by Lowell Aronoff
On July 1, 1986, Dick Querney was discussing the frustrations of organizing the Great Canadian Bicycle Rally (GCBR) every year for the past 5 years with Bud Jorgensen. The GCBR was a great success, but it was too much work. Dick told Bud that if he could not find someone to take over the event 1986 would be its last year!
This statement started Bud thinking. The GCBR was a fabulous weekend. With 10 years under its belt, it was a tradition. Cycling in Ontario did not have many icons of tradition. Organizing bicycle tours was not something new to Bud, he organized many TBN day trips as well as weekend trips. But a bicycle rally was different - ten times larger and infinitely more complex. Could he get the turn out? Did he have the time? Could he solve the problems? Did he really believe he knew what the problems were? Could he find people to help with talent in the needed areas.
On TBN Sunday rides, Bud bounced his ideas off many fellow TBN'ers and found tremendous enthusiasm. But was it enough? Would people contribute more than verbal support?
The Point Pelee Wheelee weekend which Bud organized that summer was a great
success. It managed to attract 50 people but more important was the warm feeling that
was pervasive among the participants. This gave Bud the confidence to feel that he: really could organize a bicycle rally. But what kind bicycle rally? And where would he get the seed money - from the GCBR or the TBN?
Bud approached the board of the TBN with the idea. There was a great deal of trepidation. In the 3 years of its existence, the TBN had exploded from zero to 600 members. The club had already changed its focus from the founder, Richard Aaron's idea of a network of small clubs and tour organizers, to a club with a greater social focus. The majority of the work was still being done by the same small group of volunteers that had started the TBN. A bicycle rally would broaden the base of the TBN. The board was not convinced that a larger club was either desirable, or that they could handle the increased size.
By this time, however, Bud's enthusiasm for the idea had spawned enthusiasm in others. It made sense to call a meeting to determine whether Bud had a group with enough experience to pull it off. The first organizing meeting for the as yet unnamed CYCLON took place on September 30, 1986.
With the enthusiasm of the first meeting, it was obvious that we were not talking about
if we were going to organize a bicycle rally, but how to do it. Not a single person at that meeting had ever been involved in the organization of a bicycle rally and there was no
clear consensus of ideas. Where would we get the seed money ? If we took over the Great Canadian Bicycle Rally, Dick Querney would insist that our rally be a camping weekend. Did we want more amenities such as nicer accommodations? Did we want to organize evening activities? And what about insurance? All volunteer sports organizations at that time were worried about insurance. None of us wanted to be held personally liable for accidents. Insurance companies were decidedly unenthusiastic about covering these types of events because of the massive awards that the courts were handing out. The list of potential problems seemed endless, but yes, at that meeting we: decided that we were going to organize a bicycle rally.
Dave Hearn came up with the name 'CYCLON', and in that first meeting we decided that if we could convince the TBN to sponsor the event, we would hold CYCLON on the Civic holiday weekend. This way we would not compete with the Great Canadian Bicycle Rally.
If there was one thing that the rally had an abundance of, it was volunteers. Bud, Dave Hearn and Pam Harrison had a knack for infusing their enthusiasm in others. The amount of talent on that committee was amazing. Among the people who donated time in their respective professions were commercial artists, journalists, marketers, a lawyer, a nutritionist and a database application designer.
By the beginning of July, despite 9 months of a lot of hard work by many talented people, we had not finished the route research, had not finalized the entertainment, had only 60 people registered, and no idea what to do about insurance. The TBN had reluctantly put up more than it could afford in seed money. And everyone on the committee was worried that we had created a huge flop that would lose a ton of money!
At that point the real (frantic) work started. The TBN membership list was divided amongst volunteers and most members were called.
A group spent the weekend in St. Catharines to finish and check all the routes. A huge last minute push resulted in the insurance coming through on the day before the event.
On Friday, July 31, 1987, it was clear that all the work had been worthwhile. The feeling of camaraderie on the first night of CYCLON made it apparent that CYCLON would be an annual event for a long time to come.
--originally published in June/July 91, TBN News