Takes bravery to ride a bike in TO

[attach]2697[/attach]Cycling in Toronto: It takes courage.

The reason is simple — the cars, trucks, SUVs, Wheel Trans and of course, the rigs.

Once or twice per week I cycle to work, taking one of three different routes.

I live at Leslie and York Mills and I work at The Scarborough Hospital, which has two different sites. One is the General, at Lawrence and McCowan and the other at Birchmount and Finch.

To get to the General I can either go along York Mills which becomes Ellesmere or Lawrence. The Ellesmere route is slightly longer, but I can take side roads and ravines for part of that trip and so it is my first choice.

From my house it is a two-minute ride to reach Leslie, which I find a hateful road, so up to York Mills I stay on the sidewalk. At the lights I can get onto the road. I try to assert myself by taking up the inner one third of the third lane. On a bike I must always be watchful, despite lights and reflective gear, cars still don’t see me. I have had to swerve into the middle lane to avoid someone making a rapid turn out of a feeder road, luckily there was no one in the middle lane.

I turn off at Laurentide Road to avoid the interchange with the DVP. From there, I can follow residential roads and interconnecting pathways to finally rejoin the main road just before Victoria Park. At Vic Park the traffic is heavy and the road narrows to two lanes. There are some awful potholes. I know that if my beautiful road bike with its skinny tires hits one of those craters I will be catapulted off the bike.

Generally, I watch for cars and sometimes stop until they have all rushed by, so that I can negotiate the holes without the cars bearing down on me. From Warden on the road is in excellent repair. This commercial and industrial part of Scarborough is visited by a number of very large rigs. The speed limit on the road is 60km per hour so they are going a decent pace.

Most of the rig drivers are very considerate and will change lanes to avoid me, but I have had one come so close to me it felt we were almost touching. A rig that close seems to go on forever as those terrifyingly huge wheels trundle past. A pedestrian or cyclist struck by a car going 60km per hour will probably be killed.

From Warden on, the road is in excellent repair. I really try to pick up some speed here. This part of Scarborough mostly consists of large box stores and industrial complexes, it is visited by a number of very large rigs, they are going a decent pace Just beyond Midland I can turn into a ravine and the last 10 minutes of my ride is pure pleasure, green, quiet and cool. There are no designated bike lanes anywhere on this route.

To come home from work I will take Lawrence — also three lanes with a 60km speed limit. There seem to be fewer rigs but there are more cars. I try to take up at least a third of the lane, this is what all the safe cycling manuals say, ride as a vehicle, and make yourself visible. It works okay if the road is not too busy.

For a short stretch along Lawrence there is a white line painted onto the side of the road, the line is only about three feet from the curb and it mostly delineates the potholes and storm drains. It is not labelled as such, but I do wonder if it is supposed to be a bike lane.

West of Vic Park construction clogs the road and it narrows to one lane. Construction is always fraught with dangers for cyclists, as drivers become frustrated by the bottlenecks and space is limited, here is where I bail out either onto a passing bus, or at least the sidewalk. The interchange with the freeway is challenging. At Don Mills I have a back route through parks and residential roads. I can enjoy the quiet and savour the joy of riding my bicycle.

My most pleasant ride is to Birchmount and Finch, although it’s on this route that I have had two very near accidents.

The ride starts along Leslie, which is only two lanes, very heavily trafficked and the cars give cyclists no space. Once, an SUV passed so close to me, his side mirror touched my arm. These days, I am too scared so I take the sidewalk up Leslie, although sidewalk riding is very dangerous, as cars will turn in not expecting anything there as fast moving as a bicycle.

On Van Horne, I turn east and pick up a bike lane, well nothing is marked and there are certainly no protective barriers for cyclists but a city sign proudly declares that this is cycle route 42 east. I enjoy this ride as it winds through residential streets. Nonetheless, on this road a woman in a van once made an abrupt right in front of me and I had to swerve to avoid colliding with her.

But it’s not all fear and adrenalin.

Most drivers are very considerate and will change lanes and slow down if necessary. It is a joy to be able to use active transportation. I am fitter, and I arrive at work with a smile on my face. All studies suggest cyclists are the happiest commuters. Now if only Toronto would realize that cyclist too are taxpayers who deserve the right to safe transportation maybe we would have more women and children out on the road and not just the mad kamikazes like myself.