New here, but been lurking for a while. I know there are some Toronto triathletes on this board, so I thought I would post here.
I live in Copenhagen right now but am originally from Toronto. Copenhagen is pretty great for triathlon, with some really nice cycling routes just outside of the city (about 30 - 45mins outside of the city center, on bike), many pools and great parks for running. My triathlon adventure started when I moved here a few years ago, and I have since reached a fairly high level. I’m considering moving back to Toronto in the fall and would really like to continue training at this level and higher.
My main concern is cycling. Swimming I can get covered by the UofT tri club and a Master’s club, and running I mostly do on my own, can do with UofT or some local clubs/groups I know of. So my question is, where do people ride in Toronto?? Are there any decent cycling/tri clubs with regular workouts (2-3 per week) suited for elite level training?
I will get a place downtown/midtown and won’t have a car. Are there good routes accessible by bike from within the city? Thinking 2-4 hour rides, 60-120km.
There are many excellent cycling clubs in Toronto. Some only have a Masters team, but there are several with elite amateur racers. Lapdogs goes from downtown, Racer Sportif and Wheels of Bloor go from High Park in the West, Hello Velo from the East, La Bicicletta from North of downtown. The Morning Glory club is also supposed to be very good, and there are a couple of clubs down by the Beaches area in the East. There are others I’ve missed from this list. The tri shop Endurosport also runs rides, but it sounds like you’d be better off training with real cyclists. I’ll be riding/racing with Lapdogs this season, PM me when you get here
There’s a weekly TT event just north of the city which a bunch of triathletes ride. It’s not a closed route but it’s all right hand turns, no stoplights, one stopsign but it’s on a bike lane with no road going to the right so… you know.
To be honest riding is by far the biggest disadvantage of living in Toronto. There are a couple of sneaky little routes that are mostly traffic free and you can get a few intervals in, but mostly if you want to do a ride less than 60k in the week your only option is to go at 5.30 in the morning. That’s what we all do. Even at the weekend the traffic gets murderously bad as soon as you hit around 11am. Take Rappstar’s advice and take bright lights with you when out training in the daytime, and don’t go on your own on busy routes.
Even in the summer I do at least one interval session every week on the trainer. It’s more efficient and a lot safer, especially on a TT bike. Otherwise I car pool and go out to Milton or similar at the weekend and start riding out there. Another option is to take the weekend GO train to Oakville.
Living in Toronto, there are tonnes of places to ride, and great clubs to ride with.
If you live in the west end, try to find your way either west (to milton area) or north (terra cotta area). Both have fantastic places to ride with very few cars and beautiful scenery.
If you live in the east end, try to head north up into new market area. From there you can keep riding up on the sideroads all the way to lake simcoe. There are some ncie hills and little towns in here and its quite nice.
The Donut ride and morning glory rides are some of the best for getting stronger. There are quite a number of really strong athletes that do these rides.
Some good info there from jcd. I ride with the Morning Glory club, it’s a great group if you’re able to get up early (we meet at 5:40AM on Tues/Thurs for 50-60K depending on where you’re coming from and 6:00AM on Saturdays for 90-100K, some guys go further during the summer). Here’s the website if you want more info on it:
It’s probably the newest club in the city but there’s quite a few strong riders, some former semi-pro racers, a current aspiring pro cyclist, a bunch of strong triathletes and duathletes (Kona qualifiers, M40-44 world duathlon gold and silver medalist). Michael Barry of Team Sky even joined one of the Saturday rides this fall.
I don’t know much about the downtown area, but if you can get out of the city, there’s ample cycling. Like an earlier poster alluded, to the West near Milton offers some excellent roads (that’s where you’ll find me) and to the East, near Victoria Square is some of the best cycling. The area is called the Oak Ridges Moraine, and offers some very good hills, great scenery and quiet roads.
You may find that to get out of the city for your longer rides, an option might be to take the subway or GoTrain to get out of the city. But I’m sure you can find routes within, too.
I kind of want to avoid taking the TTC, what with cycling shoes and all. I’ll have to take a closer look at the map, but I’m sure there are some side streets that lead out of the city. I don’t mind doing my short rides (~1 hour) on a trainer as long as I can get some solid long rides in outside.
The tri shop Endurosport also runs rides, but it sounds like you’d be better off training with real cyclists. ____________________
Well that is an interesting comment given I lead some of these rides. While I agree the thread owner is probably served better with more elite rides, I feel compelled to defend my and my peers leading these Enduro rides each week throughout the summer because those that do join consistently give great feedback to us.
who leads these rides:
Master racers in the Ontario M1 class with many US stage race podiums, top 10 GCs, and Ontario-Cup podiums
Sub 10 Ironman triathletes who have similar bike racing results as well as 5th in National TT 35-40AG and multiple Ironman Hawaii appearances
What is the point of these rides:
teach beginner cyclists riding skills
help build fitness to new comers into cycling
help fitness levels of those not as fit as us leading the rides but have a good base of fitness (ie: the group gets broken up by skill/fitness)
build community and fun!
So while not the ride for the thread owner per se given his pedigree, forgive me if I step up for my peers and I re: the comment “real cyclists”.
Otherwise, many rides outlined by jcd are excellent. Morning Glory I hear is quite good and you can get the workout done before traffic or your day gets out of hand (hence the name of the ride!)
Regrets if I sounded mean about the Endurosport rides. I too have heard people give good feedback about them.
I’m sure you and the other people who lead the rides are outstanding, and my concern is not about you guys and girls but about the people who might be in the group with you. At the risk of going over a well-worn argument, for me the biggest advantage of training with “real cyclists” is that they know how to ride in a group. I shouldn’t be too snooty since I’m also one of those “triathletes” plenty of “real cyclists” seem to dislike, but I have a few personal rules about group rides which mean I tend to go home when most triathletes turn up to a group ride. 1) No TT bikes 2) Know how to hold a line, no half-wheeling 3) Know how to hold pace (not just on the front but not to crank it for the first 20 k to show off how strong you are) 4) Signal 5) Know how to modulate speed so you don’t cause a pile up. / Of course, all these problems get a lot worse when the conditions are bad. To be clear, I’m confident you emphasize the importance of safety in your rides, but good bike handling is not gained overnight.
There are plenty of triathletes who know and obey these rules, but in public group rides where you don’t know everyone in the group, I find it’s generally safer to be with real cyclists. See you out on the course!
I vouch for the group out of Enduro as well, they do offer a great group ride option within the city, easy to get to, high quality workout. We ride on some quiet side streets and do interval type workouts, with some hills as well. The group leaders are awesome guys! Super fast!! A great weeknight workout!
What I found most impressive about your club is how damn nice you all are when I rode with a few of you at Tour for Kids. Really changing the shape of “cycling” in our city! Stay the course on that!!
And, second, while at the Kona awards banquet Andrew Imrie is sitting there drinking pints of beer like he didn’t even race the day before meanwhile, the dude went 9:02!
I much prefer GO Transit to the TTC. I live downtown and work downtown. I do my shorter rides during the week on my trainer and my longer, weekend rides west of the city (when the weather permits). I’ve ridden out of the city before but prefer to ride to Exhibition, hop on a train, and get off at Clarkson or Oakville. From there I ride west to Waterdown or north to Guelph, criss-crossing the Escarpment as much as possible. Ive been taking GO Transit for years and am amazed that more cyclists dont.
Oakville (or Milton) is a great starting point for rides. From Oakville GO station head north of the QEW and up Sixth Line to North of Hwy401 to Steeles and then continue north along Fifth Line. From there the world is your oyster. Some of my favorite out-n-back rides from rides are Oakville are to to Erin, Ont. (~120km), to Guelph (~150km) or simply a big loop around Milton and the Escaptment (60 to 100km).
