Hi all,
You'll have gathered that we're a bit obsessed with the weather here in Canada ('cepting folks 'crost the Western Mountains, who regard it as largely a benign force -- 'least, that's what they tell us Easterners), so I'm happy to report that spring has at last appeared in Ottawa. In the past 10-12 days, I've made three rides -- two short rides in Ottawa and surrounds sandwiching a longer day ride, a 125-km loop south of the city along the Rideau River. The photos in the link below show the neighbourhood in early spring. (Well, it's "early spring" in climatic terms; it's about 3-4 weeks late on the calendar, and the usual signs of spring, like bird poo on the car, are scant. The Canada Geese in the photo beside the Ottawa River are part of a handful which have wintered here. I have no idea why they are so fat.)
Here's the link to the photos from the rides:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aj28v82m6t319w9/AAB9EkGPSxi0sTPFk-smATsba?dl=0The rides begin with a two-hour circuit of the city, along the Ottawa River on the Québec side, returning to the Ontario side downtown near Parliament, where the Rideau Canal locks step down to the Ottawa River, and then home along the Canal and through the Experimental Farm. (We're privileged to have a big, publicly-owned working farm in the middle of the city. Early in the 20th century, a researcher there discovered the Red Fife wheat cross which he named Marquis wheat. This anchored the grain economy of of the prairie provinces in the first half of the last century.)
A couple of days after my river ride within the city, I did a mid-week day ride south and west along the Rideau River, down to the countryside near David Simpson's relatives in Kemptville. There was a strong SW breeze on my quarter on a sunny cool day, and after an hour's ride took me beyond the suburban sprawl, I enjoyed quiet rural roads next to the river. I was looking forward to the south-westerly giving me a tailwind home after lunch, but the weather gods had other ideas. The Rideau makes a right-angle turn to the west about 25 kms south of Ottawa, and in late morning, I turned into what all-of-a-sudden was a
very stiff northwester. "Sunny and cool" became "sunny and cold", and I was glad I had my cross-country skiing jacket, lined rain booties, and fullfinger gloves :-(
The day turned into something of a slog, despite its beauty. I spent about 80 of my 125-plus kms battling headwinds, sometimes strong enough that I was down into 6th gear on the Rohloff -- this, on flat ground! (A photo shows that furry locals were indifferent to my struggles.) I'd figured that I'd be on the road for about 7 hours or so, in the saddle for maybe 6 hours ... I reached home quite knackered a full 9 hours after setting out, sandwiches and snacks all hoovered up by mid-afternoon, and my two litres of water finished about half a kilometre from home. A long hot shower and a couple of cups of strong Yorkshire tea did the necessary restoration, however.
This past Wednesday, finally, I made my first ride of the year up into the Gatineau Hills across the river in West Québec. There's a nice regular ride I take covering a loop of 55 - 75 kms. The day was more like November than April, cold, grey, wet and windy. Following Dan's review of the new-ish Rohloff "lightwave" shifter, I had installed one the day before, and wanted to try that out, so I ignored the cruddy weather, for a while at least. As I climbed into the hills, the rain got a bit heavier, so I muttered, "Why
choose to do this?" and decided to cut the loop short, stopping at the first summit and lookout, Pink Lake, about 20 kms from my home. The last photos in the group show the pallid colours of the countryside.
Osi the Raven worked well in throughout the different conditions of the rides -- no fuss or bother from brakes, lighting, chain, saddle, tires, fenders/mudflaps (all as expected),
and the new shifter worked well. I took care to add a light coating of grease to the O-ring and the inside of the shifter tube, and gave the interface between cable pulley and Thorn T-bar a wee squirt of Boeshield T-9. I eased off the cable tension a bit as well. The result was an easier shift, and the slightly fatter new shifter fitted my hand and "doorknob" grip quite nicely as well.
In a couple of months' time, I'll post some photos of a forest road in the Gatineau Park, retracing a X-country skiing route from mid-Feb -- the contrast between mid-winter and mid-summer is dramatic.
Safe riding all, John
