When I arrived at his office I texted him to say I had arrived, walked into the lobby of his building, bike in tow, and was waiting for the elevator. And then it happened. This overweight, googlie-eyed man started yelling at me ‘This is private property. What do you think you’re doing? There are no bikes in here! Get out. This is for private residents.’

I couldn’t be one of those residents? I didn’t have anything on that would suggest I was protesting something. I had no posters, stickers or any other paraphernalia I was going to post somewhere. I was standing there in my plain MEC bike shorts, solid coloured bike shirt with my backpack and helmet on.

Whoa! I couldn’t believe that with all the ‘green’ movements in Toronto I couldn’t bring my bike in. I did say to him ‘Ok. I’ll be sure to check the Toronto laws.’ At which point a yelling match ensued. He also then used his stature to intimidate me – all 165cm and 51kg (5’6″ & 115lbs) was no match as he came storming towards me.

Here’s the part that really got me. I was being thrown out of the building for having my bicycle with me, actually thrown off their ‘private’ sidewalk too (yes the city owns the first 3m of your property, if not past that to water main), when people can bring their pets to work. I think that was what made me so angry.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not anti-pets (I have two siamese cats, a husky-lab dog, help out with my brother leopard gecko, etc). But it did get me thinking.

Unlike a pet my bike will not pee on you or the floor. Same for #2. My bike won’t jump up on your lap, your desk or anything else. My bike will not scratch the walls (I might scratch the walls but cyclists are usually aware and careful). My bike will not give you fleas. My bike will not make your allergies attack you. And most people don’t see a bike and run with fear (yes my white bike with pink trim is quite menacing, especially with my light blue helmet).

What should we do for the ‘green’ future?

It really got me thinking. As we become more environmentally friendly do we really need to create bi-laws that permit us to bring our eco-friendly transport with us? Or can building managers just adapt? More research is needed on this but I wanted to post my frustrations.

Not everyone needs to be an envorinmentalist or environmentally conscious, but we all need to be accepting of each others choices. Maybe what also angered me yesterday was the complete lack of tolerance for someone who cared about the environment, for someone who carpooled.

It felt like it happened in slow motion and with in microseconds of me hitting the ground a woman, who happened to be enjoying a pint at the Lakeview Tavern, was at my side picking me and my bike up. Shortly afterwards I was sitting at a table, glass of water in hand trying to shake my fall off.

The Karma Circle

The woman, who I’m calling my urban angel, recounted the story of the first time she fell off her bike because she had fallen into a streetcar track. Someone else, her urban angel, was there to help her up, get her bike and calm her down. It’s a karma circle – she had passed on the good karma of the person that had helped her.

As I waited to be picked up I could help but think there was a group of these urban angels that helped cyclists everyday. I certainly was the only victim to fall prey to those streetcar tracks. I wonder how many other urban angels there were yesterday? And already today?

I don’t think I’ll give up riding in the city anytime soon; I really enjoy starting my day with my ride into work. But I will definitely be on the lookout for those streetcar tracks and a little more cautious when entering an intersection that has them. I will, whenever I see any cyclist, pedestrian, inline skater, etc fall down, be there to pass on the good karma, because I never know when I’ll need it again.

I headed out on the same route, the waterfront trail along Lake Ontario and on the way home decided to take Lakeshore Blvd. Typically my bf and I like riding along Lakeshore Blvd because where it doesn’t have bike lanes, it has overly-wide right lanes. Aside from the lights it is a generally safer road to ride on.

Parked in the Bike Lane

As a cyclist I some times disobey the law … if I get stopped at a light and there are no cars coming I’ll turn right, do a u-turn and continue down the road or turn left before the cars have a chance, sometimes I’ll just slow down at stop signs and keep going if there are no cars, sometimes I jump on the sidewalk. I agree that I shouldn’t do these things but sometimes it’s for the sake of being safe.

If there are police on the road than I always follow the law, the last thing I want is a ticket while riding my bike! Yesterday there was a cop on Lakeshore and I made sure to stop at every light, wait for pedestrians and generally be a good cycle-citizen.

Up ahead what do I see a car parked in the bike lane, when just adjacent is street parking. The police look at the car, look at me and then drove away. No ticket, no warning, nothing.

Where is the incentive for people to obey the traffic laws when are police won’t even enforce them?

I was very disappointed in what I witnessed yesterday, but not surprised by it. In my quest to remain active I’ll have to accept these disappointments from time to time. I guess if I just didn’t break the law so often on my bike I’d have better karma.

Is it possible to ride through a city safely?

Thanks to green LA girl for pointing me to this article at bicyclesafety.com. The Article How Not To Get Hit By Cars suggests some great tips for staying safe while riding in the city. The site shows you the top ways of getting hit by cars and how to avoid these situations.

I have committed myself to riding to work as much as possible. I’ve had to adjust my route (it is now about 10mins longer) in order to avoid busy city streets adjacent to the highways.

In Toronto the bi-laws state that it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk, but sometimes it is the safest thing to do. Frequent Toronto cyclists have fairly good judgment and know where the sidewalks are very congested with pedestrians, but in those areas where the pedestrians are infrequent, sometimes it is just safer to ride on the sidewalk.

My few tips for city riding:

• Use judgement: road vs. sidewalk, city-street vs. residential road, etc
• Wear a Helmet: and gloves aren’t a bad option too, road rash on your hands is always super painful
• Wear Bright Clothes: cycling isn’t a fashion statement, make sure you are visible to cars
• Always let the Car have the right-of-way: even if you it is your turn and your right-of-way, the car’s size will over-power you and win.

A Close Encounter

Last night while riding a ‘joy-riding’ cube van decided to race toward my bf and honk its horn and yell “Roads aren’t meant for cyclists” to ‘spook’ him. And it worked my bf had one of those moments that made his heart beat a little faster, wobbled slightly on his bicycle but continued on and caught up to the cube van at the next lights. Wanting to report the incident to the police my better half took out his iPhone to capture the license plate of the guilty cube van. The cube van got angry and ‘pushed’ my bf off the road. Fortunately in the end my bf walked away with only scrapes and bruises but wasn’t able to capture a picture of the ‘joy-riders.’

Unfortunately there is no funding for police to patrol the streets for people like this. In Toronto I’ve heard of other horror stories of people being thrown from their bikes because of motorists. Like I wrote yesterday about the Netherlands collision prevention would happen if we made all motorists guilty in pedestrian/cyclist collisions. In an attempt to make cycling safer in Toronto city officials have written a list of 15 recommendations to reduce the number of injuries and deaths. But realistically this isn’t enough.

As the temperatures rise here in Toronto and weather improves there will be more people on the roads. Hopefully these angry, ‘joy-riders’ can learn to share the road, although I suspect not.

 What is active transportation?

Have you ever thought I’m going to combine how I get to work with my exercise for the day? Did you walk, run, or ride your bike to work? Those are all forms of active transportation. Active transportation is any form of human-powered transportation. The most popular are riding your bike and walking.

Active Transportation will soon be a new ‘buzz’ word, like sustainability. But it is better than sustainability. Not only does it combine sustainable, ‘green’ actions but it also improves your own health.

Toronto is trying to make it easier. Both GO Transit and the TTCare installing bike racks on the front of buses, by the end of 2010 the TTC will have 24 routes completely equipped with bike racks. This way you can combine using public transit and active transit.

I’ll continue to bike, run, and walk where I can. I’ve recently started running home from work, it’s a long way but very rewarding. As I’ve said to my friends I started running a lot again so I can eat more cookies, cake, candy, etc so if I run longer I guess I can eat even more!