Cycling

Cycling routes around Toronto

If you’re like me, you are always looking for new bike routes around Toronto. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to find areas full of traffic, shoddy roads, and stop lights, and rather difficult to find a nice area where you can ride uninterrupted. Well, here are some that were given to me by other cyclists, and now I do regularly. Enjoy!

Intervals:

• CNE — This is my favorite spot to do interval training. This is about a 2.5km loop. There are only a few blemishes on the roads there, no traffic lights to speak of, and very little traffic. Located at Lake Shore / Shaw.
• Commissioner’s Road — Very similar to the CNE. I don’t ride over there as much because the quality of the roads is poor. There are tons of potholes and an annoying set of tracks. You will see quite a few cyclists out here though. When the CNE isn’t available, this is the place to do your interval training. Located at Cherry Street / Lake Shore.

Hills:

• Ellis Park Rd Loops — My favorite spot in the city for hill training. The hills in this loop are all fairly short, steep climbs. Depending on how you set up this route, there may not be much time for recovery before you encounter another climb. Also, this route joins easily with the Old Mill area, which has a good switchback and a couple of other hills (including cobblestone!). Typically starts at the lower park of High Park, Queen’s Qway / Ellis Park Av.
• Rosedale Loop — A few of my friends do this one from time to time, but I still haven’t tried it. From what I understand, half of the loop is descending and the other half is gradual climbing.
• Hilton Hilly Hundred — This is my favorite spot in Ontario for hill training. There are “major” southern Ontario climbs such as Rattlesnake Point, Dead Man’s/Woman’s Gulch, Steeles Hill, Bellschool Line, and a couple more. The entire 100km+ are rollers.

Flat, generally longer rides:

• Green Bean Run — This is the recovery ride. Ride from Toronto to Oakville, take a break at the Green Bean for coffee, then ride home. This ride only has 3-4 small hills. Our cycling club takes out the newer riders on the ‘Bean for their first long ride.
• Streetsville — This is a loop that we do after work in the summer. This is a 70km ride that we usually do at high speeds so that we are home around sunset. In this one, you’ll get a good mix of long uninterrupted flats and rollers. There is a quick stop at the Second Cup in Streetsville around the 35k mark. We usually start at the CNE and end at home.
• Donut — This is a very popular city ride. I won’t get in to too much detail here because you can find all of the information that you need about this ride on Wikipedia.

I’d love to pick up a few more, especially those with good hills.  Please share any favorites that you might have in the comments.

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