It’s always a precious sight to see a parent trying to show his or her little one how to ride a bike. Taking the training wheels off is a small step toward cycling freedom.

That’s about the same evolutionary stage TransLink and a myriad of government levels are at with the opening of the Central Valley Greenway last Saturday. It’s a baby step toward making Greater Vancouver conducive for commuting cyclists, or even recreational ones for that matter.

There clearly is an appetite for a route like CVG. About 1,500 showed up for the party to celebrate its official opening last Saturday at the new Winston Street overpass. The party lasted for three hours, and even at the end there were still lots there.

The CVG, however, is a hodge-podge of surfaces. Two large portions—between Douglas Road and the overpass as well as the Brunette River Trail—and a couple more are on gravel. Other sections are nicely paved off-road paths. Some are on quiet side streets while much of it, like Winston Street in Burnaby and Columbia Street in Downtown New Westminster and Sapperton, require sharing the road with heavy traffic.

There are awkward spots. Plenty of them.

Connecting the trail to Hume Park is a bit of a nightmare along North Road. Officials want to put a bike bridge at the mouth of the Brunette, but that requires some cooperation from Coquitlam. Solving it seems to be several years off.

There’s a one-block detour where Columbia and Brunette streets meet that’s discouraging. Navigating around the intersection is a nuisance.

Getting across the vehicular madhouse at Columbia and McBride has been made as safe as possible with a pedestrian/cyclist-activated stop light. It is, however, far from ideal.

A solution to the Cariboo Road confusion corner—the transition from the west end of the Brunette River Trail to Brighton and Winston—is under construction.

In Burnaby, connections at Douglas Road and Gilmore can be quite uncomfortable. At one point, there’s a small bridge near Gilmore that requires cyclists to dismount, not only because there’s a sign ordering them to, but also because its crown is so steep. Fortunately, a new bridge will be built in the fall when it’s ecologically safe.

Individually these issues aren’t much, but add them up and it makes the greenway inconvenient to many contemplating commuting on it.

As it is, the CVG cost $24 million to put together. It will require even more to add a planned off-road path on the north side of Winston. Some really big bucks are a must for property acquisition if a planned route through the Braid industrial area to avoid Sapperton is ever going to happen, but the intention is to eventually do so.

It was suggested by one cycling organizer that the purchase of the Westminster Pier by the City of New Westminster would eventually facilitate an access for those starting the route at the Quay to connect to Sapperton Landing and then onto the proposed Braid portion. That, however, was dismissed by a city official as pure speculation.

It’s the type of speculation that would be nice to see come true. Such a change is needed to make it feasible for riders.

The CVG is meant to encourage commuting cyclists. But it’s also discouraging, given its many inconveniences, to realize not many will take advantage of it.

When the BC Parkway was built along the SkyTrain’s Expo Line in the 1980s the dream was similar. But even now it still has a bunch of blips that need to be fixed before commuting along it by bike can become a practical reality.

The parkway, the greenway and all the little bike routes developed in Greater Vancouver are OK options for recreational cycling. Those baby steps are worth celebrating. Much bigger strides, however, are needed.

ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com