Nov. 29, 2011
Well, been in Smiths Falls for a year and a half after the great escape from Ottawa. There have been many bikes passing through my work stand and even a few excursions back into the city again--long distance house calls! Those are a challenge. What tools or parts to bring? Once there, how to get to the work site? Besides fixing bikes here, there is also riding to do. This town is quite different than what I've been used to since I was a teenager and yet quite the same.
Just like in Ottawa, nearly all of my riding is done to run errands, like buying groceries, or to attend meetings. Though my destinations are much closer to home than they used to be, its still faster than walking. Like before, I have obstructions to ride around, but differently, there are almost no bike paths to most destinations. On the other hand, there's way less car traffic on most routes. In Ottawa I had to cross the Rideau Canal (usually Pretoria Bridge) most of the time while in Smiths Falls, I cross the same canal infrequently. Crossing on the foot bridge at Smiths Falls Combined Locks prevents riding across the Beckwith Street Bridge. From there a left turn is necessary because no crosswalk is available after crossing the foot bridge. This adds a few blocks to any trip into downtown but its still faster than walking.
South of the canal I live blocks away from Smiths Falls 'ring of death' of big box stores. Its more like a strip of death, perhaps a funnel. Sucking local dollars out of the local economy, I am told. Well, back in Ottawa, a visit to the Canadian Tire became an hour's trip after the downtown one closed. Here its a five minute ride or a ten minute walk. But to get there, I take another circuitous route. Instead of riding straight down Lombard I go behind it and cut through several parking lots.
One trip I am not happy about is the one to get to the new train station. Until now Smiths Falls' VIA station was just a few blocks east of Town Hall, very convenient to ride to, but the station was closed and replaced by a new one north of town, a little farther out than the Voyageur-Greyhound bus stop. I don't mind the distance but to get there you have to cross several streets of the kind I don't like; narrow 50 km zone ones that drivers come to from highways, including big trailer trucks. Then you have to ride a few blocks down one of them to pull into the station. You can sort of go on what would be a sidewalk if there was one but not really. Walking up there is not much better. There is no proper crosswalk at the last major intersection for many blocks in either direction.
Every now and then this year I have taken a longer recreational ride. Some have been meanderings across the old part of town while others have been down the Cataraqui Trail. With the latter I managed to cobble together a nice circuit of a ride rivaling that of the Rideau Canal bike paths in Ottawa.