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

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