In February, Greg Rawson asked Cobourg Town staff for permission to stage a Criterium Bicycle race in Downtown Cobourg. Staff have now approved a route and date – no doubt subject to Council approval – that are different from the original. The route now includes King and Albert instead of Chapel and King. It also includes the heart of Downtown. The date is now Saturday August 11. See the map below – full details for participants are also available for download in the Links below. Criterium races are on a short loop course (1km) so cornering skill is important and they promise to bring excitement to Downtown Cobourg. Greg is also organizing a more conventional bicycle race starting in Baltimore – the “Ontario Cup Road Race” on May 12 – details in links.

Coincidentally, the Town of Cobourg today announced that Cobourg has recently received provincial recognition at the 10th Annual Ontario Bike Summit Awards with a Bronze Award as a new Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC). The announcement said that:

The Town of Cobourg achieved Bronze after having been engaged in the BFC Program for years and receiving Honourable Mentions in 2015. The Town of Cobourg took the feedback prepared by an expert panel of judges and put that feedback into action by creating new programs and projects to make cycling more accessible.

Contributing to the bicycle community is Cycle Transitions which is a volunteer run bicycle repair shop. They now have a new home at the old Works Department facility at 390 King Street West.

I would have thought that Cobourg would be a good place for bikes since it’s close to flat – there are a couple of bike clubs in Cobourg (look under Sports clubs on this page) and Greg seems to be putting Cobourg on the competitive bicycle map.

Below is Cobourg Gran Prix Map for August 11, 2018 – Greg says that “the Town of Cobourg, the DBIA and the Cobourg Police have all signed off on it.”

Links

Update

At the Committee of the Whole Council meeting on Monday night (23rd April), Councillor Forrest Rowden presented the Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community Award to Bruce Bellaire of Cycle Transitions (left) and Laurie Wills (right) – Cobourg’s new Director of Works (effective the end of April). Bruce had made the submission for the award.

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