Zachary D’Onofrio

Name : Zachary D’Onofrio

Ministry: Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry

Years doing the B4UW? First!

What’s your day job? Counsel at Legal Services Branch

What’s your past biking experience? Weekend rides, a few sprint and Olympic-distance triathlons. Longer rides from Toronto to Holland Marsh and Toronto to Niagara Falls.

What’s your inspiration for this ride? I love riding with a group whenever possible – even better when it’s for a good cause! I also suffered a pretty serious knee injury in November 2023, so this is part of my recovery plan.

How are you preparing for B4UW?
Indoor cycling is one of the few cardio exercises that I was able to do as part of my knee recovery, so I’ve been doing some 20-40 minute rides a few times a week on my stationary trainer. When the weather is nice, I like to do the 12km ride to my office.

What do you think will be your greatest challenge on the ride? Having confidence to push myself after recovering from my injury. I did a Toronto-Niagara ride after recovering from an injury 3-4 years ago, and found that some of the hills really put my legs to the test.

What do you like to do other than riding your bike? Surfing/stand-up paddleboard, canoe/kayaking, soccer, running, swimming, cooking, gardening and playing mandolin.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself: I raised four homing pigeons as a kid and could call them on command by whistling!