Forest City Velodrome London Ontario

2007 - 2008 Women’s Development Program

The Forest City Velodrome in London, Ontario has secured special funding
to assist in the development of a squad of up to 8 elite women track
cyclists. The program is aimed at athletic women, ages 15 - 25, who may
not have previously been involved in cycling. Interested individuals or
groups would come to FCV on an ongoing basis to train, race, and
eventually compete at the Provincial and National levels.

Initial benefits of the program include free instruction and track bike
rentals, and the cost of start up equipment. Individual training programs would be integrated with other activities the athletes are involved with, accommodating school and work commitments.

Subsequent benefits include ongoing training and support and assistance
attending the Canadian National Track Championships and competitive events at other tracks. Squad members would be asked to purchase an FCV student membership and participate in either 2 FCV training sessions per week or one training session and one race night, on an ongoing basis. Prospective squad members are welcome to come to the velodrome Saturday afternoons at 3pm and try out track bicycling for up to 3-weeks prior to making a commitment.

Startup funding becomes available upon purchase of FCV membership.

The first weekend camp is scheduled for Saturday night October 13th from
6pm - 9pm, and will wrap up on Sunday October 14th 9:30am - 1pm. All camp costs are supported by the Forest City Velodrome and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

For more information, please contact Dina Ridha - Development Program
Liaison at info@ForestCityVelodrome.ca and go to
www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca.

If you’re looking for some fun on Vancouver Island this Labour Day weekend, you might want to check out the latest camping-biking-fundraiser from bikefurthereatcloser.com

Chelsea Trousdell, a student at Emily Carr, and Marla Temoin, a recent graduate of the University of Victoria are gearing up for an intercontinental quest to raise awareness for climate change. They will ride their bikes 30,000 km - from Victoria, BC to Argentina, around South America, up the East Coast of the US, and across Canada back to Victoria. As if that wasn’t inspiring enough, these gals will also follow a 100-mile diet for their entire trip.

By following the growing seasons, eating locally and relying on pedal power, Chelsea and Marla aim to lead by example, support local economies and promote mindful consumption. I’ll say.

Bookmark their website, because they will be blogging their adventures once they’ve hit the road.

There are two crucial things every cyclist should know - how to change a flat, and when your bike is too messed up to fix yourself. In which case, it helps to know a good mechanic, and if you’re in Montreal then you’re in luck. Revolution Montreal (1757 Amherst, in the gay village) is our city’s new woman-owned bike shop, where Danielle Flowers will true your wheel and her partner jj levine will - wait for it - give you a lesbian haircut for $15. It’s kind of like “Shoes Shined While U Wait”, only queerer.

Flowers says she started the shop because she wanted a safe space for women and queer folk to get involved with their bikes, and goodness knows it will be a breath of fresh air.* And in levine’s experience, dykes and queer kids often have trouble getting the haircuts they want at conventional salons, so the two put their heads and their business sense together, and Revolution Montreal Bike Shop And Lesbian Haircuts For Everyone was born. I wonder if they’ll install my new spokey-dokes.

To read more, check out this article, and then get out there - the streets are waiting.

(photo by Meera Margaret Singh)

*a li’l sidenote: I have known many, many extremely lovely mechanics who are also menfolk. But I have also had male mechanics condescend to me, try to cheat me, and even get all sleezy-like - while signing up for the mailing list at my local drop-in bike workshop, the mechanic said “So, what’s your email? Hot-babe dot com?” At the community bike co-op, for crying out loud! Hence my perhaps poorly-thought-out kneejerk tendency to want to throw my arms around every lady mechanic I come across.

When the Community Bicycle Network‘s BikeShare program was forced to close this year due to lack of funding (though not a lack of enthusiasm or merit), I foolishly didn’t realize that was not the end for all of CBN’s programs, most particularly — Wenches with Wrenches. Wenches with Wrenches “is an ongoing program of CBN volunteers who host bicycle repair workshops run by and for women in downtown Toronto. The idea has been to make basic bicycle repair skills accessible to women in the hope that participants will then share their knowledge and their confidence with others in the community.”

You gotta go.

Fortunately, I am not too late to spread some word — there appears to still be room this year in both the June and September sessions. The sessions consist of four lessons, one a week, and the cost is $30 or pay-what-you-can. You can register at Urbane Cyclist.

Knowing your rear sprockets from your crank arms is some of that pretty pretty shiny practical knowledge that no one can take from you, and it is enormously empowering even to pick up a few basics (adjusting your seat height and tilt and cleaning your chain can add years both to your knees and your bike). Wenches with Wrenches delivers on these basics and goes beyond to give you a comprehensive understanding of how it all fits together, and how you can keep it that way. The sessions are hands-on, and you bring your own bike, so what you’re learning can be applied in real-time.

Bikes are one of those marvels of mechanics that we tend to get a bit blasé about. But they’re a straightforward sort of complicated and once you start fiddling with your bike, you may find it very hard to stop. So get down with your inner-mechanic and sign up for a Wenches with Wrenches session. You’ll be tweaking your brakes and patching your tires in no time.

Krudar Muay Thai is launching a beginner women’s class. As of April 14th, it will be held every Saturday at 2pm. It’s a drop-in class, so if you can’t go this week, go next week, and if you can’t go next week (and so on). This is the gym where I started doing Muay Thai; I’ve met the instructor for this class, Lucy, who is one of the Krudar fighters, and is fabulous.

And the first month is free! How could you not try it?

Krudar Muay Thai Gym
570 King St West, Unit 102
On King between Bathurst & Spadina
Closet Subway: St. Andrew Station

I just heard some exciting news that pertains to one of the boxing gyms mentioned in our current cover story:

The Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club will be taking over the famous Sully’s Boxing Gym as of September 2006… to become the first ALL WOMEN’S BOXING CLUB in Canada!

We are expanding our current classes and boxing camps to include courses such as coaching, mentoring and fitness programs. The Newsgirls Club has proudly been serving the lgbtt communities since 1996 and wants to grow to involve many more communities, reach out to at-risk youth, and partner with the international women’s boxing community such as the South Calcutta Physical Culture Association in India.

Be a part of herstory/history making! Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club, the first one of its kind in Canada, is asking for your financial support to help us kickstart our dream gym.

For more information, to make a donation and to check out our WISH LIST, visit www.torontonewsgirls.com

There’s also a fundraising event coming up this Friday night at the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, during which they promise to turn the store into “a word-friendly club with lots of ringside action you won’t want to miss!”

FRIDAY AUGUST 11, 9pm
Toronto Women’s Bookstore, 73 Harbord St.
Admission by donation

DJs playing hip hop, r&b, reggae, old school, salsa and more. Live auction at 11pm hosted by the insatiable Boo Watson

Food! Fun! Action!! and LOTS of silk shorts! Drinks for purchase. Wheelchair accessible.