commute

The Best Way to Commute: A couple of stragglers at the start of the group commute at High Park and Bloor.

Today is the first day of Toronto's annual Bike Month. As usual, there was a group commute from various corners of the city, converging on City Hall for a City-sponsored pancake breakfast.

So how was it? I have no idea, really. I did the complete opposite and rode out of the city this morning, as usual, since my job is in that scary hinterland that few downtown Toronto cyclists ever venture out to: Mississauga. Actually, it's not that scary. I enjoy my commute, and it's often the best part of my day.

Last year I did the group commute to Toronto City hall from High Park, ate breakfast, then turned around and rode back west to work. It was a great way to start the day off, but perhaps a bit too much cycling so early in the day and I got to work even later than usual.

This year, however, the City of Mississauga, via Smart Commute Mississauga and the Mississauga Cycling Advisory Committee hosted their Bike to Work Day Pancake Breakfast on the same day as Toronto's, so I headed straight west this morning.

Did anyone else have an awesome bike commute this morning? I sure did!

I don't often look forward to biking 20km to work in the rain, but today was amazing. It was 11 degrees outside, and a light rain when I left my west-end home at about 8:40am (yeah, I was running late!). I was dressed a bit lighter than I usually would in January: underwear, MEC Rad Pants, long sleeve light "Powerdry" t-shirt, rain jacket, wool socks, Shimano cycling sandals, and rain booties.

It was actually colder in my garage than it was outside. As soon as I got into the alley, I knew I'd be shedding layers soon. Riding along Annette St., I was opening up my cuffs and unzipping the top of my jacket for more air. By the time I was around Dundas St. and Royal York, I had the pit zips open.

The headwind was very light, barely noticeable. I was flying along. I think I ride faster when I'm in a really good mood too. Warm January days do that to me.

Burnhamthorpe Rd., somewhere in eastern Mississauga. Really cookin' now, and even my feet were feeling hot! I stripped off one of my booties and shoved it in my pannier's rain cover. A few intersections later, at another red light, the other booty came off and now I was riding in a stylish combination of wool socks and sandals.

The much anticipated moment is coming! The Don River Trail will reopen today as announced by the TCRA. From the Donwatcher:

Last night I went down the Lower Don Trail to see how the construction was progressing. Even though there is still a fence across the path just south of Queen St., part of the fence has been knocked aside allowing for egress to the south. As I cycled along this part of the path I noticed that it has temporarily been adopted by street people who are literally camping beneath the Eastern Ave. bridge. They may be in for a surprise when cyclists start breezing by en masse next week.

I continued south to the north end of the construction site. It had previously been cordoned off but the barrier has been removed. The site was deserted so I couldn't resist sneaking in for a quick peek at what was happening and snapped a few photos. The site has been graded prior to landscaping and the path itself hasn't been repaved. I expect that to happen in the next couple of days. The new at-grade underpass was visible as well as a widened river channel.

The image is of the new trail underpass on right, newly excavated river channel on left.

This Friday marks the one-year anniversary of BikeFriday in Toronto. To celebrate, the bike-friendly, fair-trade baristas and bean roasters of Alternative Grounds (at 333 Roncesvalles) are offering cyclists free coffee and homemade muffins. I'll be there from 8 until 9:30 a.m this Friday.

Special thanks to Rowena Santos from MPP Cheri DiNovo's office for all her help in organizing this event. Rowena and I met on a BikeFriday ride last October. You can see my Spacing Votes post about that BikeFriday here. Here is the very first official announcement for BikeFriday.

Thanks also to Alex and Stacy of the City of Toronto's BUG program for supplying additional promotional bike literature.

All the other BikeFriday routes are posted here on BikingToronto and here on I Bike TO.