North west Mississauga to Toronto

Instead of going south for the detour to Bloor: When you get to Glenlake Sq Park, you can also go up Glendonwynne Rd to Humberside Ave, which is nice and quiet (but has a lot of stop signs) and takes you east to Dundas. You can then do a jog north onto Dupont (being careful; it's a tricky intersection) and take Dupont over to Westmoreland, then go south. Or instead of Dupont, Hallam and Lappin aren't bad but the Dufferin crossing can be tricky.

Looks like a decent route overall. If you decide to take the Humber, you'll have a big climb out of the valley anywhere between Dundas and Bloor. It's a nice ride though.

You can also get off of Humbercrest at Baby Point, which becomes Annette. It's under construction now, but soon it will have smooth paving and even bike lanes along most of it. This leads to Dupont, which will also have bike lanes to Lansdowne later this year, apparently.

Then take Lansdowne south to where your existing route goes. That stretch of Lansdowne is supposed to get bike lanes next year too.

The Mississuaga Cycling Map (http://www.mississaugacycling.ca/) might give some suggestions for that section of the ride too.

As for Hazel riding to work... I think it's cool that she did it and set an example. However, I wonder how comfortable she would feel riding to work without eight other cyclists and a police motorcade helping to steer traffic around them.

Cheers,
Vic

You can access the Humber path at Eglinton and Scarlett Rd, on the south east corner. Stick to the paved path once it splits into two - the gravel path is for peds. Technically you are supposed to ride accross the narrow wooden bridge, but it takes up less room if you stay on your bike and go slowly.

You would ride something like this route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2288507

St Mark's Rd is a hill, and a bit steep, but it's less than 200m long. Gear down.

If you go via the lake shore, it is only about 1km longer, and you don't have to climb up and down as much as you do following the Humber. I ride the lake shore from Port Credit to Cabbagetown, and most of it is good. This is my route on Bikely, which is a better mapping tool than Google: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/evan-to-PC

I have done a rough Google map for you, but I don't know what the roads are like much north of the lake shore in Mississauga:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&saddr=Argentia+Rd&daddr=Gra...

Here are the Toronto and Mississauga maps of our sad cycling infrastructure:
http://www.mississaugacycling.ca/media/File/trail_map_2006...
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/map/map.htm

In the greater part of the 'burbs I never hesitate to ride a sidewalk when the road is dicey; however, be aware they are not looking for you at intersections... or anywhere else. Ride like every driver is a stoned moron - because that's about right. Good luck.