Yesterday, Bianca and I biked around 60 km from Cortina d’Ampezzo to Dobbiaco and then back again. It was the most beautiful bike ride that either of us had ever been on. Here's the Strava report.
Leaving Cortina, we were on a paved bike trail that had one side dedicated to cyclists and one side dedicated to pedestrians. The views of the valley were breathtaking — both the mountains and the community itself. It felt like we were riding through an idyllic mountain town that couldn't possibly be a real place.
Yesterday, Bianca and I biked around 60 km from Cortina d’Ampezzo to Dobbiaco and then back again. It was the most beautiful bike ride that either of us had ever been on. Here's the Strava report.
Leaving Cortina, we were on a paved bike trail that had one side dedicated to cyclists and one side dedicated to pedestrians. The views of the valley were breathtaking — both the mountains and the community itself. It felt like we were riding through an idyllic mountain town that couldn't possibly be a real place.
The trail then switched to gravel and that's what we rode on through most of the mountains, including over bridges and through mountain tunnels. I couldn't tell you how many times we had to stop to take photos.
Here we were greeted by a bike counter. It was 13:11 and we were cyclist number 243 for the day. The counter for the year was acting up, but I'm guessing it was trying to say between 50-60k cyclists year to date. It was also here that we learned we were on a 560-kilometer trail that runs from Venice to Munich, all the way through the Alps. That would be a fun adventure for another day.
Overall, the cycling infrastructure was incredible. It was one of the things we were most impressed by. When we arrived in the predominantly German-speaking town of Dobbiaco — which is also known as Toblach in German — we were on a dedicated bike path that looked like this:
I couldn't even find any roads leading to some of the homes we were passing. It seemed like residents would have to drive their car onto the bike path just to get home. And once we arrived in the center of town, we were presented with bike lanes, like this, to take us around and underneath busy traffic roundabouts.
This is some of the most impressive biking infrastructure that I have ever experienced, and it's in a small town of 3,300 people. It's also an alpine town that gets bitterly cold winters — significantly colder than even cities like Toronto. So if they can make this happen, why can't we?
But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't invest in cycling infrastructure. Chicago, for instance, has been building out cycling infrastructure over the last few years (2020-2023) at an average rate of approximately 30 miles per year. This is double its rate from 2011-2019. And the results show.
According to recent data from Replica and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), Chicago saw the highest growth in cycling among the 10 largest cities in the US between fall 2019 and spring 2023.
Biking overall was up 119%. Crosstown trips were up 180% (bike trips that spanned across four or more neighborhoods). Trips related to shopping were up 117%. And notably, zero-car households were up 207%.
Remember, this is a city that basically has the same weather as Toronto. It gets cold in the winter. And sometimes it snows. But clearly if you build good cycling infrastructure, people will use it.
The Dutch now believe that the number is 230cm. This is an increase from a previous recommendation of 200cm. The thinking behind this number is roughly as follows. Apparently there are Dutch laws stipulating that bikes can't be wider than 75cm. So this is the starting point.
But since it's impossible to always ride in a perfectly straight line, there seems to be a generally accepted rule that, at an absolute minimum, cyclists need about 100cm of width to themselves.
If you now double this so that two people can ride side-by-side, you're at 200cm. This is an important design criteria because the Dutch also seem to believe that (1) cycling is a social activity and (2) a child should be able to ride beside their parent. (Love this!)
Finally, add in a bit of buffer so there's room to pass slower cyclists and/or nobody feels like they're going to crash into oncoming cyclists, and you get to 230cm as the ideal width of a single bike lane.
I'm not sure I had given this much thought before, so I look forward to scrutinizing (and possibly measuring) every bike lane I ride in going forward.
The trail then switched to gravel and that's what we rode on through most of the mountains, including over bridges and through mountain tunnels. I couldn't tell you how many times we had to stop to take photos.
Here we were greeted by a bike counter. It was 13:11 and we were cyclist number 243 for the day. The counter for the year was acting up, but I'm guessing it was trying to say between 50-60k cyclists year to date. It was also here that we learned we were on a 560-kilometer trail that runs from Venice to Munich, all the way through the Alps. That would be a fun adventure for another day.
Overall, the cycling infrastructure was incredible. It was one of the things we were most impressed by. When we arrived in the predominantly German-speaking town of Dobbiaco — which is also known as Toblach in German — we were on a dedicated bike path that looked like this:
I couldn't even find any roads leading to some of the homes we were passing. It seemed like residents would have to drive their car onto the bike path just to get home. And once we arrived in the center of town, we were presented with bike lanes, like this, to take us around and underneath busy traffic roundabouts.
This is some of the most impressive biking infrastructure that I have ever experienced, and it's in a small town of 3,300 people. It's also an alpine town that gets bitterly cold winters — significantly colder than even cities like Toronto. So if they can make this happen, why can't we?
But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't invest in cycling infrastructure. Chicago, for instance, has been building out cycling infrastructure over the last few years (2020-2023) at an average rate of approximately 30 miles per year. This is double its rate from 2011-2019. And the results show.
According to recent data from Replica and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), Chicago saw the highest growth in cycling among the 10 largest cities in the US between fall 2019 and spring 2023.
Biking overall was up 119%. Crosstown trips were up 180% (bike trips that spanned across four or more neighborhoods). Trips related to shopping were up 117%. And notably, zero-car households were up 207%.
Remember, this is a city that basically has the same weather as Toronto. It gets cold in the winter. And sometimes it snows. But clearly if you build good cycling infrastructure, people will use it.
The Dutch now believe that the number is 230cm. This is an increase from a previous recommendation of 200cm. The thinking behind this number is roughly as follows. Apparently there are Dutch laws stipulating that bikes can't be wider than 75cm. So this is the starting point.
But since it's impossible to always ride in a perfectly straight line, there seems to be a generally accepted rule that, at an absolute minimum, cyclists need about 100cm of width to themselves.
If you now double this so that two people can ride side-by-side, you're at 200cm. This is an important design criteria because the Dutch also seem to believe that (1) cycling is a social activity and (2) a child should be able to ride beside their parent. (Love this!)
Finally, add in a bit of buffer so there's room to pass slower cyclists and/or nobody feels like they're going to crash into oncoming cyclists, and you get to 230cm as the ideal width of a single bike lane.
I'm not sure I had given this much thought before, so I look forward to scrutinizing (and possibly measuring) every bike lane I ride in going forward.
