I biked to work for the first time in probably a decade today. Some observations:
- There didn't seem to be any good connection to the Iron Horse Trail from the bike lanes on Manitou. I illegally biked on Courtland's sidewalks until I was past the expressway. That road just did NOT feel safe to bike on.
- No clear cycling detour to get from Victoria to Glasgow with the IHT closed. Did I miss a sign?
- No clear path to get from Park to Caroline when the IHT ends. I crossed Park and used the sidewalk (illegally) to get to Allen, once on Caroline at Allen it's also awfully narrow to bike down but empty enough that I didn't use the sidewalk.
- Once past William I sheepishly stuck as far to the right side of Caroline as I could, then realized I was probably supposed to be on that MUT-looking thing on the other side of the Ion tracks. Again, signage to guide me there from the IHT would be great! (Did I just miss it?)
- With the promenade through Waterloo Park closed I thought I'd take the forest trail between the ball diamonds and creek to get around. Its way smaller, more discontiguous, and a heck of a lot muddier than I recalled. Not doing that again!
- Even once that trail joined the official cycling detour, the formal trail between the ball diamonds and creek bridge was still quite muddy. Ugh, grade that ****!
- The hot dog vendor at University Plaza is back. I've been going to this guy for hot dogs off and on over the past 20 years as both my job and his 'spot' have moved around. Great to see him again and it made for a great lunch stop on my route (as I didn't have a packed lunch with me today).
- I saw no Ion vehicles testing as I rode the trail from the Laurier-Waterloo Park stop to the R&T Park stop. Alas.
...K