Nice Day for a Bike Ride

I was off work today and it was a nice day so I decided to go for a bike ride. I also decided to take my new camera along...

The Path:
One of my favourite section of the trail. There are many sections like this that make you feel like your lost in the woods.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7c3a975d4cec.jpg[/atsimg]

Britannia Beach: this is about 13 kilometres into the trip and the sign indicates we have just over 12 km to go to get to Parliament Hill.

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Back on the Path: As you can see the path runs between the Ottawa River to the left and the Ottawa River Parkway to the right.

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Some of the local wildlife having lunch

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Westoboro Beach: About 7.5 km from my destination.

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Rock Sculptures or Rock Art. The artist apparently redoes them every spring after the winter has destroyed them.

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Government buildings across the river in Hull, Quebec

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Downtown Ottawa in the distance

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Again with close-up:

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One of the Ottawa River Tour Boats. They embark at my destination behind the Parliament buildings.

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My destination begins to come into view. You can see the Library of Parliament on the top of the cliff:

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Parliament Buildings of Canada:

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The trail ends at the Rideau Canal Locks

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Rideau Canal Locks with the Chateau Laurier at the top of the hill:

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One of the tour boats coming in to dock:

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The vintage Bianchi that got me there. I'll probably retire her in the next year or two... maybe for a new one:

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26.2 km from my apartment to Parliament Hill.

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Starting the trip back. The building is the Supreme Court of Canada:

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If you haven't guessed yet we have some pretty good infrastructure for our bike trails:

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Old railway crossing the Ottawa River:

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Home. 53.14 km return trip in just over 2.5 hours (including water and picture breaks)

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Yep.

It was a good day.

If my conversions are correct 14-16 mph (22kph) over 2+ hours is a pretty healthy pace, mate.

That's about my peak after 3 years of riding.

Of course I was riding a hybrid (Trek) tire which puts a bit more rubber on the road.
More friction but fewer flat tires.


Looked like an awesome ride though ! Was that a bike only road?

The rock garden was too cool.

Thanks for sharin' .

reply to post by Gools


you
are
insane

that is all

reply to post by Jbird


At the end of Summer I can maintain between 25-30 km/h. This ride took longer with all the stops for photos and I took a longer break at the midpoint.

The trail is shared with rollerbladers joggers, walkers etc. but in the middle of the week during a workday they are not a concern. On a nice weekend they are more of a problem. There is an official "speed limit" of 20 km/h which I've never seen enforced and most cyclist ignore.

I know what you mean by the hybrid. I also have a Peugeot Attitude (chromoly frame) that is heavier and has much wider tires and don't use any more.

My next bike will be a brand new road bike for which I'll get a proper professional fitting. I've been told the comfort makes all the difference between being able to do 50-60 km and doing a hundred.

Right now on a long ride my feet fall asleep and my hands tend to get numb from my wrists being pinched with some pain in between my shoulders. The Bianchi was bought second hand and is a little small for me which is the source of the problems.

I also want to go to the full clip pedal with the special shoes.

BTW avoiding flats with presta valve high pressure tires is apparently easy if you spring for kevlar tires

reply to post by zazzafrazz


Well... takes one to know one



[edit on 8 Sep 10 by Gools]

reply to post by Gools


Nice pics/route. I ride quite a bit on road and in the sticks.
You can probably make the bike you have fit a lot better without spending a lot of money just by adjusting things and maybe buying a few parts. The pain in your hands/shoulders can likely be improved by getting the bars in the right place, it would take paragraphs to explain but there is plenty of bike fitting info online. Just raising the bars usually helps those things but they might need to be moved fore/aft also and that means a new stem (cheap for that bike). A shop should help you out for free even though a lot of them want to sell fitting as some mystic proceeding these days.
-Oh, no reason not to get the peddles/shoes now as most good bikes don't even come with peddles as it's such a personal thing and people already have the ones they like. I'd suggest getting mountain bike peddles as you can still walk in the shoes and there really is no downside. Lots of deals online and you can't go wrong with Shimano mtb peddles if you don't feel like trying to make sense out of the plethora available. You do need mtb specific shoes for mtb peddles and most commuter type shoes use that style too. Roadies might turn their noses up but you have to take them with a grain of salt.

reply to post by beezwaxes


Thanks for the advice beezwaxes.

If you'll notice in the pic, the seat it pretty much at it's max height and so is the stem which extends to the front already. This puts my my weight way out in front over the wheel when leaning on the handlebars instead of the fork. The frame is definitely too small for me and the handlebars a bit too narrow.

Besides, I need a new front rim, new pedals and the hardware is getting noisy so stop trying to talk me out of getting a new ride!!

reply to post by Gools


No problem, I just got back from a 25 miler.

Only one thing to do then, go get a new bike! I'm jealous, never been a better time to do it.

The new bikes really are awesome. I'll give one last bit of advice, the fastest ones aren't the most comfortable, it's all about trade-offs. That said, you can still get one that'll be a rocket and you don't have to feel bad riding in any company that will be plenty comfortable. Find a good shop and talk to the old Roadie puttering around in the corner. Those guys have tried them all and will take care or you.

reply to post by Gools


Yea I outgrew the local bike trail as my speed increased. Too many tangles (pun intended) with dogs on leashes, packs of moms with strollers and kids who don't understand the rules of the trail.

Now it's just the morons in cars to contend with.

Even with the bike shop 'fitting' , I still tended to get the numb thumb (and butt) on the longer rides.

Use to do the CBBT bike/walk ride before they stopped the event for 'security' reasons. It was only a 16 mile ride, but kinda neat to be out in the middle of the bay with no cars or people. The downside was the wind, which could be a formidable nemesis.




Good luck with the new bike .
Stay safe. Happy trails.

Thats very cool Gools.
I take those same paths quite often as well but I tend to favour the Quebec side.Theres nothing like a ride in the Gats.
I was in the Gats last weekend actually.
A friend and I (fellow ats member) made a shelter and slept out there...heres a picture.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2bd3edc4d07a.jpg[/atsimg]
You can see the bikes off to the right.
Heres a shot from the back of it.
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I had no idea you were from my area.
We have probably passed each other once or twice.

reply to post by Jbird


Oh I hear ya... one day a huge rotweiler (sp?) who wasn't on a leash came at me. I yelled for the lady to call off her dog and she pulls out a whistle and starts to blow on it!

I didn't know what the hell was going on. It took a good three or four blows for the dog to back off so I guess it was some kind of signal. I yelled back "buy a leash!" and she said something I didn't hear and I didn't bother stopping or going back. :shk:

drumsrfun: The Gatineau Hills are great and I enjoy getting out there especially in the fall but that looks like a much more rugged experience than I'm looking for

As for the new bikes, yeah they are great and I see them on the trails all the time. I'm told the best time to buy is right after xmas when they are getting rid of their inventory to make room for the new upcoming spring models. So between now and then I'll do my homework and probably pick one up then.