May 10, 2023

Gord's message: Thanks to all for a great Spring Kickoff

A big thank you to Marc Giles and all the volunteers for the Spring Breakfast Kickoff last Saturday. The weather was beautiful, there was plenty of great food and we enjoyed a chance to catch up with so many members after the winter.

I understand the weather wasn't so great on Sunday as the downpour came early and caught many members in cold, heavy rain. I hope everyone was able to warm up and dry out quickly.

As I mentioned in the last issue, the UCI Track Nations Cup races were held in Milton in April. I saw three days of fantastic racing. The Nations Cup returns to Milton in April 2024.

And it's already time to start thinking about Cyclon. Early-bird registration is open now, as detailed in this issue. Hope to see you there!

--Gord Irish, President

Spring Kickoff brings impressive turnout

Thanks to all volunteers and members who joined us for TBN's 2023 Spring Kickoff, May 6 at Étienne-Brûlé park. We had an awesome turnout and fabulous weather made for another very enjoyable and successful Kickoff. 

A huge shoutout to our ride leaders and wonderful volunteers who helped with setup, food prep and cleanup. This unselfish spirit of volunteering is what makes TBN so welcoming and successful.

Time to order your new-style TBN jersey and other kit items

Members are encouraged to show their team colours by ordering a new TBN jersey or other kit items. To view the size chart and place your order go here. You will find clickable images for the various items (jerseys, gilets, jackets, shorts). Select each item you wish to order to have them placed in your shopping cart, then submit your order. Orders are inclusive of HST. The next upcoming order deadline is May 15. 

TBN Education workshops/clinics coming up

Zoom rider-leader workshop

May 14, 7-8:30 pm

TBN is offering a Ride Leaders Workshop led by Touring Director Dennis Szilvasy. This is your opportunity to learn what it takes to be a ride leader. The format of the class will be based on the Ride Leaders Manual, which can be found on our website. Please read this before the course. Our Zoom meeting will expand on the information found in the guide. Click here to register for this event as there are only 20 spaces available.

Bike Tune-up Clinic at MEC

May 17, 6-7 pm

This free clinic, led by MEC bike staff, is limited to 12 participants (TBN members only) and will be held in the Community Room at MEC, 300 Queen St. W. Participants must register online via the TBN calendar. If you register and can no longer attend, please cancel to allow other members to register. 

To get to the Community Room, check-in at the Member Service Desk. The community room is only accessible with a staff member via the elevator. It is on the 3rd floor and a FOB is needed to use the elevator.

TBN member-discount event at MEC

May 17, 5-8 pm

MEC will be offering discount MEC memberships for those TBN members who attend this "Club Night" event at the store, 300 Queen St. W. (see image above). Registration is not required and attendance is unlimited for TBN members.  Discount applies to in-stock items purchased in-store at MEC. Offer cannot be redeemed for cash, combined with other offers, or applied to prior purchases or services. Available to MEC members only (you can join MEC for free with your purchase).

Bike Maintenance Clinic at Skiis & Biikes

May 23, 6-7 pm

This free event, led by Skiis & Biikes staff at the 2063 Yonge St. location, is limited to 25 participants (TBN members only). Participants must register online via the TBN calendar. If registration is full, add yourself to the waitlist and we will consider having a second session on the same day at 7 pm. If you register and can no longer attend, please cancel to allow other members to register. After the clinic, the store will remain open for another hour to allow members to browse and shop. Those who attend will get 10% off bike accessories such as cleaning/maintenance materials.

Know Your Rights Workshop

May 31, 6-7 pm, Bloor/Gladstone Library

Join us May 31 for a free workshop led by Dave Shelnutt, managing partner of the Biking Lawyer LLP, a firm working for injured cyclists but also serving as dedicated road-safety advocates and cycling community champions.

Participants must be TBN members and must register online via the TBN calendar. The workshop will focus on cyclist rights and entitlements in the event you’re involved in a collision with a motorist. The workshop will be followed by a lengthy Q&A to give you an opportunity to share and discuss. Topics covered will include bike cameras, road rage, police, rules of the road, cycling insurance and more.

Join us for Cyclon 2023

The Cyclon Planning Committee is pleased to announce that Early Bird Registration for Cyclon 2023 has opened and will run until June 7. Click here to go to the registration page on the calendar. After this, regular pricing will be in effect until July 16. This year we will be returning to London, Ont., staying at Western's Perth Hall, a larger residence than last year's Ontario Hall, but with the same layout. We look forward to seeing everyone for another great Cyclon this August 4-7 in the Forest City!

TBN seeking new Cyclon Director 

We continue to search for a new Cyclon Director. While Cyclon 2023 is largely planned as it returns to London, Cyclon 2024 is a big question mark. Next year will provide an exciting opportunity as the goal is to take Cyclon to a new location not used before. Cyclon has a strong committee to make it all happen but needs a director to pull it together. If you are interested please contact cyclon@tbn.ca.

Norfolk County ride weekend set for July

Registration should be up and running by mid-May for a weekend of cycling around Norfolk County in southwestern Ontario, the veggie capital of Ontario, planned for July 15 and 16. Cost is $75 per person for accommodation at the Comfort Inn in Simcoe, Ont., for the July 15 night. Participants will enjoy two full days of quiet riding and many sights in the area. The price is based on sharing a double room. Riders who want to arrive on the Friday can book rooms directly at the same special price.

There is a limit of 20 people so book early. Cut off date for booking this trip will be June 14. Check the calendar for this posting.

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.

TBN contacts for website, Twitter, Instagram news

TBN recently named new volunteers to work on updates to the home page at www.tbn.ca (Rick MacMillan, also Chain of Events editor); and social media posts on Twitter and Instagram (Jo Koga). We are working to provide members with timely news on TBN activities, policies and events through these channels.

Changes to Ride Leaders Report web application

The TBN board recently approved changes to the Ride Leaders Report web application, which will no longer include fields for submitting Ride Leader expenses. Instead, we are asking that Leaders submit an Expense form to the club. Also note that since we are no longer accepting at-start payment of non-member fees, and that all non-members must register, we have removed the fields for "Total fees paid to the ride leader" and the entire non-members section. The bottom of the Ride Leaders Report is now a little simpler. Clicking on the "Click here... " link will open a new browser page and display our Expense Claim form page.

Ride Leaders with questions or issues regarding this new process are asked to contact Technical Director Martin Lansche.

New RideWithGPS features

RideWithGPS has released a new way to browse for routes, based on map location. Using a computer's browser, our TBN routes can be found here. Zoom in to an area you are interested in riding in (for example, we have 19 different routes starting from Edwards Gardens in our library, situated in the first image below). Then select an arrow (if there is only a single route), or if there is a number (as the number 19 here), click on the number and choose from the list that appears (the second image below).

Another way to find a route is to browse the TBN Route Library directly. You can filter based on tags, or search based on strings, or locations.

TBN is seeking volunteers for several activities

Marketing: Event Management (1), Photographer(1). Email publicity@TBN.ca for more details. Must be current TBN members.

Bike for Brain Health: We are still aiming to recruit 30 ambassadors and 30 marshals to take on special roles during this year's Bike for Brain Health, June 4 along a friendly, closed Don Valley Parkway. These volunteers will ride in pairs to perform their duties. For details, visit the event page: BFBH TBN volunteers.TBN Communications Director Alice Chan, who is overseeing the club's presence at this major fund-raiser, is also seeking an event assistant to support her for the prep work leading to the event.

Alice is also looking for three or four volunteers to help Touring Director Dennis Szilvasy, who is hosting the TBN booth at Bike for Brain Health. If you are interested, email Alice at publicity@tbn.ca. Another reason for volunteering as soon as you can is that Alice is organizing a volunteer appreciation dinner on June 8 and needs to plan for the potential headcount.

Slower-paced ride leaders wanted: TBN is looking for no-drop ride leaders interested in leading either Urban Roller-paced or slow Leisure-Wheeler pace no-drop rides. We are particularly keen to find potential leaders willing to explore new routes. If you are interested, email no-drop@tbn.ca.

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.