A number of Club members are participating in the 2012 Ride To Conquer Cancer, and could use your support. For those who have already donated – thank you.
For those of you who haven’t – here’s your opportunity. Our team – “IMAX powered by Cannondale” is holding a fundraising event on May 4 at Vue (overlooking Royal Woodbine Golf Course). Tickets are $10 – and all proceeds go to the team fundraising account.
Please let me know how many tickets you’d like and we’ll connect. Or you can make a direct donation to the team or specific team member by clicking here.
Hello riders! Spring is here and it’s time to ride. Please take a moment and complete this quick poll to help us fine tune our ride schedules.
[polldaddy poll=6154377]
It’s still a bit brisk at 5:45am but the view of the sun rising over the city more than makes up for it. I took this shot from the top of the bridge on Islington over the train yard. A crescent moon, a fiery sky, the CN Tower, it’s got it all!
We had a good weekend for riding – I hope that everyone got out and enjoyed the weather.
It’s still a bit dark and cold for most of our riders to start morning rides outside but if anyone is up for it I will be riding repeats of the 4.2km loop of Birmingham, Islington, Judson, Royal York on Tuesday and Thursday morning from 6am to 7am (as long as the weather co-operates). It’s a short loop with a climb up and over the train tracks on Islington. Join in and bail out at anytime. I plan to do this loop every Tuesday and Thursday morning throughout the summer – pushing the start time to 5:40am as the temperature and daylight hours increase.
Paris To Ancaster
On Sunday April 15 the 19th annual Paris To Ancaster bike race takes place. A few ECC riders are participating and we wish them well. For those not familiar with the event it pays homage to the great one-day bike races in Europe, most obviously Paris-Roubaix (which takes place tomorrow – Sunday, April 7 – see more details below if you want to watch it). The race is approxiamtely 55km and runs from Paris to Ancaster in southwestern Ontario. It includes stretches of pavement, gravel roads, rail trail, single-track, tilled farm fields and mud chutes.
Watching World Tour Cycling Events
Sadly the folks at Sportsnet and TSN don’t think that Canadians should be able to watch world tour bike races on TV. This means we have to seek out alternative sources online. I rely on the following sites to get my fix: Steephill.tv & CyclingFans.com both provide links to sites offering live streams. CyclingTorrents.nl is a terrific source for torrent links to recently broadcast events. Sports-livez.com has a significant collection of live streams ready for your viewing pleasure.
Paris-Roubaix. Hell Of The North! The most famous one-day bike race in the world. This is the race to win, and to watch. 257km or racing punctuated by 27* pavé (cobblestone) sections. This is a war of attrition with a great many of the riders who start the race abandoning due punctures, crashes, or that it’s just too damn hard on their bodies. The winners of this race are the true hard men of bike racing – and in recognition of their victory they are given a piece of the course in the form of a cobble. The photo to the right is from the race, on one of the cobble sections. If it rains, or has rained in the preceeding days, this is a muddy mess of a bike race. And yes, they are riding traditional road bikes with skinny, slick road bike tires.
Here’s an amazing video shot during the 2011 race.
Bike Locks
After spending thousands of dollars on our road bikes the last thing we want to do is see them get stolen. To that end most/all of us keep our bikes in the safety of our homes when we’re not riding. But what about when we’re out on a ride? We certainly don’t want to carry around a 10 lb. Kryptonite u-lock! With that in mind there are some great alternatives perfect for the quick stops at roadside rest stops, coffee shops, etc. Abus and Master both offer pocket sized cable locks that provide a quick bit of security for those quick stops.
Our OCA affiliation is now active, and you can register online for the club! You can also purchase your club jersey through the store at the same time. Click here to complete the registration process and pay for your jersey. Regardless of what size you choose in the online store you can change it to whatever you want this weekend if you meet with me (Chris) for a fitting. I have a full fitting kit with sizes from Extra Small up to XXXX Large.
You need to create a separate account with CCN/OCA to register.
Please watch your inbox for the 2012 Etobicoke Cycling Club jersey order form. Once our OCA affiliation comes through you’ll be able to wear this jersey at all OCA race events, and list ECC as your team on your race registration form.
Unfortunately we won’t have the jerseys in time for those of us participating in Hell/Heck of the North, Paris to Ancaster, or any of the other early season events. But we should have them before Ride for Heart and the Ride To Conquer Cancer. (Speaking of which we are still looking for donations to our team riders.)
If enough folks are interested we’ll also order bib shorts. Please keep that in mind when deciding how many jerseys you want.
I’m not a fan of our mayor Rob Ford. In particular his cancelling of bike lanes. That said if he’s able to establish a network of cycling paths the connect the city similar to the network we rode today I’ll be a happy cyclist. But I still won’t vote for him.
Six riders braved a gloomy, foggy Saturday morning to tackle the route. Two Chris’, two Mike’s, Paul and Debbie. Our route took us north on Royal York to Weston, and then we were into the trail system of the Humber River. And what a great trail system it is! Kilometre after kilometre of uninterrupted cycling criss-crossing the Humber many times before exiting at Thistletown Regional Centre (a children’s mental health centre). From there we stuck to the side streets before hitting Martin Grove for a final “climb” up to Steeles and a quick downhill, downwind sprint to Milan.
At Milan we chatted, used the facilities and regrouped for the return journey. The return route traced the park to Weston and then continued along the shores of the river before hitting the climbs on Scarlett and St. Mark’s. By this point the day was getting a bit long and we headed for the lake, skipping Baby Point, Alpe d’Humber and any other hill we normally seek out.
The final stretch from the lake to San Remo was uneventful but filled with a little extra zing as we were all anxious to get off our bikes and relax. Once we got to San Remo an espresso hit the spot before we all went our separate ways.
Thanks to all who participated – I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to the next Etobicoke Cycling event.
It’s still a bit brisk at 5:45am but the view of the sun rising over the city more than makes up for it. I took this shot from the top of the bridge on Islington over the train yard. A crescent moon, a fiery sky, the CN Tower, it’s got it all!
After spending thousands of dollars on our road bikes the last thing we want to do is see them get stolen. To that end most/all of us keep our bikes in the safety of our homes when we’re not riding. But what about when we’re out on a ride? We certainly don’t want to carry around a 10 lb. Kryptonite u-lock! With that in mind there are some great alternatives perfect for the quick stops at roadside rest stops, coffee shops, etc. 
