Social/Education events

Presentation on cycling in California and Chicago, Dec. 16, 7 pm. This event, which is free and open to all TBN members and their guests, takes place at the Northern District Public Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd., conveniently located a two-minute walk north of the Eglinton Subway station. Presenters Mick O'Meara and Patsy Cook have been cycling in California for several weeks each year for the past 12 years. They have done trips in and around the San Francisco Bay Area; along the Pacific coast; and in the wine regions of Napa, Sonoma and Russian River. They were members of the Western Wheelers recreational cycling club located in the Bay Area, and will discuss rides they have done with them and on their own. They will also talk about their experiences cycling in Chicago. Register here.

Billiards night, Dec. 19, 7 pm. Paul Min is organizing a Billiards night at YK Billiards, 5582 Yonge St. in North York, on Dec 19. Click here to see the event, and to register.

TBN Pub Quiz, Dec. 19, 6:30 pm. The TBN Pub Quiz series will be moving to the last or second last Tuesday of each month starting in January. We are making the change because the Prenup Pub, which is one of the best and most interesting in the GTA, is becoming very popular, but Tuesdays are still quiet. Registration for the Dec. 19 quiz, which is on a Thursday, 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, Dec. 21, 8 pm. This will be a very special evening as it will feature the band that played the TBN AGM last month. The Tim Bovaconti Band play a mix of covers, mostly from the 1960s, '70s and '80s. Come to Noonan’s Irish Pub and dance to or just listen to this great band. There is NO COVER. More information, music videos, and registration can be found here.

Off-Season Prepping info session, Jan. 16, 6 pm. Bike Depot's Leaside location (1588 Bayview Ave.) is hosting a session titled Off-Season Prepping to be your Strongest, led by TBN member Paul Min. The event is free to register for all TBN members and non-members, but we ask attendees to register via the calendar. Maximum number of attendees to be set at 20. Attendees are welcome to purchase bicycle accessories at a 10 percent discount, and can bring bicycles for services at a 20 percent discount. Presenters are three well-known top athletes from southern Ontario: Abdullah Mohiuddin, Atharva Kuberkar and Andrew Lam. Details on the session are available here.

Monthly Dining Out, Jan. 23. We have just added an exciting new social event for club members. Each month, we will choose a different restaurant featuring food from a different part of the world. The restaurants will be in different parts of the GTA, so everyone should have a chance to attend in an area convenient to them. Registration for our outing to a fabulous Georgian restaurant on Jan. 23 is now open here.

Wolf Den weekend trip nearly full

Do you like to ski, skate or snowshoe? Or maybe you prefer bird watching and hiking? Then you can register for our Wolf Den Winter Trip to Wolf Den hostel which takes place from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 2025. The hostel is located very close to the west gate of Algonquin Park. Registration is now open via the Calendar. At this time just one space is available. 

City Walks

Our Sunday City Walk program continues every Sunday until Dec. 15, and on the evening of Dec. 21 we will have our traditional Christmas Lights Walk. Check the TBN Calendar for times and details, and to register.

Update to Ride Leaders Report application 

We are in the process of making a set of changes to the Ride Leaders Report application. The first set of changes include:

• Instead of the 10-30+ seconds response time seen previously, you will now see sub second response time.
• Program Choices has been cleaned up to match our current programs.
• A number of cosmetic changes have been made.

Please share your favourite gravel routes

TBN is planning some upcoming gravel rides and we would love to gather your route ideas and suggestions! If you have any favourite gravel routes close to the Greater Toronto Area, please share them with Communications Director Italo Bravo at publicity@tbn.ca. We're especially interested in routes with a mix of scenic paths, safe road crossings, and some great gravel stretches.

Feel free to include details like distance, elevation, gpx files and any must-see spots along the way, such as stops for coffee or lunch. Looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Zwift your way to winter fitness

TBN continues with its third year of winter virtual rides, using the Zwift computer platform to provide an almost limitless number of indoor rides as the weather turns cold, wet or snowy. We continue scheduling morning rides on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. As well, we are hosting Tuesday and Thursday evening rides. If demand is sufficient, we will host weekend rides (we need some more volunteer virtual ride leaders). Each ride will be posted two weeks in advance. Check the TBN Calendar for scheduled rides.  

Zwift allows us to offer curated rides in two fantasy worlds: Watopia and a Japanese-themed Makuri Islands.  Also available are virtual routes in London, France, Innsbruck, Yorkshire, Richmond, Scotland and a futuristic New York City. There are more than 160 routes, from gentle to extremely strenuous. Many of our rides will use the "rubber band" feature in Zwift to keep all participants close together.

If you are interested in Zwift rides, either as a participant or as a volunteer virtual ride leader, please email virtualrides@tbn.ca with your preferences (day, time, distance and duration) and whether you are willing to host an event. Details about upcoming Zwift meetups will be posted on the TBN website. For more information about the meetups and how to get started, see Zwift Meetups.

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.

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.

Chain of Events editor is Rick MacMillan. Email coe@tbn.ca.