Cycling the City

Learning to bike in the city is an art. You most certainly need a helmet, a water bottle, one or several locks, some good lights and reflectors and a good sense of the best routes. And a bicycle, of course.





Most people living in Toronto don't know this, but you can actually get a free bike map sent to you, simply by sending an email to 311@toronto.ca, writing "Bike Map" in the subject line and giving them your address. This paper map is pretty nice as it highlights good routes to take and shows all the bike paths, lanes and whatnot. But of course it's rarely ideal to whip out a giant map when bikes are involved.

More recently, I came across another interesting piece of valuable information: Ride the City. This is basically a google-type map, that draws out a path on the map but also lists directions on the side. Seems pretty cool, especially if you have no idea where you're trying to bike to and want an estimate of how long it will take to get there, but I did a few searches and found that it's missing a few shortcuts, things like "walkways" where bikes are permitted or parking lots that you can bike through (e. g. No Frills on St. Clair).

Check it out: http://www.ridethecity.com/toronto