One ride which has become a “rite of passage” of sorts within Toronto’s cycling community is riding from Toronto to Niagara Falls in one day which can be anywhere between 140 and 160 kilometres depending on the route. With this past weekend being beautiful and warm, I finally did that ride yesterday which was almost 151 kilometres; beating my previous distance record of 115 kilometres when biking from Kitchener to Hamilton two years ago.
This morning, the Toronto Star revealed which bike lanes Ontario Premier Doug Ford wanted removed first which were Bloor from Resurrection to Clissold and Yonge from Merton to Millwood. While I was surprised The Kingsway part of Bloor would be left untouched given that’s where the hostilities were coming from, there are not any credible alternatives that can be taken for either of these two stretches. However, there is another problem associated with Bill 212 which urgently requires Toronto’s cycling community to call out Mayor Olivia Chow and City Council on.
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| Rendering of Sheppard Avenue East (via City of Toronto) |
One thing I missed in Toronto is open streets which hasn’t been held since 2022. However, nearby Hamilton started hosting them along King Street East from John Street to Gage Avenue since 2023 including two Sunday events this year. While Jun covered the first event in June amidst a heat wave, I covered today’s event.
One thing that has gotten a lot of attention this month in Toronto is speed cameras. On September 7, 2025, the speed camera on Parkside Drive – where Helen and I used to live near until 2022 – was cut down for the seventh time in less than 12 months! That camera was first put in place in 2022 in response to the crash in October 2021 which saw Valdemar and Fatima Avila get killed; something which prompted the group Safe Parkside to organize and demand a redesign of that street. On September 9, 2025, another 16 speed cameras were reported to be damaged across the city. You would think there would be calls for action to hold those perpetrators accountable?
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| A downed speed camera on Parkside Drive in May 2025 (via Faraz Gholizadeh) |
Back in May 2024, the Danforth-Kingston 4 All campaign hosted their first community ride attended by about 100 people which called on Mayor Olivia Chow and Councillor Parthi Kandavel to host public consultations for the Danforth-Kingston Complete Street Extension project. A Phase 1 consultation did get held later that month, but then the Phase 2 consultation kept getting held up with Bill 212 being blamed for the delay. Danforth-Kingston 4 All organized today’s “Just Bluffing Around” ride to call for that Phase 2 consultation which has been confirmed on Friday with details to come in October.
On July 31, 2025, 28-year-old Samuel Willetts – an aspiring cinematographer – died from a crash which happened two weeks prior at Church and Gerrard Streets. Unlike past cyclist deaths, this one didn’t get reported in the media until at least a week later, while the memorial ride wasn’t held until today to accommodate out-of-town family members. Dozens of cyclists gathered at Bloor and Spadina to start the ride.
Last year, fellow cyclist Peter Low organized the first Willowdale Community Ride with Councillor Lily Cheng. However, I couldn’t make it since Helen and I were on vacation in Uzbekistan at the time, though you can check this great recap from fellow bike blogger Lisa Stokes from Brampton. Today marked the second time Peter and Lily put together this ride which almost 100 people made it out for. A testament to show there indeed is demand for cycling in North York even with the lack of cycling infrastructure! 😉
