Heyo 👋 Welcome to Ottawa by Bike!

I'm José. I started cycling in Ottawa in 2019 and had no idea where to ride. I kept discovering amazing routes — along the river, through Gatineau Park, quiet roads I didn't know existed — but there was no good way to find them. You'd hear about a route from someone or stumble onto it by accident.

So in 2022 I built this site. Each route has photos, videos, and tips — the kind of stuff you'd want to know before heading out. Where to stop for coffee, which parts are gravel, where the big hill is.

Every route has been ridden. Every photo was taken by someone who was there. Every tip comes from experience, not an algorithm.

Pick a route, see what it looks like, go ride it. It doesn't matter if you've never biked beyond your neighbourhood or if you ride every weekend — there's something here for you.

This is a community project — anyone can contribute

If you know a route that should be here, or you have better photos, or you spot a mistake — you can edit any route on the site. No account needed.

No ads. No algorithms. No paywalls. This isn't going anywhere.

Questions? Say hi at jose@ottawabybike.ca.

Friends

• CyclingGuide.app - Safe biking routes for every day rides, it's free!
• Let's Go Cargo - Looking for a cargo bike rental?
• 2026 Canadian Shield Bikepacking Summit - Learn about Bikepacking this Spring in Wakefield

Other useful links

• List of Local Cycling Communities
• Bike Ottawa - Community dedicated to promoting cycling in Ottawa
• Official NCC Biking Map
• Interview by CBC Ottawa Morning

Part of whereto.bike

Ottawa by Bike is built on whereto.bike, an open-source platform for community cycling guides. The platform is designed to help more people discover cycling in their city — whether you've never ridden beyond your neighbourhood or you ride every weekend.

Interested in starting a cycling guide for your city? Learn how.

Open Data — Everything here is freely licensed

• Text and descriptions: CC BY-SA 4.0 (same as Wikipedia)
• Route data (GPX tracks): ODbL 1.0 (same as OpenStreetMap)
• Source code: AGPL 3.0
• Route data repo: github.com/eljojo/bike-routes