3 decades: living in cycleable, walkable neighbourhoods for 3 cities

[shootingstar]

..well I only was cycling last 22 years. But anyway here's my paen: http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/cycling-greenways-umbilical-cord-to-my-past-neighbourhoods-prairies-west-coast-and-ontario/

So living in 3 different regions of Canada really has been quite a "journey" and rides on the bike. For all the information that's available on the Internet, it still doesn't at all replicate what it truly means and feels like to live and cycle for several years in a distinctly different climatic and topographically different parts of Canada. Well, ok we don't have any place in Canada with tons of palm trees.

Though written post with pics, seems nostalgic, it is : that's how I tend to remember each place as a cyclist and (former) resident. And that's how I want to enjoy the cities when I go back to visit.

Note: The more I travel broadly across Canada, the more I feel I'm travelling deeper to understand the "soul" of Canada. And that gets capped with travelling to the Canadian Arctic, Quebec and Eastern Maritime provinces.

[Crankin]

That's a great piece, Jean.
I've never lived anywhere with this type of bike infrastructure. There's essentially no bike paths here. Well, there's 2 sort of near me (within 5-8 miles) that I avoid like the plague because one is just congested and the other parallels areas where I am already riding on the road. Right now, my town is fighting the extension of this path through our town because people are afraid that users might "pee on their lawns."
I did experience this type of riding in Boulder, a few years ago, when we took one of the kids there for a college tour. I had not been riding that long and I was amazed by the ability of people to commute by bike there. For now, my riding will remain strictly on country/suburban roads.

[tulip]

I agree, that's a great piece. I've cycled in Quebec and a very little bit of Ontario from Ottawa into Quebec. Even in rural areas bicyclists are welcome. The Bienvenue Cyclistes program in Quebec province is extensive and not only along La Route Verte. Le Chemin du Roy is a beautiful route through rural Quebec that seems less well-known than La Route Verte. Montreal has extensive bike infrastructure, and Quebec City has a nice path along the water.

[shootingstar]

It was written for not only cyclists :) but for people who don't quite yet know the joy of favourite routes for commuting by bike. It's harder to convince someone about decent cycling infrastructure, plus making the habit of just jumping on the bike...if their association with cycling is muscular pain, sweat and messiness in inclement weather.

So I got a bit poetic and focused on some sensory stuff as a cyclist and how cyclist remembers, revisits. :)