York Region.com: Have bike, will travel

Reporter Caroline Grech risks life and limb to cycle to work on York’s mean streets

“The bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of 3,000 miles per gallon.” — Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist.

I left Gloria at home today. Gloria is my 1997 silver Honda Civic and a critical ally in getting where I need to go. Being a suburbanite, my car is the only way, my first choice to get around. But for once I decided to take two wheels to work instead of four. By doing so, I reduced my carbon footprint, which, including driving, air travel, the amount of energy used at home and the amount of waste created, is four tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year .

The national average is 11 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission per year.

So off I went, starting my trek in Vaughan at Bathurst Street, where within minutes, a driver, chatting on his cellphone almost ran the red light in front of me, obstructing my path.

I shot him a nasty look, said sarcastically, “nice stop”, and kept riding.

Hoping this wasn’t a sign of things to come, I rode to Centre Street where the lanes are narrow and the roads packed with cars.

I rode with ease and found most drivers of minivans, SUVs and other large vehicles making extra wide turns to avoid even coming close.

From Centre, I went to Yonge Street and a murderous hill. My stubbornness got me up the hill, albeit huffing and puffing at the top.

One observation I have as a cyclist in York Region is we desperately need bicycle lanes.

I know the region and towns are working on a plan, but I didn’t feel confident without such lanes to ride on Yonge, Bathurst or Leslie streets.

Any road with high volume and high speed is dangerous, so I hopped on the sidewalk for those roads, which is a problem as I was afraid of hitting pedestrians.

It is also against bylaws, depending on your size of bike.

Sometimes people in their cars looked at me in awe as if wondering what I was doing there.

The nice thing about biking to work is that you get to notice all the shops and restaurants you don’t pay attention to while driving a car.

At some points during the trip, the wind blew through my hair and all I was listening to were birds singing.

Sounds too good to be true, but it’s the truth. I arrived at work more relaxed than usual.

Among the drawbacks is having to haul anything you would normally carry in a purse or a bag on your back.

By the end, I was pleased to dump the backpack — containing an emergency change of clothes and everything else I needed — on the floor at my desk.

However, the ride home was a very different trip.

Some of the drivers were angrier and in more of a hurry, which made me anxious at intersections.

There was definitely more traffic, with a dump truck breaking the silence of my trip down a lovely residential street.

I felt the hot air on my face as it passed and before I had time to panic, it was gone.

The ride home was also the time my legs basically said, “enough”! Every small incline looked like a monster and there were times when the climb defeated me before I even started. I had to walk the bicycle up some of these hills.

And while I was doing that, seasoned cyclists sped by, making me feel like a wimp.

The only word adequately describing my feeling at seeing home was jubilation. My tired body was done for the day.

My trip took me through Vaughan, Markham and finally Richmond Hill and it was the little things that made me happy.

For example, once I was in Markham there were green bicycle signs clearly visible, indicating the road was also for cyclists.

I never would have thought a little green sign would make much of a difference, but it instantaneously made me feel like the road was mine, too.

Thornhill resident Dwight Richardson, chairperson of the regional and Markham cycling and pedestrian advisory committees, explained those signs are meant to do just that.

“A bicycle has every right to be on the road. The signs are a first step,“ Mr. Richardson explained.

In open houses held by Markham and the region, the top issue was lack of safety without designated lanes, Mr. Richardson said.

The region, Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Markham are working on cycling paths and Mr. Richardson is hoping next year will bring more progress.

I, for one, will gladly abandon my car for a bicycle a couple of times a week, as soon as bike lanes become a fixture.

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