But where did it all begin? Wanting to bring more attention to my participation in The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer, I started the "I'll Do (Almost) Anything for a Donation" campaign and La Tour was born on social media - Twitter & Facebook & Meetup - and out of a challenge between 2 cities - Spruce Grove & Stony Plain. You can read the first part of that story here.When I posted the story to Twitter, Spruce Grove Mayor Stu Houston was not to be outdone by Stony Plain's Mayor William Choy. He responded with this:
Stuart Houston
"Well!", I thought, "You're on!" It took about a week to pin down a date and time but by May 10th, we had sorted it out. May 25th, Noon - 2pm - a guided bike tour of the trails of Spruce Grove, friends welcome. Here is where the Social Media came in. I Tweet, I Facebook, I Meetup, I Linkin, I Google+ and I decided to use all of the tools at my disposal in an attempt to make this the biggest event that I could, in 2 weeks time. There was a Facebook Event , Several Meetup Group Events like
Hike n Bike Edmonton, Tweets too numerous to count, Blog Posts, invites out to local bike clubs (Devon Cruisers), shops (Shift Happens & Mud Sweat & Gears), & groups (Edmonton Bicycle Commuters), and word of mouth (no link for that, eh?). And the results?
~25 riders from Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Devon, & Edmonton! Here is our story:
It was a dark and stormy morning, the clouds threatening rain as I drove to park The Dingo at the Tri-Leisure Center. There was little wind but the sky couldn't make up its mind on whether to rain or not. (Note: I may have taken a bit of dramatic license with the stormy part, it was mostly just overcast and spitting down a very tiny bit of rain occasionally.)
I unpacked my bike, geared up, and rode over to the meeting point for La Tour De Spruce - the south end of Superstore's parking lot in Spruce Grove. As I had been unable to sleep, sit still, or contain myself, I arrived just before 11:30am. Imagine my surprise when I found this waiting in the parking lot! Shift Happens & The Devon Cruisers where already here! They had tweeted their intent on coming but I had no idea how many they were bringing. What a fantastic surprise!
As I wandered here and there, taking pictures and shaking hands, more riders began to appear. We had riders coming in from Edmonton, including Amir who RODE HIS BIKE from Edmonton to Spruce Grove, riders from Stony Plain, including Lynn who rode The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer last year, riders from Spruce Grove, Devon, & even as far as Sherwood Park! The Mayor - Stu Houston - arrive & we had introductions (Are you REALLY the Mayor?! - one cyclist exclaimed, obviously unaware of just how much our Mayor loves his city and how he'll do nearly anything to show it off to the world - as well he should!). After a quick overview of why we were all coming together and riding, a group photo was had & we were off!
With planned stops every 4 km, we started the trail as we had mapped it - heading east on McLeod and north into the woods behind Canadian tire. We set a leisurely pace, allowing for conversation and enjoyment of our surroundings. We had mountain bikers, road bikers, race bikers, cruisers, and casual riders in our group. We even had 3 young folks (not that we aren't all young but these 3 ladies are under 18). Within the first 2 km, we had our first flat tire of the day. Out came the pump but it was determined to be a leak at the stem. And so we lost a rider with a promise to meet up with us again at 2pm.
The shale trails were in peak packed condition for all types of bikes and the weather was beautiful. Overcast with a touch of sun peeping out now and again. There were flowers along the marshy areas of the trail and the trees were in full bud. We soon arrived at the trails that lead behind Central Park and the back side of the Agrena where The Spruce Grove Life & Leisure Expo was in full swing. Doubling back the way we had come, through the forest but taking the paved trails this time, we headed for the bike tunnel & the "broken trail" with the new wooden bridge. This section of trail is under construction but will soon be complete and leads to a sidewalk into the Jesperdale neighborhood.
Taking to the streets, we headed for the Calahoo Road Roundabout (traffic circle) and into the Longview neighborhood. One of the amazing things about the Spruce Grove Heritage Trail System is that it winds through the woods, along main roads, and through residential neighborhoods and parks. You can always get there from here, as the saying should go in this case. We next rode through Fairway Park, across Grove Drive - continuing straight on the trail through a tiny green park and took a right toward "The Secret Park". If you want to know where this beautiful hidden gem is, email me.
We left The Secret Park and headed east along the trail, crossing Century Road to the Greystone neighborhood and turned left to Grove Drive, took a right on Grove and followed the trail into Jubilee Park where the Mayor had a cooler of Gatorade waiting for us (stashed safely in his truck)! A break here was much appreciated by all as we were to experience the only real hill climb of the ride when we left Jubilee Park and headed west, back up Grove Drive.
We experienced one more small bike issue on the way up the hill - a mountain bike that decided to stick its gears and refused to do anything but be walked. Silly bike, does it not know how much fun a hill is to ride? :) Crisis averted when the gears began to cooperate again and we rode west towards the Jennifer Heil and our final destination - The Tri-Leisure center for a prize draw, a slow-mo bike race in the parking lot (Pepper won!), and popsicles.
Our route this day took us 23.26 which is about the length of each "leg" between pit-stops during The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. The whole ride is 220 km and pits are every 20 - 30km. Every one of our La Tour De Spruce riders should be very proud of themselves for their completion of this journey!
If you would like to ride La Tour De Spruce route, you can follow the map below or email me & I would be happy to take you on a tour of the amazing resource available in Spruce Grove - the Spruce Grove Heritage Trail. We can duplicate La Tour De Spruce or I can create a more or less challenging ride for you.
Special thanks out to:
Mayor Stu Houston - Twitter & Facebook - for leading La Tour De Spruce & for procuring 2 all-inclusive passes for West Edmonton Mall for the prize draw!
Mud Sweat & Gears - Twitter & Facebook - for donating a Bronze Bike Tune up & a Water Bottle for the prize draw!
Devon Cruisers Club - Facebook - for bringing out your beautiful bikes (Bamboo & Nora!) & the amazing folks who ride them (Mark, Kelly, Jocelyn, Holly, Jeff (and I am a bad bad person for not remembering everyones' names)! I'll see you on Wednesday night at 7pm for the next Themed Cruise!
Shift Happens Bike Repair (and now selling bikes!) - Facebook - for coming out to ride (Judy & Pepper) and for transporting the Devon Cruisers' bikes! Can't wait to see your shop when I come out to Bike Town!
NOW! Radio Trucksicle - Twitter - for supplying post-ride popsicles with @Sassy_Cassey & @NOWCourtneyPop!
Hike n Bike Edmonton - Meetup - for providing Colleen, Evi, Keith, & Amir!
The Boxing Club - Website - for sending Bobbi, John, & Taylor to ride with us!
Please remember to donate to The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer as I'll be riding 10x the length of La Tour De Spruce in August and need all the help I can get!
Picture album here: NOTE: Some photos were taken by Devon Cruiser Club members, I've tried to mark them and welcome an email with names so I can give proper credit.
It was a dark and stormy morning, the clouds threatening rain as I drove to park The Dingo at the Tri-Leisure Center. There was little wind but the sky couldn't make up its mind on whether to rain or not. (Note: I may have taken a bit of dramatic license with the stormy part, it was mostly just overcast and spitting down a very tiny bit of rain occasionally.)
I unpacked my bike, geared up, and rode over to the meeting point for La Tour De Spruce - the south end of Superstore's parking lot in Spruce Grove. As I had been unable to sleep, sit still, or contain myself, I arrived just before 11:30am. Imagine my surprise when I found this waiting in the parking lot! Shift Happens & The Devon Cruisers where already here! They had tweeted their intent on coming but I had no idea how many they were bringing. What a fantastic surprise!
As I wandered here and there, taking pictures and shaking hands, more riders began to appear. We had riders coming in from Edmonton, including Amir who RODE HIS BIKE from Edmonton to Spruce Grove, riders from Stony Plain, including Lynn who rode The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer last year, riders from Spruce Grove, Devon, & even as far as Sherwood Park! The Mayor - Stu Houston - arrive & we had introductions (Are you REALLY the Mayor?! - one cyclist exclaimed, obviously unaware of just how much our Mayor loves his city and how he'll do nearly anything to show it off to the world - as well he should!). After a quick overview of why we were all coming together and riding, a group photo was had & we were off!
With planned stops every 4 km, we started the trail as we had mapped it - heading east on McLeod and north into the woods behind Canadian tire. We set a leisurely pace, allowing for conversation and enjoyment of our surroundings. We had mountain bikers, road bikers, race bikers, cruisers, and casual riders in our group. We even had 3 young folks (not that we aren't all young but these 3 ladies are under 18). Within the first 2 km, we had our first flat tire of the day. Out came the pump but it was determined to be a leak at the stem. And so we lost a rider with a promise to meet up with us again at 2pm.
The shale trails were in peak packed condition for all types of bikes and the weather was beautiful. Overcast with a touch of sun peeping out now and again. There were flowers along the marshy areas of the trail and the trees were in full bud. We soon arrived at the trails that lead behind Central Park and the back side of the Agrena where The Spruce Grove Life & Leisure Expo was in full swing. Doubling back the way we had come, through the forest but taking the paved trails this time, we headed for the bike tunnel & the "broken trail" with the new wooden bridge. This section of trail is under construction but will soon be complete and leads to a sidewalk into the Jesperdale neighborhood.
Taking to the streets, we headed for the Calahoo Road Roundabout (traffic circle) and into the Longview neighborhood. One of the amazing things about the Spruce Grove Heritage Trail System is that it winds through the woods, along main roads, and through residential neighborhoods and parks. You can always get there from here, as the saying should go in this case. We next rode through Fairway Park, across Grove Drive - continuing straight on the trail through a tiny green park and took a right toward "The Secret Park". If you want to know where this beautiful hidden gem is, email me.
We left The Secret Park and headed east along the trail, crossing Century Road to the Greystone neighborhood and turned left to Grove Drive, took a right on Grove and followed the trail into Jubilee Park where the Mayor had a cooler of Gatorade waiting for us (stashed safely in his truck)! A break here was much appreciated by all as we were to experience the only real hill climb of the ride when we left Jubilee Park and headed west, back up Grove Drive.
We experienced one more small bike issue on the way up the hill - a mountain bike that decided to stick its gears and refused to do anything but be walked. Silly bike, does it not know how much fun a hill is to ride? :) Crisis averted when the gears began to cooperate again and we rode west towards the Jennifer Heil and our final destination - The Tri-Leisure center for a prize draw, a slow-mo bike race in the parking lot (Pepper won!), and popsicles.
Our route this day took us 23.26 which is about the length of each "leg" between pit-stops during The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. The whole ride is 220 km and pits are every 20 - 30km. Every one of our La Tour De Spruce riders should be very proud of themselves for their completion of this journey!
If you would like to ride La Tour De Spruce route, you can follow the map below or email me & I would be happy to take you on a tour of the amazing resource available in Spruce Grove - the Spruce Grove Heritage Trail. We can duplicate La Tour De Spruce or I can create a more or less challenging ride for you.
Special thanks out to:
Mayor Stu Houston - Twitter & Facebook - for leading La Tour De Spruce & for procuring 2 all-inclusive passes for West Edmonton Mall for the prize draw!
Mud Sweat & Gears - Twitter & Facebook - for donating a Bronze Bike Tune up & a Water Bottle for the prize draw!
Devon Cruisers Club - Facebook - for bringing out your beautiful bikes (Bamboo & Nora!) & the amazing folks who ride them (Mark, Kelly, Jocelyn, Holly, Jeff (and I am a bad bad person for not remembering everyones' names)! I'll see you on Wednesday night at 7pm for the next Themed Cruise!
Shift Happens Bike Repair (and now selling bikes!) - Facebook - for coming out to ride (Judy & Pepper) and for transporting the Devon Cruisers' bikes! Can't wait to see your shop when I come out to Bike Town!
NOW! Radio Trucksicle - Twitter - for supplying post-ride popsicles with @Sassy_Cassey & @NOWCourtneyPop!
Hike n Bike Edmonton - Meetup - for providing Colleen, Evi, Keith, & Amir!
The Boxing Club - Website - for sending Bobbi, John, & Taylor to ride with us!
Please remember to donate to The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer as I'll be riding 10x the length of La Tour De Spruce in August and need all the help I can get!
Picture album here: NOTE: Some photos were taken by Devon Cruiser Club members, I've tried to mark them and welcome an email with names so I can give proper credit.
