Elena Balland joins TBN Board

Elena Balland has been named TBN's new Member Experience Director. Elena enjoyed a career in mechanical engineering and tprogramming in Russia. Moving to Canada, she attended Queen's University to become a high school teacher. She loves to organize trips and has planned several for her friends in Canada as well as abroad. Elena feels it is important for every member to be welcomed and accepted, and every initiative to be heard and discussed.

Three days in Orillia

Twenty-five members gathered in this picturesque cottage-country town during Aug. 13-15 for some memorable cycling, suitable for all levels, and took advantage of the ideal weather. All stayed at Lakehead University's Orillia campus, at motels nearby and at Bass Lake provincial park campground.

Day one featured a 45k Urban Rollers ride, a 58k Tourist jaunt and an 84k route for über-cyclists (which had a rough stretch and some serious hills). The rides started off with highlights of the Orillia waterfront, including stops at the Leacock Museum National Historic Site and the Gordon Lightfoot sculpture park (photo below). We followed the Uhthoff Trail out of Orillia toward countryside roads around Bass Lake.

Day two saw everyone riding a loop through Port Severn and Big Chute with distances of 68k, 88k and 108k. The Marine Railway at Big Chute was active, with boats being transported both ways: from the Severn River to Georgian Bay and vice-versa. Day three had one group riding the paved and well-maintained Tay Shore Trail from Waubaushene to the Trumpeter Swan sculpture at Midland harbour. Others rode to Lake Simcoe, while the Tourist group rode to Moonstone and Coldwater. A great time was had by all.

TBN group at the Gordon Lightfoot sculpture "Golden Leaves" on Orillia waterfront

Social events & overnight trips

TBN Pub Quiz, Aug. 22. The TBN Pub Quiz series continues on the third or fourth Thursday of each month at one of Toronto’s best and most interesting venues, the Prenup Pub. Registration for the event is now open via the calendar. More details about the new quiz format and about the Pub Quiz series are available here.

Dancing on the Danforth, Aug. 24. This will be a very special evening as it will feature the band that played the TBN Spring Fling in May. The Junctioneers play a mix of covers, mostly from the 1960s, '70s and '80s. Come to Noonan’s Irish Pub, hang out on the back patio with us, and then dance to or just listen to this great band. There is NO COVER. More information, music videos and registration can be found here.

City walks

The City Walk program will be starting up again around the beginning of November, with walks on Sundays. If you would like to have some input regarding what we do this year, please attend one of the two planning meetings we will be having in September. One will be in-person at The Pilot pub, near Yonge and Bloor, and the other will be online using Zoom. Alternatively, you can email John Burdett with any of your ideas. 

One of last-season's walking groups bundled up for late fall

Third-party events

Looking for something different? Many groups reach out to us sharing information on their charity events. We have decided to publish those events under our "Third-party Events" calendar, which can be accessed via the Calendar entry in the top menu in our site or here.

Reminder to update your TBN profile

Please ensure to periodically update your TBN club profile. Perhaps upload a photo of yourself (so other members know who you are), confirm that your email address listed is correct (as this is the primary way for us to contact you), confirm your phone and emergency contacts are still valid, and update your current (or former) occupation and let us know if and how you would like to volunteer with TBN. We are always looking for helping hands, especially those with needed skills. How to do this: Login to the website www.tbn.ca, click on your name, then click Edit Profile. When you are done, press Save to commit your changes.

Don't be a no-show!

Please be considerate of your fellow club members. We are seeing daily occurrences of members who have registered, but are not showing up for a ride. If you have registered for a club event, and you cannot attend, or you choose not to attend, please cancel your registration. For events where there are limited spaces, you are opening up your spot for someone else who might be on the event's waitlist. At the very least, it informs the ride leader not to expect you at the start. If you are unsure how to cancel your registration, see the Cancel-my-registration page for details.

Event registration reminder

Please remember to login to the TBN website prior to registering for our Events. If you are not logged in, the system does not know who you are, and will only offer you the Guest Rider registration choice. Also, when you are logged into the TBN website, a lot of members-only content appears.