Bike riders, roller bladers, skateboarders and a few other modes of transport were are out on the streets of Toronto for the Neon Riders event - Cherry Blossom Ride 2025. Eighty five participants gathered on Friday, May 2nd at Nathan Phillips Square at 7pm before heading off on the first ride of their season.
Riders starting to gather at city hall
From their facebook page, "Neon Riders is a group for Rave night bike rides in Toronto. We usually meet on Thursday evenings at Nathan Phillips Square from May to October. Every ride is posted in the Events section along with a detailed route and pitstops." The ride was originally scheduled for the Thursday but rain forecasted throughout the day necessitated a move to the Friday.
The twenty kilometre night time route took in downtown Toronto's blossom hotspots, starting with a small park on Cherry Street with stops taking in 15 min breaks and mini-raves at several locations.
Stopping at the Toronto Music Garden
The route was described as follows, "We'll be travelling Clockwise on this 20 km route, starting and ending at Nathan Phillips Square.
Pitstops are as follows:
Pitstop #1 - Old Cherry St. and Villiers St. ~ 8:30 pm
Pitstop #2 - Toronto Music Garden ~ 9:30 pm
Pitstop #3 - Princess Margaret Fountain ~ 10:30 pm
Pitstop #4 - Trinity Bellwoods Park. ~ 11:30 pm"
