30 Days of Biking – Day 24 : Chinatown to Vanier to pick up Indian take-out.

Golden India Restaurant in Vanier was highly recommended to us by a friend from India, so this evening I rode over and picked us up a yummy feast!

We placed our order on line, which was very convenient. The restaurant called back to confirm the timing just as I headed out the door. I gave myself 30 minutes to get there, which turned out to be accurate as I’m not a particularly fast cyclist. I mapped out a route that mostly took me along cycle lanes or quiet residential streets. There were, however, a few short linking sections where the roads are not very safe for cycling. I have hi-lited those in red on the attached map.

Laurier is fantastic along the Laurier Bike Lane and over the canal bridge which has bike lanes, but dangerous between Elgin and the bridge, and east of the bridge, particularly right around Ottawa U. That’s why I got off Laurier as soon as I could by cutting across campus to access quieter streets through sandy Hill.

Here are some nice row houses I passed along Daly Ave.

The next danger zone along this route was over the Cummings Bridge into Vanier. There is a bike lane heading west, but none heading east. They have painted sharrows in green boxes along the east lanes but no matter how you dress them up, sharrows are the most useless form of bike accommodation imaginable. Worse than useless, they are dangerous because they falsely suggest to riders that they are designated safe routes when drivers ignore them because they can.

Montreal Road is pretty nasty too – no shoulders, lots of potholes, and a main artery for cars commuting east – so I rode along it as far as the Vanier Parkway and cut through to Kendall Avenue. I then rode safely along quiet streets through Vanier until I was close enough to Golden India restaurant. McArthur is a busy street and dangerous to ride down so I avoid it.

The food was all packed up waiting for me and the service was fantastic. They even included some complimentary rice pudding. I filled my panniers and headed home. Made it safe and sound. It was still warm and very yummy.

Bon appetit!