About two weeks ago I got a bike computer installed on my utility bike and decided to keep stats of some of my trips. I made a list of places in Kanata that are within biking range and that I frequent on regular or semi regular basis. I wanted to determine what factors made it a good or bad destination for cycling.

Since I installed the bike computer I clocked just over 60 km.

Closest places are the library and daycare centre. These are the places that I will bike to by default and only take the car if the weather is bad or for some other very good reason (scheduling issue or a trip in which this is just one of the stops). Even if I am driving to work, I will bike Trev to daycare and then bike back with Owen and get into the car. The round trip lasts less than 5 minutes and it saves me the trouble of driving to the daycare and parking in the daycare parking lot which always makes me uncomfortable. Both locations are under a kilometre away from my home, and the routes to get there are as low in traffic as residential Kanata gets.

Next closest places are the grocery stores, Metro at 2km (10 min) away and Farm Boy at 3.5 km (15 min). The time it takes to get to both stores is twice as it would take me in the car. Over last two weeks the number of trips I’ve made by bike was about the same as by car. Even though it is closer, I prefer biking to Farm Boy than to Metro because of the three hills I have to climb on the way back from Metro with groceries. One of this hills (between Metro and March road) contains moderate traffic which I would prefer to avoid. In fact, before I got the bike computer I very rarely shopped at Farm Boy, but after this experiment I will always consider it first if I am about to go shopping on the bike. Another interesting thing I learned last week is that I prefer biking to Farm Boy on roads than on paths. The paths contain a number of hills which are probably not an issue on most bikes, but on my heavy bike with kids and groceries it can be a bit grating. The residential feeder roads to get there are wide, have sufficient bike infrastructure, traffic calming measures and I feel very safe on them.

The problem with groceries is that my bike is not set up to carry anything other than children and one medium sized bag. If I leave Owen at home I can fit one grocery bag in his seat and I might be able to fit one overfilled grocery bag in Trev’s seat, but I have not yet gone to the grocery store without him. Once the kids are old enough not to be riding on my bike, I will probably install panniers and/or a crate but that is too far in the future to seriously think about. Currently, space is limited and I do not have the umph to pull children AND more than two bags of groceries on the bike.

The next location is the Centrum. I timed my trip to the hair salon near the movie theatre, but I think that the timing is close enough for all areas of the “mall”. This distance is 4 km and it took me just under 20 minutes. I have not timed the equivalent trip by car, but I think it would take half the time. Getting to the edge of Centrum is a breeze, but I do not feel entirely comfortable getting into the area and biking “inside” it. Ironically enough, it is probably easier to bike than to walk there. Fortunately for me, no stores that I frequent on the regular basis are inside the bird’s nest so I can handle the occasional trip by bike if need be.

I’ve already talked about biking to work, but over the last two weeks, I’ve made some readjustments in my opinion on it. I found out that, while biking to work in the morning takes 20 minutes longer than by car, biking back takes the same time or no more than 5 minutes longer. This is due to afternoon congestion on March road going towards Eagleson. I’ve also found this trip is near the comfort limits of trips on this particular bicycle. The distance, the hills in Morgan’s Grant, the extra weight I am carrying in internal and external children and the general clunkiness of the bike makes it unlikely for me to be willing to make the trip two days in the row. My legs are slightly sore and I feel bad for Trev having to stay at daycare for 20 minutes longer than if I drove, which I am sure he doesn’t mind half as much as I do.

There are three more locations on my list that I have not biked to, and might never actually get around to biking to but as they are within easy biking distance I feel I need to consider them.

Costco is one of the places I don’t see myself biking to. Getting to the corner of Terry Fox and Katimavik should be no problem, but I would be reluctant to go from there to Costco due to high traffic. It would be even harder to get back as I would have to navigate the same traffic up the hill with groceries. Whenever I go there I get at least 20 kilos of groceries which is equivalent of the two of my children plus two bags of groceries. It should be doable once I am not pregnant, but I would have to go without the kids which I would prefer not to do because I like to spend as much time with them as possible.

Hazeldean road has a number of stores that I visit semi frequently. Despite it being relatively far, getting to Hazledean should be no problem (except that it would take over 20 minutes, probably closer to half an hour) but Hazledean itself is a busy road with little or no bicycle infrastructure. I would not go there unless I am really in a mood for a long bike ride.

The last destination in the Riverglen Farm on Carling. The way there is quite safe, mostly on paths and wide paved shoulders though it is far (just under 6 km). It would be a fun ride with kids though so the distance is justifiable. However, currently our veggie pick up is on night that I have other commitments so I do not have an hour to spend on a round trip bike ride. My schedule should change soonish so I just might consider this a fun family weeknight activity.

A bike with kid carrying capabilities in Kanata is, in my opinion, not a one less minivan. I see a lot of trailers and third wheels, even tandem third wheels are not unusual, on Kanata roads and paths. If you walk down any residential street on a weekend, you will see open garages with fleets of bicycles inside. Around elementary and high school bike racks are always filled during school hours. It is a common sight for elementary school kids to bike (usually on sidewalks) unaccompanied by adults.

On the other hand, I have never seen a cargo bike in Kanata. I have only seen one cargo bike in Ottawa that was obviously intended for child transport. I saw it on Bank street next to Lansdowne. As a Kanata family that tries to bike as much as possible, I choose to run most of my errands by car. While it is not impossible for a Kanata family (parents with children) to cut down to one car and a fleet of bicycles, including utilitarian bicycles such as cargo bikes, I have this preconception that it would take significant sacrifices in terms of convenience and comfort. I wonder if anyone has done it and what their experience was. Frankly, I could not stand living in Kanata without my own dedicated car even before we had children, though many of my dinky friends seem to do well with sharing a single car between a couple.

Note, in this post I refer to cargo bikes as bikes with a box to carry children and groceries in. I have actually seen about half a dozen of the other kind of child cargo bike (the bike with extended back rack) this weekend on the night ride. Most of the ones I have noticed seemed to be sold at Tall Tree Cycles (though Kunstadt employee assured me that they sell Xtracycle parts). These include Kona Ute and Surly Big Dummy as well as regular bikes with Xtracycle attachment. I’ve spoken to the lady riding the Kona Ute and she was very happy with it. She lives in Ottawa neighbourhood closeish to downtown and carries a 5 and a 7 year old on the back. I did not ask her if having a child carrying bike allows her to get rid of the second family car though her neighbourhood, being somewhat older, is probably a lot less car centric than Kanata.

On re-reading this post I noticed that I have completely dismissed trailers and third wheels as utilitarian child transport, even though they are adequate for the task. In fact, the other kid in Trev’s daycare that gets biked to school arrives by trailer and, more recently, by a tandem third wheel. However, same as Trevor, he is mostly dropped off by car. We own and use a trailer, and it is not unlikely that we will get a third wheel at some point. These are fantastic products but are optimal for long distance and recreational riding. Trailers are really difficult to back up, a hassle to lock to a bike rack and require fair amount of athletic riding to pull. Any time I biked to work with the trailer I needed a shower. In my experience a trailer is not a good solution for utilitarian trips under 10km.

Edit: Yes, I know of a number of Kanata families, including families with up to three children, that only have one car. However, I do not know any family that handles the lack of second car by the whole, or most, of the family cycling.

Over the decade I have been living in Kanata, I have biked to work at least several times each summer. In fact, biking to work is the single most “successful” aspect of my utilitarian Kanata biking, possibly the only consistent utilitarian biking. I have biked on three different bicycles, from three different homes (two in Beaverbrook, one in Morgan’s Grant) to two different work locations (the main building and the factory) over four significantly different paths. I have also biked to Carleton from Beaverbrook for two seasons. Here are some thoughts:

Weather:
I am a fair weather cyclist. I don’t bike if it is too hot or too cold.

Routes:
The fastest routes tend to be the ones with most car traffic and most lacking in helpful bicycle infrastructure. Existence of a bike lane on the road does not make a route appropriate for all cyclists. When I started cycling in Kanata and now that I carry children on the bike, I do not go on the March road for more than one block. I will bike on March road when I am alone, but the disappearing bike lanes at intersections, “bike pockets” and trucks zipping past at 80km/h creep me out. March road is definitely not a family route.

Alternative to the March road is a multi use path (MUP) through the forest. It is longer and slower but much more pleasant. There are a good number of commuters on the path which makes it even more pleasant. However, the path is currently closed as a part of the forest is being cut down to build houses. The city or the builder very kindly did not make alternate arrangements for people to get through. Apparently a good number of commuters still use this path despite fence and no trespassing signs. If I am going to trespass, I’d rather do it on flat and paved so I am currently using a section of private road parallel to March road to get to work.

Showers:
Showers take time and require extra luggage (towel, shampoo, flip-flops, hairbrush) on the bike. When I was booting it to Carleton (20+ km), taking a nice refreshing shower was great. As no one was paying me for my time, it was not an issue, however, taking shower at work, particularly after only 8km biked, was a hassle and a waste of time. Ideally, if I am biking less than 10km, which is the case with my work, I would prefer to be able to bike leisurely without requiring any clothes change whatsoever, not even shoes if I can help it.

The future:
I see myself continuing to bike to work on most summer days, given the weather is not too crazy. This will be more likely once all the kids are in school/daycare in Beaverbrook three years from now. I will also have to do something about the speed of my commuter bike in order to keep my leisurely trip within 10 minutes or less it would take me with the car. I can’t justify more than 20 minutes per day of extra commuting time.

The infrastructure:
March road is fine for aggressive and experienced cyclists. I would feel more comfortable if the bike lane did not disappear when you needed it most, but I am not holding my breath for this to change. I would like to see a MUP parallel to the road, there is plenty of space on the south side of the street. I don’t know when the forest path will be open again and in what shape it will be, given the housing development, but in the absence of a MUP next to the March road, it is not a bad alternative.