Cycling Celebrity
The Governor General on tris and trying to get the country moving
Governor General Julie Payette on tris and trying to get the country moving
When the engineer-turnedastronaut- turned-governor General Julie Payette goes out, the attention is usually on her. But when she has her bright orange Specialized Transition with her, it’s the bike that’s the celebrity. “It’s a relic, one of the first generations of tri bikes. I bought it in 1991. Whenever I go into a bike shop, everyone comes out from the back to see it,” she says.
The Transition is one in a collection of 10 or so bikes Payette and her family have amassed throughout decades of triathlons, mountain biking rides and commuting. “There’s a bike for every occasion. It’s like guitars. Guitar players always tell me you need a guitar for all occasions,” she says.
Payette has always been a cyclist. She grew up in Montreal going to school and delivering newspapers by bike. As a mom, she outfitted her bike with baby seats and a trailer. She’s cycled in almost every province; biking by the sea in Gaspé’s Forillon Park stands out as a favourite moment.
But it’s memories of triathlons that rise to the top when Payette talks about what she loves most about cycling: the cross-training, the physical and mental challenge, the competition, riding on some of the country’s most beautiful roads. She’s run into some tough spots, too. “I had a really nasty fall at the Gatineau triathlon one year. It was raining, and I slid coming down one of the hills in Gatineau Park. I was still wearing my bathing suit because I’d just come out of the swim. It wasn’t pretty. But I just kept going,” she says.
What did put an end to her tri efforts was a new job. In 1992, the Canadian Space Agency selected Payette and four others from a group of 5,330 applicants to become astronauts. “I became an astronaut and my life was taken over by my job,” she remembers. In 1999, she launched into space on the Space Shuttle Discovery, covering more than six million kilometres in nine days, and became the first Canadian to board the International Space Station. She went back to the iss in 2009 with an international team that included fellow Canadian Robert Thirsk. While training for missions pushed tris out of the picture, it didn’t stop her from introducing her Houston colleagues to bricks, the triathlon training regimen.
Payette also appreciates extreme feats of athleticism as a spectator. “I’m a big fan of performance sports. I follow competitions in general. I’ve been privileged to see our Canadians compete in the Olympics in London and Rio and in the old velodrome in Montreal,” she says. One Canadian rider who impresses her is from Quebec’s Magdalen Islands. “I have a special place for Hugo Barrette because he was
involved in such a tragic accident and he recovered and went back in,” she says, referring to Barrette’s 2015 crash at the velodrome in Cali, Colombia.
In 2017, Payette was appointed Governor General by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. While her professional obligations make it difficult to just up and go out for a ride, she’s found a way to keep moving and help others do the same through the GG Active initiative.
“Whenever we go somewhere, we organize an activity. It can be hiking, biking, walking,” she says. “We let people know we’re going and invite them to come along. And they do. People show up.” Payette and her colleagues have biked to work with a crew in Victoria, hiked Signal Hill in the rain in St. John’s and pedalled to Parliament Hill on Canada Day. Payette and her team talk about planning a relay-based triathlon near Rideau Hall.
“Sport is a great way to know about one’s self,” Payette says, “especially if you do it and you’re serious about improving. And it’s also enjoyable. I’m told by scientists that there’s a reason for that, a biological reason. It makes you feel good. It gives me more energy. I don’t compete and train like I used to, but I’m still out there almost every day.”