On a chilly day at the end of October 2021(29th) while standing in the Cityview parking lot talking to Tom Rankin, Randy Sunderman, and City Engineer, Spencer Behn about the possibility of converting a well worn “desire line” into a proper bike path up Highway 5A, Spencer said something that struck me. He said “the cycling community needs a unified voice”.

Eager to warm up, I put on my “game face” and rode in traffic back home to my on-campus condo, the whole time thinking something has to be done to make cycling safer in this City... and who was that woman I met on that active transportation Zoom meeting Arjun arranged at the beginning of last month? (September 2, 2021)

That woman was Cheryl Fraser. A former transit planner and avid cyclist, she had taken it upon herself to launch the Kamloops Cycling Coalition in the summer of 2021 and she had attended the meeting to find other cycling enthusiasts to join. At the time she was the group's only member, but she had a logo and stickers! I reached out to her and we arranged a lunch meeting at the Art We Are (November 10, 2021). We doubled the membership that day when I became the KCC’s second member.

The new group’s first activity was Cheryl and I mining our contacts to reach out to people we knew who cycled. We struck gold with Marcia Dick. The three of us met at, you guessed it, The Art We Are (November 27, 2021) and planned how we would develop this new active transportation advocacy group. That led to many Zoom meetings where we developed our Vision and Mission Statements and talked about the possibility of reaching out to the guys that had formed KALCAT (Kamloops Association for Low Carbon Active Transportation) to see if they would like to merge the groups. We were thrilled when Rob Higgins and Aaron Wiebe agreed to join forces under the KCC banner.

Now we had a team of leaders for an effective advocacy group and we were eager to develop an active transportation culture in Kamloops. We’d arrange a meeting with City transportation staff, ask to be part of the Transportation Advisory Commission and we’d be set. It should be pretty easy to convince a few people that the ability to walk and cycle to get where one needed to go is a basic right, an issue of equity, wellness and climate action. Who wouldn’t get on board? How hard could it be? Well, it’s no surprise to anyone following along that it wasn’t that simple, but we forged on and found other great people willing to help in the effort.

Deanna Hurstfield together with other members of the community had, a few years back, created a Facebook page to encourage active transportation and cycling in our community. With their help, we were able to re-purpose that page to what has now become the Kamloops Cycling Coalition Chat Group, with an incredible 630 + members!!

Dr. Trent Smith had also been a strong voice for AT and we were eager to have him join our group. Bryce Granger found us and brought his experience with HUB Cycling in Vancouver and when former Councilor and dedicated community builder Arjun Singh agreed to join the group we had come full circle in gathering the people who would form the inaugural Executive Committee of the Kamloops Cycling Coalition proudly incorporated as a registered non-profit society in BC on June 29, 2023.

As told by Deb Alore

Kamloops is a community where active transportation is considered a primary, practical, and safe mode of transportation, with fully connected and safe routes in all neighborhoods. Our community fully embraces a culture that empowers all people to engage in active transportation for convenience, affordability, health and recreation.

The Kamloops Cycling Coalition supports safe, efficient and equitable access to active transportation networks connecting all neighborhoods and infrastructure for users of all ages and abilities through advocacy, education, awareness and activity.