icycle

Saturday night's Icycle 2011 saw a new winner for the men racing, an almost upset for the women racing, some bare chested men, superheros, some loose screws, and one tutu. All the photos below are from tocvos and Tino (click through the photos to see original).

The "Mental Oriental" pulls off an early upset over the repeat winner, Briana. (That's what was written on her Leaf's jersey folks.) Briana regains respect in the last race where she blows away the field.

The upset in the men's field. The masked man kicks butt. (I didn't stick around for the award ceremony so I don't have names and was too lazy to do proper research).

Organizer and Bike Joint owner Derek grandstands.

Rick the Number Guy displays the loop number on nice, newly laminated cards.

These sharp-looking tires are what you need to contend in this race.

Lots of exciting spills too!

The editors of I Bike TO have been working on a subliminal scheme all winter long to get all of our readers to attend the Icycle 2009 Ice Bike Races. Our banner image at the top of the page is currently a crop of the starting line from a previous year's "rubber class" race, and earlier in the winter we featured a home-made studded tire.

But now we're being right up front about it: Come on out to Dufferin Grove Park this Saturday at 9:00pm for what promises to be the most fun and entertaining annual winter cycling event in Toronto. Seriously, don't miss this!

Some of Toronto's fastest street and track riders will be taking to the ice with their home-made studded tires. Aggressive racing, tight camaraderie among the racers, and a rambunctious audience make this one of the best cycling events you'll see. It's all topped off with a fantastic "rubber class" race that brings everyone onto the ice without their studded tires to share a laugh as we all fall down and slide into the boards.

Whether you're participating in the "real" races, or just wobbling around in the "rubber class", or just watching it all go by, I guarantee you'll have a good time. Just bring some warm clothes and a bit of coin for hot chocolate.

This year there will be an after-party held a few blocks away at Bike Pirates to keep the party rolling long in the the evening.

This Saturday, February 16th at 6:00pm Toronto's best annual winter cycling event takes place at Dufferin Grove Park. It's Icycle 2008, and it's all about bike racing on ice.

Studded Tire

I'm not usually too interested in bike races, but this takes it up a notch. These cyclists build the most aggressive studded tires possible, much better than what you'll get commercially, and then race fast while looping around the arena.

You might expect to see tons of spills and wipeouts, but the studded tires generally keep excellent grip. I can guarantee you'll see some good spinouts and crashes into the boards though!