bike pirates

The following notice comes from Gabrielle Langlois, Davenport West Bike Project Coordinator at the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre:

Hi,

I am writing to let you know about a new health promotion initiative in the Davenport west area.

The Davenport West bike project aims to create/further develop bike culture and increase physical activity and awareness that physical activity can help improve health and well being. We ran a successful pilot this past summer (13 free bike clinics) and with new funding from the Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport, will run a more developed project until the fall of 2011. From Dec. 2010 to March 2011 it will include training for volunteers (bike repair, health promotion, healthy eating, safe riding/injury prevention), and in the spring/summer of 2011 will include free community bike clinics and community rides.

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.