Icycle 2012

Icycle was last night at Dufferin Grove. This picture sets the scene.

Hey, there are tandems here. This is going to be all kinds of awesome!

People getting ready:

This evening always brings out a cast of colourful characters.

Mr Freeze:

El Misterio:

The Ice Stud:

and of course, the Ice Emperor (although he seems to have lost his helmet topper here)

BMX tricks on ice:

In this shot of the women’s semifinal, you can see my ride for the evening.

and speaking of cargobikes, here’s one way of transporting a bike.

The start of the first tandem heat.

The Miyata tandem team.

A very determined stoker on the Mixte team.

Of course, for the tandem final, no one gets to wear a shirt.

Stoker re-mounting after a spill.

The winning team moons the stands.

Start of the women’s finals.
You can also see Tino taking this picture.

Although this fixed gear rider took an early lead,

most of the race was between these two, and it was very close until Brianna crashed on the bell lap.

In the men’s final, these two played cat and mouse, until the drop bar rider made his move with two laps to go.

I have a video that shows the final parts of the women’s and men’s finals, along with a short clip during the rubber race.

Highlights:

• At the beginning of the first clip, you can hear the crowd reaction to the crash of the second place rider.
• After the men’s winner starts his final kick, the guy in the wool shirt who just got beat applauds when he rides past the stands.
• In the rubber race, you will see that my strategy of loading up the Xtracycle with 20 kgs of road salt to increase traction didn’t work out so well. The short sections of track just between the two rinks were very slick. You will also see last year’s winner: the woman on the unicycle with the purple cape. If anyone got a picture of me on the xtracycle, please let me know.

I’ve posted a few extra pictures of the evening, along with all of the above at high resolution here.
As always, I had a total blast. Thanks to the Toronto Cyclist’s Union, Bike Pirates, and the race officials for putting on the event.

Update: Tino has posted pictures here.

Joe at Biking Toronto has also posted a video.

Shutterjet has some photos here.

TorontoGP Tourist has some photos here.

Update2: as per the comments, James has added a few more pictures of the rubber race, as well as a video to his original post, including this picture of me on the Xtracycle.

Some other photos by Kiril Strax here.

NOW magazine has a short write up.

Dandyhorse magazine has a nice write up with pictures, and a video that shows me (along with many other of my fellow riders) tipping over during the rubber race.

Torontoist has more pictures, including this one of me headed into traffic. I’m the only one with my headlight on. Photo credit Dean Bradley, via Torontoist.