Posted by Les Faber in Ottawa is a wonderful city to cycle in! We are blessed with an excellent network of cyclepaths that cross over the river into the Province of Quebec.
My wife Helen and I joined the Kanata Nepean Bicycle Club earlier on this year. But have been unable to take advantage of the great variety of rides the group holds frequently throughout the cycling season.
(Here’s Helen just before we started our trek).
The group convened at Centrepointe at exactly 10 AM. Helen and I were welcomed by some very nice people who made us feel right at home (immediately). We were a group of about 12 cyclists (I forgot to count).
The concept they utilize is great: Someone who knows where we are going leads, while a “sweeper” makes sure any stragglers don’t get lost or left behind.
Everything went quite well until we crossed the Champlain Bridge into Quebec. For some reason the group split and half of us went west instead of east (I was in the group that went West). It took us a while until we realized that we were going the wrong way. The funny part is that I was just chatting with Barry (seen below in yellow giving firm directions) about how I loved organized tours as they took away the worries of knowing where to go.
All ended well as we caught up to the main group after a 45 minute delay (thank goodness for cellphones).
We continued on to Pointe Gatineau where the group stopped for a nice lunch in a little Resto Bar by the shores of the Ottawa River. That’s me below (too many beers this week).
After lunch we continued on our journey which ended up to be rainy all the way back to Ottawa.
Pic of Helen below (pre rain)
All in all a great trip. Somewhere around 60 kilometers (when you include the detour we took!).
Thanks to everyone at the KNBC for making us feel so welcome on our first outing!
