September 27, 2022

Gord's message: Another great TBN picnic

Thanks to everyone who joined us on Sept. 18, at Milliken Park in Scarborough, for TBN's first picnic since 2020. The turnout was fantastic, the food delicious and the variety of rides were, as always, most impressive. We will be considering a return to this location for our 2023 picnic, which we plan to hold at our usual date in early August. Stay tuned for updates on that.

Looking ahead, we are in the planning stages for this year's virtual annual meeting. See the item below, and watch for updates on this important event.

Gord Irish, President


Save the date for TBN's virtual annual meeting

TBN's Annual General Meeting is scheduled for 7 pm on Nov. 23. As in recent years, this will be a virtual gathering. Please join if you can to hear our overview of 2022 activities and our plans for 2023.

The AGM The Annual General Meeting is an important event in TBN's calendar, the forum to approve the Club’s financial statements and nominate and vote on the Board of Directors for 2022-23. 

Members may submit proposals to be voted on at the AGM, as well as questions you would like the board to address. Please send questions and suggestions to info@tbn.ca no later than Oct. 23 with the subject line "TBN AGM".

As in previous years, all TBN members in good standing will receive a separate email with an invitation to the virtual meeting with the meeting details, and how to register for the meeting. We will also post details on our calendar.

TBN City Walks about to start

If you are looking for something to do when the weather is too cool for cycling, consider joining leader John Burdett on some City Walks. This fall we will be doing something old and something new. As always, beginning Oct. 16, we will be running a walk every Sunday. New for this year, beginning on Oct. 27, we will also be doing walks on Thursdays during the day. 

For more information, check out the City Walks page. Members who have questions are asked to email John at citywalks@tbn.ca.


Harvest Ontario Protest re proposed highway 413

A protest walk and cycle event is set to take place this Saturday, Oct. 1, against the building of the proposed Highway 413 through the farmlands of Vaughan and Caledon region. People will be starting at various locations to end up at the Brampton Fairgrounds for a mass rally. The organizers are expecting up to 1,000 people from various groups to attend.

TBN Touring Director Dennis Szilvasy is organizing groups from TBN and other clubs to join the protest rides.

"This highway would destroy the road system that we cycle on and the farmlands in the area," says Dennis. "We would also be punished by the huge costs to build it."

There will be a choice of two rides for this protest. The East Harvest Ride starts in Kleinburg and goes to the Brampton Fairgrounds for a roundtrip of 46.7 km. The West Harvest Ride starts in Meadowvale and also goes to the fairgrounds for a roundtrip of 56.3 km. Protest signs will be supplied for the cyclists participating.

This is not a TBN Event. You must register for the protest rides. Maps of the routes can be found at that link. Starting time is 9:45 am on Oct. 1.

Anyone wishing to volunteer to help on the rides is asked to email Dennis.

TBN hiking season starts Oct. 16

TBN’s schedule of Sunday fall and winter hikes kicks off on October 16 with a hike around Smokey Hollow, near Hamilton. Hikes will take place on Sundays throughout the fall and winter (weather permitting), starting at 9:30 am. Please arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of time. Details of each hike can be found on the TBN calendar.

You must register in advance and cancel that registration if you change your mind and cannot come. Guest registrations will be allowed if space permits.

Update from the Technical Director

Based on a suggestion from a ride leader, the "Get List of Registrants for Upcoming Event" application used by ride leaders has been enhanced. Now, when you view the list of registrants there are checkboxes next to each registrant's name. If you are using a printout, you can check each box when people show up. If you are using your phone, you can click the check box on the phone. This does not record attendance, but some Ride Leaders may find this useful to keep track of who has shown up at the start of a ride. See screenshot sample below.


Zwift your way to winter fitness

TBN will renew its winter program of virtual rides this year, using the Zwift computer platform to provide an almost limitless number of indoor rides as the weather turns cold, wet or snowy. Starting October 17 we will be scheduling morning rides on Mondays (regardless of weather), and on Wednesdays and Fridays when the outdoor weather forecast is poor. Watch the TBN Calendar for scheduled rides. 

From fall 2021 to spring 2022 TBN hosted 70 Zwift Meetup 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 and a futuristic New York City. There are more than 100 different 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 about how to get started, see https://tbn.ca/zwiftmeetups.

Complimentary Membership Policy

There have been a number of questions posed to board members recently about TBN's policy/process for awarding complimentary membership to our active volunteers. We have been following a policy/process within the board since at least 2018 (with a few very minor changes in the intervening years), but it has not been formally shared with the club membership until now. Click  to view our current Complimentary Membership Policy

Need to cancel a registration for an event?

We have tried to clear up the process for cancelling your event registrations. We have updated the How to Cancel my Event Registration page on the website. The links in each event now show


for registered users. See the web page for more details.

Martin Lansche, Technical Director

Reminders

Event Registration: 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 will only offer you the Guest Rider registration choice. Also, when you are logged into the TBN website, a lot of members-only content appears.

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