Icycle 2008

Ice-Velocipede

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 TireStudded 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!

Be sure to stick around until the end after the 2008 Icycle racing champion has been crowned. The most fun happens next: The Rubber Race! This "race" is more like anarchy on ice as a big mass of cyclists race around the track with only one rule: no studded tires! It's absolutely hilarious to see bikes and riders of all different shapes, sizes, and abilities try to make their way around the rink as fast as possible, while they spin out, crash, laugh, and jump back on their bikes. If you come out to watch the races, you might as well get your own kicks and join in on the rubber race fun.

Ice BikeIce Bike

Unfortunately, I'll have to miss this year's race so I'm counting on all you ibiketo.ca readers to attend and take as many photos and videos as possible. I posted plenty of links to photos and videos from last year here. Enjoy!

Contact The Bike Joint at 416-532-6392 for more info.

Photos by Vic Gedris, patent diagram from Google Patents

vic : 18 years 2 months ago
Tags: ice, icebike, icycle, race, winter

Taking it to the Streets - Winter Cycling Edition

University of Toronto's radio station, CIUT, ran a show yesterday morning on winter cycling. You can download it from the Take 5 web site. It has the kind of detailed and practical advice that was exciting to hear on the airwaves.

The story lets you follow reporter Ted Fairhurst as he looks into how to extend his 3 season commute into the winter. He talks to two winter cyclists about how they handle the icy roads and narrowed lanes. You can see how different people have quite different ideas about the best solutions.

My winter cycling has been put on ice (come on, you loved that) recently due to some serious bike problems, but I can still offer my advice. I would recommend lightly studded tires to anyone willing and able to spend some money on their bike. For suburban cyclists, I'd suggest making a bigger effort to avoid major streets. A thin balaclava is essential if it's below about -4 C.

darren : 18 years 2 months ago
Tags: CIUT, take5, UofT, winter cycling

When drivers lose their grip on reality

Someone sent I Bike TO this very disturbing link to a Portland craigslist "missed connections". I don't know what to say without giving it away. It might be real; it might be a hoax.

Let's just say that it involves a woman on a bike, a man with car door and a gun, and a very strange idea of what is socially acceptable.

Here's my advice to the woman who got doored: the only kind of apology you should accept is a wire transfer of $10,000 or more.

herb : 18 years 2 months ago
Tags: door prize