The following is a summary of our trip written for the Ontario Traffic Council‘s quarterly magazine. Past issues are no longer online so I am sharing the summary here.
Last fall, as members of the Brampton Cycling Advisory Committee and BikeBrampton chatted after a committee meeting, I overheard John Van West and David Laing talking about planning a cycling trip from Ottawa to Brampton for Canada’s 150th birthday. Their inspiration came from Budi Tahir, a Brampton senior who circumnavigated Lake Ontario on his bike in 2013. After months of planning and training, the final group included cyclists David and his wife Dayle Laing, John, Rani Gill, Nelson Cadete and me, Lisa Stokes. John’s friend Jim Anderson drove his van pulling a trailer with our bikes and luggage. Nelson is Brampton’s Project Manager, Active Transportation and the rest of us are cycling advocates who are passionate about cycling.
The total distance covered was 580km over six days ranging from 82 to 128km per day.
John travelled to Ottawa with Jim and Nelson; the rest of us travelled on VIA Rail. Due to heavy traffic on the 401 and despite an earlier start by Jim, we arrived at the University of Ottawa residence where we were staying, at about the same time.
We checked in, went out for dinner and then explored Ottawa on foot. At the Parliament buildings there was a Sound and Light show which included a story about the bell tower in the Center Block. We joked that it looked like bike gears and was a good omen.
We spent the next two days in Ottawa. David had organized meetings with the Ontario Office of the Minister for Small Business and Tourism, Road Safety Programs, and Ministers Sohi and McKenna’s policy advisors, the purpose of which was to discuss Bill C-312, which was a private member’s bill to provide for the development and implementation of a national strategy on cycling, and other plans for supporting community active transportation initiatives.
We also managed to fit in a tour of the Parliament buildings before a late lunch. Then we headed back to our accommodation to unload our bikes and meet with Heather from BikeOttawa. Heather spent hours telling us about their advocacy wins and challenges and showing us the bike sights. It is easy to be envious of Ottawa’s wonderful cycling infrastructure, so it was very helpful to have a local advocate share the stories behind the infrastructure and their challenges – past, present and future.
Our final day in Ottawa was spent on short relaxing rides, stops for shopping for last-minute items for the trip, a very long lunch and a walk to Byward Market. We finished the day with an evening briefing to ensure we were prepared for the next day’s ride. We did this each evening for the rest of the trip.
Each morning began with a group photo. We then cycled in groups of two or more, with a predetermined lunch stop, where Jim would meet us with the trailer, and a wonderful selection of groceries we used to prepare wraps and omelettes, along with drinks, fruit and other goodies.
We encountered many different cycling conditions and types of infrastructure ranging from the worst – Highway 62, leading into Belleville, with gravel shoulders and high speed traffic – to the best – the Thousands Islands Parkway, a 37 km long bidirectional bike path separated from the road by a large grass boulevard and only interrupted by a few lightly-used intersections. In between those extremes we cycled on multi-use paths, quiet residential roads, quiet secondary highways with little traffic, painted bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, physically separated bike lanes and roads with paved shoulders of varying widths and pavement quality.
Good infrastructure made a huge difference to our comfort level, energy level and ability to socialize while riding. On the Thousand Islands Parkway we could ride side by side, converse at a normal volume and relax knowing we need not be constantly vigilant for close passes and poor surface quality. Even though it was the longest day in terms of distance and time spent on the saddle, it was not the most tiring. However, it wasn’t just the Parkway that made for good cycling that day. It was also the very low traffic volume country roads we followed from Merrickville to Brockville where we were able to cycle for long periods with only rare passes by cars, the drivers of which generally gave us a wide berth. Widespread driver education about safe behavior around cyclists could also improve the cycling experience, especially on shared infrastructure. Simply paving the shoulders of all roads would help improve cycling significantly until there is more dedicated cycling infrastructure available.
The final two days were spent largely on the Waterfront Trail. Advocates from the Durham Region Cycling Coalition met us at the Durham/Northumberland border and accompanied us to Ajax, regaling us with their impressive knowledge of the area and stories of their advocacy. They recommended we follow the Waterfront Trail on our final day, rather than taking a shorter route through central Toronto. We took their advice and were thankful to have done so. While we did occasionally encounter trouble with wayfaring signs, it was generally a comfortable, picturesque route to travel.
It was a wonderful trip. Great sights. Great people with whom to travel. I made the memories of a lifetime. In my head, I am already planning the next cycling odyssey. It was also a great opportunity for advocates and municipal staff to have a significant shared cycling experience, of good, mediocre and bad infrastructure, and to get to know each other outside of the committee room. I can’t overestimate the value gained from that for our working relationship in the future.
You can read daily blog posts about the trip, including route maps, starting here.
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