We stayed mainly on the major streets that had bike lanes on them and found that they were mostly partly cleared of snow and slush, till we picked up the Martin Goodman Trail behind the Tip Top building at Stadium Road and Queens Quay, which had been plowed out. There are spots on the pavement of the trail where it looks like the plow caught the raised spots and tore them out (potholes now, that should slow down the radonneurs who use the trail, hehe) and it was a bit bumpy. Other than that it was clear and not many people using it. We parked at the front of the building in the CNE and wondered why there were only 3 bikes (ours included) in the bike rack out front when there were hundreds of cars across the street in the parking lot; after all it was a bicycle show. Going inside we soon discovered that we were in the the Direct Energy Centre (wrong building) and if they had put a sign out front we would have known that. Seems the Better Living Centre is about a mile west of there just the other side of BMO Field.
Arriving at the correct building, there were bike racks available with lots of empty space to lock up to. We were not the only ones who decided to ride to the show.
Admission was $13 each and the $1.00 off coupons I got from the bike shop got us in for $12 each. Let me say right now, the show was not worth the $12 admission price.
We walked down every aisle there and found only one cruiser bike dealer (Broadway Cycle) with a fine display of Electra cruisers and accessories.
No where in the entire building of 800 booths could we find anyone displaying recumbents or folding bikes. You would think that in a city the size of Toronto that you would!
There were not that many specials or cheap things to buy, even though we saw a few people walking out with newly purchased bikes. The biggest noise maker there was the crowds of people watching the BMX Jam Contests and the Mountain bike contests at the far end of the building.
Several manufacturers were on hand displaying their 2011 lines of bikes (mostly road, bmx and mtb).
All in all, a nice day out but not a very good show for the money!
We left about 6pm and headed back east to the Music Garden to feed the hungry ducks in the marina, they were so hungry that they were not satisfied with having us throw the bread crusts to them on the ice, they flew right up onto the dock and scurried around our feet like pigeons do. Then we rode downtown to the Pit Stop (Tim Hortons) at Sherbourne and Richmond Streets, then north to the village and home.
4 hours, 20km.
