I want to know which Canadian city/region has better riding. I'm from Toronto and I find it to be a fantastic grid of rolling hills through farmers fields. How does the riding out west compare?

Oh yeah, don't forget to post some pictures. I want to see some proof!

I don't usually stop for pictures, but here's one from my first century ride (from Toronto to Barrie).

Really? Toronto has great riding? I must be in a different Toronto! If you're in the city and a commuter- Toronto just sucks. The condition of the roads are an abomination, and drivers have no respect for cyclists. If I remember correctly, Vancouver is better maintained and has a better grid of bike lanes. The bike lane system in Toronto as it stands is a complete joke and will go nowhere with the current city administration.

Toronto, like Vancouver does have access to lots of quieter, rolling and rural roads 50km or so out of the city. Despite being generally flat as pancakes, both cities also have some steep hills a stone's throw away. It's just my personal opinion that BC can be more scenic, yet it seems to rain more frequently but doesn't get too cold in the winter. I'd give Vancouver the advantage in the end.

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2012 Cannondale CAAD10

I've lived in both cities and would choose Vancouver in a nanosecond. We may get a lot more rain, but snowed out days are few and far between, and we never have the oppressive humidity of TO summers.

I can also roll out the front door and hit two 12+ km mountain climbs within an hour from me. Nothing remotely comparable in TO. Flat and rolling terrain is accessible in the Fraser Valley, and many more mountains await in the rest of BC.

Yeah, I hear you on the drivers, SSB. I nary go on a ride where I don't get sarcastic cheers or nearly hit by a car undercutting into the right lane.

The best part of Toronto riding is the variety, IMO. I can pick any direction and come up with a fairly scenic ride (relatively speaking, of course).

What are you finding in the way of hills around here? Looking for some hard climbs to get ready for a trip out to Cali I've been planning.

Those 12+ KM climbs do make me a bit jealous, I must admit....

We don't have 12KM+ climbs, of course... Here's a list of climbs in Toronto/GTA. My favourite is Rattlesnake Point, when I used to live in Oakville. Collingwood, where Centurion takes place is also a pretty nice route.

Yonge St. can be a pain if you're using a heavy commuter bike, carrying a heavy briefcase and dressed up in a suit.

http://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2009/ ... n_toronto/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But yeah, again did I say Toronto sucks for cyclists?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/tor ... le4466970/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I had a terrible spill on Queen St. last year, I swerved to avoid a door prize, front wheel got caught in a streetcar track and I landed face first on the pavement. That was pretty painful.

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2012 Cannondale CAAD10

I have lived and ridden in both cities a lot. Let me put it this way: Toronto has great culture, music, and nightlife!

There are some nice pockets of riding but you will find yourself spending a lot of unpleasant time getting to it unless you live north/east/west of the city.

Vancouver is not the best cycling city I've lived in but still has some amazing roads within minutes of downtown. Other than the climbs folks have mentioned there is also the relatively easy access to remote feeling roads that are somewhat quiet on the north shore or richmond. You just don't get that anywhere around Toronto until you've ridden to King City, Oakville or the like..... aprox. 50KM north. I always found the donut ride hilarious. You spend most of it rolling into and out of Toronto and crank it up for 30k in the middle....

Vancouver by mile. That's how I see it.

I will say that the ride out and back to Lake Simcoe from Toronto is really nice... once you get out of Toronto.

Toronto definitely sucks (minus a few pockets). I am fortunate to commute out of the city to Bolton for work, and within 5 minutes from my office, its all rolling hills through Caledon, definitely a nice place to ride. I can't really compare it to Vancouver, but I think probably in both cases, the best riding is found outside the city.

Caledon, King, Mono, Burlington/Dundas, Milton, and a few other areas are my usual go-to spots for a ride.

Within the city it is pretty hard to find big enough hills that are alos long. There are some decent hills for repeats, but nothing very long. Even if you go to Dundas, or Caledon, most you will find are Cat. 4 climbs. Probably the biggest climb is going to be Scenic Caves road (Cat. 3) in Collingwood. There are a few others around there too.

One of my fav rides for a Sunday morning is to get right out of the city nice and early from my place in Etobicoke and drive to Coronation Park in Oakville. Warm up along the Lakeshore, do the Snake Road climb up to Dundas St, and work my way out to Ancaster via the Crooks Hollow/Sulphur springs climb, and back through Dundas. Stop at Cafe Domestique for a snack, and then up Syndenham, and do another loop up Snake Road, and down Waterdown road working my way back to the Lakeshore. Route ends up being around 100km and lots of good scenery.

Are you joking?! The terrain in Vancouver is crazy. You can roll-out of the office and do crazy-steep intervals, rolling circuits, recovery rides etc....and you can do it in February! No contest. Anyone who thinks otherwise has never lived in Canada in the winter.

The winter can definitely suck, but with the right gear, it can actually be really nice. I did a ride with cross-tires right in the thick of the winter where it was -8 celcius, 204km from Mississauga, up to port Severn in cottage country, and let me say that once north of Barrie, some of the backroads there were absolutely gorgeous. I rode at a leisurely pace, not encountering cars for hours and all you could hear was the snow falling. I am kind of looking forward to snow, in a weird sort of way.

I have never ridden a bicycle in Vancouver in my life but I will go out on a limb and say that it is about 1000x better than Toronto.

Would say Vancouver is better than Toronto, 100%.

Stayed in North Vancouver last summer for 1 1/2 week. Beautiful riding there, BUT all the nice roads leed to a dead end. I did not find any clean "loop" ride to do. A popular ride they call is the Triple Crown; up and down these three hills during a same ride: Mt. Seymour Rd., Mountain Highway, Cypress Bowl Rd.

You can do the (Vancouver-Whistler-Pemberton-Lillooet-Hope-Vancouver) loop, but it takes several days. There is a nice hill between Pemberton to Lillooet (14% for 5km).

They say Victoria Island is supposed to be the best road ridding in Canada. Although Highway 99 (Vancouver to Whistler) is breathtaking, it really is, and the shoulder is wide. Last 50km to Whistler is lightly uphill so when you come back it is easy to speed at 45km/hr (average) and hit 80km/hr down some other. Marine drive (North Van) is nice for a warm-up.

Yeah, what a nice, pastoral scene you paint! The problem is, it is usually -22 with a 20-knot gale. When it is -40 in Calgary and 9 in Vancouver, I wish I was there...

Yeah at -40 I would be inside

I've been to Vancouver, never ridden there but my vote has to go to Vancouver. If you were comparing southern Ontario (St.Catharines, Thorald, the Falls, etc) then it might be a closer contest.