Perhaps you are enjoying skiing, snowshoeing, skating, trips to Mexico or Hawaii, but the days are already getting longer and spring will be here before we know it!
So what are your cycling plans for the spring, summer and fall this year? Does your bike need some work to make it roadworthy?
Do you need to take a course to improve your ability and confidence when you are cycling in traffic? Are you considering some cycle touring and would like to learn how to do that successfully?
The Comox Valley Cycling Coalition is offering educational opportunities to address these and other questions in the next few weeks.
On Feb. 25, the coalition will hold its annual general meeting at the Filberg Centre at 7 p.m. If you are interested in learning about the successes of 2012 and the plans for 2013 please come and join us.
There will be a presentation from John Rankin from Mountain City Cycle on bicycle maintenance as well as recognition of our energetic and enthusiastic volunteers and prizes.
Active Comox Valley in collaboration with the Coalition, is offering an Urban Cycling Skills course on March 9, which is advertised in the Recreation Reporter (page 23). Consider signing up and getting a head start on the cycling season.
Also offered, through the Courtenay Recreation Department, is a Bicycle Touring course on Wednesday evenings from Feb. 6 to March 13.
Both courses are being presented by Ed Schum, who is an enthusiastic, experienced cyclist and one of only a few nationally certified CanBike instructors.
This may not be a New Year's resolution as such, but it is a good time of year to make a resolution to increase your use of alternative transportation this year.
The bicycle is an efficient and healthy way to get around and to do errands that do not really require the use of a car. Parking is always easier, too!
If you need some help to take the first steps in this lifestyle adjustment, please contact the coalition's Cycle Skills for Life at CVCycleSkills@gmail.com or call 250.871.7037.
Margaret Harris, president of the Comox Valley Cycling Coalition, writes Shifting Gears. It appears every fourth week.