Now that we are back in town, it was time to go biking with a select few from "The Wheels of Fortune", Glen Cairn United Church's cycling group. The group has divided into two sections: the really keen bicyclists who are registered for next weekends long distance cycling event of over 100 kms, and the recreational cyclists. The former group aims to have a base of 1000km in before the event. The latter want to just have fun. Anne and I belong to the latter group.
For today's outing, the former group were meeting at 8 00 am and tackling one of the steepest hills in the area as "training." Our group aimed to start at 9 30 am fior a leidurely ride on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River.
While our group was small in number we did enjoy ourselves. Reaching the starting point, the parking lot by the bike trail on the NW side of the Champlain Bridge, proved to be a bit of a chore. The "Ride for Dad" motor cycle event was taking place on the Sir John A. MacDonald Parkway and the Champlain Bridge was closed to through traffic. It was only when we reached the National Archives in downtown Ottawa that we were able to find an open bridge to cross over the river to the Gatineau side. This unplanned detour took us an extra 15 minutes of driving to get to our planned starting point.
The trio above are the companions for the ride that graced this activity today.
The Ottawa River was very full. Some sections of the trail showed evidence of recent flooding. We did have to bypass one sign, "Voie barre". as we rode to the Aylmer marina.
On the way back over the Champlain Bridge we did notice kayakers enjoying standing waves such as the ones above. Quiet, gentle and paved bike trails are more our style.
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