First and foremost, I wish to thank the Russians, whose intervention, and hacking skills made winning this election possible.

Also a big shout-out to Hannah, who during her term as president, along with the committee, has made significant progress during that time, including club incorporation, MTBNZ affiliation, and also significant growth of the club membership.

Thanks also to those who have volunteered to join the committee – it’s great to see new faces on there, representing a wider range of riders, and bringing their ideas, skills and talents to the table.

It’s also been great to see new people volunteering to be ride-leaders, alongside the regular leaders remembering that this is our ‘core-business’, namely riding bikes ?
Just remember, anyone can be a ride leader (if you are reading this, this means you…), all you need to do is have an idea, and sort the basic logistics. You also get to choose/’advertise’ what level (e.g. Easy/Intermediate/Advanced) this will require in terms of skill & fitness.

My own goal for the next year will to be to build on the current momentum, and hopefully see even more club rides, more trail building events, greater engagement with stakeholders (e.g. CCC, DOC).

Remember that your membership gives you access to the Members Facebook page (in addition to the Public FB Page), club rides, and MTBNZ affiliation, and also includes access to 3 EPIRBS (Whilst club rides will always get first-dibs on these, they are available for private rides too).

But most importantly, the majority of your membership fee has gone towards local trail development/maintenance, and also other worthy causes such as the Rescue Helicopter. So thanks for all your support to date, and when you see the membership renewal e-mail come through, can we please ask that you promptly sort it….

Finally, this is your club. So if you have any ideas or feedback, just reach out to myself or one of the committee members.

Hope to see you out on the trails soon. Now to find my access to the CMBC Presidential twitter account, so I can send nefarious tweets at all hours ?

Glen McGeachen
President
Canterbury Mountain Bike Club