HoHoHo

Anyone have any good routes to suggest in the GTA?

juf2m

Hi there! I always enjoyed the main bike paths (Don Trail and Martin Goodman/Lakeshore). They get dissed a fair amount but I find them pretty scenic, and nothing beats getting away from the traffic! Still, they do they do often get crowded with people. Probably best to ride during the week after work, or early in the am. I always liked to take Sherbourne (bike lane) south to lakeshore, turn left on the bike trail and go as far as I could east, (around to Woodbine), then turn around and ride West out to Etobicoke (Humber bridge) and then back to the Don Trail which I would take North (finishing by going up the dastardly Pottery road!) to Broadview. Then I'd take the Danforth bike lane back to Sherbourne.

Hope this helps!

Crashtest

The Humber river trail is nice, in particular the section north of the 401. The north section seems to have nice smooth pavement, and not as many people.

linus

Don trail is okay. From Woodbine beach go south on Leslie to Unwin Ave. and there is small trail go through that and headup to Cherry st. to go to Don trail and all the way to Victoria Pk.

When summer comes, there are a lot chicks at the beach playing valleyball which is very enjoyable

HoHoHo

Never tried the Humber, though I like the Lakeshore from Sherbourne east. I like riding Don Mills up to about Sheppard; pretty smooth. But what about hills? Pottery Rd. hates me; a less-dastardly version is Poplar Plains, in Forest Hill. Bayview extension is pretty evil too. Blythwood's got nice rolling hills, but I can only ride that street so many times. Anyone try Don Mills either way from the DVP?

MsMittens

I've sometimes done Yonge Street up as far as I can go (usually time constraints). This is good for an early morning ride on a Sunday. I used to ride Don Mills regularly for my commute to work but since work moved up to York U I haven't been on it in ages. I do use the trails on Mondays biking Westward as far as I can go and have also been doing a Lakeshore ride out to Clarkson and back (I live downtown so everything outside the core can be a nice ride ). One of my training rides I used to do (sometimes still do) is to take Danforth out to Kingston Road and take Kingston until it meets the 401. Then I'd turn around and head back.

Crashtest

Have you ever heard of the Longest Day Ride? If not, this may blow your mind a little - it sure did for me. The idea is to start a ride at the foot of Yonge street at sunrise on the longest day of the year - June 21st. Ride north on Yonge until sunset, and see how far you can go. A group of strong cyclists have made incredible distances, reaching as far north as - are you ready for this? - Temagami! If you don't know where Temagami is, check it out on a map - it's way past North Bay. I still find this hard to believe.

Searching for a link here... Damn, can't find a link - I saw this on the web a couple of years ago, and it was a great story. If anyone knows where to find the original story, I'd love to read it again.

MsMittens

Yup. Those riders were/have been probably part of the same group that does the Hairy Shirt Ride (Toronto-Niagara-Toronto in same day). It's probably a double century or somewhere around there (200 miles or 330+KM?)

One day might do it...

clausen

I ride North of the zoo. Little traffic, lots of side roads to mix it up or when you need a little privacy. You also get to see some wildlife.

simplyred

I live in North Scarborough/South Markham... I usually just head to a relative's house then go east/west on Major Mackenzie or Elgin Mills... A LOT less cars... but it's a burn getting there... but so worth it...

Mojo GoGo

Mia culpla, mia culpa, my apologies upfront for an off topic post...

I plan to cycle from Rochester to Niagara on the Lake in August and am looking for route info. I Googled for bike clubs in Niagara Falls but came up empty and figured Hamilton was too far away... I'd like to stay on main roads rather than trails - please PM me if your aware of a cycling club I could contact or you ride in the area and would like to recommend a route.

Thanks in advance and now back to cycling around GTA.

operator

That's nice for most of you to post routes that aren't in the GTA.
Anywhere North and East of Bayview/Elgin Mills will get you rural/farmland area. Another fast way out of the city is north on Keeles, north of highway 7.

From there you can go to Musslemen Lake.. Mount Albert. Stop in Goodwood. Whatever you want.

juf2m

WOW!! My family has an island in Temagami, we've had it since 1964. I have never missed a summer there. Maybe I should ride there instead of taking the train! That would be one TIRING ride though......

Bikeophile

I am not sure of the name for the trail...but the US side of the Lake has a similar trail to the Martin Goodman trail. We were going to do it on our fixies last year, but ended up doing a couple Toronto/Hamilton/Toronto rides instead. Check with the Tourism folks for the city of Rochester or Niagara Falls NY, and they might have some info.

The Randonneurs (Toronto based touring group) have also done trips around Lake Ontario. They could probably give you some good info on the USA side of the lake...

Also try googling "Waterfront trail" with Lake Ontario and you might have some luck.

Cheers
Rob

clausen

Living in Scarlem, it's find the quickest way out or risk it all. On Friday I road down to the end of Port Union (10 KM for me) to see how the new bike path is coming along and was cut off five times. I wear a bright red jersey so not being visible is not the issue, just lack of respect from some motorist.

dcon

!!!! North Bay's gotta be more than 200 miles from Toronto, and that ride would be far from flat!

Bikeophile

So I did I mapquest search from where I live (at the BOTTOM of Yonge Street) to Temagami (using POH 2H0 as the postal code) and it is 275.42 miles which is just over 440km...

One day!? High on the crack!! Geez man...I thought my 160km on my fixie was a feat...these guys make me look like I suck on a pacifier!

dcon

Assuming about 16 hours of daylight, If they rode from sunrise to sunset without stopping, they would have to average about 17 mph (~30 Km/hr?)

MsMittens

It's doable but certainly requires some training. I suspect they may have had some hours in the dark (at the beginning).

operator

That's not possible, because you would have zero time to stop to eat/drink/piss.

clausen

Mapquest would also give you a route using the 400 and Highway 11 north of Barrie. Both of which Bicycles are not permitted on.

operator

Mapquest is useless, google maps is good for locating streets but equally useless for addresses.

simplyred

Hey operator... I've never tried this route... have you [or something similar]?
McCowan/16th to Lake Simcoe and back...
Hard to do in day?

MsMittens

Oh... let me know if you do ride that route. I've got a tour planned around Lake Simcoe for end of June and that might be a route for me to get out of the city.

simplyred

Ok... I checked Mapquest... reliable as it is...[i know... i'm scared too.. lol]
North on McCowan to Baseline..
West on Baseline til Kennedy..
North on Kennedy to Lake Dr..
West on Lake Dr til Woodbine.. [this is the sweetest part of the ride, as you have the coast of Simcoe on your right....]
Then you can do whatever you want.. [going southwise... You have Woodbine, Warden, Kennedy and McCowan]