August 2026 Critical Mass

Earlier this month, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned last year’s decision by Justice Paul Schabas in favour of Cycle Toronto; meaning the proposed bike lane removals on Bloor, Yonge, and University could go ahead. There was also an announcement from mayoral candidate Brad Bradford stating that he would remove the Bloor bike lanes in Etobicoke. Given these developments, a Critical Mass ride was held last night which easily saw more than 1000 cyclists in attendance. Some even cited attendance as high as 1500 or 2000 which would make this ride amongst the largest ever in Toronto!

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.

Rally and Ride for Eglinton Redux

Last week, members of Toronto’s cycling found out about the eglintonTOday Complete Street project being scrapped because of not just provincial legislation, but also the City’s own refusal to install the bike lanes at the same time as last fall’s resurfacing. There was also a public consultation for the Eglinton and Allen Intersection Study held this evening at Forest Hill Collegiate. Given these developments, Cycle Toronto hosted the Rally and Ride for Eglinton Redux this evening which ended at Forest Hill Collegiate near Chaplin station.

3rd Annual Willowdale Community Bike Ride

Since 2024, Councillor Lily Cheng and Peter Low have hosted a community bike ride from Willowdale to Downtown. While the prior two rides were held in September, this year’s ride was moved to May because this year is an election year. This morning, about 125 cyclists gathered at Avondale Park, while Helen and Mozzie came along as well.

Ride The Loop Close The Gaps

Four years ago, Community Bikeways hosted their first ride along the Loop Trail; a 72 km loop along the Martin Goodman, Humber River, Finch Hydro Corridor, and Don River Trails. At the time, I only made it to Finch West Station. The group has since held another ride in Fall 2025 – you can read Jun’s recap here – and now one held today. About fifty people braved the cold, hail, snow, rain, sunshine, and obstacles for today’s ride to advocate for the need to close the gaps along this trail.

2026 (Not So) Coldest Day of the Year Ride

Today marks the longstanding annual winter cycling tradition called the “Coldest Day of the Year” Ride. However, the Alex Pretti Solidarity Ride held on January 31 was more deserving of that title with today ended up being a balmy 5’C. Even so, over 60 cyclists took part while Helen and Mozzie came along as well. This year’s route started at Sugar Beach Park headed southeast to the Tommy Thompson Park entrance before returning to Sugar Beach.

Solidarity Ride for Alex Pretti

On Saturday, January 24, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was killed by ICE officers in Minneapolis, making it the second ICE killing after Renee Nicole Good. Since Alex happened to be a cyclist, Angry Catfish of Minneapolis organized a memorial ride in Alex’s honour, while over 100 other cities around the world held their own rides in solidarity. Toronto’s ride saw over 60 people take part which started at Christie Pits Park and ended with a moment of silence in front of the US consulate on University Avenue.

Time to Wrap Up 2025!

Last year was a big setback for cycling in Toronto with the passage of Bill 212 by the Ford government. However, the events of this year proved the worst was yet to come at Queen’s Park. Even so, there was still a lot of good things that happened, so let’s look back at what happened in 2025.

Cycling Good Cheer 2025

One of my favourite winter rides is by far Cycling Good Cheer; a ride organized by Community Bikeways. This is the sixth year they put it together with this year’s ride starting at Raccoon Park and ending at Biidaasige Park with feeder rides coming from High Park, North York (a.k.a. the North Pole), Scarborough, and the St. Lawrence Market. Helen and Mozzie came along as they did last year, while it was a much-needed positive ride after my LeMond road bike got stolen on Thursday while waiting to depute on a bike plan item at City Hall.

The Driveside South Scarborough Loop Community Ride

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jimmy Judgey and Gurinder Sandhu started The Driveside which hosts a series of community rides in Scarborough (and later in Hamilton) with a focus on community and inclusivity. Not unlike the GyalDem and ManDem cycling clubs; the latter of which will resume in Summer 2026. Since I never took part in their rides before and I have been curious to check out their Scarborough South Loop route, I checked it off the bucket list at today’s community ride which over 100 people attended.

Just Bluffing Around

Back in May 2024, the Danforth-Kingston 4 All campaign hosted their first community ride attended by about 100 people which called on Mayor Olivia Chow and Councillor Parthi Kandavel to host public consultations for the Danforth-Kingston Complete Street Extension project. A Phase 1 consultation did get held later that month, but then the Phase 2 consultation kept getting held up with Bill 212 being blamed for the delay. Danforth-Kingston 4 All organized today’s “Just Bluffing Around” ride to call for that Phase 2 consultation which has been confirmed on Friday with details to come in October.

Second Annual Willowdale Community Ride

Last year, fellow cyclist Peter Low organized the first Willowdale Community Ride with Councillor Lily Cheng. However, I couldn’t make it since Helen and I were on vacation in Uzbekistan at the time, though you can check this great recap from fellow bike blogger Lisa Stokes from Brampton. Today marked the second time Peter and Lily put together this ride which almost 100 people made it out for. A testament to show there indeed is demand for cycling in North York even with the lack of cycling infrastructure! 😉

Rally and Ride for Eglinton

Last month, Toronto’s cycling community learned the City of Toronto would be resurfacing Eglinton Avenue without the promised bike lanes given the Eglinton Crosstown LRT continues to be faced with delays. This prompted me to prepare this action alert, while Cycle Toronto issued their own along with organizing tonight’s “Rally and Ride for Eglinton” which almost 100 people attended.

July 2025 Ride The Meadoway

With last year’s “Ride The Meadoway” being one of my favourite rides in Scarborough, I was thrilled to find out it was happening again this year! This year’s occasion also gave an excuse to check out the newest Meadoway segment from Military Trail to Morningside, as well as the Marcos to Midland segment under construction. This morning, I joined about 60 people who started at Wexford Hydro Park while a few others joined in afterwards.

Bike Party July 2025

Advocating for complete streets can be a drag sometimes whether it’s Doug Ford’s anti bike lane Bill 212 or the astroturf groups that recently emerged against RapidTO. To counter this negativity, it’s always good to have rave rides consisting of cool lights, music, and dance moves! Toronto Cruisers hosts smaller scale rave rides on Wednesday nights while Neon Riders typically hosts theirs on Thursday nights. The annual Bike Rave usually happens in August, but a similar ride called “Bike Party” has emerged in recent years. Last night, I joined almost 500 riders for the July 2025 edition of Bike Party!

TCBC 5th Anniversary Ride to the Brickworks

Last month marked five years since the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition was started by Albert Koehl, Janet Joy Wilson, and I; among others. To help mark the anniversary and Bike Month, Jessie Ye and Janet Joy organized a ride from AccessPoint on Danforth to the Evergreen Brickworks along with Marvin of Scarborough Cycles (and Access Alliance) and Regenesis. About thirty people took part.

A Soggy March Critical Mass

While Cycle Toronto’s charter challenge against Bill 212 is less than three weeks away and their injunction request was denied earlier this month, Toronto’s cycling community continues to put pressure on the Ford government to scrap their bike lane removal plans for Bloor, Yonge, and University. To follow up on last week’s direct action by Fridays for Future Toronto, a Critical Mass ride was held last night. Not even the rain could stop more than two hundred people from attending.

2025 (Truly) Coldest Day of the Year Ride

Originally, Cycle Toronto was planning to host their annual winter cycling tradition – the Coldest Day of the Year Ride – on Saturday, February 15. However, the heavy snow that weekend and uncleared bike lanes at the time made them postpone the ride to today. This year’s ride lived up to its name with -8’C temperatures unlike in past years which saw about 70 people brave the cold from Perth Avenue Parkette to Michael Power Park in Etobicoke.

Pre-Election Brampton Bill 212 Rally

Back on October 23, a group from Bike Brampton led by David Laing attended the Rally and Ride for Road Safety at Queen’s Park; some of whom biked all the way from Brampton. To return the favour, Jess Spieker of Friends & Families for Safe Streets organized a group to take the GO Train to Brampton yesterday for Bike Brampton’s delivery of a ghost bike at Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria’s office on Hurontario Street.

New Year’s Day Ride 2025 + Leslie Lookout

Happy New Year, #BikeTO! Hope 2025 has gotten off to a good start for you. With today being 4’C with some light drizzle in the morning which tapered off later, I went to the 13th Annual New Year’s Day Ride hosted by Alex which started at Yonge & Queen’s Quay. It was my second New Year's Day ride after last year’s one.