Labour Day Cruising Around Toronto

This weekend, the last long weekend of a somewhat lousy summer (weather-wise), I wanted to make sure I got out on my bike at least once.  With Tay working Saturday and Monday, I thought that Sunday would be a good day for us to get out together and cruise along the waterfront, and maybe go out to the Toronto Islands while the Air Show was going on.  We ended up running some errands in the car on Sunday though, and we were both tired when we came home, so Monday ended up being my bike day.

I set out in the late morning, as I usually do with no particular destination in mind.  I biked along the Martin Goodman Trail from the east end near me, along the Lakeshore direct route between Leslie and Cherry streets, and back to the path along Queen's Quay downtown.  At Lower Yonge Street I contemplated heading out to the islands on my own, but thought I'd save that for the next time I head out with Tay (she's never been!)

Traffic west of Yonge was getting intense, due to the CNE going on and the Air Show about to start.  Lots of cars and bikes on the road, but everyone was behaving well.  I left Queen's Quay at the west end and rode along the path towards the CNE grounds and past Ontario Place, dodging wayward pedestrians all the way.  I suppose people can be forgiven for wandering randomly around the path, but when someone comes up behind you ringing a bell, yes, I expect you at least take notice, and move over if possible.  This problem doesn't affect only cyclists on the path.  I came across a diminutive woman jogging along, literally yelling and screaming profanities at people who were ignoring her and stepping in front of her as she tried to pass.  Pedestrian vs. pedestrian violence?  Further along, where the MGT was detoured to make way for more car parking, there were actually street meat vendors set up ON THE PATH.  I really gave up at that point and decided to bike on the grass wherever there was open space.

After getting by the detour and coming back to Lakeshore, I was surprised by one of the US Navy F/A-18 Blue Angels doing a fly-by, and just about fell off my bike.  A few minutes later I left the path again to ride to the shore, and stopped for a bit to take in the show.  I stopped and took some pics (not of the air show) and then continued on to the Humber River bridge, where I stopped for more photos.  I continued on into Etobicoke and realized I didn't really know where I was when I ended up in someone's gated parking lot somehow and had to turn back.  A little ways further on Lakeshore and I recognized the Mimico neighbourhood, and decided that I was far enough west for today.

I rode up Royal York Road to the Queensway to start my return trip via downtown.  Since it was a holiday there was practially no traffic, and the lack of bike lanes on the Queensway wasn't a problem for the most part.  I had a hiccup at the Kingsway interchange and Humber River bridge - there is a path off to the south of the roadway that it turns out does not cross the river, and after about 30 minutes of exploring I determined that the only way to get where I wanted to go was to continue along the edge of the Queensway roadway under the Kingsway overpass, and due to lack of visibility and high speed limits I elected to ride (illegally) on the sidewalk for about 100m.  Bike lanes start on the Queensway one block east of here, and I really don't see what the problem is with continuing them west - there is plenty of road.

At the Queen/King/Roncesvalles intersection I had to weave through some slow-moving traffic to get into the lane I needed to be in to continue on Queen Street.  This would have been plenty dangerous if the cars weren't completely stopped because of CNE traffic.  The Blue Angels were doing more flyovers as I continued through Parkdale.  Under the Queen/Dufferin rail crossing, which is under construction, I was treated to a horn from a driver who had plenty of room to pass, and I was already riding as far over as I could get without kneeing concrete.  Said driver sped off without further incident, and I'm happy to report this was the only vehicle confrontation I had on the entire trip.

I stopped for lunch at Queen & Spadina, for a bit of a recharge, and to think about my route home.  I noted the narrow shoulder painted onto Spadina, and surmised that it couldn't possibly be a bike path - the width is less than my handlebars!  I rode west to Bay and north to Gerrard.  I stopped for the red light at Gerrard & Jarvis, where a crossing pedestrian turned and said "good job, buddy" and I have no idea what that meant.I expected that I would turn south to the bike lanes on Dundas at some point east of the Don Valley, but I continued on all the way to Greenwood which is my usual turn south to Queen anyway.  Traffic in the Beach was crazy as usual, and I stopped at Endz to pick up a new pair of shorts before riding the rest of the way home.

After trying to plot the route on Google Maps (which won't let you make a route on bike paths in Toronto), I figure I rode about 42km in about three and a half hours, which is a pretty good pace for me.

I found that cars passing me tend to move into the next lane to do so when possible, or else pass me slowly, which is nice.  If I'm in a situation where a car wouldn't have room to pass I either wait or take the middle of the lane, depending on traffic.  The few times I had a car turning right in front of me caused problems, because it's my habit to slow down and wait and this seems to confuse the drivers making the turns, as they start turning but then stop (blocking my path) as they wait for me to pass, and then I have to ride into the crosswalk.

In general, Toronto has a long way to go to make its thoroughfares more bicycle-friendly.  Bike routes that don't connect to other bike routes are useless, and a path that leads into someone's gated private parking is just ridiculous.  That being said, I will continue to ride for leisure and exercise, but it'll be a long time before I consider riding to work in rush hour traffic, given the complete lack of infrastructure north of the Beach.