Reviewing “If You Want to Win, You’ve Got to Fight”

Over the years, I have read a number of books about cycling and active transportation. These included changes made in various places such as “Streetfight” in New York City and “Building the Cycling City” in the Netherlands, the harms of car dependency such as “Life After Cars”, historical takes like “Wheeling Through Toronto”, and niche topics such as “Frostbike” about winter cycling. However, I hadn’t come across an advocacy focused book until I heard about Carter Lavin’s “If You Want to Win, You’ve Got to Fight” on social media including a video on Tom Babin’s YouTube channel (at the end of this post) which highlighted five advocacy mistakes. Let’s dive in to see what that book’s about.

A Record-Breaking Year for Toronto Cyclist Deaths

Just before 9:00 AM this morning, a 24-year-old female cyclist was killed on Bloor Street east of Avenue Road; making it the fifth cyclist killed this year with five months to go. If you refer to Toronto’s Vision Zero dashboard or Toronto Police’s fatal collisions dashboard, this year has been the deadliest on record for Toronto’s cycling community. However, Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists put up six ghost bikes in Toronto in 2018; two of which didn’t count per the City and Police dashboards. One of them was for a 60-year-old male who collided with a parked delivery van in March 2018 while 19-year-old Aaron Rankin-Wright’s death in June 2018 was targeted and involved stabbing. Regardless of which metric you used, the unprecedented number of cyclist deaths this year deserves some serious reflection.

Miguel Joshua Escanan's ghost bike from August 2021 was not far from today's crash site

Reviewing Albert Koehl’s “Wheeling Through Toronto”

While Toronto has had a magazine dedicated to cycling called Dandyhorse as well as books such as Yvonne Bambrick’s “The Urban Cycling Survival Guide” and Shawn Smith’s “Happy Trails”, there hadn’t been a book that gave an appreciation of Toronto’s cycling history. Albert Koehl’s book “Wheeling Through Toronto” was published last month and explores cycling in Toronto over the past 130 years starting with the bicycle craze of the 1890’s. Having finished reading the book this past weekend, let’s review it to see what parallels can be drawn to cycling in the present day.

Yonge4All & Cargo Bikes with Robin Richardson

Almost a year ago to this day, Toronto’s cycling community celebrated the successful outcome of making the Midtown Yonge Complete Street permanent. The Yonge4All campaign played a big role in making this happen, as well as inspired a Scarborough offshoot called Danforth-Kingston 4 All. I spoke with Yonge4All’s spokesperson Robin Richardson on January 2, 2024 to discuss the campaign and her Happy Fiets cargo bike business.

Early Days of Cycle Toronto with Yvonne Bambrick

Last month’s interview with Alison Stewart took a more recent look at Cycle Toronto including a reflection of last year’s accomplishments. However, I wasn’t that familiar with their early days as the Toronto Cyclist Union (a.k.a. Bike Union) given I first got a membership in September 2012 and joined the local ward group in Parkdale (then Ward 14) in early 2013. I spoke with their founding Executive Director – Yvonne Bambrick – on November 13, 2023 to learn more, as well as discuss the role of BIA’s, Vélo Canada Bikes, and "The Urban Cycling Survival Guide".

Reflecting on Cycle Toronto with Alison Stewart

Since 2008, Cycle Toronto has become Toronto’s main active transportation advocacy group. You may have seen them speaking at a recent press conference about Yonge Street, handing out lights during the October “Get Lit” campaign, hosting “Bike Valet” parking at special events, or organizing group rides such as the “Coldest Day of the Year” Ride happening on Saturday, February 10. I spoke with Alison Stewart – their Director of Advocacy and Public Policy – on Sunday, December 17 to learn more about what the group accomplished over the past year and her perspective on cycling in this city.

Alison at a 2025-27 Bike Plan consultation in November 2023

Scarborough Cycles with Marvin Macaraig

During my conversation with Nancy Smith Lea in late August, she brought up TCAT’s push for community bike hubs to expand cycling culture beyond downtown. One of these programs – Scarborough Cycles – was established in 2015 and now operates three bike hubs at AccessPoint on Danforth, Birchmount Bluffs Neighbourhood Centre, and at 3939 Lawrence Ave E in partnership with Toronto Community Housing. I spoke with Marvin Macaraig to learn more about Scarborough Cycles and some of the advocacy happening in Scarborough.

Community Bicycle Network with Adrian Currie

When it comes to cycling advocacy in Toronto, groups such as Cycle Toronto and Community Bikeways come to mind today. However, Toronto’s cycling advocacy story goes back further with Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists starting in 1996 (see my interviews with Geoff and Nancy), while Community Bicycle Networks (CBN) dates further back to 1993. CBN ran a community bike shop, a predecessor to today’s Bike Share Toronto, and hosted events like the Toronto Vintage Bicycle Show before shutting down in 2017. I spoke with Adrian Currie – who was on CBN’s board from 2002 to 2017 – to learn more.

What a Difference Ten Years Makes

With my Two Wheeled Politics blog marking ten years next month, a reflection is warranted. Many of us Toronto road safety advocates like to claim our city is not doing enough for cycling – which underscores the need for us to vote in the June 26 mayoral by-election – but we have come a long way over the past decade. Let’s take a walk down memory lane to understand what has changed.

Front view of 2012 Toronto Cycling Map

Improving Moncton’s Bikeway Network

September 2022 marked the first time I went back home to Moncton in over three years. During this time, I borrowed a bike from my friend Joel and managed to do a 30 kilometre loop around the city on Saturday, September 10. Given last Wednesday’s cyclist fatality which happened near Connaught Avenue and Wheeler Boulevard, let’s review the loop and identify ways Moncton’s cycling network can be improved.

Adapting Maslow's Hierarchy to Bikes

Over the past decade, I have seen how Toronto’s cycling advocacy has evolved. While advocating for painted bike lanes may have been fine back in 2012 – one year before Toronto’s first separated bike lanes officially opened on Sherbourne Street – it certainly is not the case today where the constant threats of parking in bike lanes prompted the need for physical protection. However, advocating for safe streets goes far beyond adding physical protection. To reflect on this exercise, I took a crack at adapting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to cycling infrastructure.

Time to Extend the Bloor Bike Lanes!

This month has seen a renewed push for extending the Bloor Street bike lanes from Shaw Street to High Park. Cycle Toronto issued a press release confirming the bike lanes get almost one million riders annually, while the David Suzuki Foundation launched a form letter campaign calling on supporters of the extension to e-mail Mayor John Tory. Next month, there will be a public meeting to rally support with a focus on the history of Bloor, the business case, the view from council, and what supports can do to make the extension a reality and reverse the current turtle pace of Toronto’s bike plan implementation.

Montréal left Bloor, Danforth, and Yonge in the dust with this bike lane turtle derby!

However, some people are wondering how can bike lanes be accommodated on Bloor. With a little help from Google Maps to measure street widths and Streetmix to do the basic layout, I will walk you through on how the bike lanes could fit.

Some Momentum for 2019

OK! So I haven’t had the chance to write here for almost three months. Part of it was because I was on vacation in the Middle East in December (more on that soon), but things have not been idle on the cycling front this month with some developments worth sharing.

Early Signs of Optimism

2015 Coldest Day of the Year Ride on Adelaide

To call the Richmond-Adelaide protected bike lanes a success is a serious understatement. Since the bike lanes were first installed in 2014, ridership increased more than tenfold to become Toronto’s busiest bike route with collisions reduced by 73% and minimal impact on motor vehicle users. Given these findings, city staff finally recommended making these bike lanes permanent, though it baffles me how it could take almost five years to get from approval to this point. With the Infrastructure and Environment Committee (which replaced the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee) voting unanimously to keep the bike lanes, the motion should be slam dunk at City Council next week and could be one of the few times this term where a cycling motion unanimously passes city council. If only the same could happen when REimagining Yonge returns to City Council in a couple of months …

Why I'm Running for Cycle Toronto's Board

Cycle Toronto’s Annual General Meeting is next Thursday, which also marks their 10th anniversary when they started as the Toronto Cyclists Union. This year’s AGM will give members the opportunity to elect four candidates to Cycle Toronto’s board of directors, reflect on the past year’s accomplishments (Hello, Bloor bike lanes!), and socialize (of course). I am pleased to announce I, Robert Zaichkowski, will be running for a board position along with nine other candidates (click here for bios). Not only would I like to explain why I am running, but also give you the chance to ask me questions on this blog, Twitter, or the Biking Toronto Facebook group.

Here's a brief profile I sent to Cycle Toronto.

Bring on the Eglinton East LRT!

Map of Eglinton East LRT (via City of Toronto)

As with many city builders in the Greater Toronto Area, I am furious at the political games with the one-stop subway extension in Scarborough. City councillors – mostly suburban – repeatedly denied conducting cost-and-benefit comparisons with the original seven stop LRT, while a recent Toronto Star article indicated staff will not reveal the updated subway costs until after the 2018 election. The recent article raises suspicions the Mayor’s office is trying to bury the subway as an election issue with both John Tory and Doug Ford supporting the subway. However, it will only delay the inevitable truth the subway – currently expected to cost $3.35 billion – will exceed the $3.56 billion in available funding and leave nothing for the Eglinton East LRT. Especially if the controversies surrounding the Lawrence Avenue SmartTrack stop prompt the addition of a second subway station.

The Bikelash of September 2017

My word to describe September 2017 is “bikelash”.

For starters, there is the stop sign controversy on Glen Road in Rosedale, which is near a site where a cyclist was killed a few years back. Only two weeks after the stop sign was installed after vigorous pleas from local residents due to speeding problems, calls emerged to have them removed. The matter had gotten so ridiculous even kids took to the streets demanding that the stop signs stay.

Woodbine bike lane opening on September 9, 2017

Let's Get The Feds Involved

The notion of cycling infrastructure being primarily municipal responsibility is being challenged across Canada. New Brunswick’s advocates are pushing for a one metre passing rule (a.k.a. Ellen’s Law), Vélo Québec celebrates their 50th anniversary this year, Ontario is developing their second #CycleON action plan, and the British Columbia Cycling Coalition has their $1 billion for bikes petition. But what is the federal government doing to support cyclists? That is the focus on this post, including the national group called Canada Bikes and their call for a national cycling strategy.

Looking at Moncton's Cycling Scene

While on vacation in Moncton, I wrote about my experience cycling there for the first time in a decade. It turned out new infrastructure (e.g. Northwest Trail, bike racks, bike lanes) wasn’t the only thing that changed. Thanks to some productive conversations with Krysta Cowling of La Bikery Co-operative Ltd and Benoît Leblanc of NB Biking Advocacy Group, I found out there have been some positive developments on the social and advocacy fronts.

Time for a New Decade

It’s hard to believe, but it’s almost time to kiss my twenties goodbye and ring in a new decade. While I'm in New Brunswick for a much-needed vacation, there couldn't be a better opportunity to reflect on this past year.

Decorating bikes for Christmas? Bring it on!

Get Ajax Moving - Part 2

In Part 1 of the “Get Ajax Moving” discussion (link to previous post), I provided a first hand view on Ajax’s cycling facilities and how they set the standard for the 905 suburbs. Completing this story requires learning what the government and public circles have done to bring us where we are today and what the future holds. Part 2 of this discussion will cover the Town of Ajax’s new #GetAjaxMoving initiative and a relatively new advocacy group called the Durham Region Cycling Coalition.