Toronto Bike Show Weekend
Posted by Prashant - 12/03/10 at 09:03:56 am
Jeff after his gas station dinner.
Chris has already posted a few of his photos from the Toronto BMX Jam this year, but I thought I would post my photos too. My weekend was a little bit different, as I discovered the best way to have fun in Toronto the weekend of the bike show, after having gone for the last 8 or 9 years, is to spend as little time as possible at the bike show. Don’t get me wrong, the show always has incredible riding, and it’s a great time to catch up with loads of people from all over Ontario (and further parts of Canada) that I rarely ever get a chance to see. The monotony of it all starts to wear on you, and by Sunday I am usually BMX’d out for a long while. Click below to read more and check out more photos from the weekend, that don’t involve the contest at all.
This year we drove down Friday afternoon, intended to visit the show sparingly, and just cruise around Toronto with our favorite human, Leland Nightingale-Forfar. I wanted to carry as little with me a possible, so I brought only a point and shoot disposable camera, and it ran out some time Saturday evening.
We ended up going to Joyride, for the last 2 hours of their session. I was not in to paying the unusually high entry fee only to ride for a couple of hours, and had a flat tire, so I decided to sit it out. I fixed my flat and decided to pedal out to buy some beer. While riding in the designated bike lane with no lights attached, I encountered angry drivers, so I moved to the sidewalk. After crossing a bridge and carrying a lot of speed, I was approaching a group of teenagers who moved out of the way for me, only for the last in the pack to take a half step in my way just as I was going by. My handlebar snagged their arm and I got sent in to the ditch. After voicing my discomfort and frustration with a few choice words, I dragged myself out on to the sidewalk again, and limped forward.
Jeff turns the wooden berms in to a quarter pipe.
We settled in to Leland’s place around 11, and proceeded to take it easy. That eventually led to listening to metal on Leland’s cassette player, and Jeff started ripping off his shirt. If you’ve ever been on a trip with Jeff, this shouldn’t surprise you.
Rich giving Jeff a hand.
Hulkamania
We pedaled out to the bars, but with a combination of the time and size of the line in front of the infamous Dance Cave, we decided to just head elsewhere. We went down the street to The Lab, where the bouncer told us to go straight to the basement, which someone commented felt like hanging out in the “basement of your friends’ dad’s house”.
Dance Cave lineup. No dice.
Favorite human.
When pedaling back we passed the Dance Cave after it was letting out, and saw the expected crowd of inebriated riders all sprawling out on to the sidewalk and street. Green lazers, socializing, shit talking, and stickering commenced. For some reason we then gave the Montreal crew a walking escort to Sneakie Dee’s (?).
Greg Flag.
Shady Rob aka Sauga Rob.
We spent too much time in this shady Coffee Time.
The next day most of us went out riding around town, then made our way to the bike show to watch the Ottawa heat. We found out that Ben Kauffmann had a bad crash over the hitching post that results in a scorpion grind across the floor. Destroyed his second helmet, and he was pretty rattled, so he pulled out from the contest. Jorden Guth and Chris Chitaroni both decided to ride in the pro class and rode in their heat. After hanging out and shaking hands for an hour and a half (and getting a copy of the new BMXFU video – I recommend you track down a copy, you won’t be disappointed), we were eager to get out of there.
We went to this ledge spot near Lakeshore, and were surprised to find a diverse crowd already present. Mississauga riders such as Hans and company were already there, Jo Chen and others from Quebec were there, Montreal crew of Dewey, Greg Flag, and Sean Cooke rolled up with Miami Mike and a big Toronto contingent. We weren’t the only ones bored of sitting inside the bike show all day.
Ledge spot.
That night most people headed to the Dance Cave. The next day we opted to ignore pro finals and cruised around to spots all over and got a solid day of riding in, then ended it with some good food (and running in to Kyle Lafleur). The bike show weekend is always a good time every year, but if you’ve seen it enough it’s nice to get out and enjoy what Toronto has to offer. You’ll be surprised with the number of people you will run in to doing the same. The weather was great, and our host was even greater. See you next year Toronto Bike Show.
Dara, Jeff, Rich, Leland.
Goodbye Toronto.
3 Comments »
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Too kind P. You are always welcome back. Come by the farm sometime soon.
Comment by leland — March 12, 2010 #
not enough great thing can be said about leland. thanks for everything buddy! we owe you big time!
Comment by COCKMASTER — March 15, 2010 #
yah big thanks as always!
Comment by Rich Red — March 20, 2010 #