Don’t lose your keys over the grid
Reading Time: < 1 minute You really, really, really don’t want to lose your bike lock keys here (Laurier St, Ottawa). Why someone doesn’t move the rack is beyond me. The hole below is very deep.
Month: May 2010
Who cares about bike lanes…
Reading Time: < 1 minute On a sunny day in May I am cycling north bound on Bay Street, where this couple is moving stuff into their car. She is sitting in her car, blank stare on her face, he is loading the car. As if no bike lane exists…….
Where is the train?
Reading Time: < 1 minute Cycling across Hog’s Back Falls direction Ottawa from Nepean, I noticed this sign for the first time. It is one of those silly signs that points to nowhere. In fact, it tells you to turn on to Colonel By drive, and I bet there won’t be any other sign following. So you’d end up at Rideau-Wellington-Sussex Intersection downtown eventually, a long way from a train station. In fact it should point straight ahead, and turn left on Riverside. It is like that tiny “Hull” sign that was sitting somewhere at Bronson, half hidden behind a tree branch…….
Experimental Farm
Reading Time: < 1 minute Only 5 (as in: five) km from Parliament Hill, you can cycle through the country side. It is not that Ottawa is that small, but it is called the Experimental Farm. Established a long time ago, the city has developed around the Farm, and now the Farm has heritage designation. Some excellent roads, very little in use by cars, allow me to avoid Baseline and/or Fisher/Carling/Prince of Wales. About 25% of my commute goes through the Farm. In winter, we used to take this road by car to bypass the awful traffic on Baseline, but it is now partly closed [Read more…]
Crossing King Edward into Rideau St.
Reading Time: < 1 minute The intersection of King Edward with Rideau is apparently one of the most dangerous in Ottawa. This is Rideau Street, facing west. The place for the cyclist is non existent. Further down the road, there is a bike sign above the left lane, telling cyclists to cycle there, rather than in the bus lane. It is all pretty scary. There are quieter parallel streets though, but eventually you have to cross the Rideau Canal, and the choices are limited.
Bike lane ends
Reading Time: < 1 minute So I am cycling home this week. Turned from Preston into Prince of Wales and all of a sudden there is this sign in the middle of the road. No alternative, no temporary bike lane. I often see the same for pedestrians:”please use other side” it would say. But sometimes there is no other side, or you have to jay walk. (Update on August 10, 2010: Citizens for Safe Cycling wrote to the NCC and the Ottawa Citizen. Both NCC and the City of Ottawa reacted swiftly and brought signs out to inform about detours in other areas in the [Read more…]