The original idea was for me and Adam to take our trikes to les Bicyclettes de Hull - where I bought my trike last September - and pick up a spare tube for one of Adam's trike wheels. We had a good lunch, packed extra water (ice water in one container) and told my daughter, Rachael, to have a good day and that we wouldn't be gone for longer than a few hours. Then, we rode away on a gorgeous, sunny, warm early afternoon.
The traffic was light and the going easy. Even the construction on some parts of the bike path around Hog's Back wasn't anything more than a minor annoyance and we managed to find a bathroom around the NAC. It didn't take us too long to get downtown.
Our path followed the canal and we made it to the locks in short order. From there, the Alexandra bridge was plainly visible. There is major renovation/maintenance work being done on the Alexandra bridge but, again, nothing more than an inconvenience for us.
The Alexandra bridge is an interesting object. There is a wide boardwalk style lane solely for cyclists and pedestrians and traversing the bridge isn't a problem. I should add, though, that travelling across the bridge quickly on a catrike will result in you having to take an extra few minutes' break on the other side so that your eyeballs can stop dancing around. The lane's wooden 'planks' are like a rattly set of speed bumps such that zooming along is an invitation to unnecessary pain. So warned, I went first and yet still found myself going at a fairly decent pace. I got to the other side, turned left and went to the side to await Adam.
I never saw him.
I waited, and waited...and waited...and checked my watch...and looked around...and waited... and then decided to move on and look for him as I figured I must have missed him.
I rejoined the path and cycled along while a few people verbally admired my awesome trike (it really is awesome) but still there was no sign of Adam at all. I figured he went on towards les Bicyclettes de Hull so I thought I would follow suit. Surely, I mused to myself as I continued on the path and really enjoying the great weather, he didn't go too far up the way. I never learned where he was because I just never saw him. I just didn't. I looked around the Museum of Civilization, which is where the path from the Alexandra bridge joins with the rest of the path in Gatineau. Not wanting to run out of energy, I took a deep breath and eventually decided to just turn around and head home.
I reversed my route, traversed the noisy Alexandra bridge (noisy due to construction), and took a little break on the other side to enjoy some Cracker Jack. I crossed the microthin path over the canal itself with no problems and idled my way through the NAC properties.
I reintercepted the bike pathway and headed home under glorious bright sunshine, powder blue skies, fresh, warm southerly breezes and with the knowledge that a cold front and associated weather was approaching.
When I got home, Rachael told me that Adam had phoned, worried about where the blazes I was. We sat outside and waited for him to get home. Within about 30 minutes, we three were reunited in one big, fat, sweaty hug.
Whenever I get separated from my party, I always put some effort into relocating the party. If that doesn't work, I just turn around and go home. Today, I got lost, looked for a bit, turned around and went home and put on 38 kilometres for my efforts.
Now, the skies are gloomy and an eerie calm has befallen the city of Ottawa. With storms in the forecast, methinks today's comedy of errors will be augmented by a much needed thunderstorm.
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