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August Long Weekend, 2005

Fri, 2005-08-05 08:57 — vic

Tent at Valens Conservation AreaThe fun weekends are really adding up this summer! For the August Long Weekend (technically, most of it was in July), Jen and I did a little bike tour down to the Hamilton and Cambridge area. Of course it is all photo-documented and posted online now. ;-)

All the details and photos are here:
Friday: Riding from Toronto to Hamilton
Saturday: Visiting family, and Bayfront Park in Hamilton
Sunday: Riding from Hamilton to Valens Conservation Area, mainly along the rail trails that go through Brantford, Paris, and Cambridge.
Monday: Riding back to Toronto from Valens Conservation Area

Hmmm...lately it seems that all of my postings are about riding my bike to Hamilton.

Comments

Sat, 2005-08-06 21:21 — Tanya (not verified)

Hey I love your pictures beca

Hey I love your pictures because they remind me of my bike rides where I never seem to stop and take the camera out of my handlebar bag enough :) First your Ottawa-Hamilton ride mirrored a lot of my Toronto-Brockville ride, and now these pictures remind me of a day trip I made to Brantford (one way only though :) ) I remember stopping in Mohawk Park going okay that's it I can't pedal anymore. BTW, were you and Jen in front of the gates to Tommy Thompson Park today? If so sorry for not saying hello! It was momentary recognition followed by general dazed-ness.

Sat, 2005-08-06 23:53 — Tanya (not verified)

Your map

Ah forgot to ask this in the last comment. It looks from your map picture you have a map of Southern Ontario with suggested bike routes. What's is called and where'd you get it? The shoulders on hwy 24 must be newish, when I was on the dark side (owning a car) I used to drive on it between Brantford and Cambridge often but I don't remember paved shoulders (but the things you don't notice either in a steel box) Anyways excited to zoom in on your map picture cuz an upcoming trip I'm planning one of the roads I was thinking of is marked with the thick orange lines, and I figure that has to mean something good...

Sun, 2005-08-07 19:54 — vic

Hey Tanya...

Heh...yup, that was us by the Spit. We rode over there after riding into town to go to Urbane Cyclist and do some other shopping. Got to the spit too late though...didn't know it closes at 6pm. Didn't seem to stop other cyclists for going in though. But We wimped out and decided to ride out to the Islands, which was a great idea too! :-)

The map you like so much is one of the "Advermap" series: http://www.advermap.com/
I picked up most of the Ontario maps at the Toronto Bike Show earlier this year. Those maps really are quite nice. We only did a very short stretch of Highway 24 in Cambridge, but it had a nice wide bike lane. Not sure how the rest of it is.

Anyway, time to play Scrabble!

Cheers,
Vic

Mon, 2005-08-08 13:41 — Tanya (not verified)

The Spit

I think the only reason the gates are there is to stop cars from coming in for illegal dumping whenever they want. You can bike there anytime except weekdays before 6 it is actually open for dumping, so not then. I noticed two cars driving inside the park, and went hey how'd they get past the gates? Then noticed there was a parking lot inside the gate and wondered if they had come earlier in the day and then been trapped inside when the gates closed. (the parking lot still being half full) Uh hello its a spit, you aren't going to find another way out... There's a nice view of the city from the lighthouse and if you're on a bike that can stand a bumpy ride some of the unpaved paths off the main paths offer quite nice views (still bricks etc that protude from the bulldozed path) I live quite close to the spit so I go often when the city noise starts getting to me - nice place to sit and read a book :)

Mon, 2005-08-08 17:11 — vic

The Spit

Jen and I rode through the spit once back in May. Really enjoyed that! That's why we were hoping to go back in again, but turned back because of the gate and posted signs. I guess they don't mind cyclists going in the evening...I'll remember that next time I'm there after hours.

I do know someone who has been kicked out of there for going too *early*, but he's one of those freaks that gets up to start Saturday rides at 6am. :)

My pics from the previous outing to the Spit:
http://vic.gedris.org/pics/2005-05-22/

-Vic

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