Members of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues mountain bike team coordinated a 34km bike ride that involved a large group of tandem bikes and blind cyclists from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind this past weekend (Oct. 24-25).

Jason Zhu, Chris Wedeles, Sarah Figley, Ramlogan Sowamber, Briar Delange and Tomek Bartczak of the Varsity Blues mountain bike team met with a group of sight impaired "stokers" and headed out for a 34km ride using tandem (two-person) bikes along the Don Valley trails, down to Lake Ontario.

Head Coach David Wright was impressed with both the student-athletes and members of the "trailblazer" cycling group.

"As part of the student experience, we encourage these types of community activities,” said Wright. “I was proud to see Jason Zhu take the lead and for the group that showed up to help. We had a great time and appreciated being involved with these impressive sight-impaired riders - they are amazing.”

The trip along the Don Valley trails were especially rewarding as the team has a long history of working with the City of Toronto on trail clean-ups and helping build environmentally sustainable multi-use trails in the area.