Contents
- - Suddenly Skiing!
- - Boxing Day Biking with the Ottawa Social Meetup Group
- - Hiking to Shilly Shally
- - Skating with the Ottawa Social Meetup Group
- - More Biking with the Ottawa Social Meetup Group
- - Biking with the Ottawa Social Meetup Group
- - Skating on the Rink of Dreams
- - Hernia Surgery
- - Last Bike Ride of the Season
- - Last Sail of the Season
- - Biking to the Mackenzie King Estate
- - Biking to Pink Lake
- - Bluesfest
- - Light Wind Sailing
- - Biking
- - Sailing
- - Rideau Falls and Rideau Hall
- - First Sail of the Summer
- - Scotfree's Mast Raising
- - - Holiday in Quebec City
- - At Andrew Haydon Park
- - Launching Scotfree
- - At The Canadian Tulip Festival
- - Three Years Without a Haircut
- - Ruth's Tulips Return
- - Tulips at Hogs Back Falls
- - Long Distance Cycle Picnic
- - Painting Season Starts
- - First Cycle Picnic of the Spring
- - Cycling Season Starts
- - April Skating
- - Skating on the Rideau Canal Before the Big Thaw
- - - Ski Weekend
- - Skating on the Rideau Canal
- - Skiing on the Watt's Creek Pathway
- - At the Canadian War Museum
- - Cross Country Skiing on The Osgoode Pathway
- - First Cross Country Skiing in 2015
- - At the RIA Artist Project Exhibition
Click to enlarge photos, hover for caption
Suddenly Winter!
On 29 December 2015, Ottawa recieved over a foot of snow and suddenly it was time for skiing.
Boxing Day Biking with the Ottawa Social Meetup Group
Today was sunny and +2°C with no snow still, so the the Ottawa Social meetup group organized one last 35 km ride today before a freezing rain storm arrived. The ride was from Billings Bridge to circumnavigate Lac Leamy and back. With my commute there and back I biked about 47 km total.
The snow in some of the photos was actually a pile outside a hockey arena in Gatineau that was dumped by the ice-smoothing Zamboni. We just posed on it for effect.
Winter is on the way, so this will be the last ride until spring time.
Hiking to Shilly Shally
With a high of +6°C, today was a great day for a hike in Gatineau Park, so my friend Leanne and I hiked up for lunch at Shilly Shally cabin.
Skating with the Ottawa Social Meetup Group
I thought indoor ice skating would be fun with all the warm weather we are having, so I organized an Ottawa Social meetup for skating.
More Biking with the Ottawa Social Meetup Group
It was +12°C and sunny today, so I was out biking once again with the Ottawa Social meetup group and did a fast-paced 32 km today, plus my commute there and back for 44 km total.
Biking with the Ottawa Social Meetup Group
Who knew we would still be biking at this time of year? It was +9°C and sunny today with no snow anywhere here, so I joined the Ottawa Social meetup group and did a fast-paced 30 km bike ride today, plus my commute there and back for 42 km total.
Skating on the Rink of Dreams
This evening I went skating on Ottawa's outdoor artificially-cooled ice rink at Marion Dewer Plaza in front of City Hall. It is a good thing it is artificially-cooled, too, as it was +3°C outside! The Rink of Dreams has coloured lights in the boards that change colour as you can see in my video.
Hernia Surgery
Today was the federal election, but also my day for hernia surgery at the Queensway Carleton Hospital. I voted in an advanced poll. Lynn came with me for moral support and snapped this photo when we arrived at the facility. The surgery was quick and successful. Louis gave us both a ride to my place and then Cyndy joined us for dinner and an election party.
I saw my surgeon for a follow-up appointment on 10 November 2015 and he indicated that my recovery has been pretty much "ideal", mostly due to the training I did to get in optimal shape prior to the surgery.
Last Bike Ride of the Season
The weather forecast indicates snow flurries for this weekend and, as I head into surgery for a hernia soon, this will probably be my last bike ride until spring. I had a great biking summer, covering probably about 6000 km.
Last Sail of the Season
Today marked the last day of sailing for the crew of Scotfree for the 2015 sailing season. I managed to sail 15 times this summer. Our last sail was a great voyage, with 15 knots of wind, we had full sail up.
Biking to the Mackenzie King Estate
Since we are still doing trips as friends, today Lynn and I decided to try one of our more challenging cycling goals, biking up in the Gatineau Hills to the Mackenzie King Estate. We are both pretty fit and it surprised Lynn how easy it was to make the climb up there. We had lunch at the new cafe at Moorside and spent most of the afternoon exploring the estate and its ruins, before making the fast run back down the hills to the city.
Biking to Pink Lake
As the summer wears on and we have more biking miles behind us Lynn and I decided to try some more challenging trips. Today we biked up into the Gatineau Hills to visit Pink Lake.
Bluesfest
Today, at Lynn's suggestion, we went to Bluesfest. We heard a number of bands: Moroccan Sun, Myers Brothers Band, KID, TJ Wheeler, Interpol, Nick Moss, Air Supply, Lowrider Band, Simple Plan and Deep Purple.
Air Supply were just as awful as they were in the late 1970s and we fled that show to listen to the Lowrider band instead. They turned out to be 4/5 of the band War and were fantastic. I thought they were the best act we saw. Simple Plan, one of Lynn's favourites, were good, too. The evening finished up with Deep Purple, less Jon Lord who died in 2013. They opened with Highway Star and sounded every bit as good as they did in 1972 on Machine Head.
Lynn and I broke up on 17 August 2015, but we are still friends, so you may see some more photos of us here over time.
Light Wind Sailing
Today was a very light wind day for sailing, but we did sail for a few hours without starting the motor. Lynn was on the helm of Scotfree for the whole voyage! This was my fifth cruise of the year so far and our friend Cyndy came along to do some sketches afloat.
Biking
Today was a busy day, with lots of biking. We started at Lynn's house and first biked to the lookout that has a view of the Rideau Falls over in Gatineau, Quebec. Then we went to my house, via a stop at the Bytown Museum for a popsicle, to drop our stuff off and back to Mooney's Bay and the Dragon Boat Festival. This photo shows us biking home at the end of the day, as the sun was setting.
Sailing
We have now been sailing several times on Scotfree and the result is always worth some photos. This day was a bit cool on the water, but we did bike there from my place.
Rideau Falls and Rideau Hall
Today we biked from Lynn's house to the Rideau Falls and onto Rideau Hall to see the rose garden there.
First Sail of the Summer
Today was the first cruise on the Ottawa River this year for the crew of the ketch Scotfree, including Lynn and me!
Scotfree's Mast Raising
Today the crew raised the masts on Scotfree, in preparation for the upcoming sailing season.
Holiday in Quebec City
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In May, Lynn and I took Via Rail to Quebec City for a short three day holiday. The weather was quite mixed with one warm day and two cooler and windier ones, but we were prepared and had a fun time there.
At Andrew Haydon Park
After launching Scotfree we took a walk in some of the more remote parts of Andrew Haydon Park in west Ottawa.
Launching Scotfree
Today was the day for the 44 foot ketch we sail on to be launched by crane. The 28,000 lb boat made the trip from its cradle into the water safely and Lynn and I were crew for the short voyage to her slip for the summer. We will be sailing on Scotfree with skipper John all summer.
At The Canadian Tulip Festival
Lynn and I picked the right day to bike to the Tulip Festival. The weather was nice and the crowds were not too thick.
Three Years Without a Haircut
On this date last year I noted that Ruth made "me promise to grow [my hair] down to the bottom of my shoulder blades, so I still have some distance to go." Here it is a year later and my hair is a bit longer, but not that much. Lynn measured it at 15.5" (40 cm) and I think it may be hitting its natural growth limit. I guess I will know next year!
Ruth's Tulips Return
Many years ago Ruth planted about a dozen tulips in our garden. Ravaged by time and squirrels, last year, after Ruth had died in January 2014, no tulips came up in the spring, but this year two appeared.
Tulips at Hogs Back Falls
Today Lynn and I biked across the city, including a stop at Hogs Back Falls to see the tulips just out and in bloom. The Rideau Canal is now filled up with water and ready for the navigation season.
Long Distance Cycle Picnic
On Monday we biked up to Lynn's house from mine, a distance of 24 km. Lynn was impressed at how easy it was through the Experimental Farm Pathway route. We stopped at Britannia Park for a picnic lunch of bagels and Brie, just in time to see the park staff setting out the picnic tables for spring.
This trip was the first one Lynn made with her new MEC Division panniers on her bike and full of cargo. She was impressed with how much they can carry.
Painting Season Starts
On Sunday Lynn and I joined our friend Cyndy on her first outdoor painting expedition of the spring. It was just warm enough for outdoor painting and the high water on the Ottawa River made for a good start to the summer's art.
First Cycle Picnic of the Spring
Today was our first cycle picnic of the new year. We rendezvoused at the Ottawa River and then rode together to Hogs Back Falls, one of Lynn's favourite spots. There we had a supper of bagels and brie.
Cycling Season Starts
Today the temperature reached 23°C and so I cleaned, oiled and filled up the tires on both my 1986 Norco Alpine mountain bike and my 2006 Catrike Speed trike, ready for the summer!
April Skating
Even though winter is pretty much done and we had two days of +15°C temperatures, there is still skating, indoors at the arenas! The main disadvantage of skating under these conditions is that you have to carry your jacket, gloves and toque to the arena as you don't need them outdoors.
Skating on the Rideau Canal Before the Big Thaw
With a big thaw in the weather forecast, Lynn and I headed out to the Rideau Canal for some skating. It looks like everyone else in Ottawa had the same idea, though as it was Sunday and busy! As we skated, the temperatures rose and the high traffic really chewed up the ice surface. We had intended to skate the whole canal twice, but melting surface conditions slowed us down and we ended up skating about 26 km in total.
Lynn has now skated 70 km over 5 days on the canal and I have done 46 km over 3 days.
Our video:
Ski Weekend
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Lynn and I decided to take advantage of the deep snow and somewhat warmer temperatures to do three days of skiing from her house on the western greenbelt. We explored the Watts Creek Pathway to Kanata and also to Shirley's Bay, plus we skied about half way to downtown along the Ottawa River, too. We covered 31 km in the three days of skiing.
Lynn has now skied 102 km over 13 days and I have done 160 km over 20 days.
More skiing:
Skating on the Rideau Canal
On we got out skating on the Rideau Canal on a really nice day, but didn't finish the skate after I broke a blade off my old 1992 vintage CCM 502 skates. The old skates proved not economically repairable, so this week I bought some new K2 Breakaway skates and we gave it another try today. This time the day was much colder at -17°C and a windchill of -26, but we completed the skate all the way from the Mackenzie King Bridge to Hartwell's Locks and back again, a distance of 15.6 km.
More skating:
- video - Lynn & Adam Skating on the Rideau Canal
- video - Lynn & Adam Skating at the Jim Durrell Arena
- video - Lynn & Adam Skating on the Rink of Dreams
- video - Lynn & Adam Skating at the Jim Durrell Arena
Skiing on the Watt's Creek Pathway
We went skiing on the Watt's Creek Pathway, in the city's western greenbelt, near where Lynn lives. The pathway is a great skiiing area and we plan to spend some more time there in the near future, exploring the pathway.
So far Lynn has skied 52 km over seven days and I have covered 67 km in nine days out.
At the Canadian War Museum
Today we had planned on going skiing, but very low temperatures and high windchills made a visit to the Canadian War Museum a more fun activity.
Cross Country Skiing on The Osgoode Pathway
The ski conditions have been steadily improving lately and so we skied 10 km south today onto the Osgoode Pathway. I have now skied 52 km over seven days so far this winter.
First Cross Country Skiing in 2015
We lost all our snow in Ottawa back during a big five day thaw and didn't get enough snow back to ski again until today. In Ottawa, especially with ongoing climate change, you have to ski when conditions allow, as everything may melt any day.
At the RIA Artist Project Exhibition
I started the new year by attending an art exhibit with Cyndy and Lynn called "Growing Up Human" held in Ottawa.
