Day18: Getting out of Woodstock after Canada Day

Day18: Getting out of Woodstock after Canada Day

It was a pretty good day where, after Gmaps screwed up just getting out of Woodstock, I decided t just say on the main, non autorouted, road going east towards Toronto from woodstock. it was, like many of my favorite roads in the US, the old road that had been 'replaced' by a new road I wasn't allowed to to ride on that has, by taking most of the traffic away from it, made it much nicer to ride, It was better - shorter, faster, and flater riding that the rail trails that crossd it at Paris so I jut kept on it or the similar 5 and 99 routes until I got to the oustskirts of Hamilton where I followed Gmaps advice and turned south on Bethel Church Rd, which was not a main road and which shortly became Powerline Rd. roughly 15 km later I left powerline road to ride rail trails for roughly 15 km to get to the Waterfront trail.

from looking at my maps I can reognize some of the places those trails led me, but, somehow I made into Hamilton and jut south of McMaster University. Then my problems started. That area includes a mess of main roads and the road I needed to get to was on the other side of some of those roads. I asked folks at the university for help but at wasn't working, so I fell bac on TCT Trans Canada Trail which I followed using my open Cycling Maps. The TCT is blocked where it used to cross that bad road.

OK. I saw a bus driver park his bus and get out near were I was blocked. He told me how to get to the street to get to the motels I planned to stay at. It is called York Blvd and runs right in front of the most famous and highly visible church in Hamilton. Folowing his instructions, and some pretty nice bicycling infrastructure, I got to the front of the church but a one way street blocked me from going on the street there and the traffic on the street was very heavy. I took a back rout and eventually managed to get on the streets neat double lane bike path and road a long way. My focus ridingon the street was deain with the intense traffic, especially that part of it that needed to turn accross the bike lanes.

When the double lane bike bath ended, I found my self litterally in the middle - it was marked - of Hamilton. I'd turned the wrong way when I got on the two way bike path! I asked for help on how to get back on York going to Burlington, and was told go over to CAnon St which also had a two lane bike path that would get me back to York. So I rode that in the same intense traffic until it was replaced by a turn lane. I was stuck until I crosssed the busy road, which had now changed to York and found the two bike lanes had switched to the other side of the street. They were the same lanes I'd already ridden in the wrong direction. Duh!

Riding on York was actually pretty good since I basically had the bike lanes to myself and the cars were in traffic jam mode other thah some minor delays caused by busses blocking the bike lanes to pick up or let off passengers, I moved at much higher average speed than the cars did. Eventually, with only a few incidents with construction, one of which left the regular traffic driving on the, now separate, biyclist and pedestrian lanes behind me on the expressway. That happened shortly before I got to Burlington when the traffic had died down a lot and no one seemed upset with me slowing them down.

I stopped at my first, and I knew least, motel option since I'd alreaded added an hour of riding in intense Hamilton rush nour traffic to my planned riding day. Compare to my motel for the last four nights, it costs about $14 less, is, at best, 1/3 the size, has no wifi, and its airconditioner doesn't cool at all and its hot water takes 100 times at long to get hot at the tap. On the other hand, it does have a very nice, and slightly up scale from the restaurant in Woodstock, place to eat right next door. That restaurant is a little more expensive, and serves smaller amounts of food, but the food is really good. I enjoyed eating my supper there tonight.

Tomorrow I'll be riding the Waterfront Trail, probably with Gmaps help until in crashes, and hopefully to Scarbrough or Ajax which are on the other side of Toronto. In the morning, Ill be eating breakfast at McDs and playing more with the route on my computer since I don't have wifi here.

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