good places to train?
I don't like stop-go-stop-go of the city. I can only go stretches without a lot of reds if I'm outside of the main area, where they expect drivers to be doing at least 50 km/h so the lights are programmed for that.
The bike/walking paths (I like the Don River north and Lakeshore paths) are nice but the best time for me is near dusk which doesn't always work.
I'd like to train for speed, places where I can go at high cadence for longish stretches without frequent stopping or considerable slow-down.
I suppose an indoor race track is the only option. London velodrome, anyone?
I've been training for the Friends for Life Bike Rally and there have been training rides every weekend since April. I haven't been on all of them but the ones I have been on have been really well planned out and have taken me on some really lovely rides. Maps of every ride with turn by turn directions are here: http://bikerally.org/index.php/training-ride-maps.html
How far do you want to go...
toddtyrtle...thanks! too bad i didnt know about that ride, i'd probably be training... then again I was away for a while and then had to buy a new bike in late june, but maybe next year.
dances with traffic: It would be nice to be find a good route that would take me up to even 100 km. I'm idealistic.. so 60 or 80 is always nice since doing them regularly will mean even LONGER rides will be a cinch. I've done a 175 km ride with minimal preparation.
There's probably about 5 km west of Royal York Rd. on Bike Route 2 where, if you blow all the stop signs, you won't have to stop. I don't condone that behaviour, but plenty of club and "club" riders do this.
(The "club" riders are the ones on their Cervelos with all their club clothing....and I'm keeping up even though I pretty much stop for the stop signs.)
Dusk and weekday is a tough one. Leslie St. Spit is good for training lengths, but only open on weekdays. The north end of the Humber trails (north of Albion/Weston) seem pretty empty when I've been up there (admittedly midday). However there's no way I'd want to be training along there once it starts getting darkish, even with good lights.
Missisauga Road has bike lines, and no stops or other obstacles between the QEW and Dundas St.; that's 4 km, with a bit of descent/climbing thrown in; reverse and repeat.
Unfortunately a lot of the roads that had few stops (like the Kingsway between Kipling and Royal York) now have plenty of stops to slow down car drivers. Blowing the stops is one option that "training" riders like to take advantage of.
(Rant: if you blow through every stop you can, you're not exactly training for acceleration. So why do you swoop in front of me at a red light when you really DO have to stop, when I'm bound to outaccelerate you for the first 50 or 100 metres from a dead stop? Eh??)
try riding the leslie spit. no cars, lots of space and you can get a good 8-9KM in without stopping, but you may have to slow to turn around once or twice. still it's beautiful and I ride there often.
Lots of riders do the loop in High Park. Technically, there are two stop signs, but most seem to blow them without too much problems -- though once and a while, there will be police at the one closest to Bloor.
Not only two stop signs, but a 20 km/h limit, and frequent radaring (or lasering these days, I guess). The southbound leg has downhills good for 40+ km/h. Can laser catch bikes?
More seriously, it's a short circuit, and on a busy evening, with cars pulling in and out of the parking spots and kids and dogs walking across the road....nope, I wouldn't do it. Even sections of the Goodman trail, around Ontario Place or in the Portlands, and better. Actually, if you don't mind bumpy roads, Commissioner's and Unwin make decent rides.
You can't get a speeding ticket on a bike. I've tried - it would make a great conversation piece. I would frame it. But they won't give them - the HTA doesn't allow for it.
Got stopped by a cop in High Park the other for blowing one of the stop signs. I think that it was clear that I was trying to get my heart rate up - he suggested that I should at least slow down for the stop sign. I figured beforehand that I was finally going to get my comeuppance for many years of not being entirely consistent with stop signs. But he let me off. Comeuppance awaits!!!
@Robb That's too bad. I agree that would be suitable for framing. In other places bikes can get speeding tickets. Take this example from Arizona: http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/cycling/speeding-ticket-68mph/ - 68 mph - About 110 km/hr! I can't imagine reaching that kind of speed. When I get close to 60 it feels a bit freaky but almost twice that!?
Yep, HTA ( http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_st... ) says,
"No person shall drive a motor vehicle at a rate of speed greater than,", and a list of explicit and implicit limits.
Later on, it states: 'In this section, “motor vehicle” includes street car'
So yes, that leaves bicycles free....free!
I wonder if a really strong rider could hit 70 km/h in High Park. The government would have to pass a "stunt riding" law, like the "stunt driving" law for cars. Fifty over the limit, and they impound your SPDs....
I still think High Park, especially on summer evenings, is a poor place to do your speed training.
For people in the east end, the Mortimer/Cosburn loop has some pretty good stretches of riding. But really, a half-hours' brisk non-stop riding will cover 15 km or more; there's no place in or close to Toronto that I can think of that doesn't have stop signs or traffic lights in 15 km. (Exception....Gardiner, DVP, 401....better pedal FAST....)
From the document quoted above:
I don't see that it would apply to motor vehicles only. No free lunch for you, Ed! ;-)
Hey Ed,
Try Queen's Park Circle, Inside left lane. Nice 2 km loop, little bit of undulation, 60 km/h speed limit, lots of aggressive competitors to compete against, and no stop signs, only stop lights, which will deliver your comeuppance and entitlement to justice exponentially. When we teach CAN-BIKE 2, we take riders onto Queen's Park Circle for advanced merge/diverge, shoulder check, and lane change learning. There's nothing else like it. Well, actually, there is, for the more timid loopie: Spadina Circle, which includes streetcar tracks for added verve and swerve.
I have to shout out to the sport-minded cyclists who continue to consider themselves out of the vehicular hierarchy, tooling around on their F1-inspired speed machines as if they diddn't rank on the road, but only in their own minds. The streets are not your own personal training zones. Nor are the parks. Stop signs and HTA still apply to sports riders, "club" pack or not. I see more and more of these club rides flaunting and disregarding their responsibilities and respect for other road users on a weekly basis. It's just galling to me that people would spend $2 - 8,000 on a bike, and not pay one iota of respect or responsibility to others. Just 'cos you're encased in spandex and riding 12 lbs of carbon fibre dosn't mean you're not a vehicle.
I would love to see the HTA tweeked further to make it clear to all riders that observing and respecting all the rules of the road is a key part of cycling responsibly. And to iterate to sport riders that just because they are "training" to increase their performance ability (a noble endeavour) does not entitle them or prorogue their responsibility to slow, stop and show due regard and care for others.
I would like to close by adding that I regularly ride to Oakville, Newmarket, and Pickering on my clunky Trek commuter bike, and i've got better endurance than most of my Cervelo-riding roadie buddies. It's not about starts, stops, or speed: it's about race strategy, tactics, wattage, and recovery. Which is what makes long distance sport riding interesting to me. But it's still cycling. And bicycles are vehicles.
Enjoy the ride,
Brian