As the sun rose over the lake, we reached up to welcome it and then bent to contemplate the Earth. Day 2 of the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure started with a yoga session in Confederation Park, birds chirping from the sidelines, the scent of linden trees wafting through the air. We were tuning in to the mystic quality of the lake, a connection I feel every time I ride these shores.
David Crombie, the former mayor of Toronto who developed a vision for the waterfront in the 1990s, felt that people would be the best agent for environmental protection and regeneration. Build a trail, the people will come, and they will learn to love and nurture the lake. And that's what has happened. This is the most urban portion of the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail, but it's the stretch where municipalities and conservation authorities are leading the way in developing a wilderness corridor that's an essential feature of life in a healthy city.
But first we had to get through Burlington. The city gets top marks for a sophisticated trail that brings the downtown to the lake and has tons of interesting features for young and old. But then it's on to the Lakeshore Rd., lined with palaces and chateaux that might make some degree of aesthetic sense nestled in acres of parkland, but are nothing short of ridiculous lined up cheek by jowl. In any event, there's no room for a bicycle lane on this street.
Before I leave Burlington, a big thank you to the municipality for a wonderful reception. They had a clever idea - we could fill out postcards (scenic views of Burlington) and they will mail them for us. It was a thoughtful and imaginative touch.
Oakville's a nice change of pace. Paved shoulders, and then down to the lake on to scenic Coronation Park. Mississauga is just as good - Lakeside Park has turned what was once an industrial wasteland into a place of curving trails along the edge of the lake, beautful views over the water in a lovely naturalized setting. And as we leave, I notice a really decent off-leash dog park where various species seem to be having a lot of fun.
I find that being part of a 170-person bike ride offers a lot more opportunity for solitary diversion than riding with half a dozen. A couple of us went our own way through Rattray Marsh, which wasn't on the official GWTA route because you're not allowed to ride a bicycle through this wild-life sanctuary. But I wasn't going to pass up a chance to visit one of the lake's magical places, so we walked our bikes through and enjoyed the peace and serenity of this provincially significant wetland that was saved in the 1960s, in an epic battle that pitted local community activists against a developer who planned to fill it in and build houses.
Out into Jack Darlington Park, one of the busiest on the waterfront - it was great to see so many people enjoying themselves by the water.
St. Lawrence Park in Port Credit is a very nice example of urban residential development that feels good - townhouses and apartment buildings that overlook a spacious section of trail with beautiful landscaping and a good lookout spot. I like Port Credit - a little further on, I forget exactly where - the trail runs past a pleasant cove with a nice sandy beach with a hedge of lots of different kinds of roses. The effect is quite wonderful.
We take another solitary moment on the tour, stopping at the Birds and Bees coffee shop on Lake Shore Rd. in Etobicoke for a top-notch cup of coffee that's virtuously fair trade, bird friendly, shade grown, organic - did I forget anything?
And into town through scenic Humber Bay Shores, past the crowds at Sunnyside and over to Fort York which is to be our camping spot for the night.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Day 1 - Niagara-on-the-Lake to Hamilton
It was a picture-perfect day, pleasantly sunny with a slight breeze off the lake, and an excellent start for the 170 riders on the first day of the first-ever Great Waterfront Trail Adventure. It bodes well for the bold vision of Marlaine Koehler, executive director at the Waterfront Regeneration Trust, who is behind this eight-day ride around the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario and down the St. Lawrence River to the Quebec border.
The inspiration comes from Iowa, where from small beginnings grew RAGBRAI, a 7-day cycling tour through a corn-dominated countryside that - no offence - can't compare to our Great Lakes. Now the Iowa event attracts thousands who vye to be one of the tour's 8,500 riders. In future years the GWTA may rival RAGBRAI which, in case you need to know, stands for the (DesMoines) Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
For some, the pleasure of the first day on the trail was somewhat marred by mechanical failure aggravated by the fact that the riders had taken the precaution of having their bikes tuned up before they left.
Robert Thomson, who will be celebrating his 12th birthday on the trail on Sunday, had his bike tuned up by a bicycle store in Ajax. "It cost $200," said his mother Karen Vose. The cost included rebuilding the front wheel, which then gave out. Fortunately Adam Luffman of Liberty Bicycles of St. Catharines was running a free emergency clinic at Charles Daly Park in Lincoln, where the tour stopped for lunch. The tire on the "rebuilt" wheel wasn't new, he told Vose, in fact it was so worn that it needed to be replaced.
Karen Vose wasn't impressed. "They knew that I'm a newbie," she said of the store staff. When they told her of the extra work that had to be done, her attitude was "whatever they say." Luffman offered to drive back to St. Catharines to get a new tire but then it turned out that tour director Ian Lobb, had a couple of spare tires with him and Robert was able to get back in the saddle without delay.
I always take my bike for a tune-up before a long ride because it's an old clunker I got from K-Mart for $200 in 1995 and I don't trust my own skill in this regard. But I often suspect that the work that's been done hasn't made much difference - the brakes still squeak and the gears don't seem any smoother. My friend Anna Biro shelled out hard cash to make sure her bike was up to snuff and her front brake cable failed two hours out of Niagara on the Lake. Luffman was able to do a temporary fix. I asked him if he'd encountered any other people with botched tune-ups - turns out it was a familiar refrain. "Pretty much all day, that's the gist of it," he said.
As cycling grows in popularity, so do the numbers of people trying to take advantage. If you know of a good bicycle mechanic, spread the word. These are the people that need our support.
We got a great send-off from Niagara on the Lake, with assorted dignitaries, including Margarett Best, Ontario Minister of Health Promotion, who very pluckily got on a bike to ride a few kilometres despite not having done it for years. Ajax Mayor Steve Parrish, a keen cyclist, reminded us of the tragic deaths last week of two cyclists on the Manitoba stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway, where the lack of paved shoulders has been the source of complaints for years. Events like the GWTA can help us reclaim our roads from the automobile.
That said, Niagara Region could use more off-road trail. Although there has been improvement in the amount of paved shoulders, the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail still has wearying stretches where there's no space set aside for cyclists and the lake is a distant notion. The amount of residential development that is taking place is dizzying. One longs for things to settle down a little in this beautiful part of the province. There's a need for more restful spaces, like the woods in Port Weller west of the Welland Canal, or Victoria Terrace in Grimsby Beach.
The inspiration comes from Iowa, where from small beginnings grew RAGBRAI, a 7-day cycling tour through a corn-dominated countryside that - no offence - can't compare to our Great Lakes. Now the Iowa event attracts thousands who vye to be one of the tour's 8,500 riders. In future years the GWTA may rival RAGBRAI which, in case you need to know, stands for the (DesMoines) Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
For some, the pleasure of the first day on the trail was somewhat marred by mechanical failure aggravated by the fact that the riders had taken the precaution of having their bikes tuned up before they left.
Robert Thomson, who will be celebrating his 12th birthday on the trail on Sunday, had his bike tuned up by a bicycle store in Ajax. "It cost $200," said his mother Karen Vose. The cost included rebuilding the front wheel, which then gave out. Fortunately Adam Luffman of Liberty Bicycles of St. Catharines was running a free emergency clinic at Charles Daly Park in Lincoln, where the tour stopped for lunch. The tire on the "rebuilt" wheel wasn't new, he told Vose, in fact it was so worn that it needed to be replaced.
Karen Vose wasn't impressed. "They knew that I'm a newbie," she said of the store staff. When they told her of the extra work that had to be done, her attitude was "whatever they say." Luffman offered to drive back to St. Catharines to get a new tire but then it turned out that tour director Ian Lobb, had a couple of spare tires with him and Robert was able to get back in the saddle without delay.
I always take my bike for a tune-up before a long ride because it's an old clunker I got from K-Mart for $200 in 1995 and I don't trust my own skill in this regard. But I often suspect that the work that's been done hasn't made much difference - the brakes still squeak and the gears don't seem any smoother. My friend Anna Biro shelled out hard cash to make sure her bike was up to snuff and her front brake cable failed two hours out of Niagara on the Lake. Luffman was able to do a temporary fix. I asked him if he'd encountered any other people with botched tune-ups - turns out it was a familiar refrain. "Pretty much all day, that's the gist of it," he said.
As cycling grows in popularity, so do the numbers of people trying to take advantage. If you know of a good bicycle mechanic, spread the word. These are the people that need our support.
We got a great send-off from Niagara on the Lake, with assorted dignitaries, including Margarett Best, Ontario Minister of Health Promotion, who very pluckily got on a bike to ride a few kilometres despite not having done it for years. Ajax Mayor Steve Parrish, a keen cyclist, reminded us of the tragic deaths last week of two cyclists on the Manitoba stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway, where the lack of paved shoulders has been the source of complaints for years. Events like the GWTA can help us reclaim our roads from the automobile.
That said, Niagara Region could use more off-road trail. Although there has been improvement in the amount of paved shoulders, the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail still has wearying stretches where there's no space set aside for cyclists and the lake is a distant notion. The amount of residential development that is taking place is dizzying. One longs for things to settle down a little in this beautiful part of the province. There's a need for more restful spaces, like the woods in Port Weller west of the Welland Canal, or Victoria Terrace in Grimsby Beach.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Countdown to Friday
I had to choose - the Tour de France or the Tour du Lac. It was hard but I decided on the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure. Although the Alps and the Pyrenees aren't too much of problem for me because I always do the Tour from the comfort of my living room couch. This time, instead of vicariously feeling the agony of the climb up the Col du Tourmalet, I'll be in my own endurance test on the peaks of Northumberland County, with only my newly purchased gel cushion to ease the pain.
I must admit to being the proud possessor of an end-to-end pin, proof of having cycled from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Gananoque, where the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail ended at the time. I have done the "new" stretch, up to Riviere Beaudette. But I'm not a real cyclist - the kind that settles in, head down, to ride like the blazes for eight hours. Strictly recreational, way behind the peloton, that's me. Well-padded, not particularly fit and ready for any excuse to stop and taste the wine and smell the roses. I did my 700-odd kilometres in three-day stretches over a couple of years. So eight days in the saddle will be a new experience - a challenge that's being tackled by 170 people between the ages of 9 and 76. It's going to be exciting and difficult and a real adventure. Check in often as I make daily posts July 4-11. Log on to http://www.waterfronttrail.org/ for more information about the event.
See you in Niagara-on-the-Lake!
I must admit to being the proud possessor of an end-to-end pin, proof of having cycled from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Gananoque, where the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail ended at the time. I have done the "new" stretch, up to Riviere Beaudette. But I'm not a real cyclist - the kind that settles in, head down, to ride like the blazes for eight hours. Strictly recreational, way behind the peloton, that's me. Well-padded, not particularly fit and ready for any excuse to stop and taste the wine and smell the roses. I did my 700-odd kilometres in three-day stretches over a couple of years. So eight days in the saddle will be a new experience - a challenge that's being tackled by 170 people between the ages of 9 and 76. It's going to be exciting and difficult and a real adventure. Check in often as I make daily posts July 4-11. Log on to http://www.waterfronttrail.org/ for more information about the event.
See you in Niagara-on-the-Lake!
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