I Completed the 2025 Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour

Introduction

During the weekend of June 21-22, 2025 I completed the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour, a two-day bicycle ride from Ottawa to Kingston and back, organized by the Ottawa Bicycle Club. I did what is known as the Classic Route, which goes through paved roads and features rest stops with food, water and mechanical services. This route is roughly 171 km each way, for a two-day total of 342 km.

Read more: Training for the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour

In what follows, I first explain my motivation for embarking on this journey (both physical and spiritual), and how my rowing background compelled me to seek a new challenge. After talking about my bicycle, I describe the two rides themselves (to and from Kingston). Finally, I share some lessons learned from the experience and how they made me a better person.

Motivation: My rowing story

Background

Let us back up a few years. I am a former competitive rower (yes, I say that a lot in my posts on this website) with the University of Alberta Rowing Team and the Edmonton Rowing Club from 2008 to 2012, during which time I competed at a number of regattas. These were the years of my physical prime, and looking back I am extremely grateful to have been able to use that opportunity to push my athletic limits. My greatest adrenaline rushes have occurred in a rowing shell.

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Recapturing past glory

I retired from rowing in 2012. Outside of rowing I have played badminton recreationally for many years, and in 2017 started playing ultimate frisbee. But to date, recreational sports (while loads of fun) have not been able to recapture that feeling of accomplishment, pride and teamwork that I had from competitive rowing. That is until now.

Endurance road cycling has helped me rekindle the passion I used to feel from rowing. Both sports require the ability to maintain focus through pain and fatigue, staying in sync with your teammates, repetitive motions and a sore rear end after long periods. More generally, there is something about timed stamina-based sports (even when no one is keeping time) that I do not get from sports involving scoring the most points and that have a more stop-and-go nature.

There is an obvious difference from my rowing days in that I am not a competitive cyclist, so the adversarial nature is gone (which is not a bad thing).

In both sports, one also feels pretty cool when outfitted in a sport-specific outfit and sitting on an expensive piece of equipment.

Conquering fear

Rowing is a physically and mentally punishing sport. Whether staring down the barrel of a dreaded 2k (2,000 simulated meters on a rowing machine, also known as an ergometer) or at the starting block of an on-water race against opponents who look like they could crush a pop can with two fingers, the experience ranges from six to eight minutes of pure pain and exhaustion where you see flashing stars and your body feels like burning jelly.

What I learned coming out of this is that everyday life events that would otherwise be stress-inducing, such as a PhD defense, job interview, or public speaking, seem mundane in comparison. The key is learning how to channel what could be interpreted as fear or doubt into excitement, i.e. silencing the voice that says “I would rather be anywhere else but here” and replacing it with “I am so ready for this, bring it on”.

This is a valuable life lesson from rowing that has served me well, and I want to recapture this state of mind through endurance road cycling.

A challenge to myself

In fall 2024 I was 12 years removed from my last time in a rowing shell, had recently bought my first road bicycle, and was searching online for cycling events in Ottawa to join. One of the first hits was the RLCT, and I decided with no hesitation right then and there that I was doing this. I had never before cycled those distances in a single day, anticipated there would be extensive training and preparation required, but above all I knew at that moment I was prepared to do whatever it takes to complete this ride.

As a first-time RLCT participant I had the benefit of fearlessness, and at the same time was no stranger to committing myself to an extensive training regimen. And when I put my mind to something, that thing is happening.

My bicycle

I ride a Giant Defy Advanced 2 road bicycle (2025 edition).

Here are its basic specifications:

• Carbon fibre frame, forks, and seatpost;
• 24 speeds;
• Mechanical shifters and hydraulic disc brakes (Shimano 105 groupset for you gearheads);
• Tubeless, size 32 tires;
• Mars Dust colour.

According to the Giant Ottawa staff, this is their highest-end mechanical-shifting model (I have not made the transition to electronic shifting).

The Defy series markets itself as a performance-oriented endurance bicycle that does not sacrifice comfort. I can attest that it is quite comfortable to ride for long distances, while providing a good level of performance. At the end of some training rides I have felt absolutely spent and barely able to continue pedaling, but through it all despite being tired I was not uncomfortable per se.

The Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour

Day 1 (170 km)

My nine-person riding group met at 7:00 am on Saturday, June 21 at the Nepean Sportsplex (no I did not bike there, I took my bicycle aboard transit). In our group we had one member who had done the full RLCT round trip before, and one other who had cycled one-way before. The remaining seven of us where doing this for the first time.

We mounted our steeds and were off. Once we were out of the city and on the open pavement, the nine of us really started to gel, riding tire-to-tire and moving as one. It helped that many of us had ridden together before.

Our group suffered two flat tires during the ride. Fortunately a group like this is prepared and carries the necessary equipment. I myself had never witnessed a roadside puncture repair before (not counting riding by other participants in that situation), so I learned a lot through observation. I even tried helping out.

The weather on this day was quite comfortable for cycling, and I made sure to drink sufficiently during the ride. Because of the early start I did not have a substantial breakfast, and while I brought food on the ride I was quite famished about two thirds of the way in. Fortunately the subsequent rest stop had sandwiches for sale.

We cycled through a lot of picturesque settings with relatively few cars. There were RLCT signs indicating turns, though most of us had GPS devices. Along the way we passed by route marshals, there for security reasons, who cheered us on.

A nine-person riding group is hard to keep together for long distances, however we were able to do so for a number of stretches, and when we did it worked wonderfully, with our drafting practice during previous group rides paying off. We broke apart several times with some of us riding a higher or lower speeds than others, and some riding solo for a time. Fittingly, we managed to regroup as we entered Kingston and rode into the end point at Queen’s University together.

It was past 4:30 pm by the time we reached the Queen’s campus, close to 10 hours after we set out; to be technical, our moving time was 6 hours, 59 minutes and 44 seconds with an average moving speed of 24.3 km/h. Those of us who completed this leg for the first time were rightfully proud of ourselves.

We just made it in time before the end of the BBQ that was taking place. Afterwards, three members of our group took the bus back to Ottawa that same evening. The rest of us said our parting farewells to them, then picked up our luggage (which the Ottawa Bicycle Club had transported from Ottawa for us) and headed to our respective rooms in the Queen’s dormitories. Bicycles were stored inside the dorm rooms. Dinner that evening was at the campus dining hall.

Evening at Queen’s

I completed my Master’s in economics at Queen’s, and have lots of memories of the campus. I took a walk by the Economics Department building, and by the house I used to live in.

Day 2 (172 km)

On Sunday, June 22 the remaining six of us got up nice and early for breakfast, turned in our room keys, and dropped off our luggage to be transported back to Ottawa. We were on the road by 6:45 am.

This day was very hot, and I drank easily three times as much fluid as the previous day. Learning how to retrieve a water bottle from the bicycle’s water bottle cage, drink from it, and place it back in the cage all while in motion is a very useful skill. Thanks to the hearty breakfast from the dining hall, I did not get as hungry during this ride. We passed by the same rest stops as on Day 1, in reverse order. Given the heat, I made sure to refill my water bottles at every occasion.

As a six-person riding group, we managed to stay together for the whole ride (at a few points we temporarily gained an additional rider who rode with us for a bit, before going ahead on their own). As before, I loved the sensation of us all moving as a single unit, and these moments were the highlights of the ride.

Partway through, a member of our group suffered a tire puncture, and we performed the customary roadside repair.

Back on Day 1, there was a particular downhill section where a couple of our group members said that, on the way back in the reverse direction, they would walk up that hill because of how steep it was. Well, when we reached the bottom of that hill on Day 2, as the rest of us started the climb, those members decided to do the climb alongside us, and we all reached the top without putting a foot on the ground (teamwork!).

As we entered Ottawa we shared the road with increasingly more cars. Normally that would freak me out, but we had safety in numbers, especially as we linked up with other RLCT riders for the final few kilometers. And since such a large peloton is not an everyday occurrence on these roads, it felt pretty cool to be part of an out-of-ordinary sight. We rode into the Nepean Sportsplex parking lot to the cheering of our group members’ spouses. Similarly to Day 1, we completed the ride in a little under 10 hours (under harder conditions because of the heat). Our moving time was 7 hours, 35 minutes and 59 seconds, at an average moving speed of 22.7 km/h.

I picked up my luggage, had a slice of pizza from the arrival pizza party, and graciously accepted a ride home from one of my riding buddies.

Lessons learned

So what did I learn from the experience that is also relevant for day to day life?

Understand the “Why”

In any endeavour, when things get tough and you start to question whether it is worth it, remind yourself why you wanted to do what you are doing in the first place. Distilling months of training, equipment maintenance, research and planning into a single idea helps to maintain focus in a chaotic environment. At every difficult hill climb alongside the group in the sweltering heat, I remind myself “You signed up for this to relive the rush from your rowing days, and this moment is when it happens.”

Teamwork

The RLCT rekindled in me the feeling of being a part of something larger than myself. Being in a cycling group that rides tire-to-tire and moves as one unit conjures up a sensation of being a team, knowing that anyone who looks our way can tell we are a team.

Six people climbing a hill together is also not the same as six people each climbing a hill on their own, as group members riding together symbiotically feed off the collective energy and push each other’s limits.

A less obvious example of teamwork I learned on this trip was the roadside puncture repairs, as various members helped with manual labour and shared their tire pumps.

Dare to be different

I am not your typical RLCT rider, as from my observation I am one of the only participants who completed the ride on flat pedals with no clips (one of the other flat-pedal participants was coincidentally also in my riding group). On top of that, I also do not have padded cycling shorts nor electronic shifting. And that is OK, as those things did not prevent me from keeping up with the team nor from having an awesome time.

Preparation is everything

Training is an obvious prerequisite for endurance rides. But one should not forget about also carrying an appropriate puncture repair kit (which varies depending on what tires one’s bicycle has), and knowing how to use it. And it is worth carrying at least two water bottles to drink from while travelling between rest stops, especially if the weather is hot, and some food as well.

Birds of a feather

I love participating in events like RLCT because everyone around me regardless of age, race, or gender is in excellent physical shape and lives a healthy lifestyle, in addition to loving cycling and the outdoors. Should I live to the age of some of the other participants, I can only hope to do what they do.

Conclusion

The RLCT is easily one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, and helped me relive the passion I once felt for rowing. After months of training and anticipation, the RLCT did not disappoint. I met many awesome people, including participants, volunteers and mechanics, and came away with great memories. I recommend this event to anyone who is considering endurance road cycling and who is looking for an activity that is challenging and, above all, fun.

My RLCT bib is now proudly displayed on the fridge, joining my collection of cycling memorabilia and offbeat Belgian postcards.

I will end with the following thought which came to me while out on the open road. Each of us encounters many people during our time on Earth, some of whom become part of our lives, most of whom are like passersby in the street. Ever wonder if any of them once looked at you and thought to themselves: “I want to be like that person one day”?