[Gary Millard]

Okay, it’s been more like winter riding than fall, but any other comments about your commute or ride this month?

[crivak]

Yeah. I saw the post about the “crowchild bridge open” sign being a bait on the old forum too late.
Went in earlier in the week, saw the sign, and assumed the north side of the river was open. How naive of me.
Then I took my fenderless singlespeed with rim brakes through the unploughed edworthy. Needless to say I’ve discovered rimbrakes are never coming out in the winter. Four years of disc brakes being able to stop across ice and snow didn’t prepare me for looking sideways at my rimbrakes causing it to go FLOP immediately. Woops.

One day I might break down and create a guerrilla foldable shovel system to leave all over Calgary so we can ‘illegally’ shovel the unplowed/poorly done pathways and sidewalks. Honestly I’m very surprised they didn’t plow edworthy knowing how popular it became as an alternative to their northside detour. It’s not like that pathway is in good condition to ‘preserve.’

Hope they finish up soon. It’s eye opening every time a major detour like this happens to the pathway system in regards to how much it influences my desire to choose to ride. Just that level of “how annoying is the alternative inconvenience?”

[Gary Millard]

Yes, I had heard a few people asked the City how they planned to deal with snow clearing on the detour, and since the detour was supposed to be done by mid-October, they hadn’t put a plan together. I guess that early snow caught everyone by surprise! At Bike Calgary, we have been working with the City to try to help them understand the need for well thought out detour plans. Your calls to 311, making polite but clear statements about your observations about the detours, will help us make the case to the City.

[kerryv]

Finally it’s looking like a great week for biking. We deserve it!!

[Dionysis]

Quick question regarding usage of the downtown bike lanes.

Going home last night, I encountered a couple of skateboarders who were using both lanes of the 5th St. path. They were traveling in an erratic manner and one even fell as I was approaching because he was trying some stunts.

Does anyone know what the bylaws are concerning skateboarders in the bike lanes?

[DarrenB]

The Traffic Bylaw prohibits the use of skateboards on any street, which includes on-street cycling facilities. They are generally permitted on sidewalks, except in the “Central Traffic Zone” (aka downtown).

[Dionysis]

Thanks for the info about skateboarding, that is what I thought. So my glaring stare at them was justified 🙂

[Gary Millard]

I agree that dangerous use of the bike lanes is unacceptable. On my rides, I have noticed a several skateboarders and scooters (scooterers?) using the bike lanes responsibly. While I know this may not be within the strict compliance of the bylaw, I’m happy to see responsible active transport users, and I like to give them a smile as I ride by. Much like cyclists, they are just trying to move through this city without a car.

[RichieRich]

How is it that there are still bugs out there!!??
I’ve eaten too many this past Wed-Friday.

Gotta say that the sunrises looking towards the east have been spectacular. Ditto for when approaching downtown from the East side… that morning glow plus buildings still with lights is actually awesome. Going home I’ve seen lots of people watching the sunset from the benches up on Nosehill too. Gotta just slow down and appreciate nature sometimes. Doesn’t always have to be a rat-race!

[bclark]

Rode the Crowchild underpass today. Anyone else notice it’s much lower on the topside at the north end?

Also have been over the newly redone section of pathway along Memorial west of 14th Street. Was a bit skeptical of how it was marked originally, but definitely appreciate the additional width and separation. Hoping we can all collectively convince the City to plow the full width in the winter to help prevent ice from cross flowing water. Not sure if it’s graded per City specification to mitigate this.

[Dionysis]

I haven’t tried the Crowchild underpass but I do agree about the new section in front of the old CBC. Always felt uncomfortable riding that narrow part. I miss the trees (provided a bit of a wind break) but do not miss the space they took up. I wonder if they will be putting up another fence along Memorial?

[RichieRich]

I have been riding there for a few weeks along the extra-wide part that now includes both bike lanes and the pedestrian part. Unfortunately the construction graded that path (to the MIDDLE of the pedestrian part) so it’s highest closer to the river and lower closer to the road. It was not apparant to me that it was crowned like it should have been. So when they plowed most of the snow to the high area it slowly melted and drained across the bike path. With the sub-zero temps this resulted in lots of icy rivlets/crossings.

Otherwise the fresh smooth tarmac for those few 100 meters has been quite pleasant and nice.
now if only they’d do the south side for the ~2km east of Edworthy where its narrow, broken, wet, etc…

[bclark]

Stopped by the 16th Avenue Widening open house (project area Crowchild Trail to 19th Street NW). Definitely encourage people to check out the info boards and provide comments.

https://engage.calgary.ca/16avenuewidening

If you ever travel via Capitol Hill Crescent and use the pedestrian (and bike) overpass across 16th Avenue to Briar Hill and vis-a-vis, you’ll probably want to make some comments as to the fate of the overpass.

[uphill-both-ways]

From my 311 inquiry, I learned that the detour at the Pumphouse Theatre is supposed to be completed by mid to late November…. don’t think I’ll beleive it until it happens.

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