One of my life’s greatest pleasures has been hearing about, and then seeing, the photographic projects of my friend Lincoln Clarkes as he’s working on them, before any of the work has been published. Late last year, during a visit to Vancouver in his high-up hotel room on Robson Street, he showed me his Toronto Cyclists photographs. I found them mesmerizing. Like much of Lincoln’s work, the charm of the individual portraits is intensified by their placement in such a grand series. (The same was true with the astonishing, heart-rending “Heroines” series, which changed the way our entire nation looked at our downtown eastside neighbors, hurting in our midst.)

Lincoln finally published part of his Cyclists series, 100 photographs, today, May Day.