http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ BikingToronto Forum Topic: ZoomerMag: Cycling in Toronto en Sun, 26 May 2013 04:18:50 +0000 http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=252#post-569 Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:46:44 +0000 Duncan 569@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p>I wish I had that kind of enthusiasm for the dangers and obstacles on my daily commute. Some days, it's a blast. I'm taking the lane, I'm weaving through gridlock, I'm dinging my bell like Quasimodo.</p> <p>Then, there are days when I wish I could just focus on getting my day started. Maybe a good stretch of, oh, 5 km where I can simply enjoy my surroundings and feel confident that the speeding pick up truck behind me is going to leave enough room so that he won't send me to an early grave.</p> <p>But, when mayhem is all your used to... you adapt quickly. I shoulder check when walking now and keep my eyes peeled for uneven paving stones and sudden dips. </p> http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=252#post-563 Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:32:00 +0000 joe 563@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p><a href="http://www.zoomermag.com/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&amp;blog_id=29&amp;id=20">Don Irvine</a> is a cyclist from Victoria B.C. who comes to Toronto on his holidays, and offers <a href="http://www.zoomermag.com/don_irvine/2009/08/cycling-toronto.html">an interesting perspective on cycling in Toronto</a>:</p> <p><ul><li><em>If cycling in Victoria is a gentle pastime for retired people of all ages, in Toronto it's an adventure: You're either dead when it's over, or a lot more alive than you were when you started.</p> <p>Fortune favors the brave, and the streets of Toronto are pretty much a libertarian paradise for the adventurous cyclist: Cars mostly ignore you, nobody forces you to wear a helmet, and even the bicycle cops ride the wrong way down one-way streets.</p> <p><img src="http://www.zoomermag.com/don_irvine/Toronto%20Streetcar%20tracks.jpg"></p> <p>It's all very live-and-let-live---as opposed to Victoria, where motorists yell at you if they see that you're not wearing a helmet. I'm not saying it's all beer-and-skittles; there are challenges---the roads, for example. Where I live on Vancouver Island, there are long stretches of immaculately-paved bicycle paths, and roads that get fixed before anything even goes wrong with them. In contrast, Toronto's most important avenue, Bloor St., has never been less than a nightmare of potholes, lane closures, building construction and angry, bumper-to-bumper traffic.</p> <p>That's why I can't stay away from it. Aside from it being the shortest distance for a cyclist between a large number of points, there is never a moment cycling Bloor St. when you are not fully engaged with your surroundings and feeling utterly alive. The whole downtown is like that---the maneuvers you have to make to just to stay in one piece are the best reminders you will ever get that you are vibrant flesh-and-blood, and that life is great. There are times---particularly at night---when I find myself laughing almost insanely as I make my way through hopelessly moribund Toronto traffic: The wind in my hair, car-exhaust in my nostrils, the darkness seemingly doubling my speed... moments when the universe clicks into focus and looks good.</em></li></ul> </p>