For 40 years, the Koops Purden to Prince George bicycle race has been a one-way affair.
But for a growing number of bike enthusiasts, the 62-kilometre race was only a warm-up ride.
The Prince George Cycling Club is now giving riders the option to double the distance and make the return trip in the renamed Koops Granfondo. The 41st annual race is set for Sunday, June 22, starting and finishing at Pineview elementary school on Old Cariboo Highway.
"Instead of the traditional Koops bike race, we're going to try to get a lot more people out and they can either ride from Pineview to Purden and back, which is 125 kilometres or they can go half the distance," said Matt Thomson, the club's road bike director.
"We have three races this year over 90km. A lot of folks are getting faster, there's just a lot more people putting more time in training."
The PGCC race season officially begins today at 11:30 a.m. with the start of a 55km road race, which also begins and ends at Pineview school.
The club has 15 road bike races on the 2014 calendar, including the Northern Hardware road race, May 11; the Evolve Road Race, May 25; the Ruckus Road Race, June 8 and the Cycle Logic Quadrilogy, July 3-5. The quadrilogy starts with a hill climb, followed by a criterium and time trial on July 4, ending with a road race July 5.
The club is also participating in the North 400 ride, in co-operation with Cops For Cancer, a one-day, 385-km ride from Prince George to Jasper on Aug. 8. Last year, six local riders including Thomson, made it to Jasper in 13 hours and raised more than $6,000 for Copes For Cancer.
"We had some good bouts of rain and wind, but everyone enjoyed it, " said Thomson.
The club also organizes group road rides Tuesday evenings at 6 p.m. from Cycle Logic and Saturday mornings starting at 10 a.m. at Ruckus Skis Boards & Bikes. Last year, as many as 40 riders showed up for the group rides.
On the mountain bike race scene, the club is introducing a Ruckus Friday Night 5'er series of races starting May 16. Cross-country races at Otway Nordic Centre are set for May 16 and June 6, while the trails of Pidherny recreation site will be used for enduro races May 30 and June 27. Entry fees for each of those races will be $5.
The Evolve/Stride & Glide Otway Challenge is set for Aug. 24 at Otway. It combines a 10km trail run with a six-hour mountain bike enduro. Participants have the option of just running or just riding (solo or as part of a team), or they're feeling energetic can race both events.
The road and mountain bike elements of the club are combined in the second annual Fall Bike Fest/Tri-Cycle Race, Sept. 27-28. It starts with a road race on a course that leads to Pidherny, where it turns into an off-road downhill and cross-country trail race.
The club is also promoting Bike to Work Week, May 26-June 1. The PGCC website pgcyclingclub.ca directs participants to register on a new province-wide website, biketowork.ca.
Mountain bike group rides/trail maintenance nights will be held at Pidherny every second Monday evening throughout the riding season. The club is also offering women-only group rides and the Prince George Kids Learn to Ride program (formerly Sprockids) will be held Wednesday evenings from 6-8 p.m. from May 7 to June 18 at Otway and Pidherny.
