Originally Posted by
cooker
Those shade sails aren't anything like tarps, are they?
I agree
it's not feasible to have shade trees overhanging highways and major commercial streets, and if you are going on a long recreation ride, you might wear sports clothes and expect to sweat, but it certainly is a benefit to me that much of my commute is on shaded streets. I can bike in my office clothes, or on hot days in my office shirt and shorts and change into long pants when I get to work, and it is a huge time saver and convenience that almost every day of the year I can coast into work without sweating too much and without needing to shower or completely change clothes. So in terms of urban bike lanes, shade has a lot of appeal.
here are a couple of examples of my route (both are on recommended commuting routes as per the city cycling committee):
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.65977...!7i3328!8i1664
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.71123...7i13312!8i6656
Around here big oak trees form a canopy, or close to it such that many of my favorite roads are nicely shaded even near the middle of the day. That's even more true for the pedestrians on the sidewalk. You see this much less in more recently developed areas where more cutting has happened.