Day 9

5/31/09 Segment 7: Tsawwassen, BC to Chilliwack, BC. Ray, our friend from yesterday evening, told us this would be flat – nice and flat. Apparently Ray is not accustomed to living in Ohio where flat is really FLAT. We did have 3-4 gradual ups that we totally didn’t expect, forcing us to work out of the saddle again for the umpteenth time. We had a couple of Vancouver Island climbs that worked us pretty well. So Ray, we’ll talk to you about your definition of flat when we hook up with you in Kelona later this week. But by and large, with a fantastic westerly tailwind blowing, and fairly flat roads, we flew. Made 62 miles in 4:08, roughly 14.8mph average with 29’er mt bikes loaded to the gills with gear. Sweet indeed! We were on the bikes at 8:30am and done by 1pm – with just one stop at a nice little fresh fruit and vegetable market at about the 2 hr mark in the ride.

         I just couldn’t believe it when I’d look down at the speedo and see 20.2 mph, 19.8 mph, 18.9 mph. It was wonderful indeed. Now mind you, we were riding on Trans Can 1, an interstate. Yup, in Canada you can ride your bike on the QEW and the Trans Can. Now don’t get the idea that it’s fun, what with semi’s and travel trailers zooming by at 60-70mph, but it’s fast and efficient. And we had to get into the right mindset once we got on Rt 1. The berm is as big as a lane thank God, and when you ride more to the right, you’re in pretty good shape. The only hassle is when you’re crossing the entry and exit ramps……..you have to merge back to the right very carefully, so as to not get taken out by traffic entering and exiting. The crossing over the exiting lanes is the most the gnarly of the two!

         So just imagine yourself riding down the I-80 Turnpike, say Clev to Toledo – that’s us for all of today and half of tomorrow. The traffic is so bloody loud that you have to shout to communicate to one another. So it ends up that you just ride solo and don’t talk.

         The really cool thing today was watching the Canadian Rocky Range get bigger and bigger as we rode east.  It started out as a kind of mirage when we first got on TC 1, and over the next several hours the range just got bigger and bigger. Finally, after 4 hrs of riding you could make out the individual glaciers, the jagged peaks, and the V-shaped glacially cut valleys on the mountains. Right now, at camp, the mountains are right up in your face, dominating the eastern landscape like a massive wall. Tomorrow, around Hope, BC, we get our first taste of the Canadian Rockies.

         What with our early finish to the day – a way we’d like to ride each and every day from here forward – we had plenty of time to work on our “Jobs” and do some repair work. Ryan had broken a rear spoke, the first casualty of the trip, and we needed to pull the rear wheel, tire, tube, and replace the spoke. This was a new one to me what with the disk brake rotars to wiggle the spoke around and through. By the time we had the spoke through the hub and rotar, and ready to mount to the nipple, it was a bent up like a piece of pretzel. But once we got it screwed into the nipple it straightened up quite nicely. But then we noticed that the axel was too tight, way too tight. So we had to loosen the lock nut on the axel and re-true the hub.

         Then it was shower time, what with the temps in the low 80’s today. It felt more like a day in Northern Florida than in southern BC! We were happy to be off of the bike so early today with the temps going through the roof out here. The forecast is for more of the same for the next couple of days. Heck, I’ll take this over the winter weather we started with – anyday!

         Finished the day at…………….well, plan was to go to a supermarket and get some food to cook. Then, on the ride into town, we saw dag gone freaking Mickey D’s. I blurted out to Ryan: “ Heck, I can just as well much down on 4-5 cheeseburgers and not cook”. And he was on it just as fast. Then, as we got closer, I saw a Chinese Restaurant sign just beyond the Mickey D’s sign. And on that sign it read: “Buffet”. Well, those of you who know me, can pretty much sign off on this one. I was inside of the place and working through three plates of food, 2 big bowls of soup, and a big dish of strawberry ice cream. Buffet takes precedence over everything in my eating world, especially after turning a 430 mile week of riding!

         A few glasses of cheap Merlot wine for me here at the picnic table and it’s off to my cushy, roomy Hilleberg for nighty night. Tomorrow we really begin to hit the mts, our home for the next two weeks of riding……..Pete

 

 

Day 8

5/30/09 Segment 6: Victoria to Sidney Vancouver Island. Ferry to Vancouver.

         Pretty mellow day today. After that monster ride yesterday we were real happy to have a kick back day for travel. The hostel was pretty crazy at night what with a lot of the younger kids rolling in around 1am. We were in a row of bunk beds, 8 in our section, and 5 kids rolled in a bit on the inebriated side. Needless to say that they were a bit noisy getting settled. I ended up putting about four sheets of TP in each ear just to take the edge off of everyone’s snoring and movement.

         Did a photo walk early this morning, staying along the warf and the government buildings in the old downtown district. Victoria is a very beautiful, cosmopolitan city, very much reminiscent of cities in Europe. A staggering amount of people commute on bike, and we were told that Victoria has the highest per capita bike riders in the nation.

         The weather is stll stunningly beautiful. It’s much different than the rainy, fogged out, socked in place that I was in many years ago. Never had good luck with the weather here……until now. After my photo walk, I tried to get in my daily dose of Skyping, but hardly anyone was home. I even called the local time and weather number in Hudson just for a hoot!

         Got some breakfast at a local café, eating out on the sidewalk while people watching, and then back to Hostel to get our gear back together and get on to the ferry. We were directed to a bike trail. Actually a rails to trails gig. It ran for the full 24 miles from Victoria to Sidney, right up to the ferry crossing station. It was absolutely fabulous. Imagine the bike and hike trail up on the east side of the valley, but just spectacular, with the coastline on your right side nearly the whole way. Couple that short ride with the cloudless blue skies, and it made for a very memorable spin. And the amount of people out on their bikes was really mind blowing. It was as if the whole city was out riding.

         Made it to the ferry for a 3pm crossing. Nice boat ride, with some impressive sights of the Sound as we skirted along the US border in the waterway. Got off at a Godforsaken place called Tsawwassen. It’s a flat spit of land, very much like something along Key West……But off in the distance are the snow covered Canadian Rockies. I remarked to Ryan how strange it was to call a place like this boring, what with those snow capped peaks way off in the distance. We’ll soon be riding in those buggers!

         Hit a golf course 19^th hole grill and pub to get some dinner and watch the Cavs loose again. No more powder in the air, taking imaginary pictures, and just plain strutting the talk with NO walk.

         Met a really nice guy at the campground, Ray, who is a masters cyclist, and racing in Victoria in the morning. We let him park his van in our campsite and bs’d with him for a while about all his riding and the riding routes he and his teammates do in the southern BC area. He showed us on the map of the route we should do up to the Banff-Jasper area, and it was exactly the route we were planning on doing. Imagine that…….got one right! He lives in Kelowna, and invited us to stay with him and his wife when we get up there next week. Even turned us on to a mt bike ride on an ancient RR line that crosses 20 some trestles – sounds like an awesome day on the dirt.

         Back at the campground now, and it’s a real dump compared to the places we’ve stayed at thus far. This is more like a trailer park in Ravenna than a camping area in BC. I mean there’s cars and trucks up on blocks……I ---- you not!  Well, I guess everywhere has their Ravenna, and Tsawwassen is BC’s! Next stop……Hope, BC. Late………Pete

Day 7

5/29/09 Nanaimo to Victoria

         First Hello to our friends at the Campbell River Starbucks. We’ll get that pic up of us all in the coffee shop. It’s folks like you who make this trip so enjoyable.

Thought it was going to be a fairly easy day……..ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Not here on Vancouver Island. We were greeted with some very long climbs. For the first 20K we had some climbing, but the descending seemed to more than compensate. It was only after about 3 hrs of riding that the hammer dropped – let the torture festival begin! There was a long climb-long descent; long climb-long descent; add infinitem. That was until we got to the Mother of all Vancouver Island climbs, the holy grail of Vancouver Island climbs, the gnarly, ugly, crazy, non-stop, break your heart, kick you spirit in the ass and pull your guts out climb. And it did! I was determined to NOT get out of the big ring, and I paid for it dearly. Ryan on the other hand, who was feeling like a well rode hooker for the first 40 miles, finally started to get his legs back…….until this climb.

         Well, I knew this thing was going to be trouble when I had looked up ahead, already in the biggest pie plate in the back, and saw the road veer upwards into a massive, long rock cut. Walls standing some 1-200 feet above the roadway. I was already out of the saddle, straining over my bars in the big cookie. And then I saw that. I really debated as to whether I was going to yield and go middle ring, and be an idiot and stay out of the saddle and push on. I became the village idiot!

         Ryan was the smart one, shifting into the middle cookie and just spinning up through the rock cut section. All the way the semis and travel trailers were zooming by us at 50-60mph as we were creeping along at 5mph. It’s an amazing feeling pulling those yaks, as you are almost being pulled backwards. Climbing out of the saddle is also different with the trailer – in that you cannot sway the bike, but have to remain in an upright, stationary position so that you don’t rock the trailer. Rock the trailer and you begin to sway all over the road. It’s tough to get used to climbing in this manner, climbing like someone who is not used to climbing out of the saddle, but this is the method to climb with 75 lbs of gear behind you.

         It seemed to take nearly an hour of climbing, me mostly out of the saddle like an idiot, and Ryan, spinning like a granny in the middle ring. But we topped out. Stopped at the vista point and snapped some pic. Ryan was wearing his black gear, and it was completely salt stained. He looked like he had just run a marathon.

         We thought that we were going to get away with a beautiful descent from there……BUT we had to continue to go up. I was not a happy camper, getting back out of the saddle on legs that felt like completely zapped noodles. Eventually we did come to the REAL descent. And by god was it a monster. Here’s the dope: you’re careening down mountain, at about 40mph with a yak behind you, pushing you even harder than you could imagine, making you sway from side to side, and you’re on a shoulder of asphalt about 4 feet wide, with a side of vertical rock face on your right, and speeding cars and semis on your left. Not a lot of room to F up mind you. Every time a semi came by it pulled you with its draft, off to the left. Scary stuff. We really had to grip those bars tight.

         Made it down the descent and out of the mountains. Our next challenge was negotiating the 4 lane traffic for 18K into Victoria. You had to move from berm into the thru lane every time there was an entry lane onto the freeway. And yes I said freeway. In most provinces of Canada you can ride your bike on the freeway. It was insane to say the least, trying to work you way through the lanes as one lane exited while another lane entered. Total and complete cluster----!

         I stopped to get a cold coke about 5K from downtown Victoria, and waited for Ryan. He met up with me and said “I need food freaking NOW”. So we stopped at a Subway and each did a foot long, literally inhaling the damned things on site. We got directions from a local for a hostel in the downtown and headed there, competing with the local bus for space on the highway. This knucklehead cut us off at each and every stop – when we had a bike lane to ride in. We gave him the one finger, Ohio greeting at a stop and proceeded on to the center of Victoria.

         Got checked in at a hostel right on the water. Then off to an outfitter to get a spare quick release for our yaks. This place is the bomb. It was a gear lover’s paradise to be sure, and the staff there were top notch. The place is called Mountain Equipment Co-op. They got us hooked up with a skewer for out yak. We want to say thanks to Felix for all his help, and hope to hear from you down the road.

         Next off to a sports bar to watch Ryan’s Lakers beat the tar out of Denver. Too bad the Cavs cannot close the deal like that! We had some seafood chowder and some great prime rib sandwiches. Now that’s good eating after feasting on Raman Noodles and cans of soup for the last few days. Back to the hostel to crash in a very big way.

         We just have a short day tomorrow to the ferry, all on an old rails to trails – 25-30 miles worth. Then a ferry crossing back to the mainland. We’ve done the Vancouver Island portion. Now it’s North America. Take care all and talk to you soon……..Pete

Day 6

5.28.09

Hot and Sunny Today. Thought it would be nice and flat along the coast. Hahaaaaa not a chance. Power climbing central. With each and every power climb luring us to the little cookie. We fought valiantly in the 16 inch pizza pie plate in the back. We even passed a guy with no luggage going up one of the hills. Then again we got passed by some TT chach. Sceneray was spectacular and some very cool little cities. Then there was Nanaimo-Vancouvers abortion. This place sucks. Bogus traffic. Strip malls everywhere. We got horrible directions to a campground twice. Went to a high rent strip mall for dinner. A cool little brew pub on Nanaimo's north end. We got sticker shock when we got the menu. Bread 4 dollars. Soup 7 dollars. Dinner.....Low priced Foods Grocery store. Cambell Soup and Ramen Noodle with a cheap bottle of Red Australian Merlot. Under $20. Cha Ching. Pete and I are fricken sunburned after today. We watched the Cavs game in the Campground Lounge. Pete and I were asking ourselves why Lebron blows that powder up in the air when his team hasn't won a title yet. We are going to start blowing powder up in the air before each ride. We met an Ex-Navy guy who lives in the campground we are staying in. His name is Travis. He reminded me of that guy that Chris Farley played who lived in a van down by the river except it wasn't a skit. More fun tomorrow. Off to Victoria and perhaps there world famous botanical gardens.

Day 5

5.27.09

The sun rises out here at 5am. And couple that with the transparent roof of a tent and you’ll soon find that you begin to roll with the rhythm of the sun. It rises at 5 – you rise at 5. Hell, I was getting up to work back in Ohio at 6:30am, so much for the “vacation” way of life.

         It takes us a solid 2 hrs to pack up the gear from camp and be ready to ride, so 5-6am is a good time to awake. But today, ahhhhhhhh this was a reward for busting our humps on a 90-mile ride yesterday. We only wanted to stay on schedule and make it to Courtenay – 47K away. It was sunny and cool in the morn. We left camp and high tailed it to Starbucks for coffee and internet. As some of you may already know, we’re now officially Skype pimps….having discovered the underground world of toll free, world wide calling on the computer. I signed up for $8.50 for 3 months of unlimited calling. You folks flushing tons of cash down the drain with cell phones – get on the wagon!

         Well, we went to get caught up with our businesses via email, and then started doing our Skyping with family, loved ones, friends, and anyone else who we remotely give a damn about…….. because we just love to talk for free on long distance and watch the minutes rack up without charge – it’s like heroin for God’s sake! I even called my Aunt Tilly from Bugtussle, who I haden’t talked to for over 51 years……and I just turned 52 this past May!

         Just took it totally casual, stoking on a redeye coffee, and talking with the locals about our trip. We finally left at 10am, rode back to our camp, tore down, and were on the road at a very late 11:15am. We were told about the “scenic route” also call Rt 19A, so we deviated off of Rt 19, and onto Rt 19A, all along the ocean inlet. Did a breakfast at Mickey D’s – 3 double cheeseburgers – and I felt the wrath of burger belly for the next 27 miles.

         Rode at a casual pace the whole time, with just a few power climbs along the way, all along the ocean inlet of the eastern coast of Vancouver Island. No more Mickey D’s for breakfast, that’s for sure, as I had the wonderful taste of breakfast on each and every power climb.

         Ended up in Courtenay, a wonderful little seaside community that is pretty sports oriented – hiking, kayaking, backpacking, surfing etc. Great town center and very friendly people. We were directed to a town camping area right along the river. Arrived at 3pm, and once we were checked in, we went straight to the river for a much needed dip, that to wash away three days of sweat, salt stains, and the BO on our cycling kits. At first the water took your breath away, but after a few seconds it felt wonderful in the warm BC sunshine. I washed my cycling gear in the cold water – with NO soaps – and then let them sun dry at camp.

         Emailed and Skyped at the camp Center with free WiFi, and then off to town to eat – Chineese. Ryan hunkered down at a coffee house and emailed and Skyped for a couple hours, while I grabbed a six of Molsons and went back to camp to cook dinner #2 – Raman noodles with spicy chicken fake flavoring. I don’t read the ingredients  - I just eat the stuff.

Getting late, sun’s gone down, it’s now 11pm, and got to hit the hay for a 60+ mile day tomorrow to Nanaimo. Cheers………pete

Day 4

Pete and I pulled off just outside Woss, British Columbia and camped in a rest area by a river last night. It was rainy pretty gnarly. We thought it would stop but it rained all night. Our Hilleburg tents kept us totally dry. Man we were stoked about that. We woke up early and it took us 2 hours to get all our stuff packed up. We rode a few miles u the road and pulled into a gas station and grabbed coffee. It is amazing how much better things taste when your camping. It was the best coffee ever…

 

We started riding what turned out to be the most grueling ride I have ever done. 90 miles. It was massive amounts of climbing. We had one descent that was 30 minutes and I was going close to 50 mph with my 70 pound yak behind me. We had one climb where we were going 4.5 mph and it took 30 minutes. It’s hard to put in perspective what we did today, but I know one thing. It hurt like hell. Pete just wrote a book about mountain biking in the Blackforest of Pennsylvania and he said today’s ride was harder than anything he has ever done out there. Overall we averaged 12.6 mpg for 90 miles. We had 7:05 ride time today.

 

At mile 60 I was so tired I noticed I was zig zagging in the middle of the road. Not a good sign considering massive logging trucks were zooming by at 100km an hour. I almost fainted. I took some electrolytes and felt a lot better. When we finally got into Cambell River we found a gas station and got dinner #1. 2  hours later we are sitting in a restaurant overlloking some boats and Cambell river eating dinner #2. 

 

Day 3

5/25/09

First day out. Woke up at 5am, and immediately began to work to put trailers together and then pack all the baggage. Drank hotel coffee and jammed on that. Done by 9am. Then off to mail back bike bags and all the unused gear bags and packs. We pulled the boxes up to a mall, inside the mall and hit the counter. Ended up with 70lbs of shit between two bike boxes. Cost $176. Well worth getting that done and out of here.

Then we had to buy bungie cords and a fuel bottle, lighter and some grub for breakfast. Done. Next, back to hotel and get all the shit down to street level. I knew these bad boys were going to have some weight, but damn, when we carried those yaks down the two flights – a knew this was the big time with weight – probably 75lbs apiece. Ouch.

Checked out, and by this time the drizzle we had on our little morining mission, had turned to a full out rain. What a great way to start. Hell, we’re here, and it’s time to blow this pop stand. We started out on those fully loaded gigs – and what a shock. Wow. I damned near took out Ryan on the first K, veering to the right and nearly clipping him. He had to stop on a hill climb out of town. Shit, were those things heavy.

         We road in the rain, and I was definitely under clothed. I had shorts, and long sleeved jersey with light weight underarmor beneath. My knee caps were on fire they were so cold. Hands – numb! The temps had fallen considerbly since the last day, and the headwind and rain only helped to make things miserable to a huge scale. I finally had to stop and put on all my gortex stuff and gloves and over gloves. I was chilled to the bone on this first day of riding.

         Took me 45 min to warm up, but the rain stopped and I finally felt like I was getting the core temp back up. We had agreed that we would make it a mellow day and just ride to Port McNeil – just 20 miles from Port Hardy. We made it in 2 hrs, and the weather had cleared a bit – enough for me to throw it out to Ryan to go for it and see if we could do Woss in the ensuing 4 hrs – 40+ miles away. He was game. He just had to “microwave is soaking wet socks, and get a cup of coco.

We were off again, trying to make up some time with getting such a late start – 11:30am. Had good weather for a bit, and did a shit load of climbing – especially that 30-miler that never ended. Did in the big ring the whole way, but used the pie plate numerous times in the back. We make good time and averaged 10-12 mph the whole climb. It looked way worse in the bus trip down that it actually was on the bike.

         By the time we really started to get tired, it had started to rain again, a nice stead drizzle to a steady rain. We needed 10 more miles to hit Woss, and the rain was in the picture again. We were both getting pretty beat when we came to a little Rest Area. Just next to it was a pipe coming out of the side of the mountain. We rolled on, but came across another Rest Area just 200 meters further – bed time ! We rolled in, and found a great camp spot at the very end of the area – plenty of room to pitch tents. Pitched them in the rain, and then I did a water mission to the pipe to fill the 6 liter bag.

         Got situated in the Hilleberg and then went to get dinner ready – Ramen Noodles of course. Couldn’t get stove started for the longest time, and I was almost resolved to have PBJ’s for dinner. Then I turned a valve at the end of the stove and it started to let gas to to the burner. Halellujia

Gorged on Ramen in a light Drizzle and then off to bed. Too tired to even use the computer or do anything. Conked out at 9pm and slept ok, though a bit of turning over and over on the pad with a small pillow. It rained all freaking night, with absolutely no breaks. I had the feeling that tomorrow would be pure hell. 

Day 2

Day 2-still not on bikes. We got up at 6am today and went to JJ Bean Coffee in Vancouver. So good. Vancouver is stupid beautiful. We easily could have spent a week here and I can see why the 2010 Olympics will be held there.

We boarded our bus and got on a Ferry we took for 2 hours. Then our Ferry landed us in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island where we took a 7 hour bus ride to Port Hardy. Pete and I met this hilarious guy we dubbed Don Juan. He boldly declared he was on his way to see 4 different women this week. We decided to play along with his delusion and we encouraged him to take his daily vitamins cause he was gonna need them and we have been laughing all afternoon.

Pete and I had originally thought that Vancouver Island would be a mild warm up for the Rockies. That is until we got to Woss, BC. I witnessed for the first time in my life a 30 mile climb with 5-8% grade for the whole thing. I kept thinking it would end soon and after about 20 miles Pete and I just started laughing. That climb will be our second day of riding and it is going to be sufferfest on the worst possible dimensions. On the bright side there is a Huge Fresh water lake that we are probably going to camp by and we will get to use our brand new Katadyn Water Filters and Hilleburg Tents for the first time. 

Tonight we went grocery shopping, watched the Cavs game at a Sports Bar, and had the best Clam Chowder we have ever had hands down. Right now we are blaring Janes Addiction and Pete is putting our bikes together.

Day 1

We flew from Cleveland to Toronto to Vancouver. Pete took the far pic of me with our gear. We had about 290 pounds of gear we checked in. Flights were fine. A few people asked us what we were doing and were amazed and very happy for us. Our friends Ben and Karen picked us up in Vancouver and we ate dinner at a place called Go Fish. This is a pic of Pete by where we ate dinner. Great weather in the 60's with blue skies. It was a great 1st day en route to Port Hardy.

May 6. 

Put in four great weeks of cycling: 2 here in Ohio and 2 in the Black Forest. I did all of these rides on the 29er, which is like heaven to ride on up in the mountains of Pennsylvania. No need to even use the front shock with such big, beefy tires. I just locked the thing out 6 weeks ago, and hadn't the need to go back yet. This is definitely the ticket for our TransCan trip.

My Black Forest weekend with Judy was spectacular, with temps in the 70's and 80's for our cycling. We ended up doing 2 rides on the Rails To Trails along Pine Creek, and 2 rides up in the mountains. Pure Paradise! Finish that out with a trip to the Hotel Manor for dinner and drinks and it was a memorable weekend trip.

I've worked my way through the 15-hr weeks, up to 20-hr weeks, and finally up a 30-hour week last week. Feel pretty good, save for maybe 2 nice little raw spots on my butt, right along the sit bones. Good thing for Body Glide (during the riding) and Aquaphor (post riding), as my butt is feeling back to normal again. Now it's time to back it down in volume and get all the rest of the logistical stuff taken care of. I'll shoot for about a 12-15  hr week this week, and 12 or so for next week. On our final week I think I'll be down to 8 or so hrs on my 26-inch mt bike while we pack our 29er rigs into shipping boxes for our 5/23 departure. 

Almost all the gear is ordered and set to arrive in the next couple of days. Still need to take care of some of the battery needs - extra computer and Nikon camera batteries. We're taking a LOT of gear on this trip, especially with respect to electronic equipment. Hell we're a freaking mobile communications system on two wheelers for goodness sake!

Jerry is going to help me finalize my Mac laptop for the trip by getting most all of my desktop software transfered for me to be able to do my Excelincycling website while on the road. This will also enable me to send pictures to some of our sponsors, to newspapers and back to Jerry to upload on the 4thehealthofit website. I also put Skype, on and will encourage others to install this free software for audio-visual communication with me for my coaching duties. 

Coming down to the wire.........Pete Gladden

18 days away

8 months of prep is coming down to the wire. I been working like crazy on business stuff, sponsor stuff, finishing a quarter of Grad School early, and we been finalizing our gear list. Pete "snuck" in a 30 hour ride week. Ridiculous. I got 23.5 hours in last week and with everything else going on I have the Canadian Rockies on my mind which await us. The mountains pulling a 70 pound trailer. WTF.