On Wednesday I posted a photo of a very foggy Prince Edward Viaduct.
This morning was very sunny (yet very windy – a head wind… let’s hope it stays around for the ride east on the way home this afternoon…) so I snapped another photo.
It doesn’t do the view justice, but you can kind of see what I mean about being able to watch new downtown condos reach a little farther into the sky every day.
I’m trying to get into the habit of taking a photo every day of something bikey … right now it’s with my old phone with not very good photo capabilities – but something is better than nothing, right?
Today, I snapped a photo of Bay St, looking south from Wellesley. This has been an ever-changing view for the past couple of years as tons of new condos have been popping up into the sky.
I really like biking Bay in the mornings because of this interesting, urban view (Bay is one of the few places outside of the bank towers downtown where Toronto feels like the massive urbanity of New York).
In 2010, for a couple months, I did very unscientific counts of cyclists on my way in to work every morning. If a bike was being used, and I saw it, I counted it.
I also made notes about what time I left home, what the temperature was, and what the weather was like.
I *finally* remembered to count this morning to start off my 2011 counts and see how they compare to last year.
This Morning’s Count:
Date: Wed, March 17, 2011
Time: Approx. 7:30 – 8:00
Route: Danforth & Woodbine to Bay & College
Weather: Slightly foggy and very cloudy
Temperature: 2 C
Number of Cyclists Seen: 20
How does this compare to last year?
Last year (2010):
Date: Wed, March 17, 2010
Time: Approx. 7:35 – 8:15 am
Route: Danforth & Woodbine to Bay & College
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 4 C
Number of Cyclists Seen: 32
So, on the surface, it looks like there’s a huge difference between days that are 2C and are cloudy and foggy (2011) and days that are 4C and clear. That’s probably true.
Another thing to consider is that March 17 last year appeared to be quite a warm one (I blogged that it was already 15C around lunch time) – so the anticipation of that probably had more people considering biking in the morning.
One of my favourite parts of the internet is the animated radar map on theweathernetwork.com.
The forecast can be for rain, but checking the radar, you can see if it’s a ton of rain or just intermittent rain – and perhaps plan your commute accordingly.
I ride in the rain a lot, but most often in the late spring and summer when the rain is refreshing rather than cold… so at this time of year I try to avoid it.
This morning I saw that the rain would be ending for 30-60 minutes … giving me just long enough for a leisurely ride downtown to work while staying mostly dry.
It was misty out, which was refreshing, and I snapped a cellphone photo of the fog as I crossed the Bloor Viaduct.
Usually, the Viaduct offers a great view of downtown and it’s fun to watch all the new condo towers rising a bit higher every day. Today though, it was just foggy misty white… and the sidestreets north of the Danforth I took on the way to the Viaduct were nice and hushed and quiet in the fog.
15 minutes after I got to work, it started raining again.
Looking forward to biking home in +9C temperatures.
[via BikeHugger]
I personally don’t have an iPhone (am considering one, but am considering an Android based phone too…), but know a few people who would LOVE this handlebar addition. 
From BioLogic… who have lots of other cool products too!
If you’re more of a Coffee addict than an Apple addict, check out this cool coffee cup holder, reviewed by Bikeroo.
Yesterday morning I snapped a quick pic of a part of a group of 6 morning bike commuters I was in as we headed west on Bloor East at around 8 am… temperature hovering around the freezing point. You can see we’re on the bridge over Rosedale Valley Road.
It’s great seeing lots of bikes on the road these days, even as morning temperatures drop.
Is it also weird that I want to get a new cell phone just to be able to take better quality photos?
The mornings may be cold these days, but it’s beautiful riding to work under the last of the fall foliage.
Here’s the view shortly after I leave home on my way downtown. A sidestreet north of the Danforth, near Woodbine:
