To Toronto and Back by Bicycle

I biked from Buffalo to Toronto on Wednesday. It was 112 miles door to door. That's the longest I have ridden in one day by far. It took 8 hours and 40 minutes of actual riding and 11.5 hours overall (I spent an hour swimming in the lake). I rode back yesterday (Friday), taking a partially different route that was 105 miles in 8 hours, 11 overall. I found that the first third of each ride was the worst, both physically and psychologically, after that you get into a rhythm that feels normal. Unfortunately because I was spending a whole day in Toronto (I had a friend's art opening to go to), I had to bring a lot of stuff, heavy lock and cable, another pair of shoes, a change of clothes, a small messenger bag, etc. It would have been nice to travel a little lighter.

Port Colborne, Ontario, on Lake Erie

Swimming near Hamilton, on the way to Toronto

View from Missasauga

CN Tower, toy lens, Lumix GF2

Swimming near Hamilton on the way back to Buffalo

Lake Ontario, Oakville

Some iPhone shots from last week in Toronto

An Afternoon in Toronto

We went to Cambridge, Ontario on Wednesday to pick up my work from the gallery where I was in the group show Site Visits. After the pick up we went on to Toronto for the afternoon. Unfortunately, we spent a lot of time in heavy traffic and ended up getting there too late to see any of the galleries I wanted to visit. We wandered around the Queen St. West area for a few hours.

I'm surprised that no one has ever sent me an image of the patio at Supermarket, a bar on Augusta Ave.

We stopped in to Magic Pony, a great gallery/store that specializes in character driven art and toy design. The best thing there was this chair by Tania Sanhueza. The person working there told me that you can have her come to your house to sew mushrooms into your ripped upholstery.

On the way home we saw a giant Mr. Peanut beside the highway, it turned out to be a hot air balloon.