Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour, June 7-8, 2003
A bike journey where the path is marked doesn’t lend itself to a typical trip narrative. Or rather the sort of narrative it lends itself to would go sort of like this: I got on the bike in Ottawa. I started pedalling. I turned when they said turn. When I got to Kingston, I stopped. The next day, I got on the bike and came back.
Not exactly gripping stuff. So instead I’m going to try to capture some of what one thinks about when spending six and a bit hours on the bike.
Why riding solo is good:
- unlimited nostril clearances
- fart breaks permitted
- pace can be as erratic as you want
- too tired to talk anyway
Things to do while spending six hours on your bike
- roadkill count
- pedal
- roadkill id quiz: frog or turtle? Groundhog or rabbit?
- pedal
- drink
- pain inventory: lost the knee pain, gained back pain, feet holding steady
- pedal
- contemplate reason for disappearing pain in knee (I mean, how often does that happen, and how can I repeat it?)
- drink
- pedal
- invent saddle-bound stretching exercises
- pedal
- listen to the sound of the bike. Is that a rattle? And why only in that gear? What’s that click?
- drink
- pedal
Questions one asks:
- Why are the last five km before a tour rest stop the deadliest?
- Am I going to puke?
- Will I be able to turn the keys in my apartment door?
- Is it okay to take another butt break?
Gear hits:
- new shoes: doing this two years ago, my feet were in agony. With more rigid soles (and Look pedals, maybe?) my feet barely bothered me.
- the bike: Schwinn Supersport GTX. Shame they got turned into a Canadian Tire brand. There and back without a hitch.
- bananas: what more can you say?
Gear misses:
- second pair of shorts: for day two. Chafing. Yuk.
- longer stem: maybe? Didn’t experience back pain last time. Did this time. Would a longer stem make it easier to stretch out? Felt hunched over like a rabbit eating a carrot most of the time.
- waterproof yet pouchable rain jacket: the MEC Bernoulli thing is a great creation but it’s not portable, tying it around my waist on day one was such a drag that I thought I’d risk not having it with me on day two.
- clif bars: will I ever eat one of those things on the tour?
- saddle: is there one out there that doesn’t induce genital numbness in males?
- the truck they used to transport the luggage: broke down in Kingston. Wasn’t scheduled to arrive in Ottawa before 6pm.
Songs singing in my head:
- Merry Blues, La Chinita, others from Manu Chao, Esperanza
- 30 minutes to go, Johnny Cash
- Lurijta Way, Midnight Oil
- No woman no cry, Bob Marley and the Bill Laswell Dreams of Freedom remix
- Rain Squall, Richard Buckner
Revelations:
When it’s mind over matter, mind matters
Yes, the Perth-Kingston stretch is more demanding physically, but Ottawa-Perth is psychologically deadly (especially the return). Too many long stretches sloping gently up away from you. The visual manifestation of what all you haven’t travelled yet is just too much.
With the curves and dips of the Old Perth Road, you’re focussed on your immediate universe of road, and with every turn there’s a new landmark that shows you your progress: the house with the concrete wall where the residents sit with a hose spraying riders (on request) on sunny days, the funny Appaliacha-esque hillside cattle farm, Books in the woods, Christie Lake Road (half way!), etc etc.
I am not an athlete
I don’t say this to encourage anyone reading this page to sign up for the RLCT. They say you should ride 1000km to prepare for it. And they’re right. This is not a boilerplate assertion designed to protect the club from litigation. It’s serious.
So if you don’t think you could ride 1000km, don’t do this. I have actually cycled a lot, (though not enough this year, and I felt it), and this is the third time I’ve done the tour. But there were times when riding just felt like abuse.
I reckon I’m somewhere in the middle of the pack.
There are people on this ride who are serious athletes. As in: it’s what they do. Like this woman I call the pink blur. She and her partner blew by me about three times on the way to Kingston. Each time she was pulling him, each time I had a multi-minute lead on them, and she ate it up. When I got to Kingston I saw her dressed up in jogging clothes, chatting with friends about her plans to go for a run. I left earshot before I heard how far. There’s only so much I can take. For my part I got my bag, staggered to my room and literally collapsed until dinner time.
In contrast, there are people, like this guy Bob who started riding the RLCT when he was 50 and thirteen years later he and his group are still riding it. He says they like to start early and take it easy so that they’ve still got enough energy to enjoy a beer when they get there.
But even with that relaxed approach they train together. They prepare for it.
So if like me, you like to ride but don’t fancy yourself an athlete, you will need to get to a certain stage of fit before you attempt this. If you can’t or won’t do that, don’t sign up for the Rideau Lakes Tour.
Stats:
| Ottawa-Kingston | |
| Left Ottawa: | 6:45am |
| Arrived Kingston: | 2:10pm |
| Travel time: | 7 hours, 25 mins |
| Moving time: | 6 hours, 40 mins |
| Max speed: | 65.3 km/h (guess where) |
| Average speed: | 26.5 km/h |
| Distance | 177.42 km |
| Kingston-Ottawa | |
| Travel time (from chronometer on watch – I left Kingston about the same time as I left Ottawa): | 6 hours, 58 minutes |
| Moving time: | 6 hours, 22 minutes (how does that happen) |
| Max: | 55.2 km/h (and loving it) |
| Average speed: | 27.8 km/h (you’d never know it) |
| Distance: | 177.18 km |
Gratitude:
Irene Jansen, my love and my self-underrating cycle partner who nipped by Carleton on her way back from Kemptville to pick up my back pack.
The Ottawa Bicycle Club and specifically Rosemarie Gerber: the Club because it’s an amazing event and a very large undertaking, but they pull it off with ease. Tons of volunteers, support and no glitches. Rosemarie Gerber (who I’ve never met) because I lost my letter and she was kind enough to send me another one.
