Scott and Becky go East

What the heck is an S24O you ask? It’s a short overnight bike tour (S240 stands for Sub 24-hour Overnight) for those of us who can’t get away for anything longer. Since you are not gone for long, you don’t need to bring too much stuff and you need less time to prepare. Once your bike is kitted out, you can easily do an S24O on a weekend and still have time for the Sunday afternoon BBQ with friends. Russ Roca describes it well in his blog post here.

For our first S24O, we decided to go south to Manotick and the Rideau Canal, about 65 km each way. Preparation took longer than it should because all our all our gear was spread about the basement and the kitchen. Becky took advantage of having a kitchen and did all the prep work for dinner and breakfast – what a change from expedition cycling!

We finally managed to get our gear all packed up and were ready to go by 2:30 pm. We looked into the sky to see some pretty scary clouds and questioned our sanity. It was all very reminiscent of our first day touring, leaving late in the afternoon with thunderclouds in the sky. Fortunately, the clouds seem to be moving out of our away. Each time we approached one, it moved before we got too close, making for a beautiful ride on traffic free back roads.

On our route out we followed a bike route from the Eastern Ontario Recreation Map. We highly recommend this map for anyone riding from Kingston or Cornwall to Ottawa as it shows many different rural routes where you can enjoy the countryside with very little traffic. We didn’t use the map for the route home, and we regretted it.  The recommended route was much quieter and more relaxing.

Following along the canal, we took advantage of a policy that allows those arriving on bicycles to camp at the lock stations for minimal cost. We stopped and enjoyed dinner at the Burritt’s Rapids lock station, then continued on to Lower Nicholsons where we camped for the night, all for the princely sum of $4.90 per person.

We arrived an hour and a half before sunset, but as the sun was sinking the mosquitoes came out. Anyone working at the locks might not realize just how bad the mosquitoes can be, as the lock staff had all left before they came out to feast.  We quickly set up the tent and crawled in.  Once it got dark, the fireflies provided us with a show, lighting up in the field and trees in front of our tent. It was so nice to be camping out under the stars again!

Morning came early, as Scott had to be home by 1 pm for a meeting. Becky crawled out of the tent shortly after 6 a.m. and immediately became breakfast for the mosquitoes. The remnants of  mosquito coil we had bought in Malaysia, which did us well all last summer, seemed to have lost it’s potency. The mosquitoes were not all affected by it. Fortunately, Becky packed some DEET, so we were able to eat breakfast without getting too annoyed. By the time we packed up, all the mosquitoes had gone away – melted in the morning sun.

Our trip home turned out to be a physical challenge. Normally, 65 km would not have been a problem; however, that day Mother Nature decided to give us a 20km/hr headwind. We pushed ourselves and barely made it home in time. In the end Scott got to his meeting a little late, since a shower and a big lunch were necessary first.

Overall, it was a great trip and we’ll definitely do it again!

This year, we have decided to do the Ottawa Multiple Sclerosis Charity bike ride. The version we are doing is an overnight ride (80 km each way) from Ottawa to Kempville. We’ve done a couple of different short one-day ride events, but this will be our first overnight charity ride. We’ll be sure to let you know how it goes with a post or two about the ride.

Becky has an aunt with MS, and we both know people with the disease, so this is a cause close to our hearts. In addition to funding research, the MS Society of Canada provides support and services to help those living with this disease, their families and caregivers.

In order to participate, we both must raise a minimum of $250. We would greatly appreciate it if you could help with a donation.  Any amount helps. You can donate online by clicking our fundraising links below. An electronic tax receipt for your donation will be sent to you by e-mail.

• Donate to Scott’s ride
• Donate to Becky’s ride

If you are not comfortable donating online, get in touch with us, and we can arrange a donation by cash or cheque.

I had a little incident yesterday on my ride home from work, and upon reflection, it doesn’t matter that I was right. I just need to be more careful.

Most of my ride home involves side streets and bike paths, but there is a little stretch where I need to ride on a busy street. The more recently developed part of the street has a bike lane, but once you cross over to the older part you lose both the bike lane and the paved shoulder. Fortunately, I only need to ride about 300 meters on that stretch before I turn left onto a  side road.

So, I watch my mirror closely, waiting for a gap in the traffic both oncoming and from behind. I see my opportunity, as a car passes me, the next car has just made a right turn onto the street (about 250 meters back). I signal my left turn, then quickly pop into the left portion of the lane ready to make my left turn. I’m only in the lane for about 20 meters. There is no oncoming traffic, so I won’t be in the lane very long. I hear behind me screeching wheels and the car honks his horn. He never really got that close to me, and there was plenty of room on the right for him to pass me if he was approaching too quickly, but the whole thing rattle me (actually it didn’t rattle me, and I’m concerned that I should have been scared rather than angry). I’m guessing that he turned right and accelerated without seeing me, such that when he did see me he had to slow down quickly.

Either way, I realized that it doesn’t really matter if I was right. If he didn’t see me until the last minute and wasn’t able to slow down in time, I would have been in a very bad state. I can do everything correctly, but the driver will always “win” if an accident does occur.  Grumpy as that may make me feel, I will definitely be more careful making that left turn in the future.

It’s been a mild winter in Ottawa this year. We barely have any snow on the ground, and yet the cross country ski conditions have been amazing.  I’ve been out skiing more this year than ever – and I’m skiing longer distances more comfortably than ever before.

Last Sunday was a huge accomplishment for me – I skate skied up to Pink Lake in Gatineau park, a 6 km trip one way with 100-meters elevation gain.

When I reached the top of the hill huffing and puffing, I was rewarded with an amazing view. This picture is my proof that I did it!

We’ve always said, you can’t truly enjoy Ottawa in the winter if you don’t get outdoors. After skipping winter last year, we were happy to get back on our skis and check out the conditions in Gatineau park. So far, it hasn’t been a great year for snow, but the cross-country skiing has been pretty fabulous. A year of cycle touring has done wonders for our endurance too!

On weekends, we ski out to one of the many cabins for a nice dinner by the wood stove. Our favourite cabin looks out onto the Ottawa valley from above. Often we will sit at the window at night and trace out the river by following the winding darkness between the lights of the farmsteads.  The flickering orange light of the fire shines through the glass door of the wood stove, and we sit and watch the dancing shadows as we warm our toes and our dinner.

Skiing in the moonlit quiet is a magical experience, but daytime skiing is wonderful too – and it permits photographs.

Scott climbing a hill in Gatineau Park on a bright sunny day.