One of the biggest benefits of training in Ottawa that I have noticed is nice roller skiing right out the front door. In Whitehorse we have recently got a pretty nice section of pavement to roller ski on with wide shoulders, new pavement and not a whole lot of traffic. This, however does not quite compare to putting your roller skis on inside your house going out the door and doing a nice two hour loop that parallels a river and a canal. For the majority of this you are also on a wide paved walking path with only walkers, roller bladers, and cyclists to avoid, having to cross minimal amounts of roads with cars.
On relaxing days we will go out from our house near the experimental farm and roller ski on some back roads until we hit the paved walking path. From there it takes you through a couple neighborhoods and eventually down to the Ottawa river. This section of the ski is probably the nicest, a large river too your left and hardly ever lots of people using it. On this path you end up skiing past the war museum right up to parliament and then down the canal back to Carleton. If you time it nicely you can be skiing around Dow’s Lake while the sun is just setting making for some pretty nice scenery.
This being said roller skiing is starting to get pretty old, along with the weather. Most people in Ottawa can probably relate to this, or at the least the skiers. It has been very nice and sunny in Ottawa for last couple weeks with the occasional rain and hardly dropping below zero from what I can remember. Some people might enjoy this but for skiers it is starting to seem like the winter isn’t coming. The world cup is starting this week and you can now find videos of ski races...happening on snow. We are doing a fair bit of intensity and lots of the team are starting to feel pretty strong and ready to go. But where is the snow?
Roller skiing past Dow's lake on the way downtown.
The Ottawa River bike path heading towards Parliament.
Some not so pleasant roller skiing.
Lee doing some skiing...last year.
Lets hope for some snow!!
"Sustaining People in Motion"