Hey guys, hopefully this isn't too far out of the city to offer suggestions, but here's my problem:
I'm planning a ride from East Oshawa to central Vaughan.
I'd like to keep the route safe, but don't want to detour so far out-of-the-way, so a 4h one-way trip becomes a 7-hour one, since I'll still need to come back on the same day.
I'll obviously need to avoid the waterfront trail, as it's quite out of my way. So, my options are either taking HWY 7 or Taunton/Steeles.
Google street view shows me some pros and cons to both, but they also lead to totally different parts of Markham, and some cycling infrastructure there seems either disconnected or forces me to take some rather busy roads.
Has anyone taken HWY 7 or Taunton/Steeles between Pickering and Markham by bike? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
EDIT: Finch Ave. looks to be another option.
Generic, perhaps useless advice, get an ebike if possible so you can use detours, stop-and-go, without getting slowed down to a crawl.
An e-bike would 100% make this type of trip a lot easier, and faster. But I'm working my way up to a 230+km ride later in the summer, so any long-distance training is going to help.
99% of my problem right now is simply because I don't know any of the infrastructure west of Pickering and north of the Waterfront trail in Toronto.
I've put several hours into route planning already, and Finch seems to be the best so far. This gives me the opportunity to ride the Finch hydro corridor for a fair bit.
So far, I'm up to 78.7km one way, up from around 74km being the fastest route suggested by the auto-routing sites. Not too bad, but avoids some 80km roads.
Wow, now that's a goal!
It is. I'd like to go further, but I have to be home in time to make dinner. 😂😒
Last Canada Day, I rode to the city for the first time and got to explore Tommy Thompson Park before reaching the Toronto Music Garden. That was 182 km, and such an enjoyable day!