I am honored to accept the position of Chair for the 2026 North Shore Century. You should all know that the 2025 North Shore Century is the 40th time the Evanston Bicycle Club has made this popular event available. In recent years, the event has drawn about 2000 riders. Money raised by the club has been donated to worthy organizations that support cycling activities in our area. We partner with charities that raise funds by cycling in our event. The NSC is supported entirely through volunteer efforts – with about 170 of our club members pitching in to make this a fun event for both our members and our NSC riders.
With that as history, I feel obligated to make sure the tradition continues. I thank the 2025 Chair, Peter Glaser, for his work in chairing successful events since he assumed the role in 2019. A successful NSC relies heavily on a cadre of team leaders, and the teams of volunteers, with responsibilities for various aspects of the event. Most of our volunteers come back year after year – and their experience is vital to the event’s success.
Thanks to Peter’s leadership, as well as his predecessors, we have continued to define roles, processes, and time-lines that assure a successful event. Many of the club volunteers have brought important skills to continually improve technology to support things such as route planning, registration, and communications. Our rest stops, with legendary food choices, require a lot of coordination, planning, and hard work. All these things make the North Shore Century a very popular event. We get wonderful feedback from participants, many of whom come back year after year.
I look forward to working with the lead team and all of our volunteers to continue our successful history with a great 2026 North Shore Century!
Barbara Niehus