TBN has a new mailing address

Toronto Bicycling Network Inc.

3230 Yonge Street, #1703

Toronto, ON

M4N 3P6

Wolf Den reminder

If you are interested in the TBN favourite trip to Wolf Den coming up on Jan. 27 to 29, please register before Jan. 22. Stay at the rustic Wolf Den Hostel and Nature Retreat near Algonquin Park from Friday evening to Sunday. Cross-country ski, snowshoe or hike each day. TBN has booked the entire hostel.  The cost is only $125 for TBN members or $135 for non-members. Included will be burgers and snacks Friday evening, two breakfasts and supplies for two sandwich-style lunches. Saturday evening will be potluck (group meal).  Click here for more info.

Outdoor Adventure Show: Check out the TBN booth

TBN will have a booth at this year's Outdoor Adventure show, running Feb. 24-26 at the International Centre on Airport Rd. This year's event, which caters to outdoors enthusiasts of all stripes, has a quite-substantial Bike Fest area. Billed as "Canada's largest show of outdoor gear and adventure travel experiences," it is the only game in town this spring, since the normally annual spring Toronto Bicycle Show has been postponed until 2024, basically due to a shortage of bikes and accessories.

This event will be set up on the TBN calendar and we will be seeking volunteers to help out at the booth.

If you are able to attend, please do so and be sure to visit the TBN booth at #220.

A look back at 2022

TBN’s Touring Director, Dennis Szilvasy, has provided the following year-end overview of events and rider turnout during 2022 cycling events, based on reports from event coordinators.

No Drop Rides

A total of 11 events were held, with 114 riders in attendance. More people from this group have shown a desire to ride at a somewhat faster pace, suggesting there might be a need for more tour leaders to accommodate this in 2023.

Freedom Friday

A total of 15 rides were offered, with an average turnout of 15 riders per event. People liked the early starts at 8:30 am, ridership is steadily increasing, and coordinators hope to have a longer season in 2023, possibly adding new routes, as well as a social venue to meet up after rides.

Wednesday Wheelies 

A batch of 34 rides were organized, two were postponed and two rides were cancelled. A total of 629 TBN riders attended plus five guests.

Country Cruise Program 

A total of 29 rides were held, seven were cancelled because of bad weather, and the average attendance was 17 riders per event. Two country cruise rides were combined with rides organized by the Tourist group.

Friday Night Ride 

A total of 21 rides were scheduled, two were cancelled due to bad weather and three rides were cancelled for lack of riders. Average attendance per event was 15 riders.

Sunday Leisure Wheelers 

There were difficulties due to construction on some rides early in the season and, as a result, coordinators are exploring new ideas for rides outside Toronto, including a new ride from Aldershot Go Station to the Hamilton Rail Trail and a ride starting from the Aurora Go Station.

Sunday Urban Roller Rides

Average attendance at rides throughout the year was in the upper teens to mid 20s. Four volunteer leaders helped out, and the group is planning to distribute the workload better in 2023.

Saturday Morning Rides

This program had an average of 25 riders per event, with a typical low turnout being 15 and the highest turnout totalling 50. Coordinators noticed an increase in new members showing up for this program. Coordinators rely on a group of 11 tour leaders, covering 13 routes.

TBN Jersey committee needs one more volunteer

Communications Director Alice Chan has announced that the following individuals will form the core of TBN's Jersey Committee:

Alice Chan (Team Lead)

Chris McGlynn

Joanne Kruk

Currently, this team is reaching out to potential suppliers. In order to help us understand TBN members' pricing expectations a one-minute survey has been prepared. Click here to access and complete the survey. We need members' feedback on this.

The Jersey Committee needs one more member, ideally someone who has experience in design/marketing. If you feel you could bring expertise to the team, contact Alice.

No-drop winter hiking

TBN has launched a new program for winter hikers who might find the current Sunday morning hikes too long and/or too fast. The first no-drop Sunday hike took place January 15 from Taylor Creek to the Lower Don trail, with a total distance of 8.5 km. Hikes are limited to 12 participants so be sure to watch the TBN calendar for new dates, and plan to sign up as soon as registration opens (typical a week prior to the hike). 

Please send us your best photos

Communications Director Alice Chan is working on a project to update our photos files, in order to build a broader range of photos from various TBN events. Please contact Alice and attach to your email one photo (one only, please), in jpeg format, that you feel best represents TBN members enjoying themselves during an event, including cycling, hikes, city walks, skating and skiing. Be sure to use the following naming convention for your photo before attaching it: event category_yyyymm_location.

To all Cyclon 2022 attendees

The Cyclon Planning Committee will shortly begin to email 2022 participants a copy of their Ontario Staycation Tax Credit receipt as a pdf. Be sure to keep a copy of the receipt when completing your personal income tax returns for 2022. Emails will be sent to the email address participants used when they registered for Cyclon. Check your junk/spam folder in the event it went there.

If you do not receive your receipt by Jan. 31, please send an email to cyclon@tbn.ca.

Special offers for ride leaders

TBN is offering a free workshop on bike mechanics and quick fixes for mechanical issues on the road, for all tour leaders who have helped out in the previous year. The course will take place in the spring, in person, run by a bicycle mechanic. This course will be open only to ride leaders. Snacks and refreshments will be supplied. Watch the TBN calendar for updates on this.

As well, TBN will be offering a free CAN BIKE course in the spring for up to 12 people who have been ride leaders in the club.

Finally, we expect to have new TBN jerseys for sale this spring. All ride leaders from 2022 will have the opportunity to purchase the jerseys at a $50 discount when they become available. Again, more details will be forthcoming on this in future issues of Chain of Events.

--Dennis Szilvasy, Touring Director

Trivia challenge for you: Where is this sign located? If you think you know the answer, send your response to Touring Director Dennis Szilvasy. First to guess will win a prize.

Zwift meetups news

The TBN Zwift Meetups continue M/W/F at 10 am and T/Th at 7 pm. For a change of pace, the Tuesday-Friday rides will be piggybacking on the annual Tour de Zwift where we join hundreds of other riders on either a Long/Medium/Short route. TBNers will communicate with each other via our Discord channel group chat. At the beginning of February, we will be riding the newest routes in the newest Zwift world: Scotland. I hope to see you there.

Our Monday 10 am rides this month will continue with our "easy/intro/recovery" theme, using the "rubber band" feature in Zwift to keep all participants close together as they ride and, again, using Discord to chat while we ride. 

If you are interested in joining us on the Zwift rides, please email virtualrides@tbn.ca with your Zwift experience, and your preferences (day, time, distance and duration). If you have questions, include your phone number in the email and I will call you to answer your questions. 

Details about upcoming Zwift meetups are posted on the TBN Calendar. For more information about the meetups and about how to get started, see https://tbn.ca/zwiftmeetups.

--Martin Lansche, TBN Zwift Meetups Program Coordinator

Overnight trips: volunteers wanted

Are you interested in leading an overnight trip this year? TBN reimburses trip leaders for their expenses up to a maximum amount. Please reach out to Lora Flanagan, Overnight Trips Director, weekendtrips@tbn.ca for more information.

Would you like to help make this year's Toronto Niagara Toronto Overnight (TNTO) trip in June a success? Please consider volunteering. We need route researchers, event day volunteers and a driver. Contact Lora Flanagan, Overnight Trips Director, weekendtrips@tbn.ca

Complimentary Membership Policy

There have been a number of questions posed to board members recently about TBN's policy/process for awarding complimentary membership to our active volunteers. We have been following a policy/process within the board since at least 2018 (with a few very minor changes in the intervening years), but it has not been formally shared with the club membership until now. Click  to view our current Complimentary Membership Policy

Need to cancel a registration for an event?

We have tried to clear up the process for cancelling your event registrations. We have updated the How to Cancel my Event Registration page on the website. The links in each event now show

for registered users. See the web page for more details.

--Martin Lansche, Technical Director