The regular MIVA/OBB ride leaves from Oak Bay Bikes on Terminal Avenue, Nanaimo at 9am Saturday. These rides can be quite "spirited", so pump up your tires really hard and take an energy bar or two. Depending on who shows up, the ride may split into two so the less fit riders can proceed at a gentler rate.

For all levels of fitness / ability /experience, the Monday club rides are ideal. There is always a lead rider and a "sweeper" who brings up the rear and makes sure that all riders are able to regroup frequently. The next one leaves OBB at 6.30pm next \Monday.

This evening, Mike Sevcov confirmed that the popular Cedar training runs are to resume this year, albeit on Wednesdays. All interested riders assemble at North Cedar Intermediate School by 6.30pm on Wednesdays. The first rune is tomorrow, May 2nd.

Peter Marshal is a Canadian who was a great competitive road cyclist in the 1970's. Subsequently, he turned first to wholesale bicycle and parts import and distribution and then into the retail end of our sport. owning and operating a quality LBS in St. Catharines, Ontario.

More recently he has become one of the best organisers of bicycle tours in Cuba and currently lives in Havana. His company, Canbicuba is known for the quality and variety of its tours. Here is this season's selections of tours for all tastes and abilities

Local Ride has extended the registration deadline for their Race the Ridge stage race to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 26, so you still have time to convince those reluctant friends to get in on the action. The weather forecast looks great for the weekend! Click HERE to register: http://www.karelo.com/register.php?BID=57&BT=10#Ev11609

A number of organisations have been asked to provide volunteers for this event. However. The Nanaimo Cobblestone Classic is MIVA's showcase race of the year. The club have over 50 members to date and if our 2011 members all rejoin, we will have over 80! This should give the club it's primary source of volunteers. However, last season, despite constant requests and the opportunity to get series points, it was s-o-o-o-o hard to get anyone to help. The bell and lap board in the criteriums were more often than not operated by Al Henderson who was not even a member, and most of the time, there were no marshals on the turns. Several stalwarts including John Hannon, Mike Woodworth, Iain and Brody Hay, Dave Kenny and a few others did far more than their share but the majority of members had any number of excuses.

This year, any criterium where there are not at least three marshals on the critical turns will not start. So step up to the plate, to borrow a cliche from another sport, and do your bit to make MIVA really rock.

It would be a great shame if most of the volunteers for the Cobblestone Classic came from elsewhere.