Over the decade I have been living in Kanata, I have biked to work at least several times each summer. In fact, biking to work is the single most “successful” aspect of my utilitarian Kanata biking, possibly the only consistent utilitarian biking. I have biked on three different bicycles, from three different homes (two in Beaverbrook, one in Morgan’s Grant) to two different work locations (the main building and the factory) over four significantly different paths. I have also biked to Carleton from Beaverbrook for two seasons. Here are some thoughts:
Weather:
I am a fair weather cyclist. I don’t bike if it is too hot or too cold.
Routes:
The fastest routes tend to be the ones with most car traffic and most lacking in helpful bicycle infrastructure. Existence of a bike lane on the road does not make a route appropriate for all cyclists. When I started cycling in Kanata and now that I carry children on the bike, I do not go on the March road for more than one block. I will bike on March road when I am alone, but the disappearing bike lanes at intersections, “bike pockets” and trucks zipping past at 80km/h creep me out. March road is definitely not a family route.
Alternative to the March road is a multi use path (MUP) through the forest. It is longer and slower but much more pleasant. There are a good number of commuters on the path which makes it even more pleasant. However, the path is currently closed as a part of the forest is being cut down to build houses. The city or the builder very kindly did not make alternate arrangements for people to get through. Apparently a good number of commuters still use this path despite fence and no trespassing signs. If I am going to trespass, I’d rather do it on flat and paved so I am currently using a section of private road parallel to March road to get to work.
Showers:
Showers take time and require extra luggage (towel, shampoo, flip-flops, hairbrush) on the bike. When I was booting it to Carleton (20+ km), taking a nice refreshing shower was great. As no one was paying me for my time, it was not an issue, however, taking shower at work, particularly after only 8km biked, was a hassle and a waste of time. Ideally, if I am biking less than 10km, which is the case with my work, I would prefer to be able to bike leisurely without requiring any clothes change whatsoever, not even shoes if I can help it.
The future:
I see myself continuing to bike to work on most summer days, given the weather is not too crazy. This will be more likely once all the kids are in school/daycare in Beaverbrook three years from now. I will also have to do something about the speed of my commuter bike in order to keep my leisurely trip within 10 minutes or less it would take me with the car. I can’t justify more than 20 minutes per day of extra commuting time.
The infrastructure:
March road is fine for aggressive and experienced cyclists. I would feel more comfortable if the bike lane did not disappear when you needed it most, but I am not holding my breath for this to change. I would like to see a MUP parallel to the road, there is plenty of space on the south side of the street. I don’t know when the forest path will be open again and in what shape it will be, given the housing development, but in the absence of a MUP next to the March road, it is not a bad alternative.
