Touring around Lake Ontario - my first tour
 

Back at the beginning of the summer I decided with some friends it would be fun to try and bike around lake Ontario. Well, most, if not all of them backed out and my training has been off and on all summer(too much partying). My departure date is the last weekend in august and I have about 8 or 9 days to do this but, I want to aim for finishing in 6 or possibly 5 if my knees are feeling up to it.

I am still going to go for it but, I think I may end up doing this solo which is somewhat frightening considering my longest tour(if you can call it that) has been one night. Anyone interested in joining:D? I am planning an overnight trip this weekend and the weekend after to test out some of my gear and get some more km's on the bike.

My original plan was to go around counter-clockwise because I am from Grimsby, Ontario and figured I might as well get the unfamiliar territory(New York State) out of the way while I'm still fresh. But, I have heard the winds tend to favor a clock-wise trip...can anyone confirm this?

I've read lots of journals and articles about touring and the routes around lake Ontario so, I think I've got a pretty good handle on that. I just wanted to post this so I have something to guilt me if I start having second thoughts about going. Although, any tips or advice is more than welcome.

Thanks for reading and if anyones interested I'll keep this updated before, possibly during, and after.

Definitely go the American side going west to east with the winds at your back. Its the nicest side and I would rather do it without having to struggle with the wind. http://www.geocities.com/pathebikeguy/lakeontario
I rode around it in July in a counter clockwise direction and had tail wind / favorable winds from Hamilton all the way to Cape Vincent.

If you go clockwise, you'll get the headwinds on the American side. If you go counter clockwise you'll get the headwinds on the Canadian side. I went clockwise. I had one day of bad head winds riding into Rochester.

Another suggestion.
Try to ride through the Toronto area ie; Oshawa to Burlington on a SUNDAY when traffic is considerably lighter.
Come to think of it, leaving on a Sunday and going clockwise migth be a better idea in order to get through the worst section of your route in relatively light traffic conditions. If you leave early enough you could be through the GTA before people wake up.

The prevailing wind is a headwind, you guys are all newbies.

Hi chris aug18, I have riden both directions around the lake in recent years. I think that the wind is about the same either direction although I do think that the hills have a more gradual slope to them when you go west to east in NY state. I takes me about 9 days to do the trip as this seems to make the campsites work out. The day I cross the ferry at Wolfe Island I don't go as far because I always seem to end up just missing the ferry and have to wait for the next one.
You could consider riding the Erie Canal Towpath part of the way to vary your ride otherwise following the Seaway Trail will give you a great route.I found the roads great except for around Oswego, they can be quite busy and are not in the best condition for a loaded touring bike. Toronto is by far the worst part of the ride. I'll leave it up to you to find the best route across the GTA and good luck. It may be cheating but when I have cross Toronto now I do it on the GO train.
Hope you enjoy this trip as much as I have and going solo will be no problem. I prefer solo tours myself and there is a good chance that you will meet up with someone else doing that route.
Happy touring!

Yes, definitely consider taking the Go Train across Toronto, unless, maybe, you manage to be there on Sunday morning.

I will be biking from Toronto (where I live) to Kingston (and then to Ottawa) in early September. My plan is to take the eastbound Go Train to get to the outskirts of Scarborough (Rouge Hills), and head out from there.

Wow, thanks for all the advice guys!

Turns out my mom was really against me going around the lake. I'm 20 so I can do what I want but I'd feel bad leaving with her worrying the whole time. But she seems much happier with me biking to Kingston and back and staying in Canada for some reason, even though the traffic is much worst around TO. So thats what I am going to be doing and according to google maps its about a 700km trip which still is pretty good for my first tour.

I have some homemade panniers, a rear rack, a front bag, a little triangle frame bag and possibly a small camelback that I will be bringing with me. I'll post some pictures tonight(I'm at work) of the panniers I made and the 'ghetto' rig I used to attach the front bag to my MB handle bars.

Does anyone know how frequently you come across stores between Oshawa and Kingston? I see lots of towns on the map so I am assuming I won't have to carry much in the way of food or water.

This is the route I plan on taking...not looking forward to the traffic

Oh, and don't know if you can tell or not but I'm getting really excited:lol:

Hi chris aug18, too bad your not going around the lake, as much as I hate to admit it I find the USA side a much more enjoyable ride with bike lanes most of the way . I have added a link to a website showing a route that follows mostly the Waterfront Trail. I have riden it often. You should consider following the trail from Lawerence Ave. to Oshawa, the route you have picked is not very bicycle friendly and with traffic can be downright dangerous on Bayly St.
You should follow the Waterfront Trail from Cobourg to Colborne, Hwy 2 is not in good shape, can be busy and the trail is faster and more scenic. I live here and I try to avoid this section of highway as there have been several car-bike incidents.
Also from Consecon to Picton follow the Waterfront Trail bike lane on Hwy 33, way better road then CR 1 with lots of scenery and stores. Stop at the Bloomfield Bicycle Company.
http://www.hedney.com/index.htm
Happy touring and enjoy the trip!

This still sounds like a fine trip!

There are a few long stretches, but if you stock up with food and snacks to last, say, three or four hours, you will be fine.

It's OK to ask for water refills at people's homes along the way. I have never been refused!

Traffic is actually not bad along the route you are considering. For more information about routes, see:

http://www.waterfronttrail.org/

http://www.hedney.com/waterfront.htm

I second this. When I cycled aroud Lake Ontario I followed a route similiar to the one chris has mapped out. Last week I toured following Brian Hedney's instructions. It was so much nicer.

There are plenty of places to get food and groceries along the way.

When in Bloomfield, stop at Slickers for ice cream.

Thanks!
 

Thanks for the route suggestions, probably saved me some very big headaches to say the least. The plan is to now take lakeshore road and the waterfront trail to where Brian Hedney's directions pick up and pretty much follow his directions all the way from there. I will have my GPS so if I see a quiet road I can just hop on it for a while and then find my way back. According to my calculations(:rolleyes:) this will add about 40 more km to the trip but at the same time I think I should enjoy it much more.

Oh, and its raining right now so instead of going for test drive with her fully loaded I'm gunna post a few pictures...because who doesn't like pictures. Please excuse my crappy camera.

Side View:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/...c3db2cd58c.jpg

Front View:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/...efb78723b2.jpg

Rear View ;)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/...cb9c52c007.jpg

A shot of the homemade panniers and empty bike:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3262/...cf3704dae4.jpg

How the bike normally looks:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/...e491ee8ae8.jpg

Thanks again for the suggestions...and I'll definitely stop for some ice cream in Bloomfield

+1 I forgot about ice cream. I think that ice cream is essential for a successfull bike tour.
I'm not sure about the + 40km, seems a little much for that route but many times good flat quiet roads can turn out to be much faster even if they are further. For me the distance is not as important as the things I see and do along the way.
I sure hope you get some dry weather, In early August I did a tour north to Algonquin Park and got rain every day and night. After awhile it takes the fun out of the trip.
Since you are going and returning from Kingston you can use different routes on each leg of the trip, there are always many ways to make the same trip.
I'll keep a eye out for you since I now know what your ride looks like as I live on your route east of Cobourg.

I just checked theweathernetwork.com and the weather looks unbelievable!! There is a 0% chance of rain Saturday to Thursday in Grimsby, Toronto, Oshawa, and Kingston. Can't ask for much better weather than that.