This morning after school drop off I did a lap of the Stanley Park sea wall with Dana, who rides a e-cargo bike to see how it handles the speed-control gates. Here we are at Gate 1: Splash Park.

Here’s a school group coming through to give you an idea of how standard bikes handle this gate.

When I spoke to Byron Green in August, he told me that when he uses the sea wall he has to remember to transfer over onto the pedestrian path well before Gate 1 or he can’t get through. He rides a recumbent e-handcycle that is capable of handling rough, off-road paths.

I rode back from Gate 1 to see where Byron transfers over to the pedestrian path. It’s a long way back.

Here’s Dana post-Gate 1 riding a narrow, bumpy section of the sea wall as we approach the Lions Gate Bridge.

Here we are at Gate 2. Dana said that the gates get narrower as you go along. Cyclists on mountain bikes generally jump down on to the pedestrian path before this gate if it’s clear, but you can’t do that when you have two kids in the front of your bike…

Dana’s 4 year old learned to cycle, but the sea wall is too narrow, crowded and far for a wobbly kid. There’s no safe way to cut back along Pipeline from the sea wall and the drop down onto the pedestrian path could be dangerous for a wobbly inattentive little cyclist.

Gate 3 is at 3rd Beach. All the gates should be removed because they are inaccessible to disabled cyclists. All dismount signs should be removed and replaced with "ride at walking pace" signs because it is the speed differential that is the issue, not the riding.

Park Board Commissioner Tricia Barker said access isn’t enough, drivers need EASY access. Well Dana and other riders of non-standard bikes sure don’t have easy access to the sea wall and some no access at all.

We need a protected cycle route around Lost Lagoon, a protected cycle lane for cutting back along Pipeline for cyclists using Park Drive AND the sea wall and the protected lane on Park Drive returned. Remove the gates. Remove the dismount signs.