Week of July 20th

Toonie Thursday this week is at Sovereign and we are riding... NOCS Virtual Toonie Ride #4 (Please label it this in your strava/trailforks so it is easy for us to find!) With summer finally arriving and the weather heating up it's time to find some cooler areas! Head up to Sovereign where you will do a warm up lap on Soup to Nutz, then for lap two you can let loose on Rock is the New Berm. Make sure to bring an extra tube and see if you can spot the moose! Remember that you have until Sunday at noon to ride this loop... and don't forget to press record. Once you see that NOCS Badge in trailforks you know that you have successfully completed this weeks challenge! The prize for week 3 & 4 is a pair of Skevik Skis... so make sure you get both rides in so you get 2 entries for this rad prize! Week 3 and 4 has a custom set of Skevik Ski’s up for grabs. Increase your chances each week to win a set of locally made skis. Winner will get a set of custom skis on the summer build list and be ready for when the dirt gets covered*. While it feels like Summer just arrived, Skevik Skis just released their new collection for Winter! Their annual Early Bird Sale is running for the month of July, offering savings and a payment plan. Four months to prepare for Winer - start today from $163/month. Our food sponsor for week 4 is Ratio Coffee and Pastry. Ratio is offering two awesome deals for NOCS members for week 4: "Full squish” Iced Coffee - summer heat is finally here & it pairs perfectly with our juicy ice coffee. Brewed hot and flash chilled so it still tastes fresh. .50 cents from every iced coffee to NOCS. Additionally, Ratio will be donating $1 from any of their delicious pizzas ordered by NOCS members to the club A reminder of what you need to do :: download the TrailForks app, and to purchase your $20.00 Toonie Ride Season Pass, head to our website (www.nocs.ca) to purchase this pass. Then record your session of the wall on trailforks and label it Nocs Toonie Ride #4. Snap a pic of you on the trail, or having your beer and tacos at Martin's Brew Pub and tag us at #mtbvernon and #NOCSVirtualToonie. Wait to hear who wins the draw in next weeks newsletter. Pretty simple and super fun. If you have any technical difficulties please contact Marco at toonies@nocs.ca. FYI :: If you don't have a NOCS Membership you will need to purchase one to be eligible to win prizes. This is open to all ages so if you have some younger or older biking Ninjas in your crew encourage them to join in the fun! You can join in any time - ride as many of the routes as you can during our summer season! Week 3 may be done but we weren't going to leave you hanging without any giveaways this week. We have 4 bonus week 3 prizes to give away: 1x Cider Prize Pack courtesy of BX Press Cidery 3x Free Re-Fill at Fill Vernon/Pair of NOCS Socks Stay tuned for our mid-week release of this week's winners! What do I do when passing horses on the trail? You are on the trail and you see a horse... what do you do? It has been brought to our attention that not all bikers know what to do when coming up on a horse on the trail. Don't worry we've got you covered! For some reason the horses DO NOT hear the bikes. So if you are cycling on roads or trails when you see a horse and rider please make a noise like a quick "Hello, how's it going" or "Good day". Even clearing your throat will help. This is all it will take to prevent a possible disaster. We both love the outdoors and can very easily share the roads and trails. Happy trails to you! Let Your Voice Be Heard... sign the petition! Purchase of Chelsea Estate Property adjacent Ellison Provincial Park You may have heard of and already signed the petition to the Provincial Government regarding the purchase Chelsea Estate Property and expansion of Ellison Provincial Park. Following discussion with a previous board member to learn some of the history of this property, we contacted the City of Vernon to see if there was an appetite for Vernon to make this acquisition. We wondered if our support should move in that direction rather than at the Provincial Level. City Council had already met, discussed and concluded that, due to the magnitude, their support would best be in favor of the Province purchasing this land. The Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce has been corresponding with MOE and encouraging them to seek out potential partners to allow this opportunity to see fruition.  NOCS will engage in a campaign of support for this initiative and encourage all of our membership and the community to add your names to the petition. https://www.change.org/p/british-columbia-ministry-of-environment-and-climate-change-expand-ellison-provincial-park If you are willing and able, a letter to the Minister of Environment may also help. Hon. George Heyman Minister of Environment and Climate Change Box 9047, Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC V8W 9E2 UPCOMING EVENTS Virtual Toonie Thursdays -- running all summer long! Bombshell Enduro - Postponed to 2021 Bush Babes Soup 2 Nutz race :: Cancelled Okanagan 24 :: Postponed Silverstar Bike Park Open :: NOCS members get a $10 discount but you need to call to save. Bush Babes Aqua Terra :: SUP, bike and trail run solo or team - September 20 Do you have knee pain when you ride? Check out our latest video to see how you can bike strong and avoid knee pain! Community Spotlight #MtbVernon Please remember to keep stoking our NOCS community fire by tagging your photos @nocs.vernon & #MtbVernon to be featured in our weekly photo roundup. The pictures get better every week -- keep them coming!!