First snow on ground 2025 First snow on ground is early this year. Forecast is for up to 4 cm of snow in Toronto, but downtown the roads are totally clear with no need for snow clearance thus far. Brine trucks were out last night. IT'll stay below zero until midday Tuesday so we might get some icy…

First snow on ground is early this year.

College at McCaul College St at McCaul was closed down so that they could redo the streetcar tracks. Today they reopened the intersection earlier than the scheduled date of Dec 1. This intersection is also very close to the UofT building where the bike team works, so here are some pictures of some…

Harbord update: going westbound, paving is done all the way to Ossington. Looks like they are just in the process of hauling away some of the construction materials. Still to come are some paint markings and the plastic paddles, but the lane is rideable.

Thanks to @mikeschreiner.bsky.social, @kristynwongtam.bsky.social, @marymargaretbey.bsky.social, @jessicabellto.bsky.social, Deepak Anand, and @voteleefairclough.bsky.social for meeting with us during @ocufa.bsky.social Advocacy Day jnyyz.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/a...

A day at Queen’s Park Today was Advocacy Day for the Ontario Confederation of Faculty Associations (OCUFA), where representatives of faculty associations from all across the province descended on Queen's Park to talk to MPP's about issues concerning universities. Since this is a bike blog, I'll…

Cuomo parking his OJ-mobile in the bike lane says pretty much everything about his campaign

ROCKBROS Bicycle Light Helmet: First look  With the shift back to standard time, my bike commutes back home will be in the dark. My Lumos helmet with built in lighting has served me well since 2011. However, it is starting to show its age, with the visor not fitting so well, and parts of the shell…

Ghost bike ride in memory of Jean Louis Jean Louis was a champion cyclist from St. Lucia who did much to promote cycling in that country. He was killed while riding on Appleby Line on October 17. Today was the ghost bike ride and installation in his memory. Geoffrey with the ghost bike. I don't…

The Great Pumpkin Pedaal Parade Today was a family friendly Hallowe'en themed ride. I used the occasion to break out the tandem with skeletal stoker. Mocha is small enough to fit a Brompton basket. A group picture before we leave. Given that it started and ended at Pedaal, Bromptons were very much…

Protect our Rights, Protect our Streets Cycle Toronto organized a rally to mark the one year anniversary of Bill 212. We gathered at the same place where the rally on the eve of the successful charter challenge to Bill 212 was this past April. Michael Longfield reminds us that the government is…

Harbord bike lane update The Harbord bike lane upgrades are done from Queen's Park Crescent to Grace. Here are a few pictures headed west. I'm not sure if these planters qualify as bioswales since I don't see any drainage features. I'll also be interested to see how these plants hold up during the…

Guelph Memorial Ride and Ghost Bike Installation Today was a ghost bike ride to remember a 37 year old cyclist who was killed by a garbage truck driver on August 29 in Guelph. The ride was organized by the Guelph Coalition for Active Transportation (GCAT). Almost 50 cyclists gathered at the…

In line to see the installation of Dr. Melanie Woodin, the first female president of the University of Toronto.

A new basket for Loki I've noticed that Loki has been looking a bit crunched in the front basket of the Haul a Day. The difficultly is that the current basket appears to be the largest one available. Here is the basket with the fabric cover removed. You can see that it has been dented a fair bit.…

You've got to be kidding... Multiple vehicles assigned to Ontario cabinet ministers have been slapped with over $3,300 in speeding-related fines -- many of them caught on automated speed cameras. Average: 17 km/h over the limit. This is all @isaaccallan.bsky.social & his FOI skills. #OnPoli

Parents Against Speeding TO Today, a group of parents met on Bloor St just east of Dundas St W. to protest the government's forthcoming legislation to ban the use of Automatic Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras. Thomas is our MC. Danielle talks about the importance of speed cameras in keeping kids…

Councillor Pasternak is objecting to ghost bikes An item was considered and passed by the Infrastructure and Environment Committee (IEC) at City Hall this past Friday. The background to the item was a letter from Councillor Pasternak "to implement a permanent roadside memorial program that would…

Etobicoke Creek trail still blocked at the GO line overpass This morning I set off to do a loop from High Park to Etobicoke Creek, passing through Marie Curtis park on the way back. I knew that the trail blockage at Col Sam Smith Park was opened on weekends, and I was hoping that the trail…

The Reading Line 2025 Today was another edition of the The Reading Line, this one being the first edition in Toronto since Janet Joy's return from the Big Apple. This one featured author Claire Ross Dunn and her novel "At Last Count". She rode with us and stopped at various places in the downtown…

I don't know why blue Loctite is packaged in a red tube.

Just remember that one igNobel laureate went on to win a Nobel Prize in Physics a few years later. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

WHPSC 2025: Wrap Up As per usual, I'm making a few observations about each team that attended the event, in the order that they were called up on stage at the awards dinner. IUT Annecy This team returned with François Pervis and a highly evolved bike with the goal of setting the absolute speed…

WHPSC 2025: Sunday I decided to stay an extra day this year to help with clean up. While Adam et al headed out to the course to return the hay bales and the plywood on the bridge, I decided to help with packing away and clean up at the Civic Center. Heading to the storage unit with a bunch of…

WHPSC 2025: Awards After the final heat of racing, we get a bit cleaned up and then we have a dinner and the awards. Here's some of the hardware to be awarded. An overall view with the door prize table already having been picked over. All of this year's volunteers. Officer Aten lays down the law.…

WHPSC2025: Sat PM Heat 1: François goes 74.98 mph, not wind legal Niklas finally has luck with wind, getting a 55 mph hat with his 58.06 mph run. Claire went 54.82 mph, and Peter when 52.11 mph, neither run wind legal. Heat 2: Russell goes a wind legal 75.01 mph. Guillaume planned to run, but the…

WHPSC 2025: Sat AM There were a lot of people crowded into the later morning heats as that was when the winds were predicted to be low. Five heats of five mile as per usual. First heat: Erin does 49.06 mph in Cyclone. Ken goes by in Arion at 42.66, still much behind the record. Second Heat: Bill…

WHPSC 2025 Friday PM: No wind legal runs tonight, although some personal bests were set. Heat 1: Claire did a good job of keeping Cyclone upright in a very strong cross wind. Wahoo did not launch successfully. Ken in Arion 8 went by at 35.36 mph. Heat 2: Slash, Niklas, Peter and Erin all went a…

WHPSC 2025: Fri AM Results: Roster for tonight and tomorrow morning. More to come......

WHPSC 2025: Thurs PM cancelled Always sanding to be done. Heading out to the course, the weather did not look good. Setting up 200m. Here I am looking north. Looking south. Rain hit timing while we were in the process of setting up. At this point we called things off. It was raining strongly at…

WHPSC 2025: Wed AM After last night's cancellation, there were many people chomping at the bit to run. There would be two heats of 2.5, followed by three of 5 miles. Heat 1: Well perhaps not everyone wants to run at 7:15 AM. To be fair, part of this is the cold temperatures that increase air…

WHPSC 2025: Wed PM All runs cancelled due to impending storm and high winds.

WHPSC 2025: Tues AM A morning with variable wind. A good session for the UofT HPVDT, though. Once again, two heats of 2.5 and then three heats of 5 miles. First heat: Ken Talbot goes down the course at 40.01 mph, with a strong vocalization just as he crossed the finish. Apparently there was a…

WHPSC 2025: TuesPM Once again, not much to report. Steady headwinds all evening. Heat 1: Ellen went 57.26 mph and Slash went 54.56 mph. Heat 2: Adam failed to start. Karen went down the 5 mile for the first time and did 38.50 mph into a heavy headwind. Both riders in the final heat scratched.…

WHPSC 2025: Show and Shine One of the traditions is the Tuesday afternoon show and shine where the local third graders come to see the vehicles and the riders. Some of the locals that we've seen in the spectator area told us that they remember seeing the vehicles back when they were young. Equally…

WHPSC 2025: Tuesday AM The air was clearer today, and we began with a period where it was literally zero. Photo: Marieke However, the wind kept skipping back and forth across the legal limit. Two heats of qualfying and then three of 5 mile. 1st heat: Erin is the first to run Cyclone down the…

WHPSC 2025: Monday PM Not much to report. Winds were never close to legal. In addition, the air looked like soup due to wildfire smoke. Compare this shot: with this one. The only people to run were Slash (who went marginally faster) and Russell, who set a personal best of 73.85 mph. Hoping for…

WHPSC 2025: Monday AM Up bright and early as usual this morning. It's pretty cold so Danny is pulling out all available clothing. Three heats of qualifying, although Toronto scratched all of their Cyclone runs due to continuing issues with their drivetrain. First heat: David qualifies with crash…

WHPSC 2025 Sunday PM Not a lot of bikes to run this evening. Setting up at 200m, you can see that the wind does not look promising. Steve Slade elected to run in the second heat in hopes that the wind would be less, but he did 54.91 mph into a strong crosswind. All the riders in the third heat…

WHPSC 2025: Sunday AM We ran four sessions of qualifying from the 2.5 mile start. Many scratches and DNF's this morning has people get their vehicles sorted. First heat, Ellen DNF'ed when she had an issue with her vision screen. Niklas trundeled through timing shortly afterwards. BTW Danny is…

WHPSC 2025 Saturday Racers meeting UofT arrives. Three Milan RS's. Beano going through tech. Arnold and Marieke run the meeting. Good to see so many familiar faces. Start order for Sunday AM qualifying. Arion is not running as they haven't passed tech.

HPVDT hits the road The bike team was packing up this AM to hit the road to Battle Mountain. There was work to be done in the preceding weeks to get Eta Prime and Cyclone in racing shape. The initial plan was to have multiple riders in Tempest, but on the way back from an HPRA event in Kenosha the…

The one lonely bike ring in front of No Frills in Bloor West is gone. Clearly bike parking is a frill.

August 2025 Critical Mass A small but mighty crew for tonight's ride. I guess the numbers were low because of the long weekend to come. Staging on Bloor. Regroup at Avenue. Crossing the Glen Road Pedestrian tunnel and bridge. After this, we headed south on Sherbourne, then west on Richmond. We…

WHPSC 2025 Preview This year's edition of the World Human Powered Speed Challenge (WHPSC) is coming up on Sept 7-13, and so it's time to preview what will happen this year. First off, the event poster commemorates the instant that David's brakes failed last year, and the Orange Bullet blew through…

Beware of flying @aircanada.bsky.social on a 737. They are all 737 MAXs rebranded as 737-8, and one of the interior layouts is all economy with a seat pitch of 29", no seat recline, and no entertainment.

Locking out your faculty and yet telling your students to come to campus as per usual is unprecedented in Canadian Higher Ed. @dalhousieu.bsky.social needs to come back to the bargaining table.

Charlottetown and the Centennial Trail Went out early this morning for a quick spin in the Charlottetown area. Starting just south of town, looking across the water to downtown. The HWY 1 bridge has a MUP on one side. The start of the Centennial Trail in Charlottetown. This is actually a 9 km spur…

A great lead up to this year's World Human Powered Speed Challenge. whpsc.org/can-they-bre...