Keri Cronin

Category Archives: Biking


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A Bridge to Port

I am so excited that the new pedestrian bridge between Port Dalhousie and Jaycee Park is now open! I went for my first walk on it the other morning and was just grinning the whole way across the bridge.

When I lived in Port Dalhousie, I found it so maddeningly car-centric. There are no stores in Port–I mean, there are gift shop-type stores, but nowhere to, say, buy bananas–so one must leave Port Dalhousie to get basic provisions and run errands. I found biking along the main roads in and out of Port to be rather treacherous. Walking along Lake Ontario and/or Martindale Pond was, of course, lovely but running a few errands on foot could take most of the day.

The addition of this bridge allows people to easily walk and cycle over to Ontario Street without having to negotiate car traffic and will make Port Dalhousie an infinitely more liveable and enjoyable community. Huge congrats to all who helped make it a reality!


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Never a Dull Moment!

This weekend brought wrestling artists, vegan pub food and the official kick-off to the Spring 2010 biking season. Never a dull moment around these parts!

First, the wrestling artists. On Thursday evening Rodman Hall Arts Centre hosted “The Main Event” which was billed as a “bone-crunching matchup” between Duncan MacDonald and Graeme Patterson. Many other artists and curators also got in the ring that evening, and MC David Fancy and referee Derek Knight were fan favourites as well.

The Main Event featuring Graeme Patterson and Duncan MacDonald

Wrestling artists and refereeing colleagues weren’t the only exciting things on the weekend calendar. On Saturday night a crew of St. Catharines-based vegetarians headed out to Brooklyn’s in Thorold. We’d been told that this rather regular-looking sports bar has a menu that is anything from regular — vegan pub fare!! It was such a novelty to actually be able to choose from a menu instead of selecting the only meat-free option by default. I had a delicious spicy “chicken” sandwich, a couple of my friends had a “meatball” sub and another ordered the falafel. All three of these dishes received hearty endorsements, and we certainly plan to head back to try other things on the menu. I wish other pubs would offer similar dishes!

And, finally, I got my beautiful little Electra bike out on the road this weekend. Yipee!! The wind was a bit chilly so I didn’t go for a long ride, but it was fun just to be back riding around town and I look forward to more cycling adventures this spring and summer.


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No Bikes?

So, I had a medical appointment today. It was at a new building, a place I’d not been to before. As I walked up to the front door I saw this sign:

Hmmm… I want to give this medical establishment the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe they mean no motorbikes or something similar.

Can a place that purports to support human health actually ban bikes? Is this for real?!?


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The Garden City Plan

An article in the St. Catharines Standard discussing the city’s “blueprint for the future” caught my attention this morning. The draft of the City’s new official plan is available online and makes for quite an interesting read. Of particular interest to me were the following points:

1) “The City will balance the provision of a safe, functional, and attractive pedestrian and cycling oriented environment with an acceptable level of vehicular traffic” and “The city will encourage alternative forms of transportation that promote energy conservation and a healthy lifestyle.”

2) “The City should establish a minimum 1 %, and work towards a target of a minimum 3 %, of the capital budget of all major public buildings and structures, for the provision of public art.”

There are, of course, many more things discussed in this document, but I find these two particularly encouraging!

There will be a series of open houses and presentations in the coming weeks so that members of the community can find out more about the plan and have their say.


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Liberty! Bicycles to Reopen

As residents of St. Catharines know, a fire struck Liberty! Bicycles this past summer. The word is starting to spread that they will reopen in a new location downtown. This is excellent news — I’m going to start saving up for a new Electra bike to celebrate the occasion!

From the Liberty! Bicycles website: ” To carry us into the future, Liberty! Bicycles has purchased a 15000 sq ft facility in Downtown St. Catharines. Being true to our roots, we decided on a Downtown location although there was substantial pressure to move the business into either Megaland, or Boxville. Unfortunately, those non-Downtown options offered nothing in the way of style. For us, the decision was obvious. So, over the course of the next few months we will start the transformation of an old urban warehouse into what we hope will be the coolest bike shop this side of NYC. We will implement our plans phase by phase creating what we hope will become the centre of bike culture in Niagara. As we move forward, we will provide updates right here. Wish us luck! In the meantime, drop by our temp-shop if you need your bike repaired. We have 2010 catalogues and information about Cannondale, Specialized, Kona and Electra bicycles on hand.”


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Observations from the Great Car-Free Experiment

I have been conducting the Great Car-Free Experiment for over 2 months now.

During this time I’ve only driven my car once and had disastrous results!! On a stupidly busy day about 2 weeks ago I decided to start up the car and drive over to the store instead of walk. It is about a 30 minute walk from my house to the shopping plaza I was heading to and I normally really love this walk as it takes me along the shores of both Lake Ontario and Martindale Pond, but that day I decided that I just didn’t have time to squeeze in a walk between finalizing my SSHRC application, prepping for class and the other gazillion things I had on my “to do” list. What happened next, I believe, was some sort of intervention by the gods and goddesses of exercise and all things eco — my front tire fell off! Fell right off the car. Wheee…I watched it spring from the car and land about a half a block away on the other side of the road. I’m very glad this happened on the residential street in front of my house and that I was driving very slowly as I was about to turn into my driveway. I don’t even want to think about how this might have played out if I’d been on the highway when the tire came loose.

So, yeah, not keen to get back to driving any time soon!

While there are some annoyances with getting around this region without a car (like the lack of regional transit or the fact that bus service on evenings and weekends is a little sparse), so far it has been going rather well. The cooler autumn weather and the hectic pace of the term means I’m not biking much any more, but the start of the school year means that the buses up to Brock run on a much more frequent basis. I also find that taking the time out to go for a walk to the store or pub or other such location is actually really important for my overall well being. We all know, of course, the benefits of regular exercise, but the catch is trying to fit it in. For me, combining exercise with errand-running is one way of doing this.

I’ve also recently started listening to audiobooks on my iPod. I’ve never been a fan of audiobooks, but I have discovered a narrator that I really like (Scott Brick), and this has helped to change my opinion of audiobooks. Another reason I have not really enjoyed audiobooks to date has been that I’ve always tried to listen to them while doing other things — an absurd idea, really, given that I don’t try and do other things while I read a book. So before I had a hard time following the story because I’d be distracted by all the other things I was doing. Now I use the time that I’m riding the bus to zone out and listen to whatever book I’ve recently downloaded from Audible, and I have to say it is a pretty cool way to start and end the work day. I’ve actually found myself looking forward to the bus ride home so that I can get back to the story.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with my car. The CAA tow truck driver that came out to help me after the tire flew off gave me a coupon for a free diagnostic appointment at the CAA car care centre. I might take it there and find out what the scoop is. I’m also eyeing the Retire Your Ride program which appeals to me because of its simplicity – sign a few forms and they take the car away. No fuss, no muss. I need to find out just how much it will cost me to cancel my car insurance before the policy is up for renewal, but I’ve been putting that off.

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