Category: Bikelog

The way home was…interesting. I felt like it was a struggle for the most part and the trip took me 75 minutes. Granted, I took a bad route along the river which had me backtrack for a kilometer. In the end, even though I felt like it was a struggle, I made it in approximately the same time.

Mental Notes:
– The King Edward bridge is the one to take, although Laurier is horrible for potholes once you’re on the Quebec side. Perhaps I can find a route along the river?
– The path through Rockcliff is great. But it seems like I can only easily get to it heading home, otherwise I would have to cross the street to get to it coming into work.
– Crossing the Parkway to get to the path IS A PAIN! I waited five minutes for traffic to subside and gave up. I then biked awhile longer until I found an opening and took it.
– Past Aviation Museum, do not keep following the path unless you want a nice leisurely stroll by the river. Actually, come to think about it, perhaps this is the best route to take considering I bike an extra kilometer by accident and all I ended up with is five extra minutes on my time. I shall try out the river pathway again now that I know the cutoff.
– While on the River pathway, take the Ottawa River Pathway exit to go back up, otherwise you end up on an alternate route which just adds a kilometer to your trip.
– Ease into it! The calf muscle was pulsating near the end and it was near impossible to bike any longer.

View Bike Trip – July 21 2009 Morning in a larger map

It’s been a long time of procrastinating, but after watching the film ‘One Week’, I was inspired to hit the road with the bicycle. What a trip it was!

First time biking to work from Orleans. All in all, I am impressed with the trek and it can only get better after I iron out details like “Hey, where does this path go?” and “Wow, I need a lot more energy around the 10km mark!”

So in the end, starting from the Mall parking lot and with a few wrong turns, it was a trip of 21.75kms and it look me 70 minutes. I am pretty sure I can shave an easy 10 minutes off the time due to wrong turns.

For example, as soon as I left the parking lot, I appeared on a street I didn’t know. I then saw a high school with some bike paths so I decided that one of them must take me somewhere…and it took me to the back of the schoolyard and ended there! Woops!

At the Rockliff Sailing Club there is supposedly an area where I can cut across Rockliff and go through some suburbs instead of staying en route. But it’s quite hard to cross the traffic to get to it so I’m not sure if I will take the time to do so, or just suck it up each day and drive on a James Bond like road up in the mountains with traffic.

Mental Notes:
– Do NOT take the Alexandria Bridge! Those wooden slats are ridiculous! Try that bridge over near Sussex.
– Remember to bring some small travel sized shampoos for the shower next time.
– Remember that the combination for the shower is on the door, not the keypad next to the door.
– There seems to be a path on the left hand side of the road around Rockliff. Investigate this further on your way home.
– Remember to eat something before leaving work! Get some energy! At the 10km mark (around the Aviation Museum) I definitely lost my steam and it was hard going for the rest of the trek. Uncle Gerry, if you’re reading this, let me know if there is something I can do to give myself more sustained energy…bigger meal in the morning? I had a bowl of oatmeal. More water? I didn’t drink all that much along the way.

Went out with Mike for a quick jaunt before sundown.  Old Montreal Rd has some killer incline.

Vero wanted to see how long it would take her to bike to work so we headed out from Vanier on a windy yet sunny day to see how we would manage.  I ended up buying a bike rack for my car so I could bring my bike over to Vero’s (or vice versa) because there have been multiple times when we want to bike together but I must admit biking twenty kilometers to her place and then continuing on is sometimes not ideal.

The bike rack is pretty neat.  It did scratch my trunk the first time putting it on in the Canadian Tire parking lot so I promptly bought some foam pieces to use as a buffer.  It’s definitely going to come in handy around Ottawa.

We started out from Vanier and headed down along the Riverside path.  You can see the river in various spots but for the most part, you are going alongside a forest.  There were a few hills that we had to tackle and we had to stop to think about where the path would lead us as we had not brought our cycling map.  By the way, the Ottawa cycling map (thanks Eric!) is quite amazing.  Not only does it show what routes there are throughout Ottawa, but suggests routes that avoid traffic areas.  This will help me plan out my trek from Orleans to work.

As I mentioned before, it was quite windy and it didn’t help any when we got off the path at Prince of Wales and cycled along the shoulder.  It was quite hard to bike against the wind and when we hit Collonade it was in full force.  What a pain in the ass.

We ended up at Vero’s work within an hour of leaving.  She was impressed by the timing and is planning to bike as often as she can now that she knows it’s doable.  Plus, I would hope that most days would not have much wind so I’m sure she can shave off 10-15 minutes off her ride considering she now knows the route.

We took a break on the lawn and then headed to Tim Horton’s to get a bite to eat.  We had these new ‘wrap snacks’ where they are miniature chicken ranch wraps.  I commented that I didn’t see why they claimed they were miniature…my own sandwiches that I make for my lunch are the same size!  Then we realized that you definitely get a bigger portion wherever you eat outside of your own home.

After a break, we hit the road again and headed back towards Hogs Back but instead of taking the Riverside path back, we figured we would try the Colonel By path along the Rideau Canal.  This path gave me the excitement of cycling.  The wind was at our backs, the view along the Canal is beautiful, people were out jogging, cycling, playing…it was a grand day!  I couldn’t get over how beautiful the city was.  I commented to Vero about how little I have seen of the city core along the Canal and thought about how much I would use it if I could bike along it every day.

With the wind at our backs, we made super, super time and ended back at Vero’s place within 45 minutes.  The one thing I like about biking is trying to determine the most optimum path to where I want to go.  This may not always mean the quickest…I also take in aestetics as well.  I introduced Eric to the paths along the Ottawa River and even though it’s a little longer trip for him, he said he really appreciated biking through the forest and seeing deer once in awhile.  It beats the heck out of watching cars zoom by you.

My ass was definitely sore after biking for two hours and my legs were stiffening up after the ride, but it was well worth it.  We had a great time out there.  I question how much cardio exercise is does produce as I feel that I rarely breathed heavily and I never really broke a sweat, whereas when I jog, I’m done for in approximately 3.4 minutes!

Soon, I shall start biking to work.  I bought another bike rack which attaches to the back of my bicycle (unlike the one for my car, which Mom thought I was talking about and couldn’t understand how the bike rack went over my rear tire) which I can definitely strap my backpack to instead of having it on my back.  I checked out some panniers (or as I like to call them, saddle bags) and I think I shall invest in them later on in the summer.

If I haven’t made it public knowledge here yet, my ultimate goal for this summer is to bike to Montreal from Ottawa.  I have spoken with Uncle Gerry and it sounds quite feasible.  I don’t know if I have the endurance to bike long distances yet (4+ hours?) but I will try and reach those goals and I want to see if I enjoy it.  This plan originated party from Uncle Gerry’s love to cycle (and reading about his grand adventures) as well as the realization that see more of an area while biking.  Vero and I have spoken about going to France to visit Uncle Gerry and Aunt Shoko at some point and I said if we did, I would like to cycle around France instead of going by public transportation.  So the trip to Montreal is a test to see if I would like to cycle on a long trip.  We’ll see…if I don’t like it, so be it.  I still love cycling and do enjoy biking across the city.  If I do end up loving it, that opens up an entire world of adventures.

Notes for Future Me:
– Bring water you fool!
– Eat a little something before heading out you fool!
– Wall Road does in fact cut across to Trim Road so you can take that to save some time
– Time: 4:45 – 6:00 (minus 5 minutes in Future Shop); 20 km trip.
– Thoughts: I thought it was a shorter distance than 20 km which is why I was kicking myself for not having much energy.  Winds were high and against me for majority of trip down Navan Rd and Trim Rd.  20kms in 70 minutes…not too bad for a first run out for the year.
– Thoughts on Roads: Innes is great with their bike lane and smooth pavement.  Mer Bleue is quite rough and no shoulder.  Navan Road a little less rough but still no shoulder in most parts.  Trim Road the same.  Mostly level except for one little hill on Trim Road.