Meanwhile in Canada: Winter Biking FTW!

We present to you three big winter biking events for y'all in Toronto who miss the glorious scene of the summer, when cyclists take over the city in pure fabulousness. In winter Toronto rocks hard at winter biking, so come one, come all and lets have some fun!



Tomorrow!!! It's The Coldest Day of the Year Ride put on by Cycle Toronto! (What's with these last minute posts, right?... jezz...) Meet at 12 noon on Wed Jan 30 at Armoury St. and Chestnut St, just behind City Hall. (see map).



Toronto Icycle 2013!!!!! Wooot! It's Saturday, February 16th, 2013, and starts at 7pm at Dufferin Grove Park. (That's 875 Dufferin Street, just south of Bloor on the east side.) To explain this to outsiders, basically this is a bike race around an ice rink. In costumes. With your friend heckling. Nudity in various forms is ensured. Hilarity! It's because we Canadians embrace winter, and want to have fun all season long. If this doesn't inspire you to bike in the winter, nothing will. (Check out the 2011 National Post article on Icycle that asks Thora and Cannibal Vixen about what they do to bike in the winter.)


Big ups to Jo No for the video and pictures.


And then we have a The Great Lakes Winter Classic polo tournament going on during the Toronto International Bike Show, March 2 & 3, 2013. Keep Checking out the Bike Polo TO website for information as she comes. 



And while not an event, it's related... Our Friends at HMPL just put out a new, semi-NSFW video about enjoying "winter" biking in Vancouver. Ha. (Nice buns there Scott ;)
HMPL Winter from Matthew on Vimeo.

ICYCLE 2012 IS COMING!

It's nearly that time of year again! Everyone's favourite annual ice race at Dufferin Grove... ICYCLE! So stud out those tires and we'll see you on the ice or on the sidelines being rowdy either way. The event this year is going down on Feb 18th. It's $5 to sit in the box (all proceeds going to Charlie's Freewheels), or FREE to watch from everywhere else. Afterparty at Bike Pirates.

And with the way this ridiculous snow free & mild (minus yesterday) winter is going, it's probably going to be a pretty nice night for the race. Fingers crossed....

(photo by Nana Arbova)

ICYCLE 2011

Ice. Studded Tires. Wipeouts, babes, collisions, high speed chases and guys wearing brooms on their heads.
The Nightshades were there. Big love to Linda Shin (she's the one whipping around the track in the Mental Oriental jacket)
who writes for Hello Velo, a local bike shop and biking blog.
And shout out to Frank Maidens for Best Crash of the Night, and to the lovely people at Dufferin Grove for hosting Icycle 2011.

ICYCLE 2011!

Want to make some scary looking tires and still fall off your bike with the entire bike community cheering you on? Yeah you do. Want to cuddle in the bleachers with hot todies and make some new friends? Heck yes!

Then come out to Dufferin Grove on Sat, Feb 12th from 6-9 pm for ICYCLE the annual Toronto ice race! Afterwards, party/fundraiser is going down at Bike Pirates with a pwyc at the door. All proceeds are going to Peter McKenzie - the cyclist who was hit on the Bloor viaduct just before Christmas.

FYI. If you want to race and need some extra traction, Bike Pirates is also going to be hosting a tire studding workshop in the next few weeks. Otherwise, you can race in the rubber class (shown below) as the last race of the night. The real question is which nightshade is going to sacrifice her body and pride for the cause this year?

Come and race, or just come and watch! It's going to be great either way.

(photos by Victor Gedris - check out the rest of his set from the 2010 race here!)

NYE 2011 - Part One; Urban Fire Pit

Thanks to the balmy weather and the foresight of our friend Natalie, we were able to host a campfire at Dufferin Grove park on New Years Eve. It only costs $20~ for a one night permit for a campfire at Dufferin Grove - which, according to their website is alot less than other parks in the city. The thinking goes that if there are lots of people having campfires in the park at night, the park will ultimately be a much safer place for everyone . They also have farmers markets, year round Friday night suppers for only $7~, and skating during the winter.

I like the way the smoke looks in the pictures after the fire went out, and how it makes the lights kind of blurry in the background...