Hey everyone does anyone have any advice for me? Bike co-ops, safe routes that might not be obvious, good shops? I'm conveniently located at the junction of the two protectes lanes in the southside so that's a start!

Edmonton does not have a lot of good long decents available. I would suggest Trail Forks to get yourself around. Depending on what kind of riding you do, there is a large trail network at the Science Park/Gold Bar. Can also head over to Fort Sask. The south side has Terwilliger Park which has some stuff in there too. As far as shops go, my go to shops were Mud Sweat and Gears, (Sherwood Park or Edmonton) and Revolution Cycle. Nothing against MSG, but I think Revo might have better mechanical services. MSG has done weird things like cranked on brake levers to the point I can back out the bolt to change the angle off the handle bars.