rides in the Ottawa/Gatineau area & beyond - new website

This is to announce the launch of an entirely new website about
cycling
in and around the Ottawa/Gatineau area. The web site features
detailed
articles, easy to understand maps, and numerous photos of a good
number
of bicycle rides, paths, and routes in the national capital region.
These include
the paths around town as well as rides to such nearby places as the
Gatineau
Hills and Carleton Place.

The website also provides considerable material about several
destinations
outside the Ottawa/Gatineau area. These include articles about riding
among
the wineries of Prince Edward County next to Lake Ontario and cycling
the
Laurentians on the famous "P'tit train du Nord" trail.

This website's primary focus is road biking and touring. It is
generally aimed
at people who are relatively new to cycling or new to the Ottawa-
Gatineau
region, although the descriptions of some of the rides and tours may
be of
interest to more experienced cyclists.

This web site is a non-commercial initiative by Michael McGoldrick.
The
URL for this new website about cycling is:

http://mcgoldrick.ca/bike/

Thank you.

For anyone who has not ridden in Ottawa, you are missing out on a really
beautiful experience. My wife and I traveled from Long island, New York and
rode the Rideau Canal two Septembers ago and were bowled over by the whole
experience.

I'm not familiar with many of the routes on this site, but I am sure they
must be as awesome as the Rideau Canal path. Dowtown Ottawa is also a great
place to visit. I highly recommend visiting this site...and visiting
Ottawa!

Tom M www.geocities.com/NYRides

wrote in message
...

This is to announce the launch of an entirely new website about
cycling
in and around the Ottawa/Gatineau area. The web site features
detailed
articles, easy to understand maps, and numerous photos of a good
number
of bicycle rides, paths, and routes in the national capital region.
These include
the paths around town as well as rides to such nearby places as the
Gatineau
Hills and Carleton Place.

The website also provides considerable material about several
destinations
outside the Ottawa/Gatineau area. These include articles about riding
among
the wineries of Prince Edward County next to Lake Ontario and cycling
the
Laurentians on the famous "P'tit train du Nord" trail.

This website's primary focus is road biking and touring. It is
generally aimed
at people who are relatively new to cycling or new to the Ottawa-
Gatineau
region, although the descriptions of some of the rides and tours may
be of
interest to more experienced cyclists.

This web site is a non-commercial initiative by Michael McGoldrick.
The
URL for this new website about cycling is:

http://mcgoldrick.ca/bike/

Thank you.

"Papa Tom" wrote in message
...
For anyone who has not ridden in Ottawa, you are missing out on a really
beautiful experience. My wife and I traveled from Long island, New York
and rode the Rideau Canal two Septembers ago and were bowled over by the
whole experience.

I'm not familiar with many of the routes on this site, but I am sure they
must be as awesome as the Rideau Canal path. Dowtown Ottawa is also a
great place to visit. I highly recommend visiting this site...and
visiting Ottawa!

Tom M

what time of the year do you recommend visiting this area?

Pat in TX

what time of the year do you recommend visiting this area?

We were there in September. We stopped, first, in Toronto and rode both the
bikeway along Lake Ontario and on Toronto Island. Then we skipped over to
Ottawa and rode the canal. It's a beautiful time of year up there; still
warm during the day and comfy at night.

If you go to Ottawa, be sure to visit the Byward Market. There are some
great outdoor cafes and restaurants, plus a fun Irish festival sometime in
September. We had dinner at Tucker's Marketplace, the absolute best buffet
restaurant I've ever been to, anywhere in my travels!

The riding in Ottawa (and Toronto, if you've got some Air Canada miles
tucked away, like we did) is very low-impact, so don't go there looking to
hammer away at the pavement. Riding along the canal in September, you will
likely see some really awesome (thanks for the adjective, George W)
landscaping, not only on private property, but around commercial buildings
as well.

During our Rideau ride, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant on the water for
lunch. The scenery was great, but the food was, eh..just OK.

There's a little more on Ottawa (and Toronto and Montreal) riding on my site
at www.geocities.com/NYRides if you go to the "Out-Of-Town" page and look
for Canada. However, my guess is that the website created by the person who
started this thread is a better resource.

But, hey, Pat...I see you're asking questions about rides all over the world
these days. How much riding do you plan to DO in this one lifetime?

(Just kidding. I start getting very ambitious this time of year, too!) TM

But, hey, Pat...I see you're asking questions about rides all over the
world these days. How much riding do you plan to DO in this one lifetime?


(Just kidding. I start getting very ambitious this time of year, too!)
TM

I am always looking for good suggestions on places to ride. I guess it is
because I bought that Bike Friday that I want to get my money's worth! I
think I'll do the Katy trail in May and save the C&O for fall...unless I go
to Toronto, of course!

Pat in TX who wouldn't try Mexican food in...Canada.

[Cross-posted to ont.bicycle in an attempt to stir up some traffic in
a nearly moribund group.]

On Apr 21, 2:22*pm, "Pat" wrote:
But, hey, Pat...I see you're asking questions about rides all over the
world these days. *How much riding do you plan to DO in this one lifetime?


(Just kidding. *I start getting very ambitious this time of year, too!)
TM

I am always looking for good suggestions on places to ride. I guess it is
because I bought that Bike Friday that I want to get my money's worth! I
think I'll do the Katy trail in May and save the C&O for fall...unless I go
to Toronto, of course! *

I'm a bicycle commuter in Ottawa from early spring to late autumn
(effectively April Fools' Day to the Feast of Saint Barbara). I find
the multiple-use paths alongside the Rideau Canal too lumpy for the
speed at which I travel, so I ride either on Colonel By Drive or the
Queen Elizabeth Driveway. It is scenic and the roadway is broad enough
to accomodate both motor vehicles and bikes comfortably.

May and early June, and September and early October are the optimum
times to visit, since the weather is less humid and the roads are not
as cluttered with tourists. July and August can be intensely
uncomfortable because of the humidity.

If you're into hilly rides, Gatineau Park across the Ottawa River is
fun, and the vista from Champlain Lookout in the morning when the sun
is over your shoulder allows you to see about 30 miles up the Ottawa
Valley.

Pat in TX who wouldn't try Mexican food in...Canada.

Can't say I blame you: here it does not have enough variety nor enough
spice.

There are restaurants in the Ottawa area that have Canadian cooking
such as the Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro on the Market, le Bacarra in
the Hull casino, and l'Orée du Bois and les Fougères in Old Chelsea.
As available, all of those will have dishes based on duck, goose,
bison, caribou, wapiti, moose and white-tailed deer.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO

Pat in TX who wouldn't try Mexican food in...Canada.

Can't say I blame you: here it does not have enough variety nor enough
spice.

There are restaurants in the Ottawa area that have Canadian cooking
such as the Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro on the Market, le Bacarra in
the Hull casino, and l'Orée du Bois and les Fougères in Old Chelsea.
As available, all of those will have dishes based on duck, goose,
bison, caribou, wapiti, moose and white-tailed deer.
--
Andrew Chaplin

Nothing personal about the Mexican food. I learned that lesson from ordering
pizza in Lisbon. What WAS I thinking? Oh well, lesson learned! (Once, I
ordered pizza in Berlin and to my surprise, the waiter cracked a raw egg on
top of it at the table, said, "Bon Appetit!" and left me sitting there with
my mouth gaping.)

How's the pizza in Ottawa? grin

Pat in TX

On Apr 22, 12:18*pm, "Pat" wrote:
Pat in TX who wouldn't try Mexican food in...Canada.

Can't say I blame you: here it does not have enough variety nor enough
spice.

There are restaurants in the Ottawa area that have Canadian cooking
such as the Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro on the Market, le Bacarra in
the Hull casino, and l'Orée du Bois and les Fougères in Old Chelsea.
As available, all of those will have dishes based on duck, goose,
bison, caribou, wapiti, moose and white-tailed deer.
--
Andrew Chaplin

Nothing personal about the Mexican food. I learned that lesson from ordering
pizza in Lisbon. What WAS I thinking? Oh well, lesson learned! (Once, I
ordered pizza in Berlin and to my surprise, the waiter cracked a raw egg on
top of it at the table, said, "Bon Appetit!" and left me sitting there with
my mouth gaping.)

How's the pizza in Ottawa? *grin

helmets on, incoming war story TINS:
In 1992, I was a UN military observer in Beirut. I was standing duty
one evening when a Swedish colleague came in to say, "Guess what!
There is a great new pizza place and English-style pub down the street
opened up by two guys from Canada." I went to investigate and, sure
enough, it was a pair of brothers who had grown up in Ottawa during
the Lebanese civil war, who liked Ottawa pizza and pubs so much they
brought business plans for both back home. All my co-workers remarked
that it was the best pizza they had met in the Middle East.
/helmets

If you are here, try that of the Colonnade or Gabriel's. I work on
Parliament Hill and, when we order in pizza, we call the Colonnade.
The pages subsist on it.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO