2Tubs

Best Province/City/Town for cycling.

I’ve been looking at PEI as it’s relatively small (could cycle end to end in a day) and fairly flat so theoreticly, it could make the ideal province if you want to make a cycle your main transport (and I’d be able to use my fixie there!).

But then there’s the winter. In the UK I use one of my cycles for my commute all year round. But then I only get snowed off a couple of times a year and iced off a couple of weeks. Obviously, PEI has much harsher winter conditions which could put me off the bike for months.

So any suggestions?

If cycling was my top priority in choosing a Canadian place to live, where should it be?

Gazza

bodgerx

I don't live there, but if cycle trails are import to you then Fredericton seems to have a lot...

BristolUK

There's no reason why winter need keep you off your bike completely. I get to all the usual stores for shopping here throughout winter. The roads are cleared quickly.

Souvenir

Ottawa-Gatineau. It claims to have more cycling commuters than any other city in North America. In summer, some roads in downtown Ottawa are closed to traffic. Cycling is big here. Real big.

But you have to wear snazzy lycra and wanky sunglasses, it seems.

Brownstar

Calgary is pretty flat, sun shines most of the time and its got over 400km of cycle paths

jandro

Vancouver is deceptively hilly. My ride to work involves pushing my bike up a steep hill. However Surrey and Delta are flatter.

Tempest

We did a really nice loop in September last year going from Niagra Falls to Niagra on the Lake to St Catherines and then stopped in Welland for an over nighter, then cycled back to Niagara Falls.

For a non biker I found it really fun and a nice ride although a little painful on the derrier. Def recommend the Welland Canal for a nice and peaceful cycle.

You are actually able to cycle on from Welland down to Port Colborne across to Fort Erie and back up to Niagara but we had some bad news from home so had to cut our trip short.

Found quite a lot of cycle groups in the Toronto area when we were planning our trip so assuming the paths/routes are quite good generally.

Steve_P

You obviously live south of downtown.

To any cyclists out there here's an interesting little use of Google maps.

http://toporoute.com/

Click on Bike Ride Planner to see the map.

Zoom in on a city, left click on a location, move to a destination left click again and it will plot a route via roads. Then go to "action" (upper left0 and choose "Plot Elevation" you get a new screen with a plot of the elevation changes along the plotted route.

Brownstar

There's no need to go north of the river, except to the Rods & Rides show

Steve_P

That's a matter of opinion, some of us quite like it up here.

Brownstar

...........oh and to go to the airport

rufus2000

Hey Steve P

That's a really good link. Thanks!!!



Helen

Steve_P

Thanks Helen.

It even works in the UK I dragged the map over to the UK and tried it.

Novocastrian

Nice site Steve. It works in France as well.

Lychee

If you can handle rainy winters and the occasional hill, Vancouver's a great year-round city for cyclists. It's really hard to generalize however as there are some fantastic commutes by bicycle and others that are not so great. However, even if one were to ride their bike leisurely year round in any Canadian city, the climate makes it easy to do so here. Likewise Victoria.