President's message

I am honoured to have been elected President of the Toronto Bicycling Network. I look forward to working with the Board of Directors, our dedicated volunteers and TBN members to build on our club's strong foundation and continue fostering a welcoming and active cycling community.

On behalf of the Board and all members, I would like to extend our sincere thanks to Gord Irish for his outstanding leadership and many contributions as President. His commitment and vision have left a lasting and positive impact on the club. We wish you well Gord!

I am excited for the year ahead and the opportunity to continue moving TBN forward—both on and off the road. See you out there as we all look forward to spring and more great cycling events!

Italo Bravo

TBN Board members confirmed for 2026-28

An enthusiastic group of 100 TBN members gathered for this year’s AGM, dinner and dance, Nov. 15 at Tecumseh Auditorium in the Toronto Metropolitan University Student Centre. Entertainment was provided by the Junctioneers, the band that played at the last two Spring Flings.

Once again, this gathering served as an excellent opportunity to recognize the efforts of those on the TBN Board as well as all of our volunteers who have assisted in making this such a successful year. At the AGM, member votes confirmed four new Board positions: Italo Bravo (President, after having completed his previous post as Communications Director), Paul Min (Vice-President), Rudy Rawlins (Secretary) and Kathy Cunningham (Communications), all pictured below. Nine existing Board members continue with their positions, while two Board members chose not to run for new terms: Gord Irish (outgoing President) and Catherine Newhook (outgoing Secretary). Here’s a link to complete biographies and photos of all Board members. Congratulations to all new and returning Directors, and many thanks to Gord and Catherine for their years of service on the Board. Your dedicated input is greatly appreciated.

Italo Bravo, TBN's newly elected President, is a technology professional whose career has included work for large organizations such as IBM, Scotiabank, Hewlett Packard and the Bank of Montreal, where he has held progressive senior management positions. He has volunteered for TBN at multiple activities, such as bike show booths and Bike for Brain Health rides, and as a dedicated ride leader. This year, he completed a term as TBN Communications Director.

Paul Min, newly elected TBN Vice-President, is an IT and sales professional who has been an active member of the club since 2008. He has worked in startups, large banks, and telecoms including TD Bank, and at Avaya Telecom as a senior manager. Paul has wide experience leading many TBN rides, and oversees the annual Hairshirt program. He has proudly completed Hairshirt 10 times.

Rudy Rawlins, newly elected club Secretary, has been an engineer by vocation for the last 45 years, with tenures at Nortel, BlackBerry, Apple, Amazon and Loblaws, leading large dynamic teams. He is now spending more time with his wife and two sons. His outside passions include birding, cycling and windsurfing, hopefully all done on the same trip. Additionally, he dabbles in technology, and tries to cross-country ski during our brisk Ontario winters. 

Communications Director Kathy Cunningham comes to TBN with a background in travel, advertising and PR. She is a newly empty nester living in midtown. In her mid 40’s she dabbled in long distance running and triathlon. Kathy joined TBN in 2023 and her fave TBN rides are Urban Roller and Country Cruise, with coffee and pastry stop a must. Kathy plans to work on increasing community awareness of TBN and raising the club’s social media profile.

TBN Social/Education events

Please remember that very popular events fill up and may have waiting lists. If you register for one of these events, and you do not cancel if you can’t attend, you are denying someone on the waiting list the opportunity to attend.

Monthly Dining Out, Nov. 20. This social event, where we eat at different interesting ethnic restaurants each month, has become very popular. The restaurants are in different parts of the GTA, so everyone should have a chance to attend in an area convenient to them. This month’s dinner is centrally located at a Mediterranean tapas restaurant. Information about the event, the restaurants and registration is available here.

TBN Pub Quiz, Nov. 25. We had our most exciting quiz last month as three teams tied for first place, and four overtime rounds were required to declare a winner. The quiz events take place at the Prenup Pub, which is one of the best and most interesting in the GTA. Registration for the November quiz is now open via the calendar. More details about the new participant-centred quiz format and about the Prenup Pub are available here.

Dinner and Dancing on the Danforth, Dec. 5. We decided to enhance this event by making a whole evening of it. First, we will have dinner at a great restaurant near Broadview and Danforth, and then, for those who wish to, we will walk over to Noonan’s Irish Pub, where we will dance to or just listen to a great band. There is NO COVER at Noonan’s. More information, music videos, and registration can be found here.

Wolf Den winter retreat planned for January-February

Join your fellow TBN members at the rustic Wolf Den Hostel and Nature Retreat near Algonquin Park, Jan. 30-Feb. 1.  You can choose between cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, skating, birdwatching in Algonquin Park (migrants from the north seen only during the winter) or hiking. There are three skiing places nearby not counting other skiing trails in the vicinity. We have booked the entire hostel. Included will be light snacks on Friday evening and a Saturday evening potluck (group meal). The cost is from $115 to $150 per person depending on the chosen accommodation. We don't think you'll find a better deal for a weekend getaway! Details and registration information are available here.

City Walks and No-drop walks are back

The Fall City Walk Program has begun. We are offering a full schedule of walks every Sunday and every Thursday until Christmas. The walks start at 10 am, typically at or near a subway station. Sunday walks are usually about 10 km, Thursday walks are often a bit shorter at about 8 km. Wherever possible we will have early exits providing shorter distances (often 4 to 6 km) for those who do not want to do the entire distance. Some walks loop back to the start and some are end-to-end walks to a different subway station.

We often stop for a coffee/washroom break around the middle and frequently go for lunch afterward. This season there are nine different people leading walks, so there will be a large variety of experiences. Check out the TBN Calendar, to find ones you might be interested in doing. Everyone must register in advance via the Calendar.

After Christmas, from the beginning of January until it is nice enough to cycle in the spring, we will offer a more informal program of Winter City Walks, also starting Sunday mornings at 10 am (and perhaps on some weekdays too). The start points, end points and routes may not be announced until a few days before the walk. This allows us to select routes appropriate for the expected weather conditions, reflect current events, or other items of interest. Perhaps we will even be able to have some walks starting at a Finch LRT stop or an Eglinton Crosstown stop.

Keep in mind that if you are available on a Thursday, there will be a City Walk every Thursday until Christmas.

A reminder that in addition to the regular Fall/Winter Hikes and City Walks, we also offer a No Drop winter hiking program. These walks/hikes are typically fairly short (4-7 km) and at a leisurely pace, with small groups of about 8-12 walkers. They typically take place on city paths that are not maintained during the winter, so we advocate the use of hiking poles and icers, as well as bringing water bottles and snacks.

If you want to be notified when these hikes are posted, please sign up for the No Drop Hike alert emails using this link:

https://www.tbn.ca/event-5020170 

Fall and winter hikes now under way

TBN’s schedule of fall and winter out-of-town hikes is in full swing. Each hike starts at 10 am, and they take place every Sunday until late December. These are for the most part loop hikes and each is about 13 km. Fall hiking will require you to have proper clothing and footwear. Winter hiking is a different animal. It will require you to not only have proper footwear and clothing but also crampon style icers. These may not be used on the hike but should be included in your backpack in case they are needed.

You must register in advance via the Calendar and cancel that registration if you change your mind and cannot come for whatever reason. Guest registrations at a cost of $10 per person will be allowed if space permits. Parking at some venues can be a challenge, so plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of hikes. Some hikes will require you to pay for parking but these will be noted on the TBN hike posting. We will try and keep these hikes to a minimum.

At this time we are not sure whether hikes will be scheduled in the New Year, as interest dropped off for those in 2025. If they are planned, they could take place less frequently. Watch the Calendar for dates, which will be posted as details are confirmed.

Zwift your way to winter fitness

TBN is back for a fourth year of its winter program of virtual rides, using the Zwift computer platform to provide an almost limitless number of indoor rides as the weather turns cold, wet or snowy. At the beginning of the Zwift season, we will be running morning rides on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. As the season progresses, we hope to host Tuesday and Thursday evening rides. If demand is sufficient, we will host weekend rides (we need some more volunteer virtual ride leaders). Rides will be posted one month in advance. Check the TBN Calendar for scheduled rides.  

Zwift allows us to offer curated rides in two fantasy worlds: Watopia and a Japanese-themed Makuri Islands, as well as virtual routes in London, France, Innsbruck, Yorkshire, Richmond, Scotland and a futuristic New York City (including a new expansion of 31 new km of roads). There are more than 260 routes, from gentle to extremely strenuous. Many of our rides will use the "rubber band" feature in Zwift to keep all participants close together.

If you are interested in Zwift rides, either as a participant or as a volunteer virtual ride leader, please email virtualrides@tbn.ca with your preferences (day, time, distance and duration) and whether you are willing to host an event. Details about upcoming Zwift meetups will be posted on the TBN website. For more information about the meetups and how to get started, see https://tbn.ca/zwiftmeetups.

Suggestions or questions for the Club

Do you have a suggestion or question for the club but don't know who to send it to? Our general info@tbn.ca email address is monitored by a board member and they will direct the email to the appropriate person and/or bring up the content at the next board meeting for consideration.  We'd love to hear from you!

TBN getting (more) social on socials! 

Did you know we have a lively presence on Instagram? Follow TBN on IG at @torontobicyclingnetwork. Let's show Toronto that we are the biggest, friendliest and best club in the six (416)! Calling all ride leaders and members to get group pics on rides and get tagging. Like and comment and we'll chat. Let's get to know each other better and show off how much fun we have riding around town and out of town. Share your group shots, selfies and scenic views on your own IG and collaborate/tag TBN! Or, send by private message on IG to @torontobicylingnetwork, send via email to our Instagram manager, or share on TBN's Facebook page. Just make sure you take those pics and share them.

TBN members get discounts at Bike Depot!

Great news! Bike Depot is offering TBN members 10% off most accessories (some brands like Garmin aren't included) and 20% off services. Just show your TBN membership card from your profile (https://tbn.ca/Sys/Profile) to get the deal.

Head to the Bike Depot site through the link on the bottom of each page in the TBN website to check it out!

We need your photos

We’d love to see all the amazing moments you’ve captured during our club rides and events. If you have any photos or videos from recent outings, please upload them to our shared Google album. It’s a great way to relive the memories, showcase our adventures, and help keep our club page lively and engaging. Whether it’s action shots, group selfies or scenic views, every photo counts. But pease be selective and upload only the photos you feel are your best. Let’s build a collection we can all enjoy and be proud of. Thanks for sharing your experiences—your contributions help tell the story of our awesome club!

“30-Day-Trial" membership to continue in 2026

Last spring we started a new "30-Day-Trial" membership option that has proven to be successful. Now that autumn is here, we are happy to report that 107 people tried the trial membership, and 22.4% of them became full members (individual, student or family). We consider this to be a good retention rate, and the 30-Day-Trial membership option will continue to be offered next year.

Reminder to update your TBN profile

Please ensure to periodically update your TBN club profile. Perhaps upload a photo of yourself (so other members know who you are), confirm that your email address listed is correct (as this is the primary way for us to contact you), confirm your phone and emergency contacts are still valid, and update your current (or former) occupation and let us know if and how you would like to volunteer with TBN. We are always looking for helping hands, especially those with needed skills. How to do this: Login to the website www.tbn.ca, click on your name, then click Edit Profile. When you are done, press Save to commit your changes.

Event registration reminder

Please remember to login to the TBN website prior to registering for our Events. If you are not logged in, the system does not know who you are, and may only offer you the Guest registration choice. Also, when you are logged into the TBN website, a lot of members-only content appears.