Tour de Orillia: Riders welcome!
Hello all.
How does Orillia sound for the 2nd weekend of June?
This is an ideal cycling getaway for those financially embarrassed but with 3 or so days to spare. It's close enough to easily reach in a day, on the periphery of cottage country with good riding, swimming (bit early now), and even gambling within pedalling distance. Cheap accommodation, about $20 with card, is available at an Orillia HI hostel [ http://tinyurl.com/4n2x29 ], steps from the beach, the grocery mart, a bike shop [ http://velocitybicycle.com/ ] and downtown.
Based on the itineraries of the last several times I've made this trek, the journey usually unfolds thusly:
--> Friday June 06. Toronto, early morning departure, say 5 AM; head north over the moraine making for east shore of Lake Simcoe; brunch/lunch at Beaverton; continue north on side roads, rolling into Orillia mid-afternoon. Check in and take it easy
--> Saturday. Do whatever strikes your fancy! Ride up to Big Chute or Honey Harbour; explore some trails north of town; cruise over to Rama. Or just do a whole lotta nothing: sit on the shore of Lake Couchiching or Sparrow Lake with a book or vegetate on a patio with a wobbly pop or six.
--> Sunday. See Saturday
--> Monday June 09. Early departure along the west shore of Lake Simcoe for Barrie, occasionally detouring on the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail [ http://tinyurl.com/44w3dg ]. After refreshments on Dunlop Street, head south for the Megalopolis down Huronia Rd, etc...
For those considering touring by bicycle but lacking experience, playing the velo tourist in your backyard is an effective and enjoyable way to learn of the accompanying pleasures and demands. The emphasis is on enjoyment -- as it should be, and the atmosphere, casual. But to avoid the experience turning into a trial of endurance you should possess a commensurate level of mechanical and physical conditioning, i.e., be able to change a flat, tend your equipment, and spend a day in the saddle.
If you're intrigued please drop me a few electrons [ lucasiragusaATrogersPERIODcom ]. Hope to hear from you.
Luke
If the attractions aren't obvious perhaps a closer look is merited. That premise serves me well whenever I cycle on down to a favourite local destination: humble Hamilton. There's an authenticity, a lack of pretension, about its neighborhoods and streets. Sure, they're often dilapidated and running to seed, but by contrast, the affected, glossy sheen of Toronto's attractions and its sprawling, antiseptic nether regions are often more repellent.
What's to see? Well, the most dramatic feature of Hamilton is "The Mountain", i.e., the Niagara Escarpment but, escarpment panoramas notwithstanding, the town is not home to spectacular vistas or skylines. Expect nuanced charm not compelling allure and, even then, it's accentuated by the detritus of a thriving past threatening to overshadow a dubious post-industrial future. Hey, it sure beats riding out to the Spit for the umpteenth time!
Riding about Hamilton's neighborhoods one encounters a hodgepodge of architecture, incongruous zoning and assorted idiosyncracies that harkens to an era when communities grew organically rather than were designed and manufactured -- still a novelty to an ex-suburbanite. Should you require it, the ever-present Mountain and green spaces about the inner and outer harbor offer easily accessible respite from the concrete and asphalt of the city.
For experienced cyclists this is a day's outing -- there and back plus sightseeing easily runs to a century (100 miles). Pack food, and munch away while pedalling down the Lakeshore, then top up the tank with a meal in Steeltown.
I schedule about 3 hours travel time from Pape/Danforth to Gore Park; of course, the schedule is subject to meanderings and distractions. The most obvious route, Lakeshore Blvd. west from Toronto, has two variations: entering Hamilton via the beach, i.e., taking the Eastport Dr. drawbridge to Hamilton Beach, then doubling back into downtown; or following N. Shore Blvd. (in Burlington) as it parallels the north shore of Burlington Bay, to York Blvd. -- bike lanes! -- which takes you downtown via the back door.
So pedal on down. There's more to the town than one glimpses speeding by on the QEW, more than forbidding hulks of steel mills rearing up along the waterfront.
Hamilton is an awesome city*. Great place for cycling too.
The beach strip that you mentioned is a FANTASTIC ride. Better than any section of the Martin Goodman trail in Toronto, in my opinion. It feels like you're riding along a lake in cottage country (probably because many of those home along there used to be cottages!).
Excellent rail trails too. The one that starts downtown and climbs the escarpment to the east is a wonderful oasis. Ride up the "mountain" in the shade, and it doesn't even really feel like you're climbing because it's a railway grade. Some nice lookouts etc. along the way.
The rail trail that starts in the west end and goes all the way out to Brantford, and beyond to Paris and Cambridge is fantastic too.
If you don't feel like riding all the way to Hamilton and back in a day, you can use GO Transit to get there. The buses have bike racks now, so you can get all the way to downtown Hamilton quite easily. Another excellent option is to take the GO train to Burlington station and ride down to the lake and over the beach strip.
I need to get out there again with my bike sometime soon.
* Yes, I have some bias when I say this, as I was born and raised there.