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Bicycle Protests

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nobbie48

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Apparently the lycra cyclists don't like getting speeding tickets in High Park so they take over the park to point out the problem.

THEY are the problem. The streets are not their private tracks, their private gyms, their private group hug places.

cyclingmagazine.ca

Toronto cyclists took over High Park to protest police ticketing - Canadian Cycling Magazine

Riders did laps in the park to bring awareness to the problem
cyclingmagazine.ca cyclingmagazine.ca

So why not cars protesting getting speeding tickets. Same for motorcycles. If racing around the park is OK how about a motorcycle race?

It seems everyone belongs to a special interest group except people that drive to work, do their jobs and pay their bills.

Truckers take over Ottawa. Bicyclists take over Toronto.
 
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Early morning walkers are going to have to start wearing helmets and carrying baseball bats.
 
There are a lot of people who walk around High Park (especially dog owners, and joggers) between 6-8am.

The cyclist are not only speeding, but they blow by the stop signs. If the special interest group win their protest for speeding, I'd nail them for failing to stop at the stop signs.
 
nobbie48 said:
It seems everyone belongs to a special interest group except people that drive to work, do their jobs and pay their bills.

Truckers take over Ottawa. Bicyclists take over Toronto.
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You said it brother!
 
FullMotoJacket said:
I don't see a problem with them having 6-8 am to ride at a decent training ride pace. The park is supposed to be for everybody.
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motorcyclists included?

BMW F900R

Exactly. We share communally. We share the 401 or DVP at the same time. I can't book the 401 for my commute and others can use it some other time.

Once a year we close the Lakeshore / CNE for the Indy. It brings in revenue for the city. I'm OK with once or twice a year.

There used to be a bicycle race in High Park, the High Park five mile. It was three loops starting at the skating rink and used a road that is now closed. IIRC it was 6:00 AM on a Sunday and when more people had functioning brains.

Thousands of ordinary people use the park daily so why does a special interest group of a few dozen or hundred get to dictate when the others get their share?

The area around the park used to be single family houses. Now it's condos and rental apartments with no back yards. The pressure on parkland in Toronto is increasing as a special interest group tries to book its privileged times.

True, people need to exercise but turning public space into private training tracks isn't the answer. A cheap $300 CTC bike is better exercise because it has more weight and friction but then I guess the rider doesn't look as important.

The real problem is that our streets and sidewalks were meant for transportation, not recreation. The solution is more recreation space, not taking space from other equally deserving people. The abuse of the transportation part also includes group rides, both car and bike, that plug the roads.
 
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Went down for a weekend and saw three pedestrian/cyclist collisions on Bloor/Danforth.
Some of these riders don't even have bells.
 
Very few have bells , on the trails around my house they just mumble left/right depending on which side they are about to float past you on . A lot are *****.
And I’m a cyclist


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crankcall said:
Very few have bells , on the trails around my house they just mumble left/right depending on which side they are about to float past you on . A lot are *****.
And I’m a cyclist


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
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Was out walking with my kids on their bikes in Peterborough last weekend and someone starts yelling "ON THE LEFT" at one of my 4 year olds. I was tempted to let it go on and see how long it would take before they started to use sentences or rode on the grass for 10 ft.
 
Ridiculous that these idiots think that High Park, and other areas, are their own private racetracks. When did riding a bicycle become a 'holier than thou' activity?

It's not much different from motorcyclists that think the rules of the road (splitting, speeding, filtering, etc.) don't apply to them because they're 'special' in their mind.

Does it make me a bad person when I'm at a 4-way STOP, see a bicyclist going full tilt toward their STOP sign...and I actually go forward instead of letting them blow a STOP sign?
 
mimico_polak said:
Ridiculous that these idiots think that High Park, and other areas, are their own private racetracks. When did riding a bicycle become a 'holier than thou' activity?

It's not much different from motorcyclists that think the rules of the road (splitting, speeding, filtering, etc.) don't apply to them because they're 'special' in their mind.

Does it make me a bad person when I'm at a 4-way STOP, see a bicyclist going full tilt toward their STOP sign...and I actually go forward instead of letting them blow a STOP sign?
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I often won't stop at stop signs on a bicycle but I will respect priority rules and go through when it is my turn.

As for high park entitled wankers, I agree partly that it would be nice to have somewhere/sometime in the city where riding at ~30-35 km/h could be accomplished safely. You aren't allowed to go that fast on the trails and most roads are full of danger/stoplights. It sounds reasonable to provide a time and place where faster rides were acceptable (like activeTO with less traffic headaches). That place probably isn't high park. I'm thinking somewhere like the portlands on the weekends (commisioners, cherry, unwin, leslie) might work as there is minimal pedestrian traffic and few traffic control devices. Roads would still be open to vehicles but there normally aren't that many to dodge.
 
Ontario is (for the most part) a very car centered Province. Terrible sidewalks, limited bike paths and way to many strodes through commercial and industrial areas. It also seems to have some of the most self-centered people that travel through the province. Pedestrians staring into their phones at busy intersections or walking like a mindless zombie while they watch the latest tik-toks. Cyclists that must feel invisible as they weave from the shoulder into the lane and back again, riding side by side on rural roads or taking up the lane completely all while never obeying any traffic signals or the "rules of the road" then we have drivers and riders (there is a whole section on this). It is a mix that will never blend well.
 
GreyGhost said:
I often won't stop at stop signs on a bicycle but I will respect priority rules and go through when it is my turn.

As for high park entitled wankers, I agree partly that it would be nice to have somewhere/sometime in the city where riding at ~30-35 km/h could be accomplished safely. You aren't allowed to go that fast on the trails and most roads are full of danger/stoplights. It sounds reasonable to provide a time and place where faster rides were acceptable (like activeTO with less traffic headaches). That place probably isn't high park. I'm thinking somewhere like the portlands on the weekends (commisioners, cherry, unwin, leslie) might work as there is minimal pedestrian traffic and few traffic control devices. Roads would still be open to vehicles but there normally aren't that many to dodge.
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While I agree with your point, it'll never happen.

It doesn't work with the 'take it to the track' car and motorcycle racers. And it won't work here.

The location must be accessible, free, and easy...otherwise it's not going to attract the majority.

High Park is popular, and the Lance Armstrong wannabes need to show off their latest speedos / licra (?) (or whatever the eff they use) to make sure everyone knows they're training for the 'Tour de High Park'.
 
Hey, lycra dude here. Commuted to work for a few years by bike, then covid happened, became a hermit, became 20lbs heavier in 3 months... started getting depressed. Getting back on the bike and training for a goal is what got me out of that dark hole.

The high park thing is bullcrap. It just fuels the animosity between all groups. And it's wasted tax payer money.
10km/h over the speed limit on a 15lbs bike, PLEASE gimme a break. Cars which weigh 1 to 2 tons, go 10-15 over in front of cops and no one blinks an eye, its freaking hypocritical. The number of cars that blow stop signs and red lights is also sky high. In the end, the attention this gets is way out of proportion compared to who/what actually is killing people out there. We need a big redesign to make streets safer for everyone.

Now having d-bags on bikes acting like a-holes on bikes, that's definitely $hitty and it shouldn't happen. I personally stay away from groups. A lot more stupid things often happen in groups (heck have you seen us motorcyclists?!) But these same dudes on $8k bicycles and expensive lycra, they usually also drive. So you can't just say "cyclists are d-bags"; there's a Venn diagram somewhere of : D-bags, Cyclists, Car drivers and there's some overlap here and there and those are the ones we notice.
 

I'm one of those lycra cyclists who "took over" High Park last Sunday - this is my own footage above. I will preface this by saying that they shouldn't have called it a "takeover" since the idea was to propose a sharing solution. The name is needlessly combative. And why the event was scheduled on a Sunday is also a mystery to me - the average road cycling enthusiast is mostly looking for a venue for mid-week workouts. Weekends are for long rides out of town.

Cycling training requires lots of volume. We don't think we're special - that's just the sport. All of us are hyper-alert when looping HP and I have yet to witness a single incident there.

There is also the loop around The Ex which I use regularly, but that one is regularly closed without warning and the surface is rough.

If you're a runner, ask yourself how you would feel if you were asked to run half as fast as your normal training pace in the name of "safety", when accident data and common sense already show that you're simply not a great source of danger.

I know that public opinion is squarely against me on this topic.

I'll see myself out.
 
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Why would you see yourself out @Matt Rain? From your footage it doesn't look too bad.

My only questions are:

1. Is the loop sanctioned / officially allowed by the City?
2. Is the traffic stopping of other cyclists / pedestrians allowed?

I saw at one point (1:54) when the right of way by a cyclist appeared to be wrecked by the group you were in (3-4 bikes) where it appeared there was a near miss there, but could just be camera angle.

I fully admit to being an idiot on the bike at times, but time and place. No other cars (that I can see), pedestrians, cyclists or anything else. This 'takeover', which is a stupid word, is fine so long as it doesn't hinder normal users of the park and roads. If I want to go for a drive and cyclists decided that they're going to train there and unofficially block me for 2-3 hours...you can bet I'd tell the marshals to eff off and drive on through to my destination.

EDIT: As this issue and news coverage will raise in the very near future, I expect some types of altercations to flare up because of it. Frankly I'm surprised no one has thrown a stick into a wheel yet.
 
mimico_polak said:
Why would you see yourself out

EDIT: As this issue and news coverage will raise in the very near future, I expect some types of altercations to flare up because of it. Frankly I'm surprised no one has thrown a stick into a wheel yet.
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A pair of deep carbon wheels can easily cost as much as a motorcycle lol, definitely more than a lot of set of wheels that can be found on cars
It would not be advisable. :p
 
LePhillou said:
A pair of deep carbon wheels can easily cost as much as a motorcycle lol, definitely more than a lot of set of wheels that can be found on cars
It would not be advisable. :p
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I remember being a young man in Poland...5 or 6 years old.

Dad took the training wheels off, and I promptly went to race my shiny new bike with the local lads. I won the race, but some mofo decided it would be funny to throw a stick in my wheels.

I'm shocked I was able to father children to this day.
 
nobbie48 said:
Thousands of ordinary people use the park daily so why does a special interest group of a few dozen or hundred get to dictate when the others get their share?
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Thousands of people use Lakeshore Blvd. daily. Why should it be blocked off for 4-5 days for some special interest groups like car racing enthusiasts?
nobbie48 said:
Once a year we close the Lakeshore / CNE for the Indy. It brings in revenue for the city. I'm OK with once or twice a year.
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Ah, it's only events/activities that you're fond of that should get special treatment. Everyone else can pound sand. Got it.
 
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