May 4 e-Newsletter

With the full heat of summer now upon us, you may have noticed that the cyclists of St. Albert are starting to emerge from their winter slumber. Cyclists are most often spotted alone or in pairs, but occasionally great herds of them can be seen on the roads or down along the river trails. But who are these groups of cyclists? And more to the point, how does someone join in on their fun? While you don’t need to join a club to ride a bike in St. Albert, if you’re a lone cyclist looking to connect with some like-minded people, you might be interested to hear about the St. Albert Bike Association, or SABA for short.

Founded only a few short years ago, SABA was started in order to give a unified voice to the cyclists of St. Albert on the issue of the proposed Bike Skills Park along the Sturgeon River. While the construction of the skills park has been put on hold for now, the event made it clear that a cyclist’s organization would have a lot to offer the city. SABA’s official mandate is to advocate for the cyclists of St. Albert, representing their interests in the community. “St. Albert is a very bike-able city,” says Jason Wywal, president of SABA, “We felt it important to create an outlet where everyone can show their support for cycling and work towards building programs, facilities, and an even better ‘bike-able St. Albert’.”

SABA’s activities around the city are quite varied. As mentioned already, you may have seen them on one of their group rides around town. These rides come in three skill levels, ranging from recreational to the more advanced mountain biking trips, and take riders to some of the best trails in St. Albert and the surrounding region. You might expect these events to slow down in winter, but you’d be wrong. SABA organizes spin classes to make sure that St. Albert’s cyclists don’t get as rusty as their chains through the long winter months.

But SABA isn’t just benefiting their own members. They offer bike safety courses to many summer camps and children’s groups around town, and have even received an official grant to construct bike repair stations throughout St. Albert’s trail system. The next time your tire springs a leak along the shores of Big Lake, you’ll know who to thank.

While SABA is still a fairly new organization, they’re picking up speed fast, and you can expect to see more of their handiwork around the city in the future. If you’re not a cyclist already, SABA can help you get started with their numerous member perks (including a discount at Cranky’s). The benefits of cycling are almost innumerable, but Jason offers one particularly compelling reason to start, “It puts a smile on your face. I like to say that it’s impossible to be sad while you’re riding a bike.”

To find out more about SABA’s activities, or for information on how to get involved, you can visit their website here.

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T8N This Week — Congratulations Holly C. and Connie K. for winning T8N This Week contest. To win this week, forward this newsletter onto your friends.  The five subscribers to forward this newsletter the most and the most friends subscribe, will win a prize!

ArtWalk St. Albert — Annual event starts May 5th, 6 pm to 9 pm (rain or shine) in the Perron District (Downtown St. Albert). For more information, contact Tamara at [email protected] or click here.