Hydro Fields and Bungalows

I'm always happy when people offer me ways to explore parts of the city I haven't been to before. Denise, who I know from the Cupcake Rides, organized a bike Meetup that introduced us to the new Gatineau Hydro Corridor trail in Scarborough. I hadn't heard of it before, and I might have thought the trail was in Quebec. It's not. In case you were wondering.

After a solid week of oppressive heat and humidity, Sunday's weather was gorgeous. I rode to our meeting point at Broadview and Cosburn with a brisk breeze in my face; I was almost concerned that I would be, dare I say it, chilly. I needn't have been.

We set out with 30 or so riders along one of the few eastern streets that still has bike lanes, past the promised bungalows...


...through parks and on more major streets (where our large number of bikes made it easy to take the lane and Dominate the Road, as the guys in the Fat Tire Bike Tour like to say), until we finally reach the promised hydro fields.

And I should perhaps explain to my non-Canadian reader (hi, you!), in case you were looking for the water, that 'hydro' stands for electricity. Even though most of our electricity no longer comes from hydro-electric sources, we still call it hydro in a charming acknowledgement of our history. Kind of like how we still celebrate Victoria Day, even though the UK doesn't.^*

The Gatineau Hydro Corridor runs from Victoria Park to Morningside, crossing several streets (with separate bike and pedestrian crosswalks) with what I'm guessing are bike rings in the shape of trees.


Sadly, although we passed a few pedestrians and a bunch of cricket teams, the corridor seems currently under-used as a park. Probably because it's so shiny and new (no potholes! or tree roots! Go bike there before the paths turn ugly!) that people don't really know about it. It was a good thing for us, as it happens, given that large bike groups and busy park paths don't mix well. [See: the part of the ride near the lake.] And I was amused to see that the city has taken the trouble to paint dashed-vs-solid lines in an effort to assert road rules on a path. Oh, city staff. You so funny.


Mid-ride, we left the trail for a coffee-shop pit-stop and group photo. And I'd like to take the opportunity to ask all baristas to please ask if your customers want whipped cream on their foolishly-named iced mochaccinos? Because as it turns out? I don't. Ahem. As you were.


Then we were back on the trail. Sadly, the disconnected nature of our trail infrastructure and privately-owned lake-front land means that once we left the corridor, we were dumped out onto the mean streets (well, as mean as suburban streets get on a lazy Sunday afternoon) and had to go back and forth between trails and streets (more bungalows) until we reached the Martin Goodman trail by the lake. For all that, I think Denise planned a good route, and she was really good about warning us of potential dangers, upcoming hills (and downhills) and letting the fast cyclists go first. I keep forgetting how hilly Toronto can be; I also think I need to do a wee bit more exercising so I don't wheeze quite so much on the way up.

At last we reached the final leg of the ride, riding past the crowds of people taking in the sun at the beach.

Most of the pedestrians even stayed on the boardwalk, although there were some close calls, and one of our riders got his leg caught between two bike wheels (he was okay, aside from a scrape; it took a while to separate the wheels, but otherwise no major damage). Like I said, popular paths and large bike groups don't really mix. However, once we were past that and onto the cleverly-named Bike Route 4 on the north side of Lakeshore, it was much easier going.

And finally, after about 50 km, we reached Ed's Real Scoop in Leslieville and the rewards of a ride well ridden.


It was an excellent ride, with a good mix of on-street, trail, hills, and flats. Thanks, Denise!

If you want to do the ride yourself, here is Denise's annotated map. Hyedie from the Cupcake Ride couldn't go on the official ride, but she helped Denise test the route and took a bunch of the pictures I meant to.^**

Speaking of which (ooh, nice segue), I have more photos in my Picassa account. To see them, click the title below the picture and scroll and scroll and scroll until you reach this pic.

From Rambling Through Toronto

Incidentally, I have finally written up my post on the Pastel de Nata ride back in June, timey-wimey-like. And since you know that I'll bike just about anywhere if you promise me food, I'm doing the Tour de Gelato next Sunday. If you'd rather look at pretty bikes than ride them, the Toronto Vintage Bicycle Show is taking place the same day.


^*Still not over that.

^**Like that cool bridge at the first exit point. One of the problems with large group rides is that you can't stop to take pictures of interesting things. I keep meaning to go back and take photos, but I never do.