Old Victoria

I made it a mandatory rule the we will not ride our bikes on our day off. Right out of the hostel I was jumping up and down, walking on my own two legs. The ground felt good but after walking for six hours I started to hate it. Walking was overrated and we all just wanted to get on the bike again.

The city was happening. There was big jazz festival that I did not have much time to explore for I was exploring the city itself. I walked around the bay and tried to see what Victoria was like. It felt different then Canada and for some few moments I thought I was in England. It could be because someone told me that Victoria was more English then the English.

Eventhough it was our day off, we needed to get some supplies. We needed to laundry and buy groceries. I also got a new back wheel for only $50! The guys took time off from their current repairs to work on my bike. I appreciated it and bought them a six pack for their troubles.

I also decided to go with sandals for the rest of the trip. Putting your foot into a wet shoe is terrible and I never want to worry about that anymore. I spent some money on som quality sandals to get my feet happy. Now I'm happy.

Victoria is a nice city and I hope to come back.

End of the Canada tour

Everything was better the next day. We headed out to a ferry that took us to Vesuvius where we met a fellow cyclist, Tim. He told us that there was this nice farmer's market that was happening today in the city of Ganges. He sped off after the ferry landed because he wasn't carrying anything close to what we were.

The terrain was nice, but the hills would come out of nowhere. We tried to make for Ganges quick so we could catch the peak of the market. When we got there, the whole city was about at the park. It reminded me of Davis's farmer's market.

We spent our lunch there, trying new local food. When it was time to leave, we were faced with this enourmous hill. It was slow going, it was so slow that I had a conversation with a pedestrian.

We made it to the next ferry that'll take us back to Vancouver Island. The ride to Victoria was easy going and very sceneic. I had to stop so many time and dig for the camera from my pack and take pictures. We had to ride fast because the clouds were gaining on us and George didn't want to have his only pair of clothes wet.

We got into Victoria and will be here for until Monday. Then we will leave for the US, yay!, and head down Washington. Canada has been good to us and we all felt that the tour should've consisted more of Canada. Maybe one day I'll do the tour cross country tour of Canada. We've met many cyclists that were starting it.

So now Victoria. It is nice to stay in a hostel for a day and a half. Going camping for four days straight was fine considering I've never been camping in my life. But we're going to rest up a bit for Washington and just walk around Victoria for a bit.

Where to now?

This must've been the worst day. No one got hurt but it was very close.

The day started really nice. The sun was out and beaming down. Then things went downhill from there. We had to take Highway 19, yeah bikes on the highway, all the way down to McDonald Provincial park. It was about a 65 mile ride.

Well here's the bad part. We hit a hugh stretch that was all downhill. At that moment I was just thinking, "Hey, my bike is pretty awesome. It's old and reliable." I hit about 35 MPH on the downhill and the highway started to turn to the right. There was a little sidewalk, barely able to fit our bikes, that I did not see. I went past it. But right before it, was this huge pothole. I was going to fast to slow down, I was too close to traffic to swerve out of the way, so I just hit that damn thing so hard my waterbottle flew out into the highway. Then I hear George hit that same one, his pump flew off his frame. I stopped a few feet after to see if the other two were okay. We recovered my waterbottle, it was on the shoulder, but as George was reaching for his pump a truck ran over it right in front of his eyes.

Hitting that pothole was scary. REALLY scary because if I didn't have that weight in the back of my bike, I'd have flipped over on the highway. The cars were already close, about a foot away from us sso I wouldn't have just broke my bike, I'd have broken my face. I'm still a bit shaken up by it so I'm just going to go slow on the downhills now :)

I thought everything was okay. I went ahead a bit. Everytime I made one revolution, my whole bike bounced. I saw that my front wheel had a big flat spot. It was unbearable to ride, but we still had a few miles to get to the next town. We found a bike shop thanks to a local cyclists and they said they couldn't fix it. I HAD to buy another one. And even worse, this shop didn't carry the wheel size my bike had because it was so old. I had to ride another three miles down the road on a broken bike to get another wheel which costs $170. The fellas at the shop were really nice but still, money money money. Then we went to Wendy's too celebrate.

We left and the next bad thing happenend. George found out that his wheel was starting to bound a bit too, but then I felt that even my back wheel was bouncing. That means I have to get a new back wheel too, which is even more expensive. The pothole that costs me $400.

The day got even worse. We decided to head to Chemainus to see the murals. Very hilly country but had some amazing views. I don't have any pictures because we were trying to get into camp before sunset. We didn't make it anyway because we had some faulty directions and signs that led us nowhere. We rode until 9:00PM, in freezing cold, to find the next campsite.

For the first time we had a fire going. We did not know why we didn't do this the earlier nights.

Just around the corner

Our longest ride, 74 miles. At first we wanted to cut it in half but once on the road, we got lazy and just wanted to keep going. Well we made it. Sort of.

Heidi had a rough time because she hadn't been eating as much as us. Then we made a rule. Everytime we cook, usually pasta and some random sauce, we have to eat at least three cup fulls. Its been working out great.

The ride was quite beautiful, especially when we ran into Oceanside. Exactly as the name of the town says, thee ocean was fierce and the wind was even fiercer. Lots of headwind made our 70 mile trip even worse. But we made it down the Rathtrevor Beach in one piece.

It was a nice campsite, a hiker-biker camp. It was just a big lawn with tables for anyone to camp. It would've been more fun if we had enough strength to meet more people. It was a very nice beach too with deer and bunnies running around everywhere.

The news!

A few hours ago I realized that we have had no news of the world at all. We made a joke out of it, well George and I did. But then a few minutes ago I just found out that Michael Jackson died two days ago. Big news.

I think we're going to try a bit harder to keep up with the news now.

Just a little water

With one day of camping udner our belt, we were ready to ride our first full day into another camp. We were all woken up by the rain. And man, it was raining. We broke camp as fast as we could and ate a bit of breakfast. We suited up in our rain gear, except George in his jeans and poncho, and tried to ride out.

We were pummelled by the rain. No other way to describe it. If there is anything worse then trying to climb a hill with a bucket of water being dumped over your head every 5 seconds, tell me. It was bad.

The sun came and we were glad until it started to rain again. We changed a bit so our new clothes got wet again. We headed to the campsite, Saltery Bay, in low morale. Until we got there, the campsite was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. A huge forest right next to the beach. Mermaid's Cove was beautiful and we sat there for an hour. Then it started raining again.

Recap: Finishing up Vancouver

The first day from the airport was only the first day of the actual. We decided to spend some time in Vancouver before heading out. It was a mere 30 more miles but there was lots of confusion with the direction.

We got lost in the northern end of Vancouver and I was glad that we did. The parks were so amazing, and bike routes were built in. The parks surrounded the bay so we stopped at the docks and looked at the boats.

The thing with biking is that I couldn't stop anywhere I wanted to take pictures. Most of the great view were from uphill but thats the thing, I had to get up that hill. My average MPH is about 4 going up hill and I'll using every ounce of my energy to do it. I'm not really thinking about pictures at the moment.

We took a ferry that went around the islands, quite a different view from our waters. Here everywhere there is another island to look at. Every island is filled to the brim with trees with a few houses strung out.

Now here's the bad part. I mentioned earlier that George's crank got stripped. He had to buy a new crank, bottom bracket, and new chainrings, totalling up to $140. We had to wait for about 2 hours so we got into our campsite fairly late. Not a good idea since none of us really were campers.

Camping was fun! and apparently I snore :( But everything went well. The campsite was ok, water, outhouses, nothing great but it did enough for us. We were exhausted with all the confusion.

Canada country too pretty for internet

Hey everyone, sorry for not updating. We had some long rides and we didn't really have time for me to sit down and upload pictures. Don't worry though, I have a ton.

Our first day of real riding was not bad. We got lost around Vancouver alot but that was a good thing. I can't describe how well kept their parks were. The ferry that took us off of Vancouver was fun and I met some great people. Conner, Corey, and Cam were all touring. It was very interesting that none of them were ever into biking in the first place. They just picked up their things and went.

There was an enormous hill right after the ferry. George, the man, got up the hill fine with his powerful legs. Heidi, Conner, and I walked up the hill. Very demoralizing. Conner with his super long legs got ahead of us and went to camp. We had to stop at a bike stop because George's pedals broke and he had to spend $100 for new ones. The guy at the bike shop was really nice and stayed after closing to fix his bike. We got into the campsite late, but we got cooking and everything worked out for the better.

The next day we woke up and it was raining. A true test if we were in this trip at all. We suited up, broke camp, and got on the road. It was raining so hard on the downhills that we were blinded. We got in safe to the next campsite, after 45 miles.

We got up early the next day because we were afraid it was going to rain again. Also it was the longest day ever, 75 miles. We made it though. Many great shots and nothing bad happened. I'll update later with more pictures.

Sorry for the brief summary but I'm at some Nature house at the campsite so I can't plug in my own laptop to put the pictures up. I'll try and get to a lovely starbucks and do that today or tomorrow. For sure tomorrow because we'll be in Victoria on our way back to the US.

Where to now?

An early morning start, 4:00AM. We landed in Vancouver around 9:30AM and ran outside to put our bikes together. Mine went as smooth as Michael Jackson but Heidi's and especially George's were shaky. Poor George had to take a taxi and miss out on the first day's ride because the person who packed his bike forgot his quick release, meaning he couldn't attach his front wheel. We met up with him at the hostel.

The ride from the airport had many lows and highs. The highway we were on had me holding my breath the whole with the cars coming inches from us. But the view from UBC and the seashore trail made up for it all. The hostel is nice too, built in an old military base and everyone seems very nice. There is someone down in the cafe right now playing some great Paul Desmond while being accompanied by a bongo.

Getting into Canada feels just like driving into the next town over. No one here really speaks French and English is the primary mode of communication. It is fun walking into Safeway and seeing French under English instead of Spanish though. We had lunch at this small pizzaria and I made note of the public transportation. There was not two minutes that went by without a bus stopping at the bus stop. Great infrastructure for public transportation.

My thoughts of Vancouver are definitely biased because UBC, University of British Columbia, is so beautiful. It overlooks that one bay, river whatever it is--George and Heidi are taking care of the directions :)--and it is absolutely gorgeous. I now understand why Heidi seriously considered transferring here.

Tomorrow will be a bit tough because we have to ride quick to catch a ferry. Also it'll be the first time any of us have gone camping! Wooooo! That'll be fun. But we got a ton of food, SPAM and pasta. I'll try to find a nice place to sit down tomorrow and update a few.