Well talk about a weekend to get you motivated then!!!! :) It's all good. Best job I ever loved, the money was almost secondary after awhile, seriously. Six years in MTL, some of the best memories I have come from this period in my life.

@37> take the road (the kingsway) that forks N off bloor until usher...nicer (houses, trees) than bloor, unless you plan to stop at the old sod on bloor for a pint or you wanna see my old high high school (go RAMS!).

you can take the kingsway until kipling, but:
1) the scenery along royal york is a bit nicer from that point (at least until just south of eglinton);
2) from royal york/dixon OR kipling/eglinton, i would go over to, and up, martingrove to rexdale (really, you are kinda choosing the lesser of the evils--unless you can easily navigate the smaller streets--but i used to find martingrove minimally better and islington kinda sucks ass).

snaking up weston is another option...then albion, if you are going NW or stay on weston for N. you have options of detouring to "rowntree", "garland", etc... :eek:

indeed, 27 is not great.

Taking Weston road might be quieter than Royal York.

Royal York was totally fine, I thought. It even has a bike lane North of Dundas. I'm more concerned about the section North of Royal York. Those side streets don't look too impossible to navigate though, so maybe that's a better option.

I've gone up islington from the top of the humber and it's crappy traffic wise but rideable. Never tried the rexdale part... I just ended up riding islington straight to 27. 27 has a paved shoulder that makes for a pretty decent "bike lane"

Are you looking at this as a training ride or commute? Is time an issue? There's a path off Phillips road that runs on the east side of the creek across from the golf club that goes under the 401. You can then pick up Hadrian Drive at its south east tip and up to Bergamot and across down to Rexdale blvd. Not ridden it myself but if you switch to the satellite view, the path is there and has bridge across the crick.

We're scouting Mike's commute. It's just a ride for me. :) I think eventually the Humber tail will form a decent part of the ride, and ultimately that's what I'd prefer to be riding now. But it's basically just a big sheet of rutted, bulletproof ice right now, which leads me to believe the trails you mention will likely be in a similar condition.

Could well be. Are you planning on doing this anytime soon? I might like to tag along

Is mike going to Guelph-Humber?

very similar to my route to school: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1737848 - I go through the park system, which is *much* safer than any of the major north/south roads, north of the 401.

That's the word on the street. Is that park system actually rideable right now? We tried the Humber trail just South of Dundas and it was horrible. It was great when it was still hard packed snow, but now all that's left is ice.

Give it one more week. The park path under the 401 needs to clear up a bit, I think.

Also: Wes, you coming to CM?

"TOC - Balcom Canyon - Kevin Seeldraeyers leads the peloton wielding both a scythe and the Pope's approval"

http://www.velonews.com/files/images...2516997000.jpg

I'm going to swing by the start, but I have to head out to the Cycle Solutions in the Beaches before they close at 7:00, so I can't do the ride.

Nice to see all of you out there tonight. Quite a big crowd for the tempeature. It got chilly quick!

P.S That pictures is jokes wes

Somnambu-poopiepants, I have your chainring/guard at my secret lair/apartment.

raepe tarp.

I fall for it every time.

lulZ

Was indeed good to see you all tonight, I kinda missed the start watching my buddies bike across the street while he went into Pizza Pizza, but was a good turnout.

A tube blew on me this morning randomnly while at work, and kindly tore a bit of my tyre wall so I won't be riding to Whitby this weekend as I can't get another one just yet and don't trust it for a long out of town trip.

I have a Vittoria Rubino pro you can borrow if you just need it for the weekend.

And a nice Bianchi on CL: http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/622789853.html

And can anyone suggest a local vendor that would carry batteries for a 600X stinkpad?

I totally hear ya Wes. I hung at the back to see how everyone rode together - since there were so many people that didn't know each other and it was a MUCH bigger turn out than I expected/realized - and I'll admit I was a little disappointed by some of the more aggressive riding.

The difficulty is that we really were hoping that DSR could be a bunch of people getting together and having some bike fun and that there would be a way that other people could have the opportunity to join in - thus the site and other online stuff. We also didn't want to have to set a lot of rules. Like with the sprints; ride whatever you want and just straight up challenge someone, if you want to keep time, you're welcome to. And even handing out the awards were based on some totally random criteria. That's the spirit we're looking for.

I'm not going to tell people how to act or how to ride, but I definitely encourage those of you who come out to discourage the negative behavior - as will we - and encourage positive things like: riding with lights at night, using signals to communicate with both cars AND other riders, taking only ONE lane when possible, not riding in the oncoming lane, not rushing intersections or swarming cars, etc... As well as just general neutrality with traffic.

And as far as the hammerfest goes, I got the feeling it was a lot of pent up spin that people needed to burn off. As far as I'm concerned, the core decides the pace and the rest can break off as they wish. I'd like to save the speed for the sprints.

I have a few - albeit no hi end - new tires kicking around here - PM - if you're interested. By all means you can borrow as long as you need.

I think the unfortunate lure of such a ride is to encourage the exact type of riding your post is against. I think there is enough of us here who can "ride fast and not be an *******" (thanks somnambulant) that if last weeks situation occurs again, you can just let the offenders break away and do that kind of stuff on their own.

Word... cuz you know it'll only be a matter of time. Alleycat race style riding.... not so good in a group ride, especially when I'm not familiar with everyone in the group. I'd not be comfortable raging in der traffic like that in a group situation. I'd rather not end my evening rip applying compression to somone's bleed out. If they're gonna go .. let them go.

Exactly. I'm so glad to hear you guys say that. I don't want it to get spoiled and people to think it carries a bad vibe. The great thing about the sprints was the atmosphere. Man sometimes it was hard to get the first people to even race cause everyone was just hanging out! :D

I'll be honest, when I thought of doing the sprints and the subsequent group rides I really only thought it'd be a few of us from the here that would show up. I was hoping that other people might come out but largely just encourage people to ride in general or start their own events and stuff. I'm glad people are stoked and want to support, I just don't want anyone to get the impression this was intended to be some sort of alley cat training ride ;)

I really hope to see you guys keep coming out. It's great to see you lot in person since I don't get as much of a chance to keep up on here.