Moving to Ottawa for 2 months

Hopefully someone actually in ottawa will answer.  I have never lived there but I love the city and my mum's family is there so I've been up that way a lot.  I believe you can practice open water swimming in Dow's lake (sp?) but that might close earlier in the summer due to water quality.  There are likely some places on the Ottawa river that you can swim or over in gatineau.  As for cycling, the city shuts down a bunch of the roads to automobiles on I believe Sunday's so the roads are just for cyclists, runners, etc.  I think Ottawa is generally a very cycling friendly city. 

You could probably go to a LBS when you arrive and get the details on the best biking areas.

Have fun in Ottawa.  It is a great city.  I want to move there, I just have to convince DH.

Wow, shuts down roads to automobiles?? That sounds so awesome!

Thanks for the tips!

Welcome to Ottawa!

I have lived here my whole life....and love it dearly .
This is a very active city with a huge cycling, running,  and tri population.

Best place to OWS? Meech lake in Quebec, by far and away. Its about a 20 minute drive from downtown Ottawa. Pristine and gorgeous. Tons of triathletes train there .

As for cycling, if you want hills the Gatineaus  in Quebec are your best choice. Fantastic climbing on very smooth roads with very few cars.
For long rides there are tons of great rural routes. Depends on where you will be living. Lots of great options either east or west.

Please PM me when you get here! I would be more than happy to show you all my favourite spots!

Thanks!  I will definitely PM you once I get there!

I'm not taking my car with me, but I think I'm going to sign up for that car share dealie in Ottawa so I can get to the good places to OWS and cycle.

I'll be staying on Young, pretty close to Little Italy.

Can't wait!

You are coming to the area at a great time with fantastic races in the August/September timeframe.  Suggestions would be Kingston Tri on August 1st, Cornwall Tri on August 22nd (A little partial to this one) and either the Canadian in Ottawa or the Esprit in Montreal which has the bike course on the Formula 1 race track.

Best of luck.
Rob

Thanks!

I was looking at the Brockville Oly on Aug 15th but maybe I will do Cornwall instead - something to think about!

Hopefully you'll enjoy your time in Ottawa. 

OWS: Meech Lake is great. Another popular site is Britannia Beach.  You can get in decent continuous swims at this location from the wind-surfing beach to the yacht club.  Water quality is usually pretty good at this location.  A useful link on water quality is below:
http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/health/inspections/beaches/updates_en.html

Rides: The Gats are great for hill training.  I prefer country roads for the flats/slight rolling routes.  Many folks ride south to Manotick or beyond as an out-and-back ride.  If you're living in Little Italy, take Prince of Wales all the way down.  There is a wide shoulder until close to Hunt Club but it becomes a regular 2 lane road (80 km/h speed limit) after that.  In general, drivers are pretty decent around here but you have to be comfortable riding in traffic.

I've heard great things about Brockville and Cornwall tris so you can't go wrong either way. I'll be doing my first Oly on August 15th in Brockville!

Edited by carmenc 2010-07-23 9:11 PM

Hey Brockville is going to be my first oly too!!

Thanks for the tip about Prince of Wales..that's super close to me. My bike arrived this week, just need to take it in to get it put back together!