, you’ll also get a nifty new blue comfortable shirt for your efforts.

Speaking of volunteers, we’d like to acknowledge some of our most dedicated and enthusiastic helpers over the course of the season so far. Without hyperbole, the Bike Valet could not function without the donated time of so many great people, and these folks set the highest of bars! Big thanks to:

  • William
  • Isaac
  • Blaine
  • Darren
  • Yash
  • Jake

Keep Rolling in July

Open Session July 11

Our “Keep Rolling” program provides basic bike safety instruction and skills training, and when possible, tries to match new riders with the equipment to make their cycling journey a reality: a bike, lock, and/or helmet.

The growth and success of the program has exploded this summer, with multiple groups connecting with Saskatoon Cycles to develop and encourage new ridership at every age. The scope of the program is limited only by funding, so we’d once again like to thank our grant providers and every individual who donates to our organization.

Blooming Buds Session July 24

Specifically, big thanks to SGI, SK Lotteries, and Affinity Credit Union for their generous support, and board members Rob and Brian for facilitating the bike storage, delivery, and tune ups.

Cycling Guide: Reminder!

This is your regular reminder that there’s a new, easy way to navigate the streets of Saskatoon. Welcome to Cycling Guide!

It’s a FREE, made-in-Canada app that finds the lowest stress routes for any bicycle trip in the city; instead of taking a Google route that might not distinguish you from a car, Cycling Guide is designed for cyclists who want to feel safe on their journey.

The app will constantly be evolving with updated data, and users are encouraged to help develop even better routes by providing feedback and suggestions.

You can DOWNLOAD THE APP FOR FREE HERE.

Check it out today!

Critical Mass – Returning to Saskatoon July 31

The cycling phenomenon called Critical Mass is returning to Saskatoon on Friday, July 31, 2026, with the intention to repeat on the last Friday of every month.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, we’ve found the Wikipedia entry has an excellent overview and important information:

Critical Mass is a form of direct action in which people travel as a group on bicycles at a set location and time. The idea is for people to group together to make it safe for each other to ride bicycles through their streets, based on the old adage: there’s safety in numbers.

Critical Mass has a decentralized (rather than hierarchical) structure. Critical Mass is sometimes called an “organized coincidence”, with no leadership or membership.

The Critical Mass YXE Instagram page states:

It is inclusive to all active transportation users. All manners of bicycles, e-bikes, even rollerblades! Bring lights and make yourself visible and have fun on the ride!

Saskatoon Cycles supports getting people on their bikes and riding safely in their cities. We are not organizers of the Critical Mass, but feel the event may be of interest to our membership.

Cycling Data

This is your reminder to connect with a couple of free apps that can help city planners and advocates get the robust data they need to promote and build better and safer cycling in Saskatoon.

Strava and BikeMaps.org are apps that aggregate crowdsourced information to help decision-makers understand transportation habits and patterns. The information collected is all anonymous, but can be extremely useful when accumulated and sorted on a city-wide scale. To help out, you can:

1. Install Strava on your phone and track every ride or walk you take. You only need the FREE version to do this. And if you already use a tracking app, check to see if it has a Strava integration. There are more than 100 apps that Strava connects with.

Get Strava

Find out more about the Strava app at strava.com

Strava anonymizes the data from all users in an area and creates the Strava heatmap. Images from these heatmaps can be a powerful visual to show that there are cyclists and walkers using the streets all over Saskatoon (like this presentation on Circle Drive on Ave C). But we need as many cyclists as possible using this system!

2. Bookmark Bikemaps.org and report every time you have a cycling crash, a near-miss, see a cycling hazard, or have your bike stolen. (NOTE: Please use Bikemaps.org AFTER you have contacted the appropriate emergency service for assistance.)

Bikemaps.org is a system that aims to catch as many as possible of the almost 70% of all cycling incidents or near misses that don’t get reported officially.

Donate!

Your donations give us the resources to press toward a Saskatoon where cycling is a viable, year-round mode of transportation that is safe, convenient, and comfortable for all ages.

We want families to be able to simply hop on their bikes to go grab an ice cream and enjoy the beauty of Saskatoon. For you or your partner to pick up groceries or a library book. And we really want you to be able to commute to work and back safely and conveniently.

Your donation helps us work on these three ‘pillars’ of cycling development for Saskatoon:

  • Infrastructure – A safe, convenient, comfortable, and well-maintained cycling network throughout the city that allows cyclists to go from every neighbourhood to key destinations.
  • Ridership – Educate, encourage, and promote cycling so more people choose bicycles as a convenient and safe transportation option year round.
  • Culture – Educate, encourage, and promote diversity in ridership with respectful inclusion of all modes of transportation.

Please Donate Today