Road Cycling in Toronto

[ewvandew]

I'm currently leaving in Melbourne Australia but will be returning to Toronto in a few month's time. While in Melbourne I have developed a passion for road cycling for fitness and recreation. Long stretches of road with few stop lights, bike lanes and lots of other cyclicists are within easy reach of the central city.

Are there routes available in Toronto that have similar characteristics? Namely long stretches of road with few traffic lights, routes where you can build up high speeds for fitness, and routes frequented by other fitness-minded cyclists for friendly competition and to group with in the interest of busting a tough headwind?

-EV

 

[juf2m]

Hi there,


I live in Toronto, have just taken up cycling and hope to find out the very same thing as you, so hopefully someone will answer this. Meanwhile, I have joined the Toronto Bicycle Network, but they never answer any of my questions/posts on their bulletin boards. Perhaps by the time you get here I will have found some good places to ride where there aren't a million other people around, traffic etc.

The TBN does have a whole bunch of scheduled group rides (www.tbn.ca) so I look forward to trying that out. I'll let you know how they were!

 

[Chatbox]

TBN's message board is sooo damn quiet, almost seems like no one ever visit the site.

I haven't been able to find any decent roads (long, very few traffic lights, smooth, decent climbs) in the toronto area.

 

[juf2m]

TBN's message board is sooo damn quiet, almost seems like no one ever visit the site.

I know! One guy did email me and suggested riding with me, and I was delighted but now he seems to have vanished into thin air. I'm getting a complex!

The problem for me is I don't know how to drive, so if I do go outside of Toronto to ride in a decent road, I'd actually have to cycle out there first. *sigh*

 

[MsMittens]

The only way to get long stretches of cycling in Toronto (with few lights) is to go early in the morning. My route (a roundtrip of Dundas/Sherbourne out to Highway 2 for a total of 48KM) isn't too bad (although Danforth between Victoria Park and Warden is the WORST pothole collection and road conditions I've ever seen). I've actually had instances where, and timing is everything!, I've ridden most of it without stopping (I think I ended up stopping once to get Timbits ).

Generally the only way to get long distances without lights (hard to do in a city of 4 million) is to go to the outskirts. If you can ride north, past Major Mackenzie, you'll start to find some of the more rural roads. And think of the riding out of Toronto as part of your warmup. I've done a few Toronto to <insert place here> trips so I've had to deal with traffic on a regular basis.

An alternative would be the "bike paths" but I find they meander too much and with so much other traffic on narrow, unmaintained paths it's not as fun or fast (my ride from downtown to the Don Mills Seneca College campus were I work is two hours on the trails compared to 40 minutes on main roads).

HTH for what it's worth.

Oh.. and my opinion of the TBN is that they are snobs. (This is from personal experience of doing their T-N-T ride).

 

[ewvandew]

Appreciate the posts. Are there any routes frequented by roadies in the mornings?

 

[MsMittens]

All routes? I've seen some on Danforth/Kingston Road but I would imagine that it's the outskirts where most of them play. You could check with at the TBN's website to see if any of the local clubs have regular rides and such. ( http://www.tbn.on.ca/ )

 

[Aahz]

Use the Ontario Cycling Association's website. They have an affiliated club listing. Most on the club rides are outside the GTA but many start within the city's boundaries.


Deornellas is in the east end, Mississauga, Oakville, Brampton, Hamilton cycling clubs all tend to ride in the Halton region. There are many others with group rides. In almost all cases I think you need to join the club for insurance purposes.


Phil

 

[ewitz]

Keele Street is the main cycle route out of the city. Once you get to king sideroad you can go in any direction and find great riding. From Ave.Rd and Eglinton it is about a 75 km round trip to keele and king sideroad. Through in some hill work and fast flats and you've got a nice 120 - 160 km ride.

FWIW there is a group ride that leaves from laird and eglinton and heads out of the city every sat. and sun. at 9 A.M. No club affiliation req'd and no insurance.

 

[noonievut]

If you have a bike rack or don't mind taking the front tire off and squeezing the bike in your car, drive the 30 minutes to anywhere north of King Street and there is often ideal road cycling conditions.

I live in Brampton and drive my bike 10 minutes north to get the minimal traffic/stop-light effect. I like anywhere in Caledon, Bolton, King city, etc.

You should plan a trip out to Caledon for the day though, really nice conditions. You can park in Inglewood by Caledon Hills Cycling, a great LBS.

 

[MsMittens]

Since juf2m is like me and doesn't drive it might be better to consider routes near the TTC or GO Transit. These could be ways of getting out of the core of the city to more rural routes.

 

[juf2m]

Hi again guys,

Just got back from a few days holed up at my cottage in the north woods of Temagami....aaaaah, it was wonderful. Unfortunately I spent much of it sitting on a donut! I recently bruised my tailbone, and decided on Friday before leaving for the cottage that riding wouldn't be SUCH a bad idea....well, I don't think I did myself any favours and don't recommend it!

Anyway, I went on my first TBN ride on Friday. They are definitely a close knit group, but fortunately, I found another newbie, so I had someone to talk to. A couple of the people were very nice, but the actual tour leader ignored me completely! Oh well....

Anyway, it was my first ride in the city (I've lived here all my life but never had a bike!), so although the traffic made me very nervous, I did enjoy the Don Valley trail (we were on it briefly). I definitely would like to try a longer route (this one was about 35 km return to the bluffs), Miss Mittens your route sounds good, especially the Timbits part!

 

[MsMittens]

Hehe.. The Timbits are to keep my students awake in the mornings. Apparently College students and 8am classes don't mix. I like it because it means I can be on the road at 5-5:30am and avoid most of the traffic (primarily buses and taxis on the routes I take with the occassional dump truck).

And you know, once you get used to the traffic you find there are ways that you either ignore it or it becomes white noise (by ignore I mean it's background stuff -- not that you aren't aware it exists). I've also found a good whistle is helpful as well, particularly with cyclists who don't shoulder check, suicidal pedestrians and squirrels as well as sleepy automobiles.

 

[juf2m]

Someone on the TBN suggested the following:

"If you want to beat along the road without a lot of traffic, try Commissioners Street (in the Portlands) on a weekend - its four lanes paved, traffic lights are far between. Its almost no traffic on a weekend (lots of trucks on weekdays)

For getting to the country you can take your bike on the GO train outside of rush hours - so you could go into Oakville and have a short ride into the country side from there. The northeast corner of Toronto is also pretty quiet - near the zoo, and you can take your bike on ttc outside of rush hour as well. Reesor Road heads north into 9th line (or is it 10th) - a nice country road you can follow to Stouffville."

So all I need to do now is figure out where Reesor Road is, and how one gets to the Portlands.

Also, MsMittens, if I am at Bloor/Sherbourne, do I ride down to Dundas, and then where does one go to do your route to Hwy 2?

And ewitz, how does one get from Keele to King Sideroad, just keep following it North?

Sorry for all the questions, having never driven myself anywhere (I have always lived downtown and taken public transit) it's all a mystery to me!

I am always amazed at how EARLY in the morning everyone cycles!

 

[eric_the_red]

I'm currently leaving in Melbourne Australia but will be returning to Toronto in a few month's time. While in Melbourne I have developed a passion for road cycling for fitness and recreation. Long stretches of road with few stop lights, bike lanes and lots of other cyclicists are within easy reach of the central city.

Are there routes available in Toronto that have similar characteristics? Namely long stretches of road with few traffic lights, routes where you can build up high speeds for fitness, and routes frequented by other fitness-minded cyclists for friendly competition and to group with in the interest of busting a tough headwind?

-EV

My advice, forget Toronto, come out to the West coast instead, Vancouver is much more bike friendly.

 

[noonievut]

Someone on the TBN suggested the following:

"If you want to beat along the road without a lot of traffic, try Commissioners Street (in the Portlands) on a weekend - its four lanes paved, traffic lights are far between. Its almost no traffic on a weekend (lots of trucks on weekdays)

For getting to the country you can take your bike on the GO train outside of rush hours - so you could go into Oakville and have a short ride into the country side from there. The northeast corner of Toronto is also pretty quiet - near the zoo, and you can take your bike on ttc outside of rush hour as well. Reesor Road heads north into 9th line (or is it 10th) - a nice country road you can follow to Stouffville."

So all I need to do now is figure out where Reesor Road is, and how one gets to the Portlands.

Also, MsMittens, if I am at Bloor/Sherbourne, do I ride down to Dundas, and then where does one go to do your route to Hwy 2?

And ewitz, how does one get from Keele to King Sideroad, just keep following it North?

Sorry for all the questions, having never driven myself anywhere (I have always lived downtown and taken public transit) it's all a mystery to me!

I am always amazed at how EARLY in the morning everyone cycles!

If you took the Go Train west, to Oakville or further (Burlington or Hamilton) you will have access to nice terain. The escarpment is that region so if you like climbs you would be in luck. I'd also think that within a 10 minute drive from any of those stations you would be riding on almost empty roads.

 

[MsMittens]

Also, MsMittens, if I am at Bloor/Sherbourne, do I ride down to Dundas, and then where does one go to do your route to Hwy 2?

Wow. You're not far from me (I'm at Sherbourne and Dundas). Stay on Bloor, heading east bound. It merges into Hwy 2. Watch for the right shoulder check merge, however. If it's early morning, shouldn't be too bad but can be a bit busy and sometimes a bit nerve racking for first time. Just take Hwy 2 to the end. The end is denoted by the sign that indicates Hwy 2 is becoming Hwy 401. On the right should be a ramp. Head up the ramp that points to the Toronto Zoo, go over the bridge, hang a left -- back on to highway 2 and back to Bloor.

You can take the Dundas option. Just bike to Dundas, hang a left (heading east) and follow it to the end. Then hang a left onto Kingston Road (there's a stop light here that will help) and take Kingston Road as per above. One thing to note: this option has a wicked hill. It's this hill that has the right-side merge. Difference is, this time you're already on the right side of the street, rather than coming from the left.

Oh.. and if you haven't got one, might want to invest in a road map book (I have multiple of these coming out of my ears). I tend to use these to help navigate my way around the city and to plan routes. The one I use the most is the little Toronto & Area Map Book by Perly's. Costs about $12 and can fit into a small pack (bit heavy for the jersey). This way if I get sidetracked or begin to explore, I still can find my way around.

 

[juf2m]

I just wanted to mention that I have started going on the Waterfront and Don bike trails, and found them to be quite uncrowded and very pleasant indeed. Yesterday I rode down the Leslie Street Spit and through Tommy Thomson park, and arrived to a beautiful view of the Toronto skyline at sunset with just the crickets and birds for company...it was really nice!

On my way home I did something I thought I couldn't do...I ride my bike UP Pottery Road!!!! Hmmm, Bejing 2008 anyone?

 

[wasted weasel]

I just wanted to mention that I have started going on the Waterfront and Don bike trails, and found them to be quite uncrowded and very pleasant indeed. Yesterday I rode down the Leslie Street Spit and through Tommy Thomson park, and arrived to a beautiful view of the Toronto skyline at sunset with just the crickets and birds for company...it was really nice!

On my way home I did something I thought I couldn't do...I ride my bike UP Pottery Road!!!! Hmmm, Bejing 2008 anyone?

Nice, I ride those paved bike trails all the time. You must live in the east end too, otherwise I don't see why you'd want to ride up pottery road.
I love trying to find the longest route possible out of the city by traveling on mainly bike paths where possible.
I only tried it this past weekend actually, I start at ash bridges bay (right near my apartment), go along the lakeshore path, then up the Don path to where it splits at Don Mills Rd, I keep going north under the Overlea bridge up behind the science center and follow that path all the way to Edwards Gardens. From here I can go up Leslie St almost to the 401, then on the right hand side there is Moatfield Farm Park, and there is a path in there that seems to go forever. I went as far as Cummer Ave before I ran out of water and someone called me on my cellphone so I had to turn back. But the path I was on seemed like it could at least go as far as steeles, maybe further.

Round trip was probably 2 hours (at a relaxed pace).

 

[juf2m]

That sounds like a nice route, I would like a nice 2 hour ride! I should try it. I live at Bloor/Sherbourne, which is very handy because there is a bike lane on Sherbourne, and on the bridge over the Don Valley.

Nice, I ride those paved bike trails all the time. You must live in the east end too, otherwise I don't see why you'd want to ride up pottery road.
I love trying to find the longest route possible out of the city by traveling on mainly bike paths where possible.
I only tried it this past weekend actually, I start at ash bridges bay (right near my apartment), go along the lakeshore path, then up the Don path to where it splits at Don Mills Rd, I keep going north under the Overlea bridge up behind the science center and follow that path all the way to Edwards Gardens. From here I can go up Leslie St almost to the 401, then on the right hand side there is Moatfield Farm Park, and there is a path in there that seems to go forever. I went as far as Cummer Ave before I ran out of water and someone called me on my cellphone so I had to turn back. But the path I was on seemed like it could at least go as far as steeles, maybe further.

Round trip was probably 2 hours (at a relaxed pace).