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‘Getting more butts on bikes’

Charleswood resident shares his passion for cycling through his volunteer work

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/06/02/getting-more-butts...

DAVE Elmore recalls the ribbing he got as a teenager when many of his friends were buying their first cars and he bought a bike instead: a blue 10-speed CCM Turismo.

“Cycling’s always been important to me,” he says. “It’s always been something I’ve done.”

Today, the 70-year-old Charleswood resident shares his passion for cycling through his volunteer work as chairperson of Bike Week Winnipeg. The annual event features programming meant to encourage and engage cyclists. This year’s edition takes place June 8-14.

“It’s all about getting more butts on bikes,” Elmore says.

An engineer by training, Elmore was working as a project manager for the federal government when he started commuting to work by bike in the early 1990s.

He co-founded the cycling advocacy group Bike to the Future, now known as Bike Winnipeg, in 2007.

The following year, he helped start Bike to Work Day, an annual one-day event for bicycle commuters. In 2014, the event was rebranded as Bike Week. With the rebrand came an expanded mandate to engage cyclists of all kinds — whether they ride for everyday transportation, recreation or some other reason.

Rather than create change through advocacy, Elmore says, Bike Week attempts to create cultural change by engaging riders, trying to get more people involved in cycling and growing their understanding that bicycles can be a part of the city’s transportation culture.

While Bike to Work Day is still one of the week’s flagship events (it takes place June 10), this year’s Bike Week will feature numerous activities for people of all ages and abilities, including group rides, workshops, games and a wrap-up party on the legislative grounds on June 14.

Last year’s Bike Week drew more than 14,000 people to 160 events over seven days, according to a report prepared by Fête Jockey Events Inc., which helps organize and manage Bike Week. Elmore expects similar numbers this year.

Bike Week “adds to the culture and visibility of cycling across the city,” says Mark Cohoe, executive director of Bike Winnipeg.

“(It’s) creating those opportunities to give people that experience of cycling so they can get out there and imagine it as part of their everyday life,” he says. “It’s everyday people who are looking for those cycling opportunities — not just some radical core of people. It’s everyday folks. It’s our neighbours, our aunts, our uncles and our siblings that want to get out riding.”

Cohoe praises Elmore’s efforts, describing the retiree as “tireless (and) ageless.”

“(He’s) someone who’s committed a huge amount of time to making the city better, to helping us all be a little bit more environmentally friendly and sustainable, and someone who’s always ready to take on the task, big or small,” Cohoe says. “You get a smiling face, you get a hello and a warm welcome from Dave every time.”

In addition to chairing Bike Week, Elmore is a mechanic at the WRENCH community bike shop, he teaches cycling skills to middle school students and he leads spin classes twice a week at the YMCA-YWCA of Winnipeg.

The grandfather of two rides to these volunteer commitments on one of his eight bikes — usually either his red Surly or chrome Sekine.

“Ultimately I don’t look at any of them as work because I enjoy doing them, and I guess I’m seeing the benefits because I’m seeing more and more people on bikes,” Elmore says of his volunteer commitments.

“The things that we’re doing as different organizations, whether it’s Bike Winnipeg or Bike Week, are making a difference in our city, and that keeps me going.”

If you know a special volunteer, email aaron.epp@freepress.mb.camailto:aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca.

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