Andrea Bidgood

Pride Ride 2026 is rolling in 🌈🚲 Join us for our 3rd year! Deck out your bike. Bring your people. Show up loud, soft, sparkly, in neons, pastels or however you want to be seen - show up as you are. York Road Park (Covered Bridge side) Guelph Ontario 6:30 PM | 7:30 PM roll out Come early to decorate your bike, get some face paint, grab a temporary tattoo, and connect with the community before we roll out. This is a ride for everyone: all ages, all abilities, all kinds of wheels. Bikes, trikes, trailers, mobility wheels, we roll together (est 8-10 km/hr family pace). Helmets are required for riders under 18 and strongly encouraged for everyone. Weather + air quality: Rain or shine (unless conditions are unsafe). If you’re sensitive to air quality, keep an eye on forest fire smoke warnings. We’ll cancel if the Air Quality Health Index reaches High Risk (+7) or if there’s an orange/red weather warning. Accessibility: If there’s anything that would help you participate more comfortably, let us know & we’ll do our best to support. Route will be posted - communications on weather, air quality and trail quality will be updated on socials. A quick note on allyship Pride doesn’t end at showing up, it lives in how we treat each other. We will support one another, make space for those often left out of the cycling community, and speak up when it matters. Standing up for everyone in your community, especially when it’s not easy is what real allyship looks like. That’s how we build a safer community together. Hosted by the Bicycle Mayor of Guelph, Guelph Girls Gays & Theys Bike Club, GCAT, and Guelph Pride: all working toward safer, more connected community. Huge thank you to the volunteers who make this possible. Stay connected: @bicyclemayorguelph | @activeguelph | @guelph.girlsgaystheys.bikeclub | @guelphpride Tag your posts with #GuelphPrideRide

Turns out these council clips were documenting more than public speaking. Just as I started gearing up for becoming Guelph's first Bicycle Mayor, I was referred to HPC for a second opinion, several months after a hit and run sent me into a curb in October 2024. What first seemed like a straightforward shoulder injury turned into a more of a complicated case than I expected. After being passed around a bit, Aly truly shifted my treatments. She took it on as a challenge, gave it the time it needed, and adapted right alongside all the chaos that seems to follow me. Over time, you can see the change even just at the podium: from guarded to movement that is almost as expressive as I am. I am really grateful to Aly ( @alyhodgins.pt ) and the lovely and welcoming team at HPC ( @hpcguelph ). Aly helped me build back not just mobility, but trust in my body, and a little more forgiveness toward it too. Thank you 💛

For the past few years I’ve had the pleasure of joining @andreabidgood initiative to bring Easter food and treats to @wyndhamhouseguelph with @activeguelph Happy Easter 🐣 to all, regardless of your religious beliefs or how you choose to spend Good Friday. I for one enjoy spending it in community (and baking for my mom). 😊

SPRING STROLL & ROLL We’re kicking off the spring season again with a casual community walk in the Arboretum ( @uogarboretum ) and donation drive in support of the youth at Wyndham House Youth Shelter ( @wyndhamhouseguelph ) ! Multiple community networks are coming together to welcome the new spring weather and to create and deliver an Easter care package to some local youth in need of some extra care during the holiday. Whether you bring donations or just your sweet self, we’d love to see you at the walk. Riding in from the north end of Guelph? Join our mini group ride! Option to ride as a small group to the Arboretum - it’s a short route that skips the Gordon Street hill by using the scenic residential bike route. Group ride departs at 6:00 PM Meeting spot: Royal City Park gazebo - across from the Boathouse. Biking to the Arboretum is totally optional - Feel free to walk, bus, drive etc! Need help with a repair or maintenance before the ride? Visit our friends at Freehub Community Bike Centre ( @freehubgtl ). Their calendar shows many open hours to choose from. The walk meet-up is at 6:30 PM at the Hales-McKay Shelter in the Arboretum (by the parking lot & covered bike rack) and we’ll likely set off around 6:45 - We’ll see you there! Donations are appreciated but not required. Whether you want to contribute funds via cash or e-transfer ( [email protected] w/ easter in the message), donate items, lend a hand, or just show up for some good company, your support will help make this Easter a little brighter for local youth. Will occur rain or shine - dangerous weather excluded If you want to help deliver the package to Wyndham House Youth Shelter on Friday April 3rd - please let me know. We’ll likely bike from the corner of Waterloo and Alma around 11:30am.

My relationship to Guelph, my hometown, has been greatly enriched by the advocacy and community building efforts of Andrea. She has been making Guelph more inclusive for people who haven’t had their needs considered. It’s great to see her be acknowledged for her contributions by @activeguelph as recipient of their Top Cat award. 🐈😻🚲

Women have always been part of cycling. On our streets and tracks, on podiums, in the media, on the boards and in careers making decisions that shape our cities and help us roll. For International Women’s Day, I wrote a short piece reflecting on what I’ve seen through advocacy: women are everywhere in cycling… just not always where people expect to see them. And even ventured outside of my scope into athletics. Leadership takes many forms. Read the latest post on BicycleMayorGuelph’s Substack: link in bio. And if you’re in Toronto this weekend, come say hi 👋 I’ll be at the Femme Friendly Bike Fair with @femmesandfriendsbike @bicyclemayorto on March 8 celebrating International Women’s Day. Come say hi to an amazing community of riders and advocates while enjoying what the fair has to offer. Hope to see you there 💛 P.s. obviously it's also new sticker time as well - check out the red bubble shop or I have some in-person vinyl stickers on the way #InternationalWomensDay #WomenWhoRide #CyclingCommunity #BikeAdvocacy #BicycleMayor

I don’t know how to ever fully say thank you. Losing everything in a fire is surreal. One minute you’re living your life procrastinating bedtime before going back to work and the next you’re watching it all change forever. What has carried me through isn’t insurance or formalities. It’s you. You turned loss into proof that community isn’t just a word we use, it’s something we continue to build, together, every day. I spend so much of my life trying to create safer streets and stronger networks. And I have now felt those networks hold me. That matters more than I can explain. I’m still rebuilding. I’m still healing emotionally. I’m still figuring out and changing what this next chapter looks like. But I am not doing it alone. And that changes everything. Thank you for having my back 💛

A city that says it loves bikes but won’t maintain its lanes is like a partner who promises change but still never does the dishes. If it’s not in the operating budget, or promises on paper.... it’s just flirting. @trekbikes

I’m good in emergency mode. But what’s harder is what comes after... when the flames are out and you’re standing in what’s left. Especially when you already know how bad things can get, and how little buffer most of us actually have. Unfortunately a lot of people are only an accident, an illness, or a few missed paychecks away from losing their footing. So I'm incredibly lucky that the community is helping make this aftermath survivable. I’m still building: with intention, with care, and with a little grief but deep gratitude for everyone who has and keeps showing up for me.

Most decisions about transportation are made in meeting rooms. While most consequences are lived outside, in winter boots, on sidewalks, at bus stops lacking shelters, on bike lanes made of paint. That gap matters. When policy debates stay abstract, it’s easy to miss what snow actually does: it blocks access, limits independence, and quietly decides who can move and who must wait. Storytelling can help bridge that distance. In October 2025, Chris Greyson-Gaito and I presented together at the Guelph Transportation Summit, hosted by @taaguelph in partnership with @activeguelph Our contrasting storytelling at the summit has been adjusted into a written piece, where imagining a future shaped by different choices, we can see how today’s decisions could ripple forward. Not just in budgets and plans, but in daily life. Who gets to travel safely. Who stays connected. Who is included by design. Between decision-makers and lived experience. Between values and infrastructure. Between the city we say we want and the one we’re actively building. What would winter feel like if we designed it for everyone? Read the full piece — /