If you're only hearing about Cycling NWT for the first time, that's okay. It is a new project, after all.

Thorsten Gohl, a member of the group's board, hosted a coaching clinic on Monday in the Tin Can Hill area to help out those interested in becoming coaches. It's part of a larger project, Gohl explained, as he wants Cycling NWT to become the newest territorial sport organization (TSO) in the NWT.

He said Cycling NWT is registered under the NWT Societies Act, which makes them a non-profit organization. To become a TSO, they need to be accepted by Sport North and meet the necessary criteria in order to do that.

Gohl said he's submitted all the paperwork and are waiting for an answer.

"Because the snow is coming soon, we wanted to get some coaching clinics in place, so we were going to reach out to Cycling Canada to see if we can host a coaching clinic," Gohl said, explaining the backstory behind this most recent clinic. "We made it happen."

Gohl's clinic in Yellowknife featured a half-dozen folks with a wide age range, he said.

Gohl added that part of this work is for community outreach across the NWT.

"With my engagement with the community, you see bicycles, cycles, everywhere," he said. "I think it's a fantastic way of doing community outreach clinics where we do bike rodeos to go into the community and teach how to fix up bikes, teaching about road safety, teaching about all the different aspects of the sport."

Training coaches is a key component to these clinics, Gohl explained, because the ultimate goal is to have NWT representation at the Canada Games down the road. You can't do that unless you have coaches with the right qualifications.

"In order to get that level, we need to start that process at some point, so that's where we started," he said.

Gohl said it might be years until anyone from the territory takes part in the Canada Games. In the meantime, he added he can do outreach work all year long from mountain biking to road biking, or Fatbiking during the winter.

"There's a lot of opportunity out there," Gohl said.

Gohl added that he doesn't know when Cycling NWT will get the news on when or if they become a TSO, but did say he hopes to hosts another coaching clinic next year.