The Ride | Biking from Toronto to Niagara Falls in 1 day
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ค. 2024
- Ride prep | 0:00 - 1:07
Night before the ride | 1:08 - 1:29
Section #1 | Toronto to Port Credit ~ Martin Goodman Trail | 1:30 - 3:52
Stop #1 | Port Credit | 3:53 - 4:59
Section #2 | Port Credit to Bronte - Oakville | 5:00 - 5:22
Stop #2 | Bronte - Oakville | 5:23 - 6:21
Section #3 | Bronte - Oakville to Burlington | 6:22 - 6:28
Stop #3 | Burlington | 6:29 - 6:53
Section #4 | Burlington to OneWheel crash location ~ Waterfront Trail | 6:54 - 7:49
Stop #4 | OneWheel crash location | 7:50 - 9:00
Section/Stop #5 | Port Dalhousie | 9:01 - 10:28
Section #6 | Port Dalhousie to Niagara-on-the-Lake | 10:29 - 10:53
Stop #6 | Niagara-on-the-Lake ~ Fort George Historic site | 10:54 - 12:43
Section #7 | Niagara-on-the-Lake to Niagara Falls | 12:44 - 13:35
Final destination | Niagara Falls | 13:36 - 17:02
Follow up | 17:03 - 18:10
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It all started with one random text message in August.
Being a fairly novice road cyclist myself, I asked my best friend Pepper to join me on the ride as he has completed a solo bike packing trip from Toronto to Halifax several years ago.
We decided to do the ride on September 19th as the weather would still be decent enough to complete the trip. This gave me exactly one month to train up for one of the craziest journeys of my life.
I had actually set out to do this same trip on my OneWheel last year but that was sadly unsuccessful.
Initially I had borrowed my mom’s boyfriends road bike to train on but the week prior to the ride, I lucked out and was able to purchase a brand new #Trek Emonda ALR 5 which ended up being a phenomenal decision.
Pepper arrived in the afternoon & we hung out and caught up as he lives in Ottawa.
That night we packed up all of our snacks, first aid kit and essential gear like our pumps, spare tubes for our tires, water bottles & tools in the case we had a mechanical issue.
We woke up at 6am as we wanted to hit the road by 7am to avoid any crowding on the bike trails we’d be using for majority of the trip.
We geared up & headed out to what was an extremely chilly morning that neither of us were all that well clothed for.
Initially I thought I was shivering from the cold but I realized that I was actually quite nervous about setting off on this long, challenging journey.
One of the best parts about the route we chose is the first 15km was all dedicated bike trail in addition to us being able to use Lake Shore Blvd since it was closed for the ActiveTO campaign.
As we hit the Humber Bridge, we looked back at the downtown skyline just in time for the sun to rise behind the buildings.
It put us both in an awesome mood as we were excited for what else we’d see throughout the trip.
I won’t bore you with our exact route but if you want to check it out, I’ve linked to the Strava map in the description below. / strava
The route we had plotted out has us taking a break every 25-30km, with our first stop being at the Starbucks in Port Credit.
I’ll talk you a bit through our bike setups.
As I mentioned earlier, I am riding a Trek #Emonda ALR 5 which is a super light road bike that’s meant for climbing. This being the first road bike I have ever owned, I don’t have too much to compare it to but it’s amazing to ride.
To hold my belongings, I had one top bag for my cell phone, camera & wallet, my seat bag with C02 pump, spare tubes & tools as well as a small frame bag that held my 1L Camelbak bladder.
I was also running a front & rear light, especially earlier on in the morning when it was still a bit darker.
Pepper was riding his beautiful red Masi road bike that he typically uses to commute to work. He had dual water bottles fitted along with a small frame bag with our sunscreen, cable lock & other small items + a rear bag for his extra tubes/etc.
At this point we were pretty freaking cold as we had dressed for warmer temperatures but it was only 4 degrees celsius out as we were directly beside Lake Ontario.
After our coffee & quick snack, we headed back out onto the road in hope that moving faster would generate body heat for us on the way to our next stop in Oakville - Bronte.
The nice part about this portion of the ride is that there are quite a few road cyclists in the Oakville area so the roads kept in pretty good condition & the cars give way.
After our stop at Tim Hortons in Bronte, we headed towards Burlington where we had to take a little detour to find a high-pressure pump as Pepper’s tire was a bit lower than he anticipated.
READ FULL BLOG ARTICLE @
Torontoluxurycondosandhomes.com/blog/biking-165km-from-toronto-to-niagara-falls-in-1-day
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One morning in August when I was 23 I got up at 5:00 am and got on my Torpado (racing bicycle) with two spare tubes stuffed down the back of my tights and a $20 dollar bill. I rode from Montreal to Ottawa - 140 miles/225km - along the Ottawa river with the west wind in my face the whole way. I stopped at Riviere Rouge and scrambled up the boulders and rocks for about a mile to the first falls, swam and then got back on my bike. At 4:00 in Aylmer I got off the highway and passed out for 40 minutes in a field. I got to Ottawa at 7:00 and ate a steak the size of my foot at my grandmother's place, then slept until 8:00 the next day. Then, after breakfast, rode up the Gatineau Park road, such a steep climb that I was standing in the stirrups for most of it. I hiked barefoot to Meech Lake (yes, the nude beach) swam for a few hours then literally 'flew' back down and out to the train station and back to Montreal. I've never done anything quite like that since - but did do this Toronto to Niagara Falls twice.
I plan to do this route SOLO in August 2022 to start in Don Mills and Sheppard Rd. Did a lot of solo rides and the my longest was 178 kms. I am targeting another solo 200 kms. this spring.
Update, did a 215 km. solo ride from Ottawa to Brockville, Ontario and back last May 14, 2022 for a total moving time of 8 hours and 56 minutes, elapsed time is just over 10 hours...
I did this ride SOLO last August 27, 2022 started from North York and passed thru Niagara On The Lake. My moving time was 7 hours and 33 minutes while my elapsed time was 8 hours 53 minutes. It was an enjoyable ride and I am intending to do it next summer.
Great job with the video! Ive done this route many times and you filmed it very well, though there are axnumber of lovely sights that your itinerary missed. Also, the route from Hamilton to St Catherine's is best done through the Jordan Valley....way nicer than service roads.
I should say that i almost skipped your video because of your channel name....i think you should devote a separate channel to bike videos, as you are great at it
Ha! I love how you cut out all of the hills at the end.
congratz! i've done this trip too (from mississauga tho) with an urban bike!! LOL it was brutal but I had a great time haha
AMAZING VIDEO, LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!!!!
Nice job guys I have this on my bucket list next year cheers great video
Great adventure and well captured on video :)
Nice work to you and your buddy! Good for you for overcoming the crash! $hit definitely happens! (I was attacked by an unleashed dog this past summer and twisted the ankle pretty bad). 6 months later and am back on the Fatty and ready for some nice long trips like yours next year! Take care! Awesome stuff!
I completed the ride! But we went the other way. We started in Niagara falls :D
What's funny is, When I went for my Niagara bike ride, I stopped at Lewis and Barton because of saddle soreness. If you look at the map, it is directly south of where you've ended your onewheel journey. What a coinkidink!
Nice video and great job to both of you! I am planning to do this ride in summer, will be spending 6 months in Toronto. How did you get back to Toronto? Any chance to carry the bike with me by bus or is this not a thing in Canada?
Congratulations bro, I’m so happy for you, I’m moving soon to Toronto and definitely I would like to take that road trip , by the way you have a really beautiful bike man. A year a go I bought my dream bike and I’m so happy with it, ok to meet you there bro and if you want we can do the same trip , I’m down!!
Totally awesome ride. I'm planning to do Scarborough to Niagara Falls on my LDP Longboard so this video was really helpful to see the routes & conditions of the road as I know bikes & bicycle touring videos are a little different as they can ride down dirt, sand, gravel paths but I appreciated the pavement sections here as I would most likely be sticking to roads.
Any tips for water along the way?
I'm down in Harbourfront where it looks like you started and I did my first metric century (~120km) last August to Burlington and back on a single speed with a good ratio. As it was still not too deep into the pandemic, I got the chance to do 30, 40, 60, and the odd 80 km ride beforehand to really prepare. Prior to this ride, did you do a lot of longer rides to prepare for it or was it just the balance that you kept throughout that helped you finish? Thank you!
Does anyone know where is the biggest uphill during the raid to niagara? First time trying it.😅
Hey i watch the video you guys did very good what route did you guys take from Toronto to Niagara falls?
It sounds like closing LSB inspired people to go a lot farther. I never imagined people went as far as Niagara Falls from LSB West.
🙂
Just wished you mentioned you were in Hamilton which was between the lift bridge and Fifty Road. Bronte is actually part of Oakville. Been on those roads and pathways you took. Good choice
Planning to do it the coming Labour day weekend! Hoping to take the GO bus/train on the way back. Is there any underground parking to park the bikes for the day?
Not too sure about this unfortunately! Best of luck with your ride 😃
Do you think its possible to do a round trip in a day?
I do , look up hairshirt, see you then.
I’m from Cambridge and would love to find someone to pair up and do this ride! It’s a full 7 hr ride. I’m not an expert at cycling but would love to find someone cool to bike along with 😄
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Do you stop at stop signs?
No