The Passionate Biker

 

Thurs. 3 December:  The Passionate Biker

 

 

Just one year ago, the Passionate Hiker was walking all over the place, without a care in the world.  Today, he is looking back on a year very unlike any other – and he’s not referring to the Pandemic. 

 In the middle of January he woke up with a sore back, and from that point, he has not been able to manage one hike, apart from walking to and from a procession of back specialists and physiotherapists and chiropractors and massage places, so far without success.

 Yet strangely, he found that he could ride a bike without any pain.  This turned into an obsession.  During the months of June through November, now rebranded as The Passionate Biker, he has achieved these statistics:

• Number of bike rides:  50
• Distance Travelled:     1,509.7 km
• Time on Trail:              135 hrs. 52 mins.
• Av. Dist. Per trip:         30.2 km
• Average speed:           11.1 km/hr.

These were almost without exception rail trails.  During these six months, The Passionate Biker has travelled the full length of these trails, in both directions:

• The 102 km Cataraqui Trail between Smiths Falls and Strathcona
• The 165 km K&P Trail between Kingston and Renfrew
• The 97 km Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail (OVRT) between Smiths Falls and McBride Road, north of Renfrew, plus the 17km section between Pembroke and Petawawa (and has explored by car/bike the mostly unbikeable 52 km section between McBride Road and Pembroke).
• The 27 km CN Trail between Arnprior and Renfrew
• The first 75 km of the Glen Tay-Havelock Trail, between Glen Tay and Kaladar, plus the 6 km section of road from home to Glen Tay
• The 23 km CN Trail between Carleton Place and Stittsville 

And he has repeated several sections of these routes more than once.

He also biked a 23 km circuit of the Rideau Canal and Rideau River pathways in Ottawa.

These statistics don’t include many shorter bike rides around the streets of Perth.

About half these trips were solo, but the author would like to express his gratitude to his long-time hiking - now biking - colleague D for accompanying him on many fine trips (traveling in separate vehicles to trailheads near and far), and turning this from a disaster into a memorable year.  Much good conversation took place along the way, and not a few ice creams or treats were enjoyed, from handy establishments that were encountered, and could not be resisted.

And not one single puncture between the two of us – a special vote of thanks to Heritage Bikes of Perth who worked miracles on both my hybrid and mountain bikes during the season.  They made this all possible.

So there’s hope yet, perhaps, that one day this author’s hiking colleagues will see him back out on the trails for hikes, and joining in the maintenance parties, especially when we’re all filled with anti-Covid vaccines!

Note: the author deliberately left his good camera behind, so he could be “in the moment” the whole time.  The reader may refer to earlier blog entries for some good pictures of these routes.

 

The OVRT: Beyond Renfrew

 

Fri. 11 September:  The OVRT:  Beyond Renfrew

Waterfront Park, Pembroke, looking out to the Ottawa River.
Pembroke was my main base of operations today

 Hard to believe, but the multi-use Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail (the OVRT) has been open a couple of years now.  I wonder how many people have bicycled all the way from Smiths Falls to Renfrew and back (roughly 93 km each way), not necessarily in one day?  Perhaps quite a few.

 But then how many people have tried to cycle “beyond Renfrew” on the OVRT/Algonquin Trail?   Probably not many.  Especially since the stone dust surface soon gives way to ballast, just a couple of kilometres or so past the Bonnechere River bridge, at McBride Road.  Even for a mountain bike, it’s just about impossible to cycle on the rough ballast surface.

 It’s about fifty two kilometres along the OVRT from McBride Road to Pembroke.  Today I explored the route, accessing just about every point of interest along the line, including several river bridges.  With one short exception in Cobden, it’s all ballast cover.  The Renfrew County folks told me that future stone dusting work will depend on available budgets.  I look forward to biking into Pembroke one day, but it won’t be this year.

 In Pembroke, at Algonquin College, the bikeable trail restarts, and heads in long straight stretches to Portage Road in Petawawa, a distance of about sixteen kilometres.  Here the good surface ends, but you can pick up a beautiful biking trail which crosses the Petawawa River then winds through the woods up to Paquette Road.  I didn’t explore any further today.

 It’s well worth the journey between Pembroke and Petawawa, especially with the Waterfront Park beside the Ottawa River at one end, and the spectacular Petawawa River at the other.

 Perhaps one day I’ll be able to bike up the trail all the way to Mattawa, about 134 kilometres beyond Petawawa.  I hope so. 

 Since I was in Pembroke, I spent an enjoyable couple of hours exploring all the railway lines that once passed through, and around, the town.  None of these is suitable for bicycles.  They belong to the motorized brigades - at least for now!

 Enjoy these snapshots of today’s adventures.

Note:  I use N and S as the general directions, although in reality it is closer to NW and SE

 

McBride Rd. at Hwy 60 looking North: end of bikeable section

Not bikeable: Butler Rd/Hwy 60 looking S.

At Astrolabe Rd., Cobden: good surface through the town

Poff Rd. looking N.  I biked 400m to Snake River....

...Snake River from OVRT bridge...

...and on the bridge, view N.

Muskrat River bridge N of  Hwy 17 crossing

From here into Pembroke (about 10 km) the route is closed....

...as this barrier and sign make clear.

The Muskeg R. bridge in Pembroke looking out to the Ottawa River

Algonquin College, Pembroke....

...here the biking trail restarts, view N.

Long straight stretches heading north

Views of the Quebec hills off to the right

Big lumber operation north of Achray Rd.

Approaching Petawawa:  7 or 8 kms still to go.

Petawawa River bridges, looking N.

Petawawa River

The biking bridge

Looking back to the rail bridge

Limit of today's travels at Paquette Rd. looking back down the trail

Racing back to Pembroke

Just S. of TV Tower Rd the CN connector branches off to the right

Here is the S end of the CN connector line at  Bruham Rd.,  view S.

100m further S looking N, the main CN line on L and CN connector on R.

CN line crosses Boundary Rd E heading S

CN line heading towards Beachburg: ballast surface the whole way.

Pembroke railways: 1915.
Red = CP, Blue = CN, Black = Grand Trunk
(from "Tracing the Lines" by Brian Gilhuly - 2015 - an excellent publication)

My own rough map of railways within Pembroke

There and (sore) Back: The Cataraqui Trail

June 1-17:  There and (sore) Back: The Cataraqui Trail

Sydenham Lake from the Cataraqui Trail

These days the Passionate Hiker cannot hike, but he has discovered that he can do some gentle bike riding.  So wishing to test the limits, on June 1^st he made a hopeful start at the north end of the Cataraqui Trail in Smiths Falls, with the idea of seeing how far he might get, over the next few weeks.  The first trip was a tentative seven kilometres down the trail and back again.  So far so good.  

Just over two weeks - and eight more trips - later, he had completed the whole 102 km trail, there and back.  And he felt none the worse for his adventure – although his back is no better. 

Here are the basic statistics:

Total dist. biked          = 204.7 km

Number of legs           = 9

Time on trail               = 19 hrs. 19 mins.

Av. dist. each trip        = 22.7 km

Av. speed                    = 10.6 km/hr.

No records broken, but a point made:  The Passionate Hiker can still get out there and enjoy the outdoors, even if it’s a gentle bike ride.

If you haven’t explored the Cataraqui Trail yet, or a few years have slipped by since you last did so, then this is a very good time to get out there and set your own outdoor goals.

A battered point-and-shoot camera managed to capture the magic of this trail, as these photos show. 

Alcohol available - took drugs (Robaxacet)!

Kilometre 1 and so far so good

Luckily few people on this trail

Ever-changing scenery.  here: swamps....

...and then here: woodland

Problems with my hybrid bike: next trip I switched to my mountain bike (good choice)

Little Lake (km 36)

Swamps east of Chaffeys Lock

I disturbed this family of Canada geese

High level bridge at Chaffeys Lock: Indian Lake

Site of old trestle bridge, west of Indian Lake Road

Here the Rideau Trail turns north towards Ottawa

Around the 50 km mark

Deer right beside the trail

I was JUST able to ram on the brakes to avoid running over this snake

Turtle probably busy laying eggs right on the trail

Tiger lily adds some colour

Approaching MacGillivray Road

East of Maple Leaf Road

This family took to the water as I carefully approached

Sydenham Lake and a small railway bridge.  There are two major river crossings at Chaffeys Lock and Yarker.

A stiff westerly breeze today

At the junction with the K&P Trail, east of Harrowsmith (km 76+)

West of Harrowsmith: here the K&P turns right (north) and I continued straight on.

An overgrown section west of Colebrook Road

Almost there

Gentle downhill gradient as I speed west to Strathcona (end of trail)

West of Strathcona the last section of line to Napanee is 'out of bounds'

Here at Napanee the line crosses the 401 Highway:  looking NE towards Strathcona.
Perhaps the trail may one day be extended to Napanee VIA Station?  I hope so.