March 27, 2024

President's message

The Terry Foundation is one of the best known charities in Canada. Aside from the familiar Terry Fox Run events held across the country, the Foundation also hosts a few cycling Ride of Hope events in select locations. The first Ride of Hope was started by Terry Fox's brother Darrel in B.C.

The Foundation is looking to expand the Ride of Hope series into Ontario and is looking for people to organize and support the rides. If you would be interested in supporting this worthy cause, please email coordinator Nikki Rekman.

On another note, the UCI Track Nations Cup returns to the Milton Velodrome April 12-14. The best track athletes in the world, including many Olympic medalists and World Champions, will be competing over the three days. This is the last Nations Cup scheduled for Milton, and there is no assurance when or if it will be awarded to Milton again. I will be attending all three evenings. If you want to meet there, let me know at president@tbn.ca.

--Gord Irish

Social events

Launching the season--TBN's Spring Kickoff, a great social event that will open the 2024 cycling season, is set for the morning of May 4. That evening, to continue the celebrations, the club's inaugural Spring Fling will feature a buffet-style Middle-Eastern dinner and dancing to live music by The Junctioneers, one of the best cover bands in Toronto.

For more information and to register for the Spring Fling, go to the Social Events page. Registration for the Spring Kickoff will open very soon.

TBN Pub Quiz--A number of fun-loving TBN members (pictured above) gathered on March 21 for the club's latest Pub Quiz. The winning team (not pictured here) consisted of Joanne Walsh, Jackie Silverberg, Jane Oshinowo and John David Line, each of whom took home a $25 MEC gift card. The TBN Pub Quiz series is set for the third or fourth Thursday of each month at one of Toronto’s best and most interesting venues, the Prenup Pub. Registration for the April 25 event is now open, via the calendar. More details on the Pub Quiz series are available here.

TBN at the Toronto Bike Show

TBN reps at this year's Toronto Bicycle Show, March 8-10 at the International Centre, were interviewed by a YouTube "live streamer" and the video interview is available on YouTube from this link.

If you need to find us manually in the video, we appear at 1:22:13.

New: TBN fees may now be paid via e-transfer 

Invoices for membership applications and renewals are now payable in two different ways. If you select "Pay Online" you will pay via PayPal. If you select "Invoice Me" you must pay via an e-transfer to treasurer@tbn.ca. Be sure to include the invoice number within the comment field of your e-transfer.

Note that online payments are registered immediately, but e-transfer payments require a manual processing step to update our payments database. Please allow 48 hours for processing. 

Tour Leaders Workshop set for April 21

Touring Director Dennis Szilvasy has scheduled a Tour Leaders Workshop for April 21, running 7-8:30 pm. This online seminar is based on the Ride Leaders Handbook published on the TBN website. It is mandatory reading before you sign up as a lot of discussion will come from this document. We will talk more in depth about choosing and leading a ride for the club.

To sign up for this ZOOM meeting please register by clicking here. Your registration confirmation email will contain the Zoom meeting details.

If you have any questions about the workshop, email the Touring Director at touring@tbn.ca. We will also discuss any issues or concerns about tour leading from leaders' experiences last year. For the latter discussion, last year's leaders are welcome to attend the meeting before we move on to examine the Ride Leaders Handbook.

Gearing up for Cyclon 2024

TBN cycling season is just around the corner and the Cyclon committee is hard at work planning for Cyclon 2024, which this year will be held Aug. 2-5 at Trent University in Peterborough. Trent has a beautiful campus situated on the lovely Otonabee River. Enjoy rides each day for all classifications, a Friday night reception, hosted Saturday night dinners and the Sunday night banquet and dance. Cyclon registration will open in mid-April. Stay tuned for more info. 

TBN's cycling routes: We need your input

Do you want to contribute to the club by creating routes, but don't know how? Are you a new Program Coordinator and need to know how to maintain your routes or add existing routes? Perhaps you have an idea for a TBN weekend trip with multiple rides throughout the weekend, and you want to put together a set of routes for this trip. If you fit any of these descriptions, then watch this TBN educational video on YouTube, containing a combination of presentation and live demo, using TBN's Club account in RideWithGPS.. 

The critical message of this video is that no one in TBN needs to pay for their own RideWithGPS account for TBN-related usage. TBN pays for a RideWithGPS club account, which grants our members the privileges of RideWithGPS "Premium" level. This includes TBN members who follow club routes, and also route creators/editors.

Free CAN-BIKE Level 3/4 classes for TBN members - April 12-14

Andrew and Martin will be teaching the CAN-BIKE level 3/4 classes for TBN members. Do you want to boost your cycling skill level? Be a safer and more defensive rider on the road? Increase your confidence about riding on city streets? Whether you are a new or a long-term rider, there is always something to learn, some skills to improve, and, admit it, some bad habits to unlearn. Perhaps you are a TBN ride leader, but you are uncertain about what skills/behaviours to demonstrate and encourage as you lead your ride.

CAN-BIKE provides structured classes to help you with all this and more! CAN-BIKE provides a Canada-wide skills curriculum as defined by Cycling Canada, and is recommended by provincial governments and many Canadian cities.

Note that anyone can take the April 12 CAN-BIKE Zoom session, but they will not get a CAN-BIKE certificate for taking part in only that one online session. For the certificate, the entire weekend program must be completed. Currently, there are two spots available for the in-person sessions. Once they are filled, others will be on a waiting list.

For information on this TBN educational offering, see PROGRAMS/EDUCATION/CAN-BIKE LEV 3 / LEV 4 EDUCATION or https://www.tbn.ca/CAN-BIKE-Classes

Seeking nominees for TBN Communications Director post

Joey Schwarz is no longer serving as TBN Communications Director. As a result the Board is seeking volunteers to be considered for that position. Those interested are asked to email TBN President Gord Irish. This is a two-year term. Visit our Volunteer Positions page for brief descriptions of the various Board members' roles, including this one.

Seeking volunteers for Bike for Brain Health

TBN is aiming to recruit 30 ambassadors and 30 marshals to take on special roles during this year's Bike for Brain Health, June 2 along a friendly, closed Don Valley Parkway/Gardiner Express. These volunteers, who must be TBN members, will ride in pairs to perform their duties, and all will be invited to a buffet lunch after the ride. TBN’s coordinators for our involvement are Terry Walsh and Jerry Finch. To register as a volunteer for this ride, click here. For more information, email touring@tbn.ca.

New Tourist Ride coordinators for 2024

Many thanks to Danny Harvey, who is departing as Tourist Ride program coordinator this year. We wish him the best with his new-found time to explore the wide world beyond TBN. The program will be run this year by Frank Piazza, Terry Walsh and Sam Bootsma. TBN is grateful to them for stepping up as volunteers.

Members who are interested in participating in Tourist Rides this year, or trying out a ride, are asked to please complete this Survey. There is currently no closing date for this survey. However, we urge everyone to complete it as soon as possible as a closing date could be implemented in the coming weeks without warning. Thanks to all who have already completed the survey. 

Brain Injury Society of Toronto charity rides

Two charity rides in support of the Brain Injury Society of Toronto are coming up this fall. For anyone interested, more information on both of these rides can be found in the TBN General Forum.

Tanya's Ride: Sept. 7, starting at 9 am in Albion Hills Park. There is an 80 km gravel route and a 75 km road route. Email Keith Luder at kvluder@gmail.com.

BIST Heroes Run, Walk, Roll or Bike Event: Sept. 29, starting at 8 am in Wilket Creek Park. This is a family-oriented ride with routes of 15/35 and 75 km.  

How to cancel a reservation for an event

Due to an issue we have discovered on Apple devices, we have had to revert to the original wording for the link used to cancel your reservation for an event. If you need to cancel your reservation for an event, 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.