Rideau Lakes Cycling Tour

They had a big bike tour on the weekend. The Rideau Lakes Cycling Tour. The routes go from Ottawa, through the nearby town of Perth, on to Kingston. You can go on a 100km or 200km tour. What bothers me are the fanatics who roar through town. 

I wrote an email to mention how badly some people behaved. They improved it: Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour 2022, but in 2016: Ottawa Bicycle Club 45th Annual Rideau Lake Cycle, they were crazy. It's a small, old town and cyclists tend to get lost. We just stayed out of town this year. They are in a rush and I fail to see how this would help tourism, for drivers to wrestle with people hell bent on improving their times. 

Happily, we weren't on the tour this year. They came from Ottawa (on the far right in the screen grab) dipsy doodle through town and head west-ish to Westport and Kingston.

What is really funny is that I was out front watering, or something, and heard people talking. That is weird, as we are 100m from the highway. It's a bit scary for me. 

I toodled on out to the road, and found some cyclists. They weren't exactly lost, they were on their way into Perth, but they weren't supposed to be taking this route. They have rest stops and support personnel on the actual route! I did laugh.

Our driveway is 100m long. So we have a big FRONT yard. I transplanted this lilac sapling, as it was growing in a bad place. 

Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour 2022

 Every year they have June Bike Month. The green route goes past us. The local tour was scheduled to leave Perth at 9 a.m., and I toddled down with my zoom lens and videocamera, tripod and monopod. 

The people were diverse: younger, older; serious athletes and lots chatting friends; all shapes, colours and sizes, and most having fun. 

I was careful not to scare them, as some were totally focused on the road ahead and didn't see me. I waved and many waved back and smiled, told them to have fun. It was a lovely sunny day.

It is a huge tour, and costs run around $300 to participate. You can purchase accommodations in Kinston, and be given meals, as well. 

I spotted a number of people cycling INTO Perth, and I'm not sure if they had left Ottawa, and rather than going along the pink route, they ended up in Perth. Or if it was on purpose!

One cyclist, in a yellow jersey, stopped to chat. He asked if I was the official tour photographer. No, I told him, I just enjoy cheering people on. He wanted to know what I was going to do with the photos, and I said that I'll put them on my blog – that I chat with people around the world and share what is going on in our neck of the woods. 

I asked Cyclist why he was going into Perth. He said he'd done half the trip, ~60 km?, and was going back to Perth to get his car. He is 75 years old and seemed quite proud of himself for doing the tour. He was going to drive to Kingston, meeting his wife there for the night. She kept on going. The clouds and storm we expected Sunday deterred him from taking a risk cycling back. He explained how healthy he was, having had a stent put in after a heart attack, which runs in his family. He was a hoot. His wife, he told me, will be doing a marathon in Spain in the fall!

A motorcycle passed the dump truck, and I sucked in my breath! Trucks passed cars. They just kept coming and coming. 

A plane roared overhead, that was fun! The monopod was tricky with the zoom lens! I liked the photo facing up at the sun.

After I'd filled my boots with photos, we headed along Perth Rd., as we wanted to visit Beckwith Heritage Days. More on that another day. On the way, there were more cyclists.

 

We headed to Rideau Ferry for lunch on the patio. There were OPP watching at Lombardy, hopefully calling attention to riders what with impatient drivers.

At 11:41, there were still cyclists on CR 1. 

I took videos of passing riders. <= See them here.