Wednesday Social Ride with Dismount

Having recorded my rides on Strava for the past few years now, I have noticed many Toronto area cyclists had done Wednesday night rides with the Dismount Bike Shop. These rides tend to be roughly 15 to 20 kilometres with the route revealed either the day of the ride or the day prior; often using off-road trails and neighbourhood streets. Since the weather was nice out this evening and I had been curious to try these rides for a while, I finally gave it a shot last night after work.

On my way to Dismount, I stopped by Grandma Loves You at Yonge and St. Clair for a Bavarian sandwich. Their sandwiches and hot dogs are delicious which I recommend checking out.

When I arrived at Dismount, there was already a decent sized group of cyclists waiting in front. The shop serves coffee, while their bikes tend to be geared towards gravel biking.

The actual starting point was at nearby Roseneath Park. By the time everyone gathered, I estimated about 30 to 40 cyclists were out.

The ride leader (Pat?) mentioned the ride would be short, but with a good portion being off road.

Here’s a map of the ride we took that evening. One of the more common routes Dismount uses for their Wednesday rides goes along the Beltline Trail which Jun wrote about recently.

The first part of the ride involved zig zagging along residential streets. This is at Humewood and Heathdale.

One thing I like about that ride is the goldilocks pace; being relatively fast at around 20 km/h with no drops. Many group rides I attended over the years tended to be slower; partly given they were often larger with children and/or older adults present.

Crossing the Glen Cedar Bridge.

Descending the Cedarvale Ravine for some nice gravel riding.

A quick regroup at Heath Street.

The start of the Nordheimer Ravine Trail has a steep descent, though nowhere near as steep as Gates Gully from the Scarborough South Loop ride last October.

Turning right onto Boulton Drive.

A quick regroup on Poplar Plains Road.

South on Spadina Road.

Casa Loma had some nice lighting when we passed by.

The ride ended at Bartlett Parkette across from Blood Brothers Brewery for some food, drink, and conversation.

I tried to get everyone together for a group shot, but was unsuccessful.

I had a non-alcoholic IPA from Blood Brothers after the ride, but did buy some regular beer cans too.

Most of the bikes I saw present were gravel bikes as per the below, though I did see at least one commuter bike and one Brompton G Line.

I was impressed with this custom-built Omnium cargo bike with gravel specific tires.

Thanks Dismount Bike Shop for hosting these Wednesday night social rides. If you want to take part in them, please join their Strava group – they do other rides as well including some longer ones – and sign their annual waiver. I would definitely consider doing another ride soon and would recommend it to others looking for a good paced social ride with some gravel trails.