BIKE MINDS Toronto Revival – Bikes and Unity

Back in 2018, BIKE MINDS was started in Toronto by Matt Pinder and Michelle Kearns as a storytelling series which was consistently popular here. However, there hadn’t been an in-person event since March 2020 because of the pandemic and the fact Matt had moved on to Ottawa which saw its own in person events. Thanks to Dani Griscti of Curbside Cycle and Rachel Wang of the Bike Brigade, last night marked the first in person BIKE MINDS event in five years with the theme “Bikes and Unity” which saw a full house. Amsterdam Brewery and Fiesta Farms sponsored the event with beer and snacks.

Dani welcomed everyone to Curbside Cycle which was founded back in 1991 by Don Waterson. Unlike the two 2020 events which – for full disclosure – I spoke at the one in January, the stage and screen were placed at the back of the shop instead of the front.

Jun Nogami – who spoke at the March 2020 event called “Bikes and Limits” – focused his presentation on a five-day credit card tour he did of Japan on his Brompton. He talked about a 70 person Brompton meetup held in Tokyo, some challenging hills including a 16% grade, his love for hot springs and the jealously inducing food served at the hotel, and how he took a train for one of the days because riding 50 km in the rain wasn’t fun. One interesting fact was Fukuyama – one of the cities on his tour – was a twin city of Hamilton because of their shared steel heritage. The people he met along the way – and the sense of community – helped tie in to the unity theme. You can read about the trip on his blog.

Jun brought over the bike he used for that Japan tour.

Adriana Espinosa and Valeria Leon were from Mexico City and moved to Canada in 2017. They bonded over shared adventures and were casual riders turned enthusiasts. They were inspired by Adriana’s boss who rode to work in Playa Del Carmen – where they stayed briefly before returning to Mexico City – and used heavy cruiser bikes at the time. Their love for cycling took them from Mexico City where they thought doing ten kilometres was a long distance to doing the 200-kilometre Ride to Conquer Cancer from Toronto to Niagara. They then did a 400-kilometre one-way ride to Ottawa during COVID when the Friends for Life Bike Rally was cancelled, as well as a 300-kilometre ride from Porto to Santiago de Compostela in Portugal.

Sarah Giacomantonio – who spoke at last year’s cycling research meetup hosted by Thomas Van Laake – and Emet Harrison used Prezi to share how their gay fate brought them together to start the Queer Bicycle Club. Both were urban planners while Sarah was a Type A personality and Emet was a Type B. Sarah was new to Toronto and was working at Fix Coffee + Bikes at the time when a customer she was helping – through some mutual friends – eventually connected her with Emet in 2022. When starting QBC, they initially expected 20 people at the most for their kickoff ride at Christie Pits Park, but ended up getting 50 to 60 people! Their club – now in its fourth season – hosted annual Pride Rides, recruited ride leaders by the second season, and hosted bike packing and other workshops. More recently, they started using spice levels for their rides from one to three, while they added a fourth level for those wanting to do longer rides of at least 20 to 30 kilometres. They ended the presentation with a recap of some of the activities planned for the coming year.

After Dani wrapped up the event, I got a photo of her with all five speakers. From left to right, we have Jun, Valeria, Adriana, Dani, Sarah, and Emet.

I took a Bike Share on the way home and saw a larger than normal crowd at Bloor and Sherbourne before turning off. Turned out it was the Toronto Cruisers ride which is usually held on Wednesday evenings.

Thanks Curbside Cycle for hosting the event, Dani and Rachel for organizing, and all five speakers for their inspiring stories! Fingers crossed for another event later this year!

You can read Jun N's recap here.