[d00dz]

...SKATE 7.8 km to SCHOOL!?!?!

That's right, almost every morning and night I skate to my University and back home on the Rideau Canal. It's the World's Longest skating rink and I Love it. Every Morning I wake up and actually look forward to my communte to school. It brings the life back into you, the fresh cool air, great excercise, and it's Canadian.

I just wanted to make everyone else jealous for those who spend hours in gridlock breathing in fumes from the "You pay it, we trash it" Moving Cube Van infront of you

http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/skateway/index_e.asp

Go to VIRTUAL TOUR then press SKATE THE CANAL

 

[GoRedwings19]

all you need is a puck and a stick......

 

[radicaltothemax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoRedwings19 all you need is a puck and a stick......

and a few more people...with the aformentioned hunk of rubber and dead tree

 

[d00dz]

Believe it or not but i think it's a $10 fine if you get caught with a Hockey stick on the ice....bummer.

 

[cmanc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d00dz Believe it or not but i think it's a $10 fine if you get caught with a Hockey stick on the ice....bummer.

Just call it "a price of admission".

 

[Krishna]

But then again there are the days with -35 degress celsius where if you step out side your eyes freeze shut and your feet get stuck to the ground.

 

[radicaltothemax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krishna But then again there are the days with -35 degress celsius where if you step out side your eyes freeze shut and your feet get stuck to the ground.

-35 isn't *that* cold....
What was it last weekend.... -30-something (with windchill)
Was fairly pleasant, I had a good day of riding!
It was wierd the snow was still kinda soft.....

 

[wali]

Can't help but remember the PF song from The Wall 'skating on the thin ice...', be careful man.

 

[jerb]

your soo lucky to have ice to play on. a few winters back we flooded a local outside basketball court so we could play ice hockey (the town didnt approve) so were stuck playin street hockey in wallmart parking lots (we usually get a quarter in befor security asks us to leave)

 

[Imyourzero]

That's pretty awesome. So what is at each end? In the map, it looks like there is water at each end but in the vid it comes to a halt at some steps.

Is that thing open 24/7? Are there people skating on it in the wee hours of the morning? Is it policed?

 

[aerius]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d00dz Believe it or not but i think it's a $10 fine if you get caught with a Hockey stick on the ice....bummer.

That's why we played hockey late at night after everyone was gone. When I went to the University of Ottawa we used play under the bridge or on the little stream & pond just off the canal which was near one of the bridges.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imyourzero That's pretty awesome. So what is at each end? In the map, it looks like there is water at each end but in the vid it comes to a halt at some steps. Is that thing open 24/7? Are there people skating on it in the wee hours of the morning? Is it policed?

The south end is a big frozen pond and at the other end the canal stops dead near the parliament buildings. The north end might be different now since they've done a bunch of construction work there in the past few years.

I don't think it's open 24/7, but it's probably close enough. They close it down from time to time to clean the ice and flood it. I've been on the ice well past midnight, and yes it is policed, the northern part near U of O and the parliament buildings is heavily patrolled while the southern end is almost unsupervised. Again, this might've changed in the last few years.

 

[GoRedwings19]

That's it. Now I am definetly going to the Ottawa meet and to play pond hockey.

 

[d00dz]

In the video the skater skates to the northern end of the pond, but the canal continues south of the pond where it ends at a couple of locks beside Carleton University (where i end my trip). I start near the queensway/canal bridge and it's a half hour of pure joy. I wish everyone on earth can "skate to a higher education"...and not live day to day in a war torn country.

I've skated on it also in the wee hours of the night...most of the late late night times the track is flooded and people kick you off. near the northern part -- as aerius said there are a few "authority figures" but near carleton and on the Dow's lake....absolutely nobody at night....

 

[jerb]

I just did the virtual tour... that could be so much fun. its alot better than my morning commute (2 mile bike ride, rains alot though)

i saw a few places where i think it would be fun to play some hockey

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Man, I'm wicked jealous. I haven't skated in couple of years but I've always enjoyed it. It would be nice if I could skate to my work. Of course, when I consider how much stuff I take to work, I really wouldn't be able to skate to work even if it was a viable option.