Cycling in Canada - Page 19

Airboy · #**361** Posted **Jul 14, 2021, 5:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

I get that. I had the pedals first (came with the gravel bike) and I admit that even after buying the road shoes I figured "hmmm... now I have options... I can just jump on in regular sneakers for short, informal rides") but I'm coming around to double-sided... though I'm practicing no-look flip-forward maneuvers and am slowly getting it. I'm kinda wondering why hard-bottom road shoes have to be so slick... why not have "grippy" material in the arch groove just in case? And that heel pad has less surface area than the hooves of a fawn. I think it's just a matter of continually using them until I get used to them.

Mountain Shoes are better for the gravel bike and commuting rides. but it gets easier. it gets to the point where you don't think about it.

Only flat pedals I use are on my Fat Bike and that's only until I can put some money down on $500 boots. You might find that Crank Bros pedals are easier to use.

Got out this morning at about 6am and did a gravel ride before heading to the office. warm and sunny. but we need rain. the roads are getting powdery and slow.

Nashe · #**362** Posted **Jul 14, 2021, 5:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airboy

Mountain Shoes are better for the gravel bike and commuting rides. but it gets easier. it gets to the point where you don't think about it.

Yeah, I think my goal will be to invest in a pair of MTB shoes for day-to-day and keep the road shoes for the longer stuff.

jamincan · #**363** Posted **Jul 14, 2021, 6:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

Yeah, I think my goal will be to invest in a pair of MTB shoes for day-to-day and keep the road shoes for the longer stuff.

You can actually get nicer shoes for casual walking around purposes that are designed to work with two-bolt MTB cleats.

Just one example: https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5057-240/CT5-Cycling-Shoes?colour=NVY00

Airboy · #**364** Posted **Jul 14, 2021, 7:38 PM**

This mornings early bike ride. had a bit of a detour.
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vanman · #**365** Posted **Jul 15, 2021, 8:47 AM**

So I've only been to Alberta a handful of times but I gotta say the bike lanes there seem to be top notch even outside the major cities. Driving the Icefields Parkway or Trans Canada Highway couldnt help but notice the smooth paved paths that weaved in and out of the bush. Next time I visit I'm bringing my bike.

Airboy · #**366** Posted **Jul 15, 2021, 2:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanman

So I've only been to Alberta a handful of times but I gotta say the bike lanes there seem to be top notch even outside the major cities. Driving the Icefields Parkway or Trans Canada Highway couldnt help but notice the smooth paved paths that weaved in and out of the bush. Next time I visit I'm bringing my bike.

There are some but still not enough. one good thing is are the wide paved shoulders.

Have a friend riding across Canada. He is currently in Manitoba, says the roads, at least the one he is currently on is 🞵🞵🞵🞵, Should be on the Yellowhead. gravel shoulders and pot holes. He gets into Winnipeg today, so maybe closer to the Peg the roads are better.

someone123 · #**367** Posted **Jul 17, 2021, 6:39 PM**

Random new Wikipedia picture, Hollis St. bike lane in Halifax. It's been interesting watching the progression of these things. In many places it went no bike lanes -> painted lanes with parked vehicles (like that Purolator truck) -> protected lanes. The aesthetics here leave something to be desired although there are other nicer protected bike lanes. Maybe the city will eventually settle on a standardized "look and feel" for cycling infrastructure.

Source

ScreamingViking · #**368** Posted **Jul 17, 2021, 10:30 PM**

Hamilton's newest curb-separated bike lane on Hunter St., courtesy the city's head of planning and ec-dev
Source tweet

The lane, then some beauty with a beast in the background:

Westward view along Hunter:

rousseau · #**369** Posted **Jul 17, 2021, 10:47 PM**

Wow, that's amazing. I do wonder a bit if Hunter St. doesn't really take you anywhere, though. Is it a viable east-west corridor to get from the east end to Westdale?

ScreamingViking · #**370** Posted **Jul 17, 2021, 11:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

Wow, that's amazing. I do wonder a bit if Hunter St. doesn't really take you anywhere, though. Is it a viable east-west corridor to get from the east end to Westdale?

No, just to Queen (though there's a more residential section, offset south on Queen, that takes you across Locke and with some twists along other streets to Dundurn). There still needs to be better cycling paths to Westdale! I'm not sure what the plans are, but once there are full connections through the McMaster Innovation Park (Frid extension, which will be accessible from Chatham St.) I hope there will be a protected cycling lane to Longwood and then up to Westdale and Mac.

The lanes run the entire distance between Wellington and Queen though. The city seems to be making progress... pace between that of a snail and a tortoise, but progress nonetheless.

rousseau · #**371** Posted **Jul 21, 2021, 7:02 PM**

Interesting overview of cycling improvements in Toronto:

• Video Link

JHikka · #**372** Posted **Jul 21, 2021, 7:16 PM**

Some great driving at Broadview & Danforth at 2:05.

As they pointed out in the video the 2021 Census should see a modest increase in biking rates, some of that coming down to the increased bike network, some of it to bikeshare becoming more widespread, and some of it coming down to transportation costs. I'm interested to see if the Danforth bike lanes increase rates in East York.

jamincan · #**373** Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 4:48 PM**

With entering Stage 3 in Ontario, this past week has been the first week where we've been able to have full club rides as normal, and boy, you don't really appreciate what you've been missing until you get a taste of it again. We weren't sure we'd be able to ramp things up too quickly, but I think we ended up with 11 separate rides going this past week, and some massive turnout. The planning and organization has been a flurry and intense, but what an awesome and rewarding week it has been.

Airboy · #**374** Posted **Jul 26, 2021, 3:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamincan

With entering Stage 3 in Ontario, this past week has been the first week where we've been able to have full club rides as normal, and boy, you don't really appreciate what you've been missing until you get a taste of it again. We weren't sure we'd be able to ramp things up too quickly, but I think we ended up with 11 separate rides going this past week, and some massive turnout. The planning and organization has been a flurry and intense, but what an awesome and rewarding week it has been.

Have my group of 6 riders we pretty much rode with the whole pandemic here, but did a meet up with another group last weekend. 20 riders. a bit a strange feeling riding with such a large group but everyone was fully vaccinated. Ride leader made it a point that you had to be vaccinated to ride.

My small group are all vaccinated as well.

First of the organised bike events went this weekend. The Range in southern Alberta. 120km Gravel Race. had a wait list for entrance.

There was also supposed to be a crit, but don't know if it went off.

Signing up for the DV 100 in Sept. that usually has about 3-400 riders. And we are now booking races for CX season.
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theman23 · #**375** Posted **Aug 19, 2021, 5:30 AM**

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/cy...ruck-in-toronto/ar-AANtpik?ocid=msedgntp

Sad story. It sounds like the dump truck driver didn't both to give the cyclist the necessary space and in the process ran him over.

jamincan · #**376** Posted **Aug 19, 2021, 12:45 PM**

Quote:

Williams urged drivers to slow down, especially since Ontario has begun to reopen and more people are on the roads than previously in the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We've had pretty open roads for a long time, and now, we've got very high concentrations of pedestrians and cyclists now joining the roads again. We're just asking everyone to maybe just slow down a little bit or take a second," he said.

"Maybe take that extra look and just try to be safe because we've got a far higher concentration of people out on our streets right now."

This is such a piss-poor way to address road safety. We have decades of experience to know that telling people to slow down accomplishes nothing. Roads can be designed to be safer and to force people to slow down, but we choose not to build them that way.

People die because the roads we have are unsafe. If an engineer designs an unsafe bridge that collapses, there is accountability and they could lose their license. If an engineer designs a road or intersection that is unsafe and sees hundreds of accidents and casualties and that is plainly substandard, there is zero accountability. It's easy to vilify the driver, but it's unfair to place all of the blame on his shoulders.

MonkeyRonin · #**377** Posted **Aug 19, 2021, 2:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by theman23

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/cy...ruck-in-toronto/ar-AANtpik?ocid=msedgntp

Sad story. It sounds like the dump truck driver didn't both to give the cyclist the necessary space and in the process ran him over.

That's unfortunately a pretty dangerous stretch of road - there are protected bike lines on Bloor and on Avenue south of Bloor, but then it transitions to 2 narrow lanes of fast-moving traffic. You can see here there isn't really any sort of shoulder space or parking lane for a bike to travel through: https://goo.gl/maps/xfcgGcCSX6G5Sso77

It's so bad that there's even an Avenue Road Safety Coalition! They put forward a proposal a while back to redesign the street with wider sidewalks & bike lanes: https://avenueroadsafetycoalition.ca/news/

Along with Dufferin, that's one of the few streets that I try to avoid at all costs when I'm on my bike.

JHikka · #**378** Posted **Aug 19, 2021, 2:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

That's unfortunately a pretty dangerous stretch of road - there are protected bike lines on Bloor and on Avenue south of Bloor, but then it transitions to 2 narrow lanes of fast-moving traffic. You can see here there isn't really any sort of shoulder space or parking lane for a bike to travel through: https://goo.gl/maps/xfcgGcCSX6G5Sso77

Incredible that in that one google streetview there's a Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, and Maserati.

I bike that area pretty often and it is indeed pretty dangerous, especially considering Avenue is used by many (including those driving expensive cars) to get into Yorkville from the north. The upgrades to Bloor have helped but that whole area is still pretty dangerous given how quickly people like to drive around there. Avenue really isn't suitable for cycling given the speed that through traffic moves at.

Airboy · #**379** Posted **Aug 19, 2021, 2:54 PM**

There are roads here I just wont ride on anymore. to many near misses. Plus I have gotten to use to riding gravel where people wave at you. Have to start using my rear radar again as well. Can't seem to hear approaching cars anymore.

Planning to head to Banff in the next few weeks to ride the 1A. always nice when you can ride a closed road.

Nashe · #**380** Posted **Aug 19, 2021, 3:18 PM**

Had a good close call myself on Tuesday.

I was on this:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@46.1427949,-...xRa3oaxRcrS5ARFtEKAOA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
working my way up to the next cross road (I'd heard the views were great)

Posted speed limit is 90kph and everybody gave me lots of room except one transport that blew by at about 110 less than 24" from me. Rattled me a bit. I don't think I'll be back there for a while.