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April 25, 2007
Cowichan Valley and Saltspring Island
The trial with 50lbs of gear loaded on to my touring bike worked out well. For three days and two nights, sunshine, rain and wind, we traveled up island. Monday morning Kasia, Brian and I headed towards the Cowichan valley, by way of the Malahat.
We found our way through Mill Bay, Cobble Hill, and even Cowichan Bay. With an average pace just over 20km/hour we spent 4 hours and 40 minutes on our bikes and completed a 100km day up to the Cowichan River campsite. The sun shone down and life was extremely good.
Day two we woke up to rain. There were two positive aspects to this:
1. Kasia and I got to try out our raingear, (Brian got to see how wet a cotton shirt could get).
2. It stopped by the time we got to the Crofton ferry.
After arriving on Saltspring we headed to Ganges and explored the quaint village before we tackled the large HILL leaving Ganges. We then found more hills on Stewart Road and eventually coasted our way into Ruckle Point for a second night of camping. Within sight of Swartz Bay and the numerous ferry routes we drank ice cold beer, (thanks to Brian’s two-8 packs of Lucky and a bag of ice strapped to his back).
Day two was only 60km, although we were equally as bagged, (if not more so), as the first day. Some how we managed to enjoy the peaceful night clear skies and crashing waves against the shoreline.
The third morning we packed up the gear one last time and headed to the Fulford Harbour to catch the ferry back to Vancouver Island. We said goodbye to Kasia and wished her well on her 7000-8000km ride across Canada this summer, and headed into our favorite white trash pub in Victoria, the Monkey Tree. With over 200km of pedaling in three days I have decided Guinness is better after exercise, (so are potato skins and deep fried spring rolls).
All and all I feel confident about my ride to San Francisco. The loaded bike is getting easier to maneuver and I know my legs can handle the distance. Fingers crossed that I will have no mechanical issues and life should be peachy.
Posted by jmclean at 04:39 PM | Comments (1)
April 20, 2007
Bike Tripping
There he is, my new bikefriend in the nude. Surly Cross-Check and I started our relationship February 4th and have been just getting to know each other. With a mere 800km together we have big plans for the next month.
We are planning our maiden voyage up Vancouver Island next week. This will be a test of our strength and will take 3 days/2 nights. We are planning to get up to Cowichan River for the first night. Second night we will reach Ruckle Point on Saltspring Island and then on the third day we will return home. In total an approximate 210 km trip.
After that quick reassessment of our relationship we are going BIG. Weather, maintenance, and energy cooperating we will be leaving for our West Coast tour Friday, April 27, 2007. We will be starting out slowly, taking the scenic San Juan Island ferry to get over to Washington. The plan is to spend the first night on San Juan and then continuing on to Anacortes and down, down, down.
The big idea is to ride the 1830km (1150 miles) to San Francisco in approximately 4-weeks. There is lots of room in this schedule for stops in Oregon to surf, and in the Napa Valley to booze cruise through the vineyards. How exciting, T-minus 7 days...
Posted by jmclean at 10:06 AM | Comments (1)