When my brothers and I celebrated our birthdays, our parents would take a group of our young friends bowling or swimming by bus. Often the ride on public transit was the highlight of the party for children who had never been on the city bus before. Our friends were so proud of their transfers and couldn't wait to ring the bell for our stop.

Once we reached highschool, most of our friends did become bus riders. But hardly anyone commuted by bike, although the ride was just a few kilometres and the rush hour buses could be uncomfortably crowded close to the school. Our highschool of 1500 students did have a bike rack. But that bike never had more than three bikes in it. And one of those two bikes belonged to my younger brother. As you can see from the second picture on the left, times, neighbourhoods and cities have changed and when my kids ride their bikes to school, they are just two cyclists among MANY.

We were more of a utilitarian cycling family than a recreational or touring cycling family, but when my youngest cousin was born in Burlington, ON (about 80 kilometres away), my dad decided our whole family should ride to her home to welcome her into the world. At the time I was 12, my older brother was 14 and my younger brother was 10.

The ride through Scarborough was on multi-lane arterial roads. We left on a Saturday morning, so the traffic was light, but the route wasn't scenic. Once we reached The Beaches, we could ride beside the boardwalk that led to the Martin Goodman Trail. I vividly remember how relaxed our whole family felt once we reached the bike trail. My parents reminded us to stay to the right of the blue line, but we were allowed to ride far ahead. The view of Lake Ontario was beautiful. And my brothers and I had fun riding with roller bladers, other cyclists and runners.

We took that bike trail all through downtown Toronto. There are places beside the harbour where the path became a signed route along streets before moving back to a segregated trail. But it was a glorious day of riding on a beautiful path through a big city. And we all noticed that it was much more comfortable riding downtown on this special route than it was riding in the suburbs on a great big road.

A few years after that wonderful trip, my younger brother and I would often go on our own cycling adventures downtown together to listen to free live music at Harbourfront. It was a 50 kilometre round trip by bicycle. And it was possible for two young teenagers from the suburbs to enjoy their own cheap and self-propelled urban adventures thanks to the beautiful and safe Martin Goodman Trail.