Day: August 20, 2008

I thoroughly enjoyed John Barber’s commentary on bottled water here.  I never really understood the concept of bottled water…did it all start with scares of Anthrax in the water supply?

Yesterday when I got home, I saw that it was a brisk sunny day and thought that I should get on my bicycle for a quick jaunt.  I really wasn’t feeling the want to go for a bike ride but I always know that as soon as my ass hits that seat, I’m feeling good.

I packed my Pierre Trudeau Memoirs in my bag as they have been quite inspiring over the past few days and I figured I would head down to Petrie Island to sit on the beach and read the book until it was time to head back home and go see Vero and her family.  According to Google Maps, this trip is around 6 kms.  A far cry from my usual 16km jaunt to Cumberland.  Nonetheless, I was interested in reading the book more than the bike ride.

But as soon as I was whizzing down Trim Road, my thoughts changed.  I was thinking of the adventures Mr. Trudeau had traveling the world before heading into politics and it really inspired me to go on my own little adventures.  Then I started calculating everything in my head…it was 5PM and Vero’s family wasn’t due into town until 7PM.  I had 2 hours to play with and then it hit me.

I should bike to Vero’s.

Now let’s put this into some perspective.  I got the grand notion of biking to work from Bayshore years ago.  I went to see Allan-Paul at Bushtakah and he set me up with a new bike.  Throughout the next few years, I biked into work which was 15 kms.  I loved this bike ride as I followed the Ottawa river the entire way.  It used to take me 50 minutes to bike 15 km.  From talking with other cyclists (like Joe), I realized this wasn’t a great time, but nonetheless, it was the time it took me.

When I moved to Orleans I realized that my dreams of biking to work would be squashed as it was quite the increase in distance.  As far as I can tell from Google Maps, if I followed a similar trek in my car, it would be 30 kms.  That’s double the distance!  This was quite intimidating as I didn’t feel like biking for 100 minutes each way every day.  So for years the bike stood idle.

I got the biking itch after going to Gaspe and loved it again.  I was curious about the long distance cyclists out there…those who bike 100km+ a day, like Uncle Gerry and Shoko.  I had visions of one day being able to do this.  But in order to do it, one must push themselves.  It didn’t hurt that I actually enjoyed whizzing down paths of water and foliage while on my bicycle.  This is living!  As Eric pointed out a few weeks ago, I went out with him to find the path along the river and he now takes the same path to work each day.  He says that even though it takes a bit longer to arrive at Blair Road, the ride is more peaceful.  Heck, the man has even seen three deer in the past few weeks!  Imagine seeing a deer along your bike ride!  Much better than cutting across the city where all you have are people chatting on their cellphone or drinking their coffee (and I suppose we should point out that Eric also had a bad incident a few years back of actually being struck by a vehicle through an intersection.  Not a good thing.) and you get some scenery in your life.  Take time to smell the roses people.

So there you have it…I was determined to head on the trek across town.  Did I have enough water?  Check.  Did I have my wallet or other necessary items for my arrival point.  Check.  The only thing I didn’t have is my emergency pump and a spare tube which I thought about and accepted the possible consequences of having a flat tire half way to Vero’s place.

I still haven’t managed to figure out EXACTLY where the bike path meets up around Jeanne D’Arc so I spent a good five minutes navigating through streets to make my way to the path.  After that, it was clear sailing!  What a beautiful path it was.  Zooming down it, all I could see for miles is foliage and fields and the little strip of pavement with that line running through it.

At one point I realized that you can follow directly along the river but it’s a fine gravel path.  Time was on my side in this case so I figured I would enjoy the view better.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The view of the Ottawa River is truly amazing.  I had never run along side it from the East end.  From the West end, there isn’t much forest around the path.  The East end, there are trees hugging you as you zoom down the path and see kids fishing, people jogging and sailboats having fun on the water.

Around Blair Road I was thinking of hopping off the beaten trail and head back up to the paved portion which follows the Rockcliffe Parkway.  But then I noticed that they had a sign for Parliament saying it’s another 10kms.  With Pierre Trudeau’s memoirs on my back (as well as some wind) I realized that this should be my ultimate destination, and so I went.

There is a moment that long distance athletes whisper about…that moment where marathon runners transition from the thought of collapsing and the thought of going all day long.  I hit this point and kept trucking.  I was inspired by the view and the goal of reaching Parliament in a good time….maybe even a good enough time to make my dream of biking to work a reality.

I almost drove into the bush at one point as the path abruptly ends near the sailing club.  It hooks back up to the Parkway and after that it’s a bunch of winding roads and hills in Rockcliffe.  I will have to decide whether I want to cut some time off the trip in the future and avoid these winding paths.

I marked the time as 60 minutes into the trip as soon as I hit Mike’s place of work…the Foreign Affairs building.  Success!  I never imagined that it would only take me 60 minutes to reach the downtown core!  It took another ten minutes to reach Parliament and that was due to traffic lights and trying to figure out a good method of reaching them.

Victory was mine and I revelled in the amazing weather and the sight of the Parliament buildings.  I take it for granted that I work in the capital of Canada and I took it all in while cracking open the book to read for half an hour before I should leave to get to Vero’s.  I ended up biking another 30 minutes to get back to Vero’s place (it’s hard to get out of the downtown core on a bicycle…lot of traffic lights) and then realized I never packed my keys so I couldn’t get into her place.  Luckily they showed up ten minutes later and I told them of my adventures and they were impressed.  Heck, I was impressed.

I’ve learned from this experience that I’m definitely in better shape than I was years ago while biking from Bayshore (or, on another thought, perhaps the bike from Bayshore is all uphill!) and that my speed has definitely increased.  The bike ride to Parliament is around 29 kms (whereas to my work is another few kms) so I made the bike trip in 70 minutes and I figure I could chop five minutes off of that for the time it took me to find the right route in Orleans and a mixup I did around Sussex Drive.  So on a good day, if I can do it in 65 minutes + 5 more to get to work, I am satisfied with that amount of time to get to work in the morning.  I also think that if I followed the path along the Rockcliffe Parkway and not the actual river, it may actually be a little straighter and I would gain time that way.  I suppose I’ll have to try both routes.

I’m quite excited that I managed to make this trek and not encounter any problems and that it took me a lot less time than I thought it would.  Who knows if there were superious conditions aiding me…the quest for adventure, the wind at my back and my body in top shape (remember the other day when I was speaking about how sluggish I was biking to Cumberland and it took me 50 minutes to make a round trip?  Well I did it again with some strength in me and it only took 25 minutes!).  I will have to see how the morning slumber affects me on such a trip and I will have to get everything in order to make it more efficient (pack my clothes and lunch in my bag, prepare for all eventualities).

I know it’s the end of the summer but I’m preparing to start biking in until it snows!  We’ll see how it works out though…maybe yesterday was a fluke and in the end, it will end up being too long of a trek.  But unless I try, I will never find out.

This inspriring story was written by me.  Go forth and do something adventurous today, even if it is beating Super Mario Bros. under an hour.