It’s Time to Demand Accountability for Eglinton

Two things that have made Torontonians furious at the Ford government lately are the constantly delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT and their war on bikes through Bill 212. Both of these matters intersected yesterday when Toronto Today had reported the bike lanes proposed under eglintonTOday would be paused because of Bill 212. While the article was later corrected to state the City of Toronto’s commitment to do the installation after the LRT opens, the City of Toronto updated the eglintonTOday project website to say installation would not happen in 2025 when the road resurfacing work happens.

Late August Don Trail Exploring

Over the past few days, I found out on Urban Toronto that the East Don Trail has made some more progress since the tunnel installation in late May, while Joric shared in the Cycling in Toronto Facebook group that the Lower Don Trail access at Don Mills Road has been made more accessible. Earlier today, I went on a 19-kilometre ride to check out both items.

An aerial shot of Bridge #2 on the East Don Trail (via TwinHuey on Urban Toronto)

August 2025 Cycling Construction Check In

Last year, Toronto installed almost 27 kilometres of on-street bikeways; making it the second highest year ever after the 30 kilometres installed in 2020 during the pandemic. This includes 8.5 kilometres for Finch Avenue West which I deemed to be substantially completed per a site visit, but the City of Toronto didn’t count as Metrolinx hadn’t transferred the street back to the City. Even excluding Finch, 18 kilometres is still respectable compared to prior years. With Doug Ford’s Bill 212 limiting new bike lane installations and Cycle Toronto’s charter challenge win last month (which the Ford government formally submitted their appeal today), it made me wonder what the impact on new bike lane installations would be.

Bikeway construction on The Esplanade in May 2025

Escarpment and Chippewa Rail Trails

Two years ago, I rode the Hamilton to Brantford Rail Trail as part of a longer Kitchener to Hamilton ride. It was a very good trail with the former Sulphur Springs train station being the main draw. However, I was meaning to check some other rail trails in the Hamilton area such as the Escarpment and Chippewa. Having got a new gravel bike last month and a day off work yesterday, I finally got to check both trails off my bucket list.

New Park on New Bike Day!

Thirteen years ago, I bought my first proper bike; meaning not a cheap department store one. It was a Felt Verza City 3 hybrid which I called Rusty. While it has been through a lot over the years, I wanted to replace it with a gravel bike that’s lighter and faster than the hybrid, can handle rail trails and Toronto’s bumpy roads more confidently than my road bike, and be used for bikepacking in the future. Yesterday, I picked up my new Brodie Romax Adventure 1.0 from Fix Coffee + Bikes and marked the occasion with a ride to Toronto’s new Biidaasige Park in the Port Lands!

July 2025 Ride The Meadoway

With last year’s “Ride The Meadoway” being one of my favourite rides in Scarborough, I was thrilled to find out it was happening again this year! This year’s occasion also gave an excuse to check out the newest Meadoway segment from Military Trail to Morningside, as well as the Marcos to Midland segment under construction. This morning, I joined about 60 people who started at Wexford Hydro Park while a few others joined in afterwards.

Bike Party July 2025

Advocating for complete streets can be a drag sometimes whether it’s Doug Ford’s anti bike lane Bill 212 or the astroturf groups that recently emerged against RapidTO. To counter this negativity, it’s always good to have rave rides consisting of cool lights, music, and dance moves! Toronto Cruisers hosts smaller scale rave rides on Wednesday nights while Neon Riders typically hosts theirs on Thursday nights. The annual Bike Rave usually happens in August, but a similar ride called “Bike Party” has emerged in recent years. Last night, I joined almost 500 riders for the July 2025 edition of Bike Party!