Our Committees | Q & A | History | Can Games

2006 is the second year for the Summerside Cycling Club.

The Club hopes to represent a wide range of cyclists, from beginning juniors to seasoned masters. The goal is to provide rides that are challenging in order to provide opportunities for cyclists' growth and development.

Our Committee Work

Summerside Cycling is fortunate to have a great crop of cyclists and other community members assisting with the planning, development, and growth of the Club.

Here is a current snapshot of our Committee work:

2006 Ride Route Committee

• Rob Cook (Traveller's Rest)
• Ben Kennedy (Kensington)
• Patricia Ellis (Charlottetown)

2006 Touring Event Committee

• Rob Cook (Traveller's Rest)
• Ben Kennedy (Kensington)
• Rex Button (Summerside)

2006 Monday Evening Community / Family Rec Ride Volunteer Leaders
(Rotational Schedule)

• Francois Caron (Summerside)
• Krista Curley (Summerside)
• Chris Gallant (Summerside)
• Garth Waite (Summerside)
• Cheryl Tanton (Summerside)
• Lila MacIsaac-Buchanan (New Annan)
• Ken Trenholm (Summerside)

2006 Biking for Breakfast Planning Committee

• Charmaine Campbell (Charlottetown)
• Dan Steele (Charlottetown)
• Gordon MacMillian (Charlottetown)
• Erik Charron (Newfoundland & Labrador)
• Keith Tanton (Summerside)
• Heather Connolly (PEI Active Living Alliance)
• Ken Trenholm (Summerside)

Youth Cycling Safely Provincial Steering Committee

• Jo-anne Wallace (Western Region Sport and Rec Coordinator)
• Amy Duncan (Tignish Recreation)
• Blair Weeks (Charlottetown)
• Paul Gallant (City of Summerside Recreation))
• Frank Quinn (City of Charlottetown Recreation))
• Ken Trenholm (Summerside)

2006 Lobster Carnival Bike Fest Committee

• Ben Kennedy (Kensington)
• Wes Jackshaw (Summerside)
• Dwayne MacNeil (Summerside)
• Jeff Hemphill (Summerside)
• Ernest Schleichkorn (Summerside)
• Ken Trenholm (Summerside)

After Work Ride Coordinators

• Ernest Schleichkorn, Road (Summerside)
• Looking for a Trail Coordinator

Questions & Answers

1. How Do I Become a Member?

There are three steps to joining our club:

Step 1: Fill out the online form and then include the Waiver Form

Step 2: Send all Forms and the appropriate fee to myself.

2. Why Does it Cost?

I wanted Membership to be cost-free; however, I was educated that the need for people who participate to be covered by insurance as well as Cycling PEI's sanctioning of Cyc-Isle Cycling Club as a "real" cycling club, a number of options were weighed.

The end result is that in 2006 we have different fee options. Our Membership Application explains the options very well.

2. What About Timers?

Only our training rides are you encouraged to bring your own timer / stopwatch for each event. We do not have a timer.

3. Should I Call or Just Show Up?

Your first event it is always best if you call or drop me an e-mail first. To be honest, I would appreciate an e-mail from everyone who is going to show up.

4. When Should I Show Up?

You should arrive at the starting location 15 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time. Events depart at the scheduled time.

5. So, What Do I Need to Bring?

You'll need a helment and your own water bottles and food. You may elect to bring a small pump and spare tube if case of emergency.

6. So, Do We Supply Food or Drink Stations?

Good question; simple answer: No. The responsibility of replenishing your food and water supply is yours. This may change in the years to come but not in our first year.

7. So, Do I Need Aero Bars To Compete in Time Trials?

Of course not. Let's be honest. Good gear is what it is: good gear. Good gear however never matches with a good head. You don't need to have aero bars and you don't even need to wear Lycra if you don't want to. The only mandatory equipment is you, helment, and bike. I don't have aero bars.

8. So, Do I Need a Splashy Bike

Nope. I'm riding a 1989 bike that lacks that modern day enhancements. This bike has travelled to Fredericton to Vancouver and back to PEI.

9. How Much Does Individual Events Cost?

Nothing. In an effort to ensure everyone who wants to participate will be given equal opportunity regardless of financial situation, there will be no cost to participating in the rides other than a small annual membership fee. The only cost will be the fund-raiser on August 5 for the School Breakfast Programs (minimum of $50.00) and the Lobster Carnival Bike Fest ($60).

10. Will Route be Marshalled?

No. There will be a short meeting for those who show up a little early to discuss the route and be given a map. Please be sure to review the route on the web page and even have a practice run prior to race day. All routes have also been designed with safety of the riders in mind.

12. What Are the Age Limits?

Riders who are under 18 years of age need (a) a Waiver signed by their legal parent or guardian. Riders beginning at 10 years of age may participate.

There is no upper limit on riders' age.

13. Do I Need to Have a Racing License?

No. These are events and not official races.

14. So, What Are The Club's Future Plans?

One word: endless. . . the ideas from members and non-members continue to flood in. You will see improvement and expansion of the Club yearly.

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"Big Picture" History

History means many different things to many differnet people. For myself, although the Summerside Cycling Club is entering it's first year, the Club has roots in a long history of the quest for better cycling performance. Here are some of the milestones:


DATELINE: 1899
Charley "Mile-a-Minute" Murphy was an early cycling racer. His "mile-a-minute" feat was accomplished in 1899. At that time he traveled faster than the fastest automobile. Notice the large windscreen on the train in front of him which greatly reduced wind resistance.

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DATELINE:1929
During the early part of this century, 6-day races were one of the most popular sporting events in the world. A sometimes boring, sometimes viciously exciting, but always grueling saga where, since 1898 when most countries decided it was cruel for a lone rider to take part, a team of two cyclists would take turns riding for 144 to 147 hours (depending on the facility) to rack up as many miles and sprint bonuses as possible. Every major city the world over had an indoor or outdoor track, with over 100 in America alone. The races were sporting, social, and, high in the smoky bleachers, a betting event. Young and old, rich and poor, everyone went to the races. And, in the 1930s, William "Torchy" Peden was one of the racers everyone loved.

William "Torchy" Peden was born in Victoria B.C. in 1906, as a youth "Torchy" got his nickname because of his flaming red hair. In 1929, at 23 years old he turned professional and joined the Six-Day racing circuit, becoming well known in both North America and Europe. Many a Canadian youth would race his bike down the street claiming to be "Torchy" Peden. Torchy became a household name in North America and one of the highest paid sports figures in the world. At a time when hockey and baseball sports celebrities would be making less than $10,000, Peden annual earnings exceeded $50,000.

In his first year as a pro he won 24 of the 48 races that he entered both on and off the track. A large man, at 6’ 3", 220 pounds, he was a crowd favorite during the heyday of six-days madness. He won 38 of 126 races in his 19-year pro career between 1929 and 1948, a record that stood until 1965. In the 106 years of six-day racing, William "Torchy" Peden is ranked 11th in the historical classification of all six-day racers.

Known in racing circles for his exceptional strength and power as a six-day racer William "Torchy" Peden still holds the record for the most 6-day victories in one year; 10 in 1932. Follow this link for vintage 6-Day Race photos.

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DATELINE:1968
Jocelyn Lovell competed in three Olympic Games between 1968 to 1976. His top rank was 7th in the 1000m Time Trial in 1968 in Mexico City. He was inducted to Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984. Jocelyn Lovell dominated Canadian cycling in the 1960s and '70s. He won dozens of national titles as well as gold medals at the Commonwealth and Pan American games.

At the 1974 Canadian championships he turned them into a one-man show by sweeping nearly every event from the sprints to the 102 mile road race.

A "rebel" with tatoo's, living life by his own terms, an individualist, were many of the titles given toward Lovell. He stopped wearing an earing when it became fashionable. He won 40 national and international titles. For a 1982 CBC Sports interviewer with Joceyln Lovell by Bob McDevitt as he talks about "dying on the track" as the only way to race. Famous for teasing reports that he would retire, in 1983 while road training for an upcoming race, he was struck by a dump truck and the history has been preserved by CBC.

He got a six month suspension CAA for stealing a box of cookies at a meet; Cycling Officials called for a lifetime suspension for the theft because they were tired of his antics. I am sure that Champion on Wheels: A Biography of Jocelyn Lovell by Mary Frances Coady would be an interesting read.

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DATELINE:1979
Best Screenplay winner “Breaking Away” is a 1979 sleeper filled with precious moments of small-town life, campus antics, paternal wisdom (Paul Dooley), and coming of age from the perspectives of four very different high school graduates.

“Pa-pa, the Italians (cyclists) are coming,” beams Dave Stohler (Dennis Christopher) when he learns his heroes will race in Bloomington, his hometown and site of the University of Indiana. Obsessed, he eats only foods ending with “ini” and convinces a comely coed that he's an Italian exchange student.

With his three inseparable buddies, they spend the summer pondering their futures (“I thought we were gonna waste our lives together.”) Mike (Dennis Quaid), the former high school quarterback, echoes the group's uncertainties, knowing he'll never beat the rich, beautiful-people college kids at anything because, while newer students will always pass through campus, he'll just become, “30-year-old Mike.” Making things worse is the fact that the college kids know they're superior and derisively refer to the locals as “cutters” because of the nearby quarries.

When an altercation lands them all in court, the judge “sentences” them to settle their differences in the bicycle race, in which Dave should be the odds-on favorite.

The Cutters and the Little 500 were born.

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DATELINE:1984
Curt Harnett captures silver medal at 1984 Olympics. Only a teenager at the time, Curt Harnett of Thunder Bay, Ontario, blazed to a silver medal in the kilo. Placing a mere three-one-hundredths-of-a-second behind German Fredy Schmidtke, Harnett shocked the cycling community.

Harnett excelled early with junior national titles in both track and road. A promising hockey career likely helped him develop his explosive quickness, which he honed on the track. After his success of ’84, Harnett and coach Des Dickie made the decision to turn to the sprint. A 10th place in the ’88 Olympics in Seoul inspired Harnett to progress through another four years to the Barcelona Games in 1992.

It was there that Harnett eventually succumbed in the semifinals to Aussie Gary Niewand and settled for the bronze medal. It was a feat he would repeat in Atlanta four years later when he bested Niewand, but couldn’t handle the American Marty Nothstein or the eventual winner Jens Fiedler. Harnett retired after the 1996 Games with Olympic silver and two bronze, and a gold and silver from various World Championships (Source: Pedal Magazine).

Inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame May 26, 2005. Curt Harnett represented Canada with distinction in cycling from 1983 to 1996, competing in four Olympic Games and winning three medals: one silver and two bronze. He also competed in three Commonwealth Games and three Pan American Games and came home with four medals. In 1995, Curt set a world 200-metre record that has never been equaled.

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DATELINE:1985
Alex Stieda was the first Canadian (and North American) to wear the Tour de France's Yellow Jersey as race leader. He wore the yellow jersey for one day. That is the story most of us know. However, this is the story as told by Alex himself . . .

How did he get the yellow jersey in 7-11's first appearance in the Tour? As he tells it, he was able to convert a solid prologue ride (16th on a pars-cours that suited his technical abilities and pursuiting skills). The next day - the first full day of the tour - featured an 80km morning flat road stage followed by a long afternoon Team Time Trial (TTT). Thinking that there might be a chance to take the peleton by suprise in the road stage, Alex lined up for the start in a skinsuit for max aerodynamics. After spending the first 20k muscling his way to the front he rode away from the pack under the pretense of going ahead to take a leak (I'm not kidding here). Once out of site on the twisty roads of a small village he attacked hard, eventually opening up a 4 minute lead and picking up all the intermediate sprint and climbing time bonuses along the way. With the time bonuses he had ridden himself into the yellow jersey on the road, but he was still worried about getting caught by the main field, as the Dutch prologue winner could still keep the jersey by winning the stage and getting the associated large time bonus.

Eventually getting caught by a chase group, Alex had to keep working hard as the peleton was quickly reeling him in over the final 20k. His small group was slowing down as riders started riding tactically to try and bag the stage win, so he had little choice but to give up all hope of winning the stage and go to the front of the group and ride as hard as possible in hopes of holding off the field. Coming into the finishing straight he could see the huge wave of riders in the peleton roaring up behind him. As he describes it, he gave his small group "the best leadout of their lives" in a last-ditch effort to save the Yellow jersey. It worked, and he became the first North American to wear the jersey to the shock of the european press, riders, and fans. They just did not have a clue as to who he was, and who was the 7-11 team.

Sadly, as great as the day started off it ended just as badly. In one of the great debacles of the Tour the 7-11 team rode perhaps the worst TTT in race history. A crash took out mutliple Olympic medallist Eric Haiden (Described by Stieda as "one the biggest powerhouses to ever get on a bike, but with the bike-handling skills of a gorilla"), a near fight between Alexi Grewal and another team-mate), and Alex got dropped after his huge morning effort eventually surviving the time cut by only 20 seconds.

He was awarded 5 different jerseys after the morning road stage, and still laughs when he recalls how he and coach Jim Ochowicz stood on the podium laughing in disbelief (January 13, 2005, "Alex Stedia Presentation at Local Bike Club" by Noel in Calgary).

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DATELINE:1990
Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame May 26, 2005, Steve Bauer became recognized as a world cycling contender at the 1984 Olympic Games, where he won a silver medal, surprising the Europeans in the sport they traditionally dominated. Following the Olympics, Steve turned professional and, in his second professional race, won a bronze medal at the World Professional road race in Barcelona.

At the end of the first stage of the 1988 Tour de France, Steve broke clear of the pack and took the coveted yellow jersey for the first time. Throughout the next 20 days, Steve would carry the lead four times and finished fourth overall. In 1989 Steve won his first World Cup race in the Zurich championship.

For me, this is what I remember . . .It was a broiling hot day, with an estimated crowd of 300,000 lining the 190.2 km (118 mile) route during the 84 Olympics. Alexi Grewal broke away from the field with 20 kilometers remaining and opened up a 24-second lead after 11 of 12 laps. Steve Bauer, caught up to Alexi with 10 kilometers left, setting up a final-lap showdown. Alexi was challenged again by Bauer, three miles from the finish line. Grewal edged Canadian Steve Bauer to claim the gold medal in the men’s road race. This scene, replayed many times since, is one of the most emotional Olympic victories of the Modern Games. It has been an inspiration as well as a devastation to millions of people. I can still see and hear Al Michaels calling the race as they were coming up the hill in LA. The tactics of both riders were questioned: Bauer was allowed to start the World Championships; Grewal was not.

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DATELINE:2004
Lori Ann Muenzer captures Gold Medal (Match Sprint - Track) at the Summer Olympics at Athen's. She did this on two borrowed wheels (Front tire exploded in the bag it was carried in and the rear disc wheel exploded after one full training lap in the middle of track). Auzzie's offered their rear disc wheel and France the front wheel. Only in the sport of cycling. . . More of the story and images of Lori Ann at the 2004 Athen's Olympics.

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Visit the Cyclists who competed for PEI at the Canada Games

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