The Joy of Biking to School

For me, biking my kids to school is a chance to be outside, spend time together (not the same as in a car), and see them develop confidence and a sense of independence.  I loved it when my son, after having walked his bike up a certain hill many times, was finally able to get to the top by bike.  He was so excited to go home and tell his mom.  Getting to school by our own power is an accomplishment we can be proud of. It's a lot of fun too.

Here's a preview of our ride to school a year ago last Fall:

And there are other benefits too...

You cycled where?!?

Vaughan Mills Mall, located in Vaughan at Highway 400 and Rutherford Road, is a shopping and entertainment complex of colossal proportions. With over 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m²) of retail space, all on a single floor, it is the 11th largest mall in Canada and 6th largest in the GTA.

It's often a stressful drive to get there, particulary during the evening rush or on weekends.  This is the result of car-centric planning, which has consequently made every other mode seem difficult and uninviting.
























I rode my bike there last week.  My route was mostly on minor roads (except a short segment on Jane on the sidewalk), it was quick (quicker than a car during rush hour), and relatively easy.  The most challenging part of the ride was crossing the 4-lane ring road that surrounds Vaughan Mills.  The intersection circled in red below is a controlled by stop signs, which ends up being really unconfortable to cross by bike or two feet.  It's not often that you see such a big intersection controlled by stop signs.  The crosswalk doesn't even have curb cuts.

The second issue I have is with the bike parking.  Their website clearly says 16 bike racks at each main entrance (in addition to 6300 free parking spaces for cars).  I biked around the mall and found a total of 6 bike parking spots for the entire mall (2 spots at entrance #2, and 4 spots at entrance #4).  Entrances #1, 3, 5, and 6 had no bike parking, unless you count the light poles. 

For what is such a significant urban centre, and traffic generator, I expected better.

Entry 1

Entry 3

I didn't see any bike parking at the Transit terminal at Vaughan Mills either.

One ring and post at Entry 2

Two ring and posts at Entry 4

Here's my bike route from Vaughan City Hall to Vaughan Mills Mall.

If you ask most people, they'd think it is crazy to ride your bike to Vaughan Mills.  I would say they are crazy not to.  Have you seen the traffic on Rutherford Road at 5pm?  You can by-pass that traffic on a bike, and arrive with a smile on your face.

Another wheelbender rack

Today was a glorious day for riding, so I took my bike to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items, instead of driving.  Here's the entrance to Fortinos in Maple.  It does have a bike rack (arrow on the left), but it's the bad bike parking type. 

The middle arrow points to a bike leaning against some grocery carts, and the right arrow points to a bike (mine) locked to a sign.  I've opted not to use the wheelbender bike rack on the left.  See next photo.

 

One gentle push and these tire rims are a mangled mess!  The owner of the blue bike on the right chose to lay theirs down to avoid the risk of damage.  Also note that the rack is too close to the wall, so bikes can only be parked from one side.

Businesses need some guidelines on what bike parking is acceptable and not.  People in Vaughan do bike places.  Quality bike parking is a small measure, but it's good for business and sends the message that "we care about cyclists and we care about our City".

Community Bike Ride for Vaughan's Earth Hour

On March 28th, I participated in the Vaughan's Earth Hour event held at City Hall.  It included a night bike ride hosted by the City of Vaughan and Vaughan Bicycle User Group.

The festivities included a energy conservation expo.

Here's the Vaughan BUG table.  The group encourage residents to give cycling a try for commuting and recreation.

People were asked to fill in the blank.  "My Bike is My..." escape; fresh air; keeping fit; fun, etc.  A bike is many different things to many people, and all of it makes life better.

The 7 km bike ride offered a the opportunity for a group ride through the community, to socialize with other cyclists, and communicate that people in Vaughan do cycle.  It showed that a night ride in March can be quite enjoyable, and is very commonplace in many cities.  Cycling can be a year-round activity, even in our climate.

Here's the route, which started at Vaughan City Hall, went south on Peter Rupert (edge lines added in Fall 2014), west on Rutherford (paved shoulders), and north on a "Block 18" multi-use trail from Rutherford to Lealands Rd.

Here's the route from a cyclist's perspective... part 1 is from Vaughan City Hall, to Peter Rupert & Rutherford.

Here's part 2, from Peter Rupert & Rutherford, north on the trail along the CN/GO train corridor, and through the local neighbourhood back to City Hall.


I hope the ride continues to grow, and that more Vaughan residents discover that cycling is a fun, easy, healthy, inexpensive way to get around and reduce their environmental footprint.

Blast from the past - Maple to Downsview

I found this video I took a few years ago of my bike commute from Maple (Keele/Major Mackenzie) to Downsview (Keele/Wilson) area of Toronto.  It's about 18 km, which typically took me about 45-55 minutes on my road bike.  I've moved and changed jobs since then, so no longer ride it.  But between 2007 and 2012, I rode it hundreds of times.  I'd sometimes vary the route, depending on my mood, or whether I was pressed for time, or wanted to explore a new area.  Every ride gave me time to think, and pump my lungs, and feel the wind against my face.

This video is 4x actual speed, so looks a lot scarier than it actually was.  And yes, I rode on the sidewalk, cautiously and courteously, for some of busy high speed roads with infrequent pedestrians encounters (e.g. Keele from Steeles to Langstaff).  It needs some cycling infrastructure.


My Bike Commute in Sept 2011 from Shawn Smith on Vimeo.

The Finch hydro corridor trail opened in 2012, providing an off-street east-west connection on my route to the Dufferin Street bike lanes north of Steeles, and on to the Bartley Smith Greenway.  But it was several km of out-of-way travel, so I stuck with my original route most of the time.

In the next few years, there are plans for dedicated bike facilities on Keele Street from Steeles to Hwy 7, as well as on Hwy 7 in Vaughan, and others.  Things are looking up!

Imagine a car-free Major Mackenzie, teeming with people!

Before the 2014 Santafest Parade in Maple, as people started lining the route, I took the opportunity to bike along Major Mackenzie from Wonderland to Vaughan City Hall without any traffic.  What great fun to experience this road from a different perspective and without having to worry about traffic zipping past me.



Imagine this street with hundreds of other people running, walking, cycling, rollarblading, dancing, and having fun!  It's called an Open Streets event.

Open Streets are programs where the streets are opened to people and closed to cars. People traffic replaces car traffic, and the streets become “paved parks” where everyone and anyone can come out to get active, improve their health and have fun.

Toronto is doing it.  Thunder Bay is. video | article.  Maybe we'll see this happen in the City of Vaughan one day?  It would be good for community-building, public health, and even businesses along the route.  And it would certainly open some minds and get people out of their cars.


The Rise of Open Streets from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

Trail-a-bike to the park

Last month, my family rode our bikes to Mackenzie Glen District Park in Maple.  As you can see in the video clip (which is the segment near the Maple Community Centre), my son really enjoys riding with me using a trail-a-bike.  However I see now that he doesn't always pay attention!  The 2km journey each way is very easy by bike, and fun for the whole family.

A winter bike ride in Maple

On Jan 29th, I went for a bike ride around Maple.  Temperature was -5C.  It turned out to be a very comfortable and enjoyable ride.  Many think that winter cycling is quite daunting, but the main things you need are warm clothes and plowed snow!  It you have these then you are good to go except in the most extreme conditions.  Ride on, friends.
Here’s a map of my route.


A winter bike ride from Shawn Smith on Vimeo.

For some winter cycling inspiration, check out this video from the 1st Winter Cycling Congress in Oulu, Sweden.

Winter Cycling For Everyone from Anders Swanson on Vimeo.

Love your commute

On Fridays through the summer, I often cycled the 70 km roundtrip from my home in Maple to work in East Gwillimbury.  Though it was a long distance, it was an invigorating start to my day and I always felt great after doing it.  It improves my fitness, saves me money, and is a thrill.  I would have biked to work more often if it not for family commitments and the extra time it required.  It takes me about an hour and twenty minutes each way (which is about double the 40 minutes it takes to drive).

Boulevard path on Vandorf Sideroad east of Bayview

I tried different routes, and what I found was that most roads were more bike-friendly than I thought, with paved shoulders and only a little traffic.  I eventually settled on the route shown in black (north on Keele Street, east on 15th Sideroad / Bloomington, north on Yonge Street, east on Industrial Parkway/Vandorf Sideroad, and north on Woodbine).  One of the biggest route determining factors was avoiding the hills.  There are some thigh-burning climbs!  19th Sideroad between Keele and Bathurst, and St. John's Sideroad between Yonge and Bathurst come to mind.

Try it.  Bike to work.  Dust of that Schwinn and hit the ground pedaling.  You'll use all of your senses.  You'll notice things, like the smell of Fall, the birds chirping, the wind in your face, the swoop of each turn.  You'll feel alive, and it's wonderful.

Paved shoulder on Keele Street

Boulevard path on Bloomington

Crossing Hwy 404 on St. John's Sideroad

Crossing Hwy 404 on St. John's Sideroad

Bike lane on Keele Street at McNaughton

Beautiful vistas

 https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zMmshogRacy0.k7WKDn0mvbtA

2013 Ride for Karen

This year, I had the pleasure of participating for the first time in the Ride for Karen.  Starting in Maple, the route explores parts of Vaughan and King in York Region, as well as sections of Peel Region.  It was the 12th consecutive year the event has run and, since the beginning, has raised over $2M to help kids with cancer.  What's impressive is that it is all run by volunteers, and thanks to sponsorship from Scotiabank, 100% of funds raised go to charity.

"Everyone who's here today had a choice.  We chose to be here to help kids with cancer.  When you're riding down the road today, think about how lucky you are to be able to ride." Kirk & Kris Tobias, organizers

100km route option (25k and 160km also available)

"Holy smokes," said a little girl playing on her front steps as the huge pack of cyclists passed through her neighbourhood.  I couldn't help but grin to myself.  It is quite a wonderful feeling being part of a special event like this.  It was like I was being pulled along by the other cyclists, and I shared their sense of community and camaraderie.

The ride took us through scenic countryside, forests and wetlands, and rolling hills, and the weather was beautiful.  At the first rest stop, at about the 50km mark, I loaded up on electrolytes, powerbars, oranges, and other good stuff.  Having not done any long training rides leading up to this ride, my thighs were feelin' the burn.  The second rest stop, near Weston & 16th Sideroad, was the point where the 160km and 100km riders split, and the 100km riders like myself bypassed a challenging hill north on Weston.  A delicious BBQ awaited me at the finish and I celebrated a successful ride.  It was a top notch event and I hope to participate again in the future.

Family trip on the Bartley Smith Greenway

One sunny afternoon last month, my family and I went on a bike ride together in Vaughan.  My six year old started off on the trail-a-bike pulled by me, while my two and four year olds enjoyed a ride in our Chariot bike trailer pulled by my wife.

We ended up doing a leisurely 20 km over three hours including quite a few stops (turtle watching, picnic lunch, McDonald's bathroom break, DQ ice cream treat).  Frequent stops is key with young kids.  

We started our journey near Keele & Major Mackenzie in Maple, and proceeded along some quiet residential streets to a new paved pathway on the east side of the railway tracks.  We then proceeded to connect up with the Bartley Smith Greenway south of Jacob Keefer Parkway and Basaltic Rd.  

New trail east of railway between Major Mackenzie and Rutherford

The Bartley Smith Greenway (BSG) is a natural valley corridor that follows the course of the upper West Don River through expanding residential and business developments in the heart of the City of Vaughan.  The surface is crushed gravel, suitable for most bikes including road bikes.  The trail goes under Hwy 7 and Hwy 407.  On this day we turned back just north of there.  

Access to a new section of trail off of Basaltic Rd

Section connecting Planchet Rd and Jacob Keefer Parkway

There are two new sections of trail just south of Rutherford that weren't quite opened yet but will be later this summer.  The long-term plan is for the trail to be continuous from Teston to the City of Toronto boundary at Steeles Avenue.  At Steeles Avenue it connects with City of Toronto parks and trails (including the new Finch hydro corridor trail), and forms an excellent link for commuting and recreation.

This trail is a real gem for Vaughan and the City has been doing a great job maintaining it and adding new sections over the last few years.  Here are a few highlights from our outing.

 Picnic at Keefer Marsh

 Trail a bike at trailhead at Planchet Rd

All smiles

A satisfying end to a great ride!

You can see the Bartley-Smith Greenway route on the York Region Cycling Map.