Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Toronto ride repost from CL.

Dear fellow Toronto cyclists,

This Sunday, May 8, I will be riding from College and Ossington to Tottenham, Ontario and back. It's about 45 km there, so 90 in total. This is an important ride for me, and I'm alone in Toronto, so I'm wondering if anyone would like to join.

Here's the thing: I'm a former messenger from Vancouver. For the last sixteen years, since I was seventeen years old, there have been two amazing little friends in my life. On Wednesday night/Thursday morning at 12:30 a.m., I had to say goodbye to one of them, as she died. Her name was Lady Jane. She wasn't just a friend to me - she shared her love with quite a few Vancouver two-wheelers (not to mention Montrealers, Prince Edward Islanders, and others) and will be missed by all.

I will be burying Lady Jane on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at a cemetery in Tottenham, and then riding back to Toronto. I am here on my own in Toronto, and while I can and will do the ride alone for her, if there is anyone out there who would like to ride along for support, I could sure use it right now. If I was in Vancouver I would call on the community to ride with me. Even though I haven't been able to connect with the community here in Toronto yet, I'm putting it out there just in case. If there are any current or former road warriors who would like to support one of your own in need by getting out on a sunny Sunday, please get in touch. We don't have to talk about L.J., you don't have to go to the burial, I would just really appreciate some friends along the way.

You can reach me by return email above, or just show up if you like. I'll be leaving from College and Ossington at 10:00 on Sunday morning. This will be more of a cruise than a race.

Thanks.


I'd be there if my bike wasn't broken.

Operator, I am REALLY sad to hear about your loss. I wish I had seen these earlier, I would have been there to ride with you, but unfortunately I am out of town right now, heading back to the city from Caledon in about an hour. Again, I am sorry to hear about LJ and I hope you have some company on the ride.

Rob

Well I was popping in some laundry right there so I thought I'd drop by there and see how it was going. I was there at 10 and a few minutes after there was a lone cyclist waiting at the intersection so I wandered over and asked and that was who it was. I told em I'd read about it here from a reposting from CL, invited her to drop by here. I'm putting together a road bike today to start riding again, been 4 months and my knee feels grrrreat so time to hit the road.

So she sez she may make a regular ride of it and it's a nice route, northwest out of the city then up 27 or backroads if it's too hairy. Probably she'll drop in and give info as to when, certainly on CL. We chatted awhile and about 15-20 after no one had shown so she set off, maybe she'll post up how it went.

I'm glad someone was able to show up. I also saw the same thing taped to the cashier counter at Urbane Cyclist. A Regular ride would be nice. I'm so mad because I should've been able to make it. Soon my precious... soon.

Hi all,

I just want to say that even though I did do the ride alone today, I really appreciate everyone's kind thoughts and words. That was really nice of you Sam to stop by. While company would have been cool, it was sort of cathartic to do it alone, if that makes any sense. That and I realized about halfway there that anyone who had ridden with me would have likely been annoyed at how utterly out of shape I am... I can admit to having used the granny ring more than once on the way up! That said, I did make it and it is a very worthwhile ride. It's basically up up up all the way there and then a very pleasant cruise home. Highway 27 isn't too hairy, but at the same time it might be nice to find a quieter road as it is pretty busy - you can't really take in the scenery a whole lot, since most of the time is spent staying alive.

I do plan to do that ride regularly at least for this summer, as my car is out of commission for a while and so that's my only way to visit LJ's grave.

I'll post a message here somewhere in case anyone wants to join.

Thank you again for responding to my CL post; even if you couldn't make it I'm touched that you would even consider it. You have renewed my firmly held belief that bikers are awesome people.

Cheers,
Laura

I am wondering what "CL" stands for?

It's Craigslist - www.toronto.craigslist.net
It's a pretty cool site with local postings for just about anything you can think of, no ads...
:)