If you’ve seen our past Jarvis Bikelane Transition posts (before, during), you’ve seen the video Neal Jennings shot at 5:01 pm on Tuesday afternoon… showing that cars are moving just fine on Jarvis with 4 instead of 5 lanes for cars.

He’s shot another video, at 5:33 pm on Thursday, capturing 90 seconds of traffic at Jarvis and Carlton Streets.

“Look at all the… actually, no, wait, there’s really not that much traffic.” – Neal

Thanks for shooting these for BikingToronto Neal!

Remember the horrific gridlock that was supposed to bring Jarvis to a standstill when it went from 5 lanes to 4? Hasn’t happened. Neal Jennings shot this video at 5:01 pm yesterday (Tuesday).

We’re continuing our series of Jarvis Bikelane Photo Posts (see the “before” photos here) with a “During” post.  Photos again by Neal Jennings… not only a cool accountant (we use his services) but a super nice guy too.

The parking is gone… the center lane has been lined off, and dashed lines are marking where new lane markers will go.

Thanks to an email we just received from Patrick Guay of the Montreal band Da Gryptions, I present to you the video for their “Bixi Anthem”, which is getting popular on YouTube recently thanks to postings about the band and the song by Spacing Montreal, Momentum Magazine, the Montreal Gazette, and the National Post.

Patrick (the guy in blue – and I must say I LOVE the old Expos gear!) says they are planning to do another version and video when Bixi lands in Toronto next spring!

Toronto Cyclist John Spragge has compiled a nice little montage of videos he has taken from his bike to demonstrate safe and unsafe passing by cars and trucks, from a cyclists’ perspective:

Thanks John.  Great video!

On Friday morning, I went over to the Bloor Viaduct to check out the new re-painted bikelanes, and while I was there fairly early decided to relax under some trees and count the people biking by on their way downtown to work.

The Bloor Viaduct is one of the perfect places in Toronto to do this, as it is what I like to call a “funnel point” over the Don Valley… it’s one of very few places that someone biking to work can cross the valley… and it’s a 3 km ride north (Millwood) or almost 2 km south (Gerrard) to get to the next bridge.

As you can see by the graph above, the 2 hours between 7:15 – 9:15 am sees a lot of cyclists heading over the Viaduct westbound towards downtown Toronto.    A total of 582 cyclists passed me in those 120 minutes (an avg. of 4.85 per minute) with the highest number between approx. 8:20 to after 9:00 am.

Now some photos I took while I sat in my lovely tree-shaded spot, watching commuters go by:

I first sat on a round concrete bench close to the Bloor / Castle Frank intersection, but the trees and grass were calling me...

ahh, trees and shade, and me with a notepad.

Line-ups are common at the Bloor & Castle Frank intersection.

Recumbent riders join the fun too.

Okay, okay… you talked me into it.  Here are a couple short videos of people biking through the intersection on their way to work.

What are other “funnel points” for bikers in Toronto? Popular ways under the 401? Over the Humber valley? Across railway crossings?

Bells on Bloor happened today, with a reported 1500 cyclists taking part.

If you missed it (or if you were there and want to see it again), here’s a video by mrtini on youtube.

Flickr slideshow by martinreis:

Flickr slideshow by red gecko productions:

Just came across a rendering of the proposed buffered bikelanes for University Avenue:

Buffered Bikelanes planned for 12 weeks this summer.

Rendering via Torontoist.

Want to know what buffered bikelanes are like? Here are some videos of other similar bikelanes in action. First off, NYC just opened up a median bikepath down the middle of Sands Street:

You can also check out another StreetFilm of the Ninth Avenue Bikelane, which has buffered bikelanes along the side of the street, between the sidewalk and parking.

The great weather has gotten Tino of BikeLaneDiary out on the West Toronto Railpath to take some video.

Happy Good Morning Ride from Tino on Vimeo.

Music by Leo Kottke.

Last night I went and checked out Icycle 2010, the Ice Bike Races held at Dufferin Grove Park every year.

Beforehand, I met up with Todd and James Schwartz (of TheUrbanCountry.com) at 3-Speed (I highly recommend their sirloin burger) and we chatted about cycling, Toronto neighbourhoods and Chinese New Year.

We then walked over to the park and enjoyed a fun evening of people racing bikes around a sheet of ice!

Zoom! Thrills, Chills and Spills!

James and Todd watching the action

BlogTO has an excellent run-down of the evening.

Here are some photos and video from the Races:

Videos:
(the first two are from the Mens Finals, the last is from the “Rubber Race” with normal bikes, so it’s a lot slower)

Flickr Slideshow from Tino:

Flickr Slideshow from me:

Flickr Slideshow from Yvonne Bambrick of the Bike Union:

Share your own collections of photos or video in the comments below.

Toronto received a sizable dump of snow late last week, and it’s all melting this week (with forecast temperature highs for tomorrow of 9 degrees celcius).

If you think urban winter cycling is crazy (which it’s really not, at least in Toronto), check out this video of guys cycling in all manner of winter conditions.