This one is for you Toronto people.
I plan on following the donut ride route this weekend. I’m not actually joining the group, as I’ve heard donut riders are not huge fans of those without drops. Fair enough.
Roughly how long is the route round-trip? I have good directions for the route, I just don’t have a sense of how far it is.
Thanks.
It’s been a few years since I’ve done that exact loop but I think you’re looking at about 100km start to finish for that loop. That assumes you only go as far north as King Road. Nice route though as it is more or less an out and back so you can shorten or extend the ride as you wish. One tip – if you can… ride in the morning as the city traffic in the in the afternoon on the weekends is no fun.
I’ve never done the donut ride, but I don’t think it is that far. From Laird/Eglinton to King/Yonge, it is only ~35km, and I think these guys go straight up Bayview to Stouffville.
If you send me the directions, I can estimate how far it is.
Alternatively, if you want a more friendly group ride up that way, try the club ride from D’ornellas bike shop (http://www.dornellas.com). They are much more accommodating. The ride leaves from the store at 9am Sat/Sun.
ccy
I’d plan for about 100km - might be a bit less but not much. Since I’m not 100% sure exactly what route you’re on I won’t argue with ccy but in addition to riding 35km south / north (x2) your have at least 13km of west east (x2) (keele to leslie).(35+35+13+13=96). Doesn’t matter though - you can cut back or go further north and make it a as long or short as you want.
Have fun looks like it may actualy be nice weather this weekend!
I ride with the Donut ride regularly.
The short loop (King side road) is about 80km from Eglinton/Laird. The longer route is about 100km.
Riders show up with aerobars every weekend. Most are dropped from the main group.
The ride is slow to HWY #7 then the pace picks upt, some people get dropped on HWY #7. Keele street is where the first acceleration starts leading up to the first sprint. After the sprint it’s pretty easy until King Side Road, where most of the group turns for the short loop. North of King Side Road the group gets a little excited on the rollers before starting a steady state effort(45-50km/h) to Yonge Street. Everyone stops at the Donut shop on Yonge St.
After leaving the Donut shop it’s easy pace for a while then a moderate effort over to Leslie Street (35 - 40km/h). On Leslie another acceleration starts and followed by a sprint.
When they hit Major Mackenzie it’s relax time all the way back to Eglinton/Laird.
Generally, there is about 80-100 riders in the group a mix of hard core roadies, roadie wannabe’s, tri-geeks and weekend warriors.
The Dornella’s ride is friendlier, slower paced and has a more consistant pace to it. I believe you need to join the club to ride with them (insurance purposes).
Hope this Helps!
Kelly
i join at bayview and lawerence… from starting there… up and back down leslie back to bayview and lawerence its 85-86 km… if you do kennedy… thats probably an extra 5 or 10 k…
a ride that i’ve been doing is, up bayview to bloomington, right till leslie, and back down leslie… thats 70 k…
David -
Do you ever ride that route without the roadies? The group definitely provides security from the stupid drivers, but I find that way has (1) too many cars and (2) too many potholes/road obstacles to be much fun.
It is a pain, but we live at Mt Pleasant/Davisville, and find it much better driving up to King Road (king and keele parking lot) or Wilcox or Musselmans or Bolton, and then getting the bikes out of the car and riding from there (north, east or west, depending on the day). It kind of goes against the principle of riding as transport, in which I am a firm believer, but given the environment, it sure feels like there are no options.
ccy
which route? donut or the up bayview one?
i’ve never ridden donut without the roadies because a) i wouldn’t know how where to make all the turns in suburbia hell… and b) they’re that highway part… or the part that feels like a highway with the onramp… which i would never ride alone…
bayview i did 3 times last week… (i was off school for the week)… first time was monday… that was around 10 oclock… perfect ride… pretty much no cars once you get past major mac… thats the key i’ve found… once your past that road, your golden…
then wen or tues… that was around 5… that was more stressful cause i got all the traffic leaving bayview until i was past the 407…
friday… around 2… again, no problem… I would think that 9 or 10 on sat and sunday would also be fine… and probably 6.30 pm onwards would also be fine for the routes…
davisville/mt pleasant… me and a roadie friend have a hill climbing route around sunnybrooke, thats pretty close to you…
its as follows…
start at bayview and lawrence… go down into glendon collage (down the hill) through that school… sprint up the hill… once at the top, turn right… and meander through forest hill till you hit leslie (its pretty hard to explain that… but find a route… not that hard… one street has a sorta climb on it)… come out at lawerence and leslie… turn right… we have sprints down leslie… but it depends on traffic… to the other enterence to sunnybrooke… turn into the park, and then go left to the big hill near the parking lot that is the enterence to the don valley trail system (ask any mountain biker)… climb up that hill, and turn around at the top… come out, and ride along the path to the stables… turn right… climb that hill up to the sunnybrooke soccer fields… come back down… climb up the hill to sunnybrooke hospital, and get onto bayview… go back up to lawerence… and repeat as needed… we normally do two or three reps… 40 or 60 k respectivly… the guy i ride with sprints all the climbs, and we generally recover on anything that is flat…
I also have ridden up keele and duffrin - both once your past the 407 that turns into a nice road… you can get up to the holland marsh from there… and then shoot across to bolton…
however, i’m back at school now… (queens) so i don’t have the problem anymore… a highway is 5 min from my door in pretty much any direction… but i also don’t have any good bike stores… damn tradeoffs!
other rides in toronto
donut- as mentioned… don’t like triathlon bikes on it though - only show up with a road bike
the dornells rides are pretty good… check out that… its a pain to get out to the store thoguh- i’ve only done one ride, but they’re a much bigger traithlon contigent… and the rides are nice…
TBN rides (the faster ones) i’ve also done… they meet around finch and young and those rides are pretty good, also friendly to triathletes
apparently they’re a group of roadies who meet in high park and ride there… call racer sportif… i think they know about them… but i dunno anymore that that…
hope that helps… if you have any more questions just ask
cheers
David
CCY and others as a long time Toronto cyclist I agree it is getting pretty ugly out there. But there is still good riding if you know where to look and when to ride. You also live near another great riding loop in the Don Valley. The combination of Rosedale Valley Road, Mt. Pleasent, Moore Rd. and the Bayview extension riding clock wise makes a great loop of I believe about 9km. It is all right hand turns with only a couple lights (one is a T intersection you can cheat on). There are a couple of tricky turns you need to take through rosedale but its worth pulling out a map to figure it out.
Another good riding opportuity to ride out of the city is up Don Mills (which then turns into Leslie) AT RUSH HOUR. Don Mills has wide lanes with dedicated bus/taxi/bike lanes from 3-6pm and lights that seem to be syncronised for about 30kmph and you cross the 401 where there are no on ramps (read fewer trucks) . I don’t ride this route as much as I used to but I find it by far the best week day option for a long ride. Still lots of cars but they are mostly going your way.
As for the Donut ride - if you want a fast road rides its not a bad ride if you’re into that kind of thing - probably not the best training for a triathlete. I’d never ride that exact route unless I was part of that ride. Much better riding a few miles west on Weston road or to the east on Leslie or Warden.
Any one else have any hidden gems in the city.