Yesterday was the last Friday of the month, and so it was time for Critical Mass. Here is the crowd gathered at Matt Cohen Park. As far as anyone there could remember, this was the first such ride since 2020. It was good to see many of the usual suspects there, some of whom I hadn’t seen in person since before the pandemic.
Gerry was good enough to show up at the start wearing the same shirt he wore on the ride three years ago. He elected not to join us, but to meet up with the Neon Riders the same evening.
This is the first Tern Short Haul I’ve seen in the wild.
Interesting minimalist foot rests.
Now we are staging at the northwest corner of Bloor and Spadina while keeping the bike lane clear. With the numbers that we had, we decided to keep to the bike lane and not to cork intersections.
Riding along Bloor.
The bike counter display before and after the group passes.
So including myself, we had 21 riders.
Regroup before entering High Park. We need more clearly defined space for cyclists and pedestrians waiting for the light to change.
KP is telling me not to take a picture?
This was the first time that some had seen the changes underway in High Park. Here runners and cyclists peacefully coexisting while going down the hill.
Joey is commenting on the new markings that define the separation between pedestrians and cyclists rounding the corner near the Grenadier.
A brief stop after the first lap to decide that we are going to do more more lap as a group, and then some will form a group to ride back together downtown.
Another shot during that second lap.
We look forward to seeing further implementation of the changes, and for the park to reach a new steady state with much less car traffic.
Thanks to everyone who joined us. The hope is that we will get bigger numbers the next month (September 29, departing Matt Cohen at 6:30, rain or shine). It appears that the pandemic killed this event dead, and it would be nice to revive it. There is still plenty to be done to improve infrastructure for Toronto cyclists, and to remind everyone that cycling is an efficient way of moving even large groups of people around the city.
Rob’s pictures are here.
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