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When I was 16, I stopped riding bicycles. Not intentionally. As a suburban teen, eager to explore the city, I got distracted by the thrill of public transit. I might have ridden again, but my juvenile rheumatoid arthritis had other plans. Flare-ups turned into persistent, rotating inflammation, pain, and stiffness in almost all my joints.
That was nearly 40 years ago. I never returned to cycling.
So when Ottawa Tourism suggested a cycling tour on my visit to Canada’s capital, I gulped hard. The idea of getting on a bicycle again—with my deformities—brought on fears of falling. Anyone with mobility challenges will understand that anxiety. My hands and knees are especially affected: my grip is weak while the knees only bend to 90 degrees. Braking and pedalling would be painful.
The team at Ottawa Tourism understood. They connected me with Escape Tours and Rentals, which had a newly acquired cargo electric bike—a double seater built accessible for some people who don’t or can’t ride. Along the Ottawa-Gatineau trails, I could be a passenger behind someone steering and pedalling. Call it redemption for my partner Powys, who once tried and failed years ago to get me on a tandem bike.
Days before the trip, on Zoom, I interviewed Maria Rasouli, founder and operator of Escape. Admittedly, I needed reassurance to face my fear. I also knew that Maria had her own story of mobility lost.
In an article for Bike Love Ottawa, she wrote about growing up in Iran, years after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. There was an incident when an elder once chastised Maria and a friend for riding a banana-seat bike while wearing skirts. “Young women should not be on a bicycle,” he said. That was the last time Maria rode—until she arrived in Canada 13 years later.
Freedom to ride was the catalyst for Maria to start Escape Tours and Rentals.
MARIA: It may sound kind of cliché, but to be honest, every day I wake up with a feeling of gratefulness. The fact that I couldn’t do certain things as a woman in Iran, and now I can. That feeling of, ‘Wow… I can do it’ has stayed with me. And I try to kind of remind people, because there is this mentality of it’s too hard, or there is too much traffic, or there is too much construction. And I always say imagine you can do it. Forget about all those little barriers, but the fact that you have an infrastructure that allows you to freely enjoy the beautiful outdoors is a gift. … It’s always great talking to people: Look at the great city we have, look how safe it is, look how green it is, and conveying that message to visitors.
SAADA: What’s the difference between riding a bike and riding it mindfully?
MARIA: It’s the notion of going through the places fast for the sake of hitting a target; that ‘I want to do 20, 30 kilometers in this many minutes,’ versus ‘I really want to feel and experience this place.’ So, someone may want to just go from Rideau Canal to Dallas Lake, versus someone who says, I actually want to stop in between to really see that neighborhood and then continue going to Dallas Lake. For me, the difference is, what is the goal? The goal is really experiencing it or going through it. I like to encourage people to experience things.
Powys and I arrived in Ottawa in late May for a three-day trip.
I walked with Maria’s advice in mind: “Experience things.” At Escape, our cargo e-bike was waiting. Maria greeted us, fitted our helmets, and gave instructions. Powys took a quick spin on the bike while I chatted with our private tour guide, Nora Balogh. Her energy helped calm my nerves. When it was time to sit in the padded passenger seat, my right knee resisted, but with some effort, I was in. Seconds later, we were off.
From Confederation Park toward the Rideau Canal Pathway, Powys handled the e-bike well, supported by its battery system and Nora’s lead. Over our two hours, I relaxed more, taking in landscapes, parks, sculptures, and historic sites. The short stops gave me time to pamper my knee and listen as Nora shared context about what we were seeing.
In Gatineau for example, outside the Canadian Museum of History, Nora presented a 1973 Canadian dollar and then pointed to a tugboat resting nearby on the bank the Ottawa River. I gasped. It was the Missinaibi, the same vessel featured on the back of the bill she held. I remember being a kid staring at that picture of tugboats and logs floating on the river with Parliament Hill in the backdrop.
And as we rode, I was just like that expressive kid—hooting, waving, and smiling at people we passed. What exhilaration being back on a bike after many years thinking I couldn’t. I felt the joy and achievement of it all—an experience I both recommend and cherish.
Our trip was made in collaboration with Ottawa Tourism. To see more of us in Ottawa, visit @saadastylo on Instagram.