Cyclo Tourist Ottawa: Part III – Aylmer bound!

Laura Allardyce is a cultural observer with an overactive imagination, who is always insisting the glass is half full. She has lived in Ottawa her whole life and says she will only leave once she has smelled all the roses. She is currently training for the ride of her life.

In my last post, I shared with you my favourite route in Ottawa. The ride to Alymer is similar in the sense that it’s somewhat along the same pathway and still a great route along the water. This time instead of going right at the end of the Champlain Bridge, you go left (west) and head out towards the Deschenes Rapids.

After doing mostly short rides, no longer than 25km at a time, it was time to start challenging myself to longer rides – hence 40km loop to Aylmer!

Over the Champlain Bridge once again. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to have bike lanes on both sides of this bridge. It is my preferred way to cross the river. Once across the bridge exit to the right as you would to head towards Parc Mousette (East) but make sure to stay to the right because the path leads under the bridge (heading West).

This is a great pathway. For the most part, it runs parallel to Boulevard de Lucerne. In some places, like in this photo, the brush next to the path is so thick it’s like being hugged by nature. The other benefit, if you’re not as into tree-hugging as I am, is the shade. If you’re out early in the morning, or later in the afternoon (anytime the sun is right overhead), the trees on either side of the path provide fantastic shade to keep you cool on your ride.

My favourite part of this ride is when you the path turns into a wooden bridge over a swampy area. It’s very Lord of the Rings-ish, very pretty.

Go discover it!

Maybe I was suffering from heat exhaustion because all of a sudden I thought I was in a Mario Bros game. I emerged from the tree-lined pathway into suburbia, greeted by this house that looks an awful lot like Bowser’s castle. No offense to the people who live there or the designer, but really? The tower, chimney and colour choices didn’t do this house any favours. It is, however, one of my favourite markers on this route. (What you don’t see in this photo is the back yard. Lovely seating area and a hot tub. Okay, yeah I’m just jealous.)

Well it happens to be breakfast time and apatio just happens to be empty. Sure, let’s stop for a bite! It didn’t take long until the patio of the Marina d’Aylmer Restaurant to fill up. The food is basic but good and exactly what I wanted. Plus coffee. Is it just me, or does coffee really help when you’re riding? I have no pep before coffee.Don’t worry about finding the restaurant, the bike path leads you right to it. Right now there is construction blocking the path that forces you to ride in front of the patio. But once you’re at the marina, you’ll know it. (Hint: Before you reach the marina you ride through a bit of a residential area. Each time I’ve been here artists are set up displaying their works.

The artists are from the Centre d’Exposition l’Imaginer, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes contemporary visual arts in the Outaouais region. Stop and check out the Parc de l’Imaginaire too. It’s located directly behind the centre. It’s essentially an open-air art gallery. It’s full of bench sculptures!

On the other side of the marina is Parc de Cedres. It’s a great beach for swimming and relaxing and there’s a canteen and washrooms (but note, they don’t open until 11 a.m.). In one visit I saw a girl doing yoga, a guy practising martial arts, and someone kite surfing.

So many ways to enjoy the outdoors in summer!

The route continues up to Eardley Road but there isn’t anything up there. It’s part of the 40km but basically, we go up there to turn around – which is fun because it’s a pretty good hill to speed down (carefully!). Check out the map above on the MapMyRide site to see what kind of hill we’re talking about by hovering over the elevation chart.

Return the way you came, either back over the Champlain Bridge, or continue the mapped ride of the basic loop from part II of this series.

Until next time when we tour around Ottawa some more before another long-distance trek out to Carleton Place.

Thanks Laura! Laura will cycle across Vietnam in September to raise money for CARE Canada, an international humanitarian NGO whose work focuses on empowering women and girls in emerging nations. If you want to help, you can make a donation here.

What do you mean you’ve never been to a derby bout?

Laura Allardyce is a cultural observer with an overactive imagination, who is always insisting the glass is half full. She has lived in Ottawa her whole life and says she will only leave once she has smelled all the roses.

What do you mean you’ve never been to a derby bout? Have you seen the movie? You know the one with Ellen Page and the roller skates?

If you’ve never witnessed the storm that is a derby bout in Ottawa’s capital then you simply haven’t lived. Don’t pick the cheap seats when you go, sit right up front on the rink. Your next chance is this Saturday August 6!

That’s what I did when I went to my first derby bout the last time the Capital City Derby Dolls’ team The Dolly Rogers faced off against the Durham Region’s Derby Devils on June 4. I sat on the licensed side of the arena (derby bouts are sponsored by Beau’s Beer!) and had a great view of the action as each jam started.

Read up on the derby rules here but the basic gist of it is:

1. Each team gets into jam formation: pivots at the front, followed by the blockers, and the jammers at the back.
2. The referee blows the whistle to start the jam. The pack of pivots and blockers move. Second whistle lets the jammers go.
3. The jammers have to break through the pack. Whoever gets through first is lead jammer and can collect points for passing the other team’s pack members – without getting knocked down or off the track.

Not being a “sports fan” myself, I was a little embarrassed to find myself almost involuntarily yelling at the Dolls like a hockey mom to “hustle.” It’s also hard to keep the profanities in check. Yes, you’re watching a team with a pirate-themed name kick major @$$ but that’s no excuse to talk like a pirate. There are kids around. That’s right, it’s good old fashioned family fun. If your family is into competitive rough-housing women showing no mercy while demonstrating excellent sportsmanship and skill.

Here are the details of this weekend’s bout against the Toronto Rollergettes. I’m told this team is fierce and will definitely give our Dolls a run for it. We’re talking triple overtime, only the strong survive. Don’t miss it!

Roller Derby Bout – The Dolly Rogers vs. The Toronto Rollergettes

The details:

• Saturday 6 August ·  Doors open at 6:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. at Jack Charron Arena, 10 McKitrick Drive, in Kanata
• Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, $5 if you’re under 12 in advance, $6 at the door, FREE if you’re five or under in advance…and because you’re cute and little, it’s still free at the door.
• FREE PARKING.
• There’ll be a DJ playing sweet, sweet tunes.
• DECYPHER Clothing will be selling awesome derby stuff.
• Food, drinks, baked goods and CCDD merch

BAKED GOODS you say? Well it just so happens that I, your lovely guest blogger, will be selling said baked goods in support of my Cycle for CARE Vietnam 2011 fundraising. I’m cycling across Vietnam in September to raise money for CARE Canada. Come out for some wicked derby and show CARE some love with a donation for a sweet tax receipt or help yourself to a sweet treat to help CARE.

You can learn more about my ride and donate online here.

Cyclo Tourist Ottawa: Part II: River riding

Laura Allardyce is a cultural observer with an overactive imagination, who is always insisting the glass is half full. She has lived in Ottawa her whole life and says she will only leave once she has smelled all the roses. She is currently training for the ride of her life. And don’t forget to check out Part I of her LTOttawa Cyclo Tourist series.

Cyclo Tourist Laura Allardyce

I love cycling next to the water so I consider myself very lucky to live so close to the Ottawa River. But really, with 220 kilometres of bike paths in the Ottawa region, anyone can be close to water in fairly short order.  The following is my favourite ride because it’s only about 40 minutes (depending on your riding speed) and you stay on the water practically the entire time.

Ottawa River Parkway – Across Champlain Bridge at Island Park Drive – Through Parc Mousette – Across the Chaudière/Booth Street Bridge

Laura's favourite bike ride

This path contains some of my favourite things:

1. The old Prince of Whales train bridge. You may recall in the early days of LTOttawa, I wrote about the Prince of Whales Bridge. At the time I went across, it was considered trespassing. I’m happy to report that the giant gate blocking the bridge has been taken down. It seems we won the war. Be warned, however, if you attempt to walk across the whole bridge to the Gatineau side, you will be stopped by a QC cop stationed at the mouth. So don’t do it. But do wave hello when you bike by – the bike path takes you right by the officer guarding the bridge.
   
   

   The Prince of Wales Train Bridge

2. The rock piles – Though what they are, I’m not exactly sure. They used to be rocks piled like Inuksuit but now there’s a guy out there stacking them in whatever formation they will take. They’re still cool. And it’s one of the most perfect spots to watch the sunset. The rock piles are behind the Health Canada Tunney’s Pasture campus, between Little Chaudière Rapids and the lookout tower/parking lot.
   
   

   The rock piles behind Health Canada's campus at Tunney's Pasture

3. Champlain Bridge – What an amazing view. Stop and straddle the Ontario/Quebec border. One direction you can see far down river towards the Deschenes Rapids, the other way is a beautiful view of downtown Ottawa and the Chaudière. You can occasionally spot kayakers on the rapids by Bate Island (which you cross on Champlain Bridge and worth a detour to take a spin around).
   
   

   Champlain bridge

4. Parc Mousette – A small park with a beach. There’s also a baseball diamond, volleyball court, playground, and community building with washrooms, changing rooms, and outdoor showers. There isn’t a canteen like you will find at many public beaches but a quick trip up to Alexandre-Taché will reward you with a Dairy Queen and there’s a Quickie convenience store over by the baseball diamond.
   
   

   Parc Mousette

5. On your way out of Parc Mousette – You’ll pass some lovely water-front apartments on the left and run across this interesting statue on the right. Take a minute to go read the plaque and find out why he’s holding a cross and a canoe paddle. Intrigued?
   
   

   Parc Statue

6. Follow the path back into the woods – This is where the ride gets really fun. There are some steeper climbs that take some getting used to for the pre-season cyclist and a couple of excellent downhills that can be exhilarating. Use caution on steep hills with turns at the bottom though. There are signs on the pavement indicating upcoming steep incline and u-turns. I’m always tempted to blast down the hills without touching my brakes but then, not wanting to be thrown off the path down a cliff side or into on-coming cyclists, I think better of it. After going around Squaw Bay and down the river a bit, you arrive to find yourself at the other side of the train bridge where you get a great view of downtown Ottawa and the aforementioned QC cop gets a great view of you. (Say hello, they don’t bite).
   
   

   Beautiful downtown Ottawa

   

   The cop pretty much always stationed at the Prince of Wales train bridge

7. The path emerges onto Alexandre Taché – Exit the park on the path and stay right. Head down to the Chaudière Bridge (first lights, turn right). This is an easy bridge to cross in this direction because it is a single wide lane. I get slightly disoriented when I try to look at the water rushing under the bridge while riding – which is cool – but I’d recommend pulling over safely for any extended viewing. I snapped this picture of one of the old buildings on Philemon Island. Am I the only one who thinks that one open window is a little creepy?
   
   

   Philemon Island

Next time, we’ll take a trip out to Aylmer. You’re going to love it!

Laura will cycle across Vietnam in September to raise money for CARE Canada, an international humanitarian NGO whose work focuses on empowering women and girls in emerging nations. If you want to help, you can make a donation here.

Cyclo Tourist Ottawa: Part I

Laura Allardyce is a cultural observer with an overactive imagination, who is always insisting the glass is half full. She has lived in Ottawa her whole life and says she will only leave once she has smelled all the roses. She is currently training for the ride of her life.

Cycling in Ottawa. What comes to mind? Poorly planned bike lanes with concrete barriers on Laurier? Uncertainty about cycling road rules? The stress of dodging cars? Getting tickets for cycling on the sidewalk? If so, I’m here to help.

Cycling in Ottawa is not the giant headache that recent news reports would have you believe. Yes, people do run into accidents. Yes, cyclists have been ticketed. Yes, there are concrete barriers along the Laurier bike lane (it’s a pilot project; give it a shot and feedback to the City if you don’t like it).

The Ottawa-Gatineau region has more than 220 kilometres of bike paths, and living in the valley means they are relatively flat routes – so it’s easy for anyone to explore the National Capital Region on a bike. And now that Ottawa is equipped with Bixi bike stands in 10 locations, there are no excuses.

Over the coming weeks I’m going take you riding with me and help you discover Ottawa by what I believe is the best way to travel – two wheels, a seat, and some peddles.

Why did I start biking?

In 2006, a co-worker at the time was getting a team together for the Rona MS Bike Tour, and seeing as I am a compulsive joiner, I said, what the heck. That year I invested in a hybrid bicycle (great for city riding) and started training for the long-distance ride that would take the group from Ottawa to Kemptville and back the next day.

I became addicted. As someone who dreams of becoming a runner simply as a way of getting from point A to point B faster, a bike was the perfect solution. It’s an efficient machine that, if you use properly, does most of the work for you (granny gear for hills and higher gears for long flat stretches of road). Get yourself some panniers and you can easily commute to work, get groceries, or pack a picnic for a day-trip, just as examples.

Why am I still biking?

Aside from the reasons I’ve already stated, because I’m back in training mode for another charity ride. In September I’ll be joining a team of likeminded individuals from across Canada for the ride of our lives: A 400+ km cycling tour across Vietnam to raise money for the international humanitarian aid organization CARE Canada. CARE works with people in 82 countries and last year, nearly 11,300 staff (97% of which are from the country they’re working in) helped 87 million people. CARE’s work focuses on empowering women and girls because they are the greatest agents of change in their communities. I know I definitely feel empowered because of CARE — I wouldn’t be challenging myself to do this if it wasn’t for them.

So far since signing up for the Cycle for CARE Vietnam 2011 fundraiser in June, I’ve ridden over 260km and raised $1000 towards by goal of $3500. If you want to help you can donate online here. Or come to the Rock Show at the Rainbow (yes named as such because it rhymes), on Monday September 5^th at The Rainbow Bistro (tickets online here).

Interested in getting out there? Here are some helpful resources:

• NCC’s Cycling in Canada’s Capital Region
• Find a Biki near you 
• Plan your route with MapMyRide 
• Or try Ride with GPS 
• And of course, Google Maps has bike path instructions.

Google Maps is useful if you know where you want to go but are not sure about how to get there. Let it show you the possibilities then throw it into MapMyRide to get information about elevation and input updates about the terrain, how long it took, etc. AND you can share the route with your friends.

Which is what I will do for you. Next entry for LTO will show you my favourite ride to do in the city when I only have about an hour to spare. Later I’ll take you out to Aylmer with me. We’ll also go to Stittsville, Osgoode, Carleton Place, and Perth to name a few long distance options.

One challenge that I’ll need your help with (by way of encouragement – and donations perhaps?) is the uphill battle that is Gatineau Park. She is my Everest.

Until then fellow and future cyclo-tourists! 

The weekend warrior: Laura Allardyce on the old Prince of Wales train bridge

Laura Allardyce is a cultural observer with an overactive imagination that is always insisting the glass is half full. She has lived in Ottawa her whole life and says she will only leave once she has smelled all the roses.

Though LTOttawa does not condone her hooliganism, we certainly do condone her great storytelling. Thanks for your contribution, Laura!

It’s a certain kind of weekend warrior who clocks out at five and regresses into their adventurous youth.

It was to be an afternoon of playing snakes and ladders in the park with some friends. We rode our bikes to a spot behind the Canadian War Museum by the river for an end-of-summer lazy day in the sun. Somehow the talk turned to hooliganism (of the childish variety, not the rowdy soccer fan kind). In the near distance we could see the old Prince of Wales train bridge. Someone was walking across it. Was he suicidal?? That bridge doesn’t even have railings! There are just two waist high wires between you and a watery grave at the depths of the Ottawa River. And it was a windy day!

Now, maybe it was the snakes and ladders, maybe the heat of the day had popped the hooligan kernel that lay dormant in our adult minds planted by earlier talk of teenage badassery. Or maybe after a long week of working for the weekend, we were up for anything.

You know that old train bridge by the parkway? The tracks run under the road and the bike path parallel passes under it? That’s the Prince of Wales bridge, at least that’s what I assume the decrepit decaying sign above its entrance used to say. Now it says Ince of Wals. If you get off the bike path and walk up the hill, you can climb perilously around the chain link fence and walk across that bridge – which is exactly what we did.

In an adolescent flashback-fueled impulse, we morphed into hooligans, breakin’ the rules and being bad. We were trespassing and didn’t care! Like that scene in Stand By Me, only a train never came. There is a sidewalk next to the tracks that is about four-feet wide and not nearly wide enough for a weak swimmer with a fear of heights. The bridge is covered with graffiti and oil spots making it ghetto and gross, but awesome and dangerous if you’re a 27-year-old with an over-active imagination. The view is spectacular, down river towards the rapids with a setting sun one way and the downtown shoreline the other. That’s right, a shoreline. Just call me Snookie.

Okay, so it turns out that a bunch of people use that bridge, not just the suicidal maniac we witnessed earlier. He’s fine, if you’re wondering.

The bridge crosses the river with a break in the middle at Lemieux Island. What mysteries awaited us on this seemingly abandoned island? Maneuvering through more chain link, past dead bonfires, through bushes we prayed weren’t poison ivy, we made up stories of debauchery and human tragedy, of spirited triumph and regret.

Finally emerging from the brush into the clearing we realized what was an adventure to us was a regular Sunday to everyone else who found themselves at the Lemieux Island dog park…

The moral of the story is this: there are hidden treasures all over this city.

Sometimes you find them by consulting the NCC, sometimes you just have to take a chance and embrace you inner hooligan. The dog park is safely accessible from River Street, off of the parkway. Also on the Island is the Ottawa water filtration facility, a nice man-made pond complete with ducks and frogs, perfect to eat salsa and chips by, and multiple lookout spots to stop at and watch the river flow into the sleepy city like dream soup.

If that’s how you choose to see it.