Note from the President
2020 is turning out to be a tour season like no other. We were fortunate that the Death Valley
tour was able to finish successfully before Covid19 began to restrict activities. The effects of
Covid19 have now forced the board to cancel 11 tours. In light of the extraordinary
circumstances, the board has decided that the proper thing to do for club members has been
to temporarily suspend the usual tour refund policy and, instead, to issue full refunds to
members whose tours were cancelled due to Covid19. We know that many of you may have
made other travel plans which were cancelled and have experienced challenges in getting even
partial refunds. We are fortunate that the club has the financial strength to absorb the financial
blows of Covid19 this year and to not ask its members to bear this burden this year. We have
heard from a number of club members following the cancellation of their tour plans, and the
comments reflect that you have understood the difficulty of the cancellation decisions and
believe that they are the right choices.
A handful of tours remain on the schedule, and, fingers crossed, we hope that these will be
able to go. The tour directors, along with the tour leaders, are monitoring developments
closely. Any decision to cancel will be communicated to tour participants as quickly as
possible and refunds will be processed as expeditiously as possible. We appreciate your
understanding on these situations.
The closure of hotels and restaurants and the varying lockdown requirements around the globe
have made the logistics of many tours difficult to impossible so far this year. Even if these are
lifted, Covid19 uncertainty hangs over the future: e.g., will there be a vaccine? And if so, how
effective will it be? Will social distancing become the norm for the foreseeable future? Will
people be willing to do group bicycle tours? How will we handle lodging, sag stops, and group
tour activities if Covid19 restrictions (or fears) continue to affect how people interact? We don’t
have ready answers to such questions yet. But the board is committed to continuing the club’s
mission of offering great bike tours under conditions as safe as we can reasonably make them.
We are planning for a terrific 2021 tour season, even as we are in the midst of 2020. We hope
that if and as we have to adjust, you will continue not only your understanding, but your
support of bicycle touring and the club.
Fred Yu
President
Colorado HeartCycle
