Message from the Board Chairs

elcome to our 2022 fall edition of Cycle Therapy. W

On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff at

Capital Bike, we’d like to thank you for your interest and support of the work we do.

With the easing of restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, return to the office for many, the arrival (finally!) of summer weather, and the massive success of our spring Go By Bike Week, cycling in Greater

Victoria is on the rise. Go By Bike Week spring 2022 saw a record number of 4,109 people visiting our celebration stations. Fall Go By Bike Week in October included more great celebration stations, prizes and incentives. As always: don’t forget to log your rides!

Since the spring, our board and staff have worked hard in bringing about programs and events to the community, many of them highlighted in our brandnew Capital Bike mobile app. We launched the

City of Victoria’s downtown free bike valet, as well as operated our newly branded “The Locker” bike valet service at over 30 event days across the Capital

Regional District. We are delivering the Everyone

Rides Grade 4 and 5 school program at 11 elementary schools across the region this fall, and had 24 kids, adult, and e-bike skills courses on offer across

July and August. We’ve teamed up with the City of

Victoria for Community Rides, the CRD for Charge

Your Ride E-Bike Training, and the Tour de Victoria to host their Kids Ride. Our All-Aboard Family

Cycling program offered workshops on cycling with kids or cycling while pregnant, and also ran a successful ‘bike petting zoo’ for families to learn from other families that cycle with kids. We have hosted multiple family rolling dance party rides, with more social rides to come at Halloween and in December.

Our wildly successful August sticker challenge saw 62 businesses participating, many offering additional incentives for visiting cyclists during the challenge. Our advocacy update covers more, but it is an exciting time for biking in our region – lots of new bike lanes being built, new plans underway or completed and whole new generations being introduced to biking through the new infrastructure. And of course, during the recent 2022 municipal elections, we surveyed candidates about their views on biking, walking, transit, and more alongside our colleagues with other aligned groups in the region. On September 30, we hosted our most meaningful ride of the year: the second Truth and Reconciliation ride. We were honoured to partner with Victoria Orange Shirt Day and members of the Songhees First Nation to put on an accessible family-friendly event that offered participants the opportunity to reflect on the impact of colonization and Residential Schools. We were pleased to connect this event with the wider Indigenous community to celebrate and highlight the Songhees Nation’s first National Truth and Reconciliation Day Powwow. With the 2022 year nearing its close, we have seen multiple successes for not only Capital Bike, but the Capital Regional District in getting more people cycling more places more often. To our valued members, we would like to thank you for your support of our work. Our Board is dedicated to building and sustaining a diverse and inclusive membership in which we can foster a sense of community that aligns with our programming and advocacy. We encourage others to join us as member and/or make a donation to amplify the amazing work that Capital Bike carries out in and for our community. Stephen McMurray and Rebecca Freedman Capital Bike Board Chairs