Alina Rehkopf

My entire life and outlook improved when I started walking and/or cycling to do my groceries. Living near stuff you need is an incredible and amazing experience. There’s a reason Europeans rank as happier and why people are so enamoured with European and Japanese vacations.

Blew an e-bike tire on Monday and have to make the decision: Do I just get it fixed OR do I get it fixed + swap out the winter tires (it's a trip to @ldnontbikecafe.bsky.social so the fewer the better).

It feels too early to swap the winter tires and I don't think I want to test mother nature 😬

Balmy compared to the -25°C from two weeks ago!

Funny thing happened back in 2012

www.canada.ca/en/news/arch...

I'm still all bundled up but sunshine and -1°C is giving me life after almost 3 straight weeks of -20°C to -30°C up in Grey-Bruce.

When people are out driving on days like this do they feel just as ecstatic as I do on a bike?

#ruralcycling #GreyBruce #winterbiking

It was -1°C on my ride home from the gym so it's now basically spring and I will be expecting no more snowstorms thank you.

Seeing Superman go on a rampage against car culture was very satisfying lol.

As they should.

Line 5 bingo card. Homemade printed card on orange and red paper. each bingo tile includes a destination to visit or activity to do along the length of the Eglinton Line

spent all of today designing+putting together line 5 bingo cards for tomorrow!

my reservations about L5 aside, this is going to be a very exciting day, and the biggest transit expansion I've seen in my whole life living here :)

🙄

Racing the bus on the Eglinton LRT.

It seems to move pretty quickly, let's hope the end-to-end times only get faster.

#EglintonLRT #EglintonLine #TTC

All-in-all it's about what I expected and I'm mostly mad that for the 7 years I lived in Toronto I was hoping this would be part of my regular transiting and it got delayed so FU*KING LONG that the pandemic pushed me out of the city before that.

But it's running now. Hooray. 🎉

More bad:
- LONG walks to get to the LRT platform at some stations. I get it, it's hard to build around existing infrastructure. I would like to see how that plays out for ppl with physical limitations/disabilities.
- So white everywhere, there IS art but can we be less colour adverse?

The bad:
- Too many stops. In some spots we barely got up to speed before slowing down and sometimes spent more time waiting at a light than moving
- A few LONG waits at lights. 30 sec to 1 min. The car wasn't packed and there were almost 100 ppl on it. Should absolutely have signal priority.

More good:
- English and French stop announcements makes it feel like we're a serious city lol
- Lit underground tunnels, doesn't feel as cave-like as the subway

The good:
- Clear signage, wayfinding wasn't difficult (I got out @ Cedarvale, that station is a maze of underground paths)
- Smooth ride, felt less jerky than streetcars
- Top speed somewhere b/t 50-60kmph? I'm guessing but a group of ppl was tracking it between stops and I was trying to eavesdrop

Inside the new Eglinton LRT Kennedy station. A set of escalators, centered in frame, going to the LRT platform with a sign above them showing a down pointing arrow, a LRT train symbol, an orange number five, and the words Eglinton Line.

Heading home later, but first I HAD to ride the Eglinton LRT for opening day. They're handing out route maps and little magnets!

Everything is very shiny and new and seems to be running well. Lots of people who are literally just out here to ride it end-to-end.

Here's my non-expert review:

Okay, so I need to know how we can get these to every elementary school in the province stat.

That might also stop the local residents from complaining about how many people drive through our area without spending money at the local businesses.

Turn some of those car trips into cycle touring ppl and all of a sudden you have stops at local coffee shops, restaurants, and B&B instead.

But @mbonsma.bsky.social had the idea that just like the Bruce Trail Conservancy raises money to acquire land and then section off the parts that they want to add to the trail network, so could a different organization do that for a rural cycling network.

Think of the tourism opportunities.

The absence of a trail-based cycle tourism network in Grey-Bruce also got brought up. We still have lots of overgrown rail lines that could be the start of that by connecting it in with existing town community walking trails.

Some sections are lots, they've been blended with farm fields...

I think the rural challenge is changing the "owning a car is a necessary part of adulthood" assumption so ppl can even *start* to consider cycling as a viable option for day-to-day errands and in-town commuting.

I should go on the hunt for a parent(s) who'd be willing to start a bike bus...

Layer into that truck culture. The ego boost, the ability to intimidate or feel like you're safer, the ticket it gets you into social circles. Enough people want these things that the thought of cycling for errands is actively considered childish, immature, or effeminate.

Biking for function is perceived as something that only certain groups of people do. "Oh they must have lost their driver's license (DUI)", "They must be too poor to own a car" etc. It's not 100% that... But to be an "adult" means owning a vehicle. Teenagers are taught it's a right of passage.

One audience Q mentioned the frequent divide b/t ppl cycling for function vs. recreation + how we should remember that we're all on the same team.

Where I live, people rarely bike for function, it's almost all for recreation. There's a sort of hm you must not have a choice vibe for the former.

It was also really nice to meet/chat with Sarah & Doug, along w/ other cycling ppl that up until now I've only interacted with on here 👋🏼 @mdruker.app @shawnmicallef.bsky.social

If you saw me and didn't say hi, come chat next time - especially if you're a rural cyclist like me!

Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordan stand on a stage in front of a movie screen with the Cycle Toronto logo and pictures of panel guests Andrew Lewis, Bronwyn Roe, and Shawn Micaleff.

Being in a room full of people who boo and cheer for the same things as me was so refreshing at last night's @thewaroncars.bsky.social book tour event hosted by @cycletoronto.bsky.social

Advocating for cycling in rural Ontario, I often feel like an island of one. Thanks for the morale boost!

Every time I visit Toronto I get to enjoy one of my favourite things about getting around on transit: The down time where I don't have to pay attention to where I'm going.

I hate driving places b/c that time is stolen away while I stare at a strip of pavement.

Person in a blue and white snowboarding jacket, with a magenta bike helmet and blue snowboard goggles.

Winter cycling *can* be rough but that's usually on the same days that it's bad for drivers too.

The rest of the time I'm out here, dressed like I'm about to go snowboarding, enjoying the fresh air (and sometimes sunshine). I'd rather be doing this than brushing snow off a car.

pile of snow in a bike lane City of Toronto Excited To Offer Mountain Biking Lanes To Cyclists This Winter

City of Toronto Excited To Offer Mountain Biking Lanes To Cyclists This Winter.