Saskatoon Cycles June 2022 Newsletter
Bike Valet
If you’ve been out and about during the warmer weather, you’ll have noticed that our city is bursting with activity. The trails, streets, and sidewalks are full of folks skateboarding, running, scooting (scootering?), walking, and cycling. Saskatoon is moving!
The festival and event season is also back in full swing after two years of pandemic restrictions, which means we have a lot of people excited about exercising their muscles AND getting to exciting venues for spectacular fun. What magical program could possibly facilitate both of these demands??
Enter the Bike Valet – your free, friendly “bike check”, provided at most of the major events taking place in Saskatoon this summer. We’ve been at the Nutrien Children’s Festival, the Saskatchewan Marathon, and the Saskatoon Pride Festival, helping hundreds of people take a greener, quieter, and less pull-your-hair-out-looking-for-parking-spots trip to their destination. With help from the City of Saskatoon’s Environmental Grant, this year’s Valet promises to be a reliable feature of a return-to-normal festival season.
We have more events coming up (Jazz Fest! Canada Day!), and we’d love to invite you to use the Valet, and maybe even volunteer for a shift or two! You’ll get to meet some great people, get fresh air, hear music or see fireworks, and feel good about keeping other peoples’ bikes safe and secure.
You’ll also get to work with Ben, our fantastic Valet supervisor. They say “time flies when you’re having fun”, well, time’s sipping cognac in a first class cabin on a supersonic jet when you spend a Bike Valet shift with this guy!
Ready for fun? Visit our Bike Valet page to sign up for shifts: Bike Valet Sign Up
Volunteer Hug
Speaking of volunteers, we’d like to offer a quick shout out and hug to all of the volunteers who have answered our requests for help over the past few weeks.
We couldn’t have operated the Bike Valet to our expected standards without you. Patrons at the Saskatchewan Marathon, Children’s Festival, and Saskatoon Pride all got top notch service because of your volunteer time. This may seem small, but it really helps build and reinforce a cycling culture in our city by making a bike trip even more desirable than usual!
Vélo Canada Bikes conducted the 2022 Pedal Poll earlier this month, and this simply would not have happened in Saskatoon without you. The national data collected will help inform policymakers and urban planners for possibly years to come, so please know that your time was valuable and appreciated, and will make cycling across Canada even better in the future.
The work is never over, but we hope you’ll continue to have fun helping us, encourage a friend or two to join you, and keep making Saskatoon an even friendlier cycling city.
Pedal Power video on YouTube
We spotlighted the Suchan family in the April article “Wayfinding on Wheels“, that scratched the surface of their thoughtful and committed approach to cycling in Saskatoon.
As a little cherry on top of that cake, we now offer a short video of their “bikestyle” that was originally and quietly launched during last month’s BYXE Week.
We’re getting very close to our goal of 100 YouTube subscribers, and we’d love for you to subscribe to our channel after you watch this clip. Thank you in advance!
Bikes & Banter
Remember that (almost!) every Saturday afternoon, Saskatoon Cycles sets up shop somewhere in the city for “Bikes & Banter”, where people can come and go for some visiting while out for a bike ride (or stroll or roll – we’re not an exclusive club!). It’s casual, open to anyone, and a great chance to get some fresh air conversation.
Locations and dates for Bikes & Banter are not fixed, so follow us on social media for the most current info.
Friends of Cycling
Please help us extend a huge thank you to our most recent renewal to the Friends of Cycling program, Escape Sports.
Since 2004, this locally owned and operated family operation has been supplying Saskatoon with almost anything you can imagine for outdoor pursuits: apparel, footwear, skateboards, paddleboards, skis, snowshoes, camping gear, and games. They’re friendly, active, and supportive of cycling in the community!
We are grateful to every one of our Friends for their continued support, and to our membership (that’s you!) for thinking local when you do your shopping.
Donations
It’s also always a great time to remind you that our work relies heavily on donations from enthusiastic bike riders who want to see the cycling infrastructure and culture in Saskatoon continue to bloom and grow. Our programs make an important impact on the quality of life in Saskatoon.
Please support our efforts with your donations or with your time as a volunteer.
