Whitby 2023 – Day 2

I awoke just before my alarm, momentarily confused as to where I was, then got up and looked out the window, to discover it was a dark rainy morning in Whitby.

The rain was tapering off. We got into our cycling gear, picked a place to meet David, 8 km away, at the garden centre along the route, which had a cute little coffee shop. We ate breakfast, applied sunscreen – it was forecast to be a sunny day with a high of 27°, feeling like 36° – walked Oakley, got the bikes out of the garage, and discovered Dayle had a completely flat tire.

We brought the bike up on the porch, found a piece of glass in the tire, got the tube changed and pumped up. We let David know we wouldn’t be there until about 10, and set off. It was intensely humid, but felt slightly better when we started riding.

Four kilometres into the ride, on Dundas Street where it crosses the 412, Dayle started to feel a bump from the front wheel which was the one we had changed. It turned out that the tire hadn’t seated properly. We had to release all the air and roll the bike to seat the tire properly after we inflated it partway, then rolled it, then continued inflating. It’s seated properly, and we continued without further incident.

Lakeridge Road South crosses the 401. It’s absolutely ridiculous on a road like this to put sharrows. Studies show that sharrows do not increase cyclist safety, and might make it worse, by making cyclists think the sharrow indicates a safe place to ride. Traffic was very fast moving here with drivers intent on getting onto the highway.

I was pleased to see that this recently constructed bridge was constructed wide enough for a protected cycling lane and sidewalk, even though there is no cycling infrastructure on either side. Bridges are the most expensive parts of building roads, and are rarely rebuilt, so it’s important that whenever they are, active transportation infrastructure is included. Bike lanes leading up to, and away from the bridges can be added later.

We had coffee at La Casita Del Café in the nursery parking lot. The coffee was excellent and it was such a cute little business in the trailer.

Shortly thereafter we were on the Waterfront Trail. Apparently, Ajax is the only Waterfront Trail Community that has the trail entirely off road near the lake. In some busy areas cycling and pedestrian traffic is separated.

It felt a little cooler by the lake and the views were beautiful.

We stopped at Veterans’ Point Garden in Ajax. The memorial there is shaped like the prow of a ship.

There was also a cenotaph and beautiful floral displays near Lake Driveway West and Harwood Avenue South. These interesting looking condos have beautiful views over the gardens and lake.

This part of the Waterfront Trail is very picturesque with the wooden fence, goldenrod, and well marked trail.

There is a very long boardwalk across the opening of Duffins Creek.

This is the Pickering nuclear generating station.

As we rode through this area, we encountered another cyclist, Charles, a young man, who was riding from Oshawa, and has been interested, but unsuccessful, in finding people to ride with. We made some suggestions and invited him to ride with us, which he did, for the rest of our day, parting, when we were within a few kilometres of where we’re staying in Whitby, to continue on to Oshawa where he lives.

Just west of the nuclear station the Waterfront Trail crosses Pickering beach. When we rode across here in 2017, there was a boardwalk. The boardwalk has been removed and now there is a challenging slog across the sand. High water in 2021 damage the boardwalk beyond repair. It was removed by staff. When Cindy and I slogged through here last year, we thought it was just temporary. Apparently it is, with Pickering currently reviewing designs for replacement, with hopes that it could be constructed in the 2024 season.

Other than the challenging beach crossing it’s quite a nice area.

Liverpool Road has a lovely little village on it as you head north from the beach.

We stopped at the Open Studio Art Café and Espresso Bar for lunch. It was delicious.

The Waterfront Trail route has been improved from Liverpool Road to the west side of Frenchman’s Bay with a well signed route through the neighbourhood and a wide concrete multi-use path on the south side of Bayly Street.

The route we were following today is one that I got from the Durham Region Cycling page and amended for where we are staying. I downloaded it last year – the first time Cindy and I came to Whitby. The route led us slightly astray when we arrived at the end of this court which had a brand new fence, which used to have an exit onto the multiuse path on the road behind the fence, however, we were able to re-trace our route a few hundred metres and get out another way. When I returned to the house this evening I looked up the route on the webpage and it has been amended, so I’ve learned a lesson: make sure you download the files again if it’s been a while, because things might change.

As we entered the Greenbelt, we saw this sign on which someone has put a sold sign, indicating their displeasure with the current scandal regarding removing land from the Greenbelt in which the Ontario government is mired, and for which the minister responsible has recently resigned. Unfortunately, Doug Ford hasn’t resigned, nor has the government committed to put the land back in the Greenbelt.

The rest of the ride was on very busy roads, some of which had multi use paths, but they often ended abruptly or changed sides of the road.

Once we left the lake, it was a long climb for the next 10 km, or so. These are the grins at the top.

There’s a lot of development taking place and it was nice to see that a multiuse path is being built ahead of the development in some places.

However, as I stated earlier, it often just disappeared.

Here, we are on the Trans Canada Trail.

David hit a large piece of gravel on the shoulder, and was steering his bike in such a straight line, that he hit it with both the front and back tires, and blew out the tubes of both.

We all got to work and changed both tubes and continued.

We encountered a small bit of bike lane along a lower traffic volume road between too busy roads. It provided a short relief.

On Rossland, another busy road, Dave’s back tire went flat again. We had 6 km to go at this point, and he encouraged us to continue while he fixed it on his own this time. It was a brand new experience for him to have three flats in a day. He couldn’t find a cause for the third flat. Hopefully it will still be inflated in the morning. It is probably the most flats the group has ever had in one day, with Dayle’s two incidents, this morning, and Dave’s this afternoon. Pro tip: ensure you know how to change your tubes, and carry a repair kit with you, if you plan to tour by bike.

David and Dayle cooked a delicious meal, then walked Oakley, while I worked on the blog. We then worked on the Community Ride we are running on Sunday.

Tomorrow we ride to Brooklin.


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