by Vanessa Busch and Trevor Woerner
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| Trevor Woerner and Vanessa Busch |
Cyclon 2003 was our return to Brock, St. Catharines. Brock is an easy destination for our group to enjoy with it's air-conditioned, bike-friendly townhouses -- this year was no exception. Vanessa and I were very nervous about being the directors, and many times had wondered if, perhaps, we had not made a mistake by taking on this endeavour. Luckily for us, Cyclon's most dedicated volunteers, Eileen Harbinson and Doug Innes, stepped up to the plate and inspired us to continue with our work. We also appreciated the work that was done by our other volunteers who helped out in any general way they could, namely Maria Oberhummer, Sandra McCrossan, and the Kennedy's, not to mention everyone who pitched in to help make Friday night's registration process go smoothly.
Ride. We rode the beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake region on Saturday with its many wineries and gorgeous ride along the Niagara Parkway. For lunch everyone was free to do their own thing, most people chose to stop in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Sunday we rode to the areas West of Brock such as Jordan Station, Vineland Station, Beamsville, Smithville, Grimsby, and Winona. A wonderful lunch was served at the Rockway Glen Golf Course. On Monday we headed south of Brock to areas such as St. John's, Fonthill, Pelham, and Welland. A feast was waiting for all the hungry cyclists at Peninsula Lakes Golf Course. Many thanks to our numerous ride leaders and sweeps, many of whom came out before the Cyclon weekend to get acquainted with their rides. I would also like to extend a hearty thanks to Cyril Gibb who was our club mechanic for the weekend (and especially helped out when the mechanic we hired failed to show up!).
Meet people. One of our goals was to provide many opportunities for the Cyclon participants to get together and meet. The whole weekend started out on the right foot thanks to Kay and Peggy's Friday night ice-breaker pizza party: The Cyclon 2003 Olympics. Kay and Peggy went all out on this one, dreaming up hours of hilarious games and activities, matching them to humourously appropriate music, and creating medallions for the participants to win. Saturday night we had an outdoor BBQ and the weather cooperated wonderfully. The courtyards of the townhouses provided a great area in which to hold this venue, and many people gathered and mingled for hours afterward. Sunday night we held our reception and formal dinner at the Pond Inlet - everyone likes getting together halfway through the weekend to talk about their riding adventures. Thanks to the Ontario Government's temporary removal of the 5% PST on accommodations, every table was provided with two bottles of complimentary wine.
Have fun. We also had a number of additional activities fall into place at the last moment in order to help our registrants to have fun. We were able to rent Brock's pool for one hour each day on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night Susan Zarnett graciously offered to run a Yoga session which was attended and enjoyed by a whopping 1/4 of the registrants! On Sunday, after our formal dinner, our guests let down their hair and danced late into the evening (despite all the cycling and the 7:00 am breakfasts).
We hope everyone enjoyed themselves (and from the many wonderful comments in the surveys it would appear that most of you did) and we look forward to planning Cyclon 2004.
Best regards,
Vanessa Busch and Trevor Woerner
Directors, Cyclon 2003
cyclon@tbn.ca