Barrie to Brampton - Part 2 (Caledon Trailway)

Happy Canada Day, everybody!

Part one of my Barrie to Brampton ride covered Barrie to Tottenham including the Thornton Cookstown Trail. While there were some gaps such as from Beeton to Tottenham, it makes for a promising route. Let’s start Part 2 which covers the Caledon Trailway with this picture of the trail entrance.

Barrie to Brampton - Part 1 (Thornton Cookstown Trail)

One trail I wanted to do for a while was the Caledon Trailway. However, I noticed on Strava Joric did a one-way ride from Barrie to Brampton in June 2023 using that trail plus the Thornton-Cookstown Trail which prompted me to consider that ride as a follow up to the Kitchener to Hamilton ride in July 2023. Yesterday, I finally crossed that Barrie to Brampton ride off my bucket list! Part one of this series covers the Thornton Cookstown Trail and the second will focus on the Caledon Trailway.

Uxbridge to Lindsay Rail Trail

One rail trail I wanted to do for a while is the Uxbridge to Lindsay Rail Trail. Back in 2020, I did a short portion of the Omemee Rail Trail from Peterborough to the Doube’s Trestle Bridge, though the trail continued all the way to Lindsay. Both are part of the Trans Canada Trail. Yesterday with the weather finally co-operating, I took GO Transit to Uxbridge to cross that trail off my bucket list.

Addressing Food Courier Train Crowding Concerns

Recently, there have been photos circulating on social media about food courier bikes crowding GO trains along the Kitchener GO line, including on dedicated bike cars used on the Niagara trains during the summer months. This has unfortunately been the latest round of criticism towards food couriers with last year seeing accusations of them hogging Bike Share Toronto’s e-bikes prior to the pricing changes and Councillor Dianne Saxe’s motion calling for e-bikes and e-scooters used by couriers to have “unique identifiers”. These incidents of blaming food couriers are unacceptable and must be called out. Instead, we road safety advocates need to work with the couriers and groups like Gig Workers United to come up with some solutions to remedy the situation. Especially since we should be encouraging deliveries by bike over those done by motor vehicles in order to pursue meaningful climate action.

A crowded GO train bike car on February 2, 2024 (via Janice Jim)

Lake to Lake Route in York Region

The Lake to Lake Cycling Route is a 121 kilometre bike route from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe and was part of York Region’s pedestrian and cycling master plan approved in 2008. Having done the Toronto stretch already, I was curious to check out the route in York Region. On Friday, I brought my bike to Bradford GO station and ride south to Toronto.

Map of Lake to Lake Cycling Route (Via York Region)

Kitchener to Hamilton - Part 3 (Hamilton)

Over the past few days, I have been writing about last Friday’s 115 kilometre ride from Kitchener to Hamilton. Part 1 focused on Waterloo Region while Part 2 covered the Cambridge to Paris and Hamilton to Brantford Rail Trails. Part 3 is the final installment which will focus on Hamilton.

Kitchener to Hamilton – Part 1 (Waterloo Region)

This summer, I had been meaning to use one my summer Fridays off at work to bike from Kitchener to Hamilton using the Cambridge to Paris and Hamilton to Brantford Rail Trails. Unfortunately, the past two attempts in June had to be called off either due to rain or poor air quality. Last Friday, I finally got to bring my bike on the 9:34 GO Train to Kitchener and bike 115 kilometres – including a 5 km stretch in Brantford which Strava missed – to Hamilton’s West Harbour station. Making it the longest one-day ride I have done yet!

Connecting Southern Ontario's Rail Trails

Over the past few years, I have had the chance to ride several regional trails in southern Ontario; starting with the Greater Niagara Circle Route in 2016. I have since done the Oro Medonte Trail from Barrie to Orillia, the Georgian Trail from Collingwood to Meaford, the Brantford to Port Dover trail, the Elora Cataract, and part of the Omemee Rail Trail near Peterborough. However, a look at Google Maps show there are a lot more regional bike trails, along with some significant gaps. Let’s look at some of these regional trail gaps and how they can be filled.

Map of current bikeways per Google Maps

An In Person Consultation for Broadview

Monday marked the first cycling public consultation I got to attend in person since the COVID-19 pandemic began. As much as it can be more convenient to attend the virtual ones – especially when they are far away – the experience helped me appreciate the value of in person sessions. Mainly the ability to ask more detailed questions to city staff, use sticky notes to comment on street roll out plans, and network with staff and other residents. Let’s review what the Broadview Extension environmental assessment has to offer and how the City can build on the plan.

Biking Barrie to Orillia

Since moving to the Greater Toronto Area in 2008, the only GO train line that was easily accessible outside of rush hour was the Lakeshore line from Oshawa to Aldershot (just outside of Hamilton). However, GO Transit has expanded service on its Barrie, Kitchener, and Stouffville lines in recent years as part of their Regional Express Rail program. This includes year round weekend service to Barrie in December 2016 and to Niagara Falls since August 2019. Having gotten curious to check out the Oro Medonte Rail Trail, Helen and I brought our bikes on the GO train to Barrie last weekend to try it out.

Barrie's old Allandale train station

Summer 2017 Waterfront Roundup

Last year, I wrote up about various quirks along Toronto’s Waterfront. Recently, there have been a lot of new developments which addressed some of these issues, though others remain. Let’s go over ten of these developments going from west to east.

Niagara By Bike

Aside from the 2014 Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer from Toronto to Niagara Falls, all my cycling trips were limited to one day. Thanks to the suggestion of a fellow cycling advocate (Helen), I rode the Greater Niagara Circle Route from July 15 to 17 with her and another friend.

Revisiting Cycle Commuting

In September 2012, I got back into cycling and joined Cycle Toronto. Since then, I used bicycles for most errands around town, long distance rides such as the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer, and bike-transit trips to visit my dad. There was one type of ride I have not done since leaving Bishop’s University in 2008 and that is cycle commuting. With my work being in Pickering, I had always perceived driving to be the only realistic way to get there, given the poor transit service in Durham Region. About a month ago, I was indirectly called out when Bex from Cycle Toronto staff posted about cycle commuting 30 kilometres each way, which is almost the distance to Pickering! Thanks to that, some discussion with other cycling advocates, and the impending traffic nightmare known as the Pan Am Games, I used today – Bike to Work Day – to give cycle commuting another shot!

My bike at Danforth GO station