Let it snow!

This morning we tested drafting off of each other, which worked really well. We kept the speed above 30 km/h for a long time. It felt like we were doing windsprints though, and I was tiring myself out too much to maintain for the whole day. While drafting, I had my first real scare of the trip. I had just finished leading, and Nicole and Travis were passing me when Nicole cut in too early and he pannier knocked into my handle bar. We both lost control, and I had to swerve on the road to maintain balance. Luckily there were no cars coming, and we were able to stay on our bikes and there were no wipeouts.

We stopped in Hope for lunch, and looking at the mountains up ahead, there was a rain storm that was about to come in. This would be our first real outdoor day with precipitation. One of the guys in town was telling us that we should stay in town for a couple of hours to wait for the storm to blow by, but the three of us wanted to test out our rain gear and we were excited to were really excited to bike through it.

Just out of Hope and entering Manning Park, there was a great 6 km uphill. The scenery was great with the mountains and the clouds covering parts of the mountians (especially since we almost got level with the clouds). however, we did know that Allison Pass Summit was coming up. After the first big hill, the terrain was rolly, and we didn't want there to be any more downhills since we knew that we would be climbing right back up them and more. It was also difficult to regulate temperature since it was getting colder as we were getting higher, but we were sweating coming up the hills and freezing coming down them.

Climbing up Allison Pass Summit, Nicole's knee was starting to act up, and Travis and I were exhausted. It was such a long uphill, and to make matters worse, it started to snow! So there we were, chugging uphill at no more than 10 km/h for what seemed to be forever, and we saw a sign in the distance. It was the sign for the summit! I was so happy to see that!

Afterwards, the downhill was pretty painful and cold with the wind blowing so much snow in our faces (we wore sunglasses so we could actually keep our eyes open) that we had to stop early and set up camp by the side of the road. We got set up fast, had a large hot meal and went to sleep.

Fun facts, stats and lessons learned
Distance travelled today: 105.10 km
Total distance travelled: 666.88 km
Starting point: Campground in Harrison Hot Springs
Our Route: We went back on Highway 9 to Highway 7 through to Hope. We then hopped on the Crowsnest Highway (Hwy 3) for the rest of the day. There was great shoulder and road up until Highway 3. There were great shoulders on the uphills for Highway 3, but it was very cracked at other points.

Ending point: EC Manning Provincial Park, by the side of the road just past Allison Pass Summit

• It's not always sunny in Sunshine Valley. Talk about false advertisement! I was dissapointed.
• Total black bears seen so far: 4
• Allison Pass Summit: 1342 m.

Mission for Hope

We were aiming to cycle a long way to Hope, BC today, but it took far too long to get out of the city. It's amazing how much a little traffic and traffic lights can slow down your average speed. Travis had his first flat tire and broken spoke just as we left the greater Vancouver area, which made for a great hour and a half rest.

The scenery through Highway 7 was amazing. There were meadows and farmlands surrounded by mountains. As always, the pictures never do the place justice. Our mission for Hope failed due to the delays, but we got close and ended up camping in Harrison Hot Springs at a private campground. There were tons of RVs there and a lot of families - makes sense due to the May long weekend. I don't know if it's just a BC thing, but there always seems to be more RVs than tents at these campgrounds.

Fun facts, stats and lessons learned

Distance travelled today: 158.30 km

Total distance travelled: 561.78 km

Starting point: Bruce's place, in West Vancouver

Our Route: We went back through Stanley Park and went on Cordova Street, where there was a bike lane. When that ended, we went on Hastings Street which turned into Inlet Drive,and turned onto St Johns Street, which became Highway 7. We stayed on Highway 7 for a long time until we met up with Highway 9 that took us to Harrison Hot Springs. The roads were paved the whole way, and there were good shoulders at some places, decent at others, bad in other places, and nonexistent in some places (mostly through towns).
Ending point: Campground in Harrison Hot Springs

• Travis had his first flat tire and broken spoke
• My new max speed: 65.1 km/h
• I guess it's worth mentionning that, ever since Victoria, every single time we go to a grocery store, it's tradition to get a flavoured milk (chocolate, vanilla, chocolate orange, orange, strawberry, coffee, etc.) and drink it as soon as we leave the store.

Getting ready to leave Vancouver

Travis had his big phone interview today, and Nicole and I were sorting out our stuff to be ready to bike again. It's been so long since we've cycled, especially since this is a cycling trip. Bruce and Lori have been so great to us, letting us stay at their place for so long and being so hospitable throughout our stay! We decided to cook them dinner once again to thank them. A few of Travis' cousins came over, and we had a big pizza party with his family. We were now ready to cycle once again and put in some mileage!

Mountain Biking

Again, the weather was very good to us as we were outside. Today we went back to Whistler village to go mountain biking. The bikes they use are crazy! I've never seen such wide tires and I've never been on a bike with both front and rear suspension - I was bouncing up and down just pedalling to the chair lift. We were geared up in enough safety equipment that would suffice for ice hockey. I did a year of mountain biking at UofT, and although it took a few runs for me to get completely comfortable. They had some great runs, like "Oriental Express" which was very technically difficult with many roots, rocks, and narrow passages, or "Crank It" which was full of jumps, one after the next. I liked Crank It the best, and we were just juicing it on some of the trails. I had so much fun, and I was surprised with how much abuse these bikes must go through. While we were going, we kept on reverting back to our rule from the West Coast Trail, which was modified to be "don't get injured". By the end, we were riding some blue trails, but we ended up on a black diamond run for a little section by the end. On our way back from the mountain, Kevin had his sister's CD in the car, so we blasted "I've Had the Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing with the windows down and the four of us singing along as we passed people on the highway. It was pretty obnoxious, but hiarious nonetheless! I would like to say a huge thanks to the De Muszka family for letting us stay in their Chalet! We had a great time in Whistler because of them!

For lunch, we had ants on a log since Travis had never heard about it before. We're going to have to teach him the wonders of peanut butter before the trip is over. We headed back to Vancouver, and it started to rain. Kevin stopped by at some lookouts and at Shannon Falls to show us the scenery, but it was cloudy and foggy, so it was difficult to see too much. We ended up staying at Bruce and Lori's place again, which was really great. They're great people who are always smiling and seem happy.

Rest in Whistler

Today was a very chill day. We slept in and drove in to Whistler Village to check it out. We decided to have breakfast (just after noon) in town, and by Frédérique's recommendation, we went to Dup's Burritos. When we went, we found out that they had an item on their menu called the Phatty - a 3-4 lb burrito. If we finished it, our pictures would go up on the wall, and if we didn't our vandilized pictures would be on the wall. We couldn't resist the challenge, so we each ordered one. They were massive. Although it was difficult, all the guys finished, but not Nicole. We were all so full that we didn't need to eat anything until really late in the evening.

We came back to the chalet and decided to watch Indiana Jones. Ever since the West Coast Trail, where we were humming the theme to the movie, we wanted to watch it. Well, we tried but I think we all fell asleep. But we did wake up from our nap in time to fit in another hot tub session and watch the Habs game while cooking a mean barbecue. Man, cycling across Canada is really tough.

At night, we went out to Crystal Lounge for some Karaoke, and the place was jam packed with Auzzies. It had a very strange atmosphere, but it was still fun to watch people butcher songs and sing along with them!

Rock Climbing

Today was a very relaxing day. We slept in for the first time in a while, then we decided to walk around Stanley Park. It was very nice and there were many people outside running, rollwer blading and cycling throuhg the park. Vancouver is a very active city, and it seems like a place where I would be happy to live. We came back to meet Bruce after his work to go rock climbing. I've never gone outdoor rock climbing, and it just so happens that he loves to go and he had enough extra gear that luckily fit me, Nicole and Travis. He took us to Lighthouse Park to go climbing at Juniper Point. What a location - we had to rapel down to what at first seemed like nothing but water, but there was a flat rocky platform just above that we used as a base. I've never been outdoor rock climbing before, and this was just great; such an excellent experience. Instead of having the climbing route planned out for us, we had to figure it out as we went, which was much more fun. There was a great view of the city, mountains and water, and we kept climbing until the sun set.

We came home and cooked Bruce and Lori a barbecue to thank them for everything, and Kevin came by for dinner as well. Nicole and I know Kevin from a summer french program back in 2001 where we stayed in Sainte-Foy. It was a blast, and I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people, but luckily Nicole still did. After dinner we headed up to Whistler where Frédérique's family was kind enough to let us stay in their chalet. We arrived late, but soon demolished a tube of the Pillsbury cookie dough and hung out in the hot tub for a bit before going to sleep.

On the mainland

We arrived in Saanich and got our stuff together to go to Vancouver. Travis didn't have panniers yet, so he and I were carrying some stuff in our packpacks. We hadn't had a day of rest from hiking to cycling, and I was so tired on the ferry that I took a little nap. Nicole woke us up so that we could get ice cream, and although we got a small, we were allowed to pour it ourselves, and the cup was overfillingwith ice cream! as we went to the observation deck, we were talking with people who saw us in our biking gear and were impressed when we told them about our trip. I like talking about the trip, and I like it when others are interested to hear about it. It was a sunny day again, and watching the mountains in the distance was exciting, calming, and yet a bit scary to know that the big mountains are still to come.

As we were cycling through Vancouver, I was very slow with my tired legs and heavy gear, and I just wanted to reach Travis' uncle's place as soon as possible. After crossing the Lion's Gate Bridge, we arrived at the intersection on Marine and Taylor, where we stopped for a quick second to stare at the steep, long hill ahead of us. Then, just as we were about to get going, Travis' uncle shows up in his car and offers to take our gear off our bikes. It was incredible - as if he read our minds and came in to help in the nick of time. Our bikes were so light afterwards; I don't know how I would've been able to climb the hill otherwise. When we arrived at Bruce's place, there was a large meal waiting for us, again as if he read our minds and knew exactly what we needed. We had a great feast! Bruce and Lori were very hospitable to us, and it was great to talk to them for a while before going to sleep.

Fun facts, stats and lessons learned

Distance travelled today: 71.40 km
Total distance travelled: 403.48 km
Starting point: Derek O'Farrell's place, in Saanich
Our Route: Took the Patricia Bay Highway (Hwy 17) North to Swartz Bay, where we took a ferry to Tsawwassen, and then continued on Highway 17 until it met up with Highway 99. There was a decent shoulder the whole way through. We weren't allowed to take our bikes through the George Massey Tunnel, so we took the free bus service. The bus driver then told us to take Rice Mill Road to No. 5 Road, West at Stevenson to No. 4 Road, and continue until it met up with Highway 99. There weren't any shoulders, but the traffic wasn't too bad as we were cycling. From there, we met up with the Highway to go over the Oak Street Bridge (cycled on sidewalk), and stayed on Oak Street although it didn't have a shoulder. We turned on Broadway, then went to Granville and Georgia. We were allowed to cycle on the side walk through Stanley Park and the Lion's Gate Bridge, and we went to MArine to Taylor and then some side roads to our destination.

Ending point: Bruce's place, in West Vancouver

WCT Day 5 - Caves

We woke up really early to another sunny day to make Owen's Point by 8am, which is when tides are the lowest. Owen's Point is along the beach, and it has tunnels that are only accessible at low tides. As we were walking along the beach, there were some very large gaps that we had to jump over, and if we slipped, we would've fallen a good 40 feet into some water with no easy way out. The gaps were maybe 4 feet, but it's far with your pack on and jumping from one slippery rock to another. We each had our fair share of slips and falls along the way, but we were very fortunate that they weren't at points where we would fall to our death - and no kidding, there were places where a single slip would've sent us over cliffs or far down to a rocky creek, and the terrain was filled with roots or slippery fallen trees that require your full concentration. At these points, we had a very strict "no falling" rule that we reminded each other on. I meant to ask how many people have died on this trail and consequently the survival rate, but I completely forgot.

The caves at Owen's Point were amazing, and we had a lot of fun climbing in, out, and around them for a while. The next part of the trip involved climbing around large boulders and rocks, which required a lot of patience, planning and leaps of faith. They were difficult to navigate around, and some were very slippery. There was a seal that kept following us along the way and popped his head out a couple of times, but every time I tried pointing it out to Nicole, she couldn't see because there were boulders in the way. It kind of felt like a Polkaroo situation. We met up with Sean and other hikers at the last campsite, and we said our goodbyes and headed for the last 5k of the trip. We were told that it would be the hardest part of the trip and it would take us 5 hours, but it only took us half the time. Maybe because we were expecting something brutally difficult, but to me it didn't seem as bad as everyone said it would be. By the end, we were all so exhausted and our legs seriously felt like lead weights. Hiking with these packs is definitely more exhausting than cycling through the mountains.

After finishing, Rinita came to pick us up and we headed to her place in Port Renfrew. Rinita has been so nice to us to go out of her way to help us, and seeing her and a real shelter was a very welcoming sight. We spent the rest of the evening with her, playing Oh Shit (card game) and relaxing. It was nice to go to sleep in a bed.

Day 12

If there are two words I can use to describe today they would be ladders and mud! (and lots of them!). We definitely had a late start this morning! I woke up around 8, and the two boys probably closer to 9. By the time we left, EVERYONE else at the camp had left at least an hour before (most more like 2+hrs before. We hit the road (or the trail i guess?) around 11:30am. The morning was BEAUTIFUL, and we started with a nice beach walk! It was a quick paced walk, and we were covering a lot of distance. We needed to make it to Camper's Bay in order to guarantee we would see Owen's Point tomorrow morning. Although it was only 16km away, there were rumours floating around that after the 53km mark (the time-wise half way point, some would say), we would be very slow going. The first people we bumped into in the morning were three avid hikers. You could tell how avid a hiker is by his/her walking stick. Although we were authentic and resourceful and environmental and chose driftwood walking sticks, this does not speak highly of our hiking abilities. ANYONE can pick up a stick, but only a true hiker would spend money on something you could get for free. These three men were SO avid that they each had TWO purchased walking sticks each. They were a bit negative, saying we'd have a hard time making Camper's by nightfall (we were clearly being judged by our walking sticks). The next two ppl we bumped into were a lot more positive and warned us it was hard going, but that we'd definitely make it. We decided to ignore Two-sticks and listened to the positive encouragement instead. I must say though, although negative, Two-sticks did give us good advice. They told us to take the bush route at the next beach access point because Waldron was very deep, and the tide was coming in. When they crossed the river the water came up to their upper thighs. It was solid advice (we later learned Sean did the river crossing and then proceeded to spend 1-2hrs just drying off). So we headed up into the bush (and were thankful for a change in scenery). The bush route was tons of fun! It was like an obstacle course, where there were roots everywhere, and pits of mud we had to maneuver in/through/around. There were a lot of ups and downs, and it was very interesting, made us think, and was just fun (had to jump, duck, climb over/under, etc). We had several cable cars as well to take us over rivers. Then the ladders started. We were warned about the ladders, but the warnings didn't quite give them justice. They were LARGE ladders. We were told they were 100ft deep/long (by Two-sticks.....and they would know). They never mentioned at the start of the hike that you shouldn't do it if you're afraid of heights. Good thing we didn't have that problem because these ladders were HIGH. And there were a LOT of them!!! They usually went down to a bridge (wood or suspension) or to a cable car. We were definitely wrecked by the end of the day! We didn't really find it got much slower at the 53km mark per say. It was more that once you hit a ladder, you would spend time and energy climbing down then up, but you wouldn't actually gain any distance. Once we were done the ladder section, we were a little worried that we would be caught out in the dark (having no concept how long it would take to complete the last 4km). By that point there were no more ladders, but there was still a LOT of mud to maneuver through (which needless to say is time consuming!). The sun was getting quite high in the sky, and we didn't give ourselves many (or any) breaks. By the time we hit Camper's we were WRECKED! We immediately started cooking dinner and setting up camp (and obviously taking off all our wet shoes/clothes). Turns out we had just enough sunlight. The sun started setting as we were washing up our dishes and it only became dark after we were all ready for bed! No one in the camp thought we were going to make it (because of our late start) but we won! (as if it was ever an option to not make it in time!).

Day 11

We woke up at 6am today and were hoping to cover some ground, and were looking forward to some crab/salmon breakfast/lunch, and some burgers for dinner!!! Although we learned yesterday that the beach route was slower than the bush path, it was such a beautiful morning, and the Tsusiat point looked really cool in the distance that we decided to start the day with a beach walk. We would make an occasional side route to climb a boulder in the ocean.
We opted to head into the forest the first chance we got after Tsusiat point. We walked for approximately 7km that morning, on the beach, through the forest (and some reserves), until we got to Nitnat river. We needed to take a ferry crossing. The guy who drove the boat was the one who sold us fresh salmon or crab. Michael ordered crab, while Travis and I ordered Salmon. It was SOO good! (albeit quite expensive). We asked, and he said the burger place probably closed around 6pm and we should be able to make it by then. So we decided to bust it and get a burger for dinner! We were making decent time, but not good enough to make it for 6. So we decided to take a quick break to decide what we should do. We could camp out at the 42km mark and have burgers in the morning, or we could bust it to the 46km mark (our original plan) and hope they're still serving food. We decided to stay at the 42km site until Sean caught up to us. He pointed out that if we wanted to make Owen's point (which we did) on Sat, we would need to camp out at Camper's to ensure we could make it before the tides came in. Therefore, we should camp out at the 46km tonight to cover enough ground to make it to Camper's tomorrow. We thought that sounded smarter than basing our decisions on burgers (which we could easily get off the trail as well) so we hiked the rest of the way with Sean. When we got to the 42km campground, we noticed that the two Germans were there already. Sean said he was hiking with them earlier, and they took the beach route while he took the forest. Therefore, we decided to stay along the forest if it was going to be quicker. It was really quick. The beach today had firmer sand, and smoother rock shelves. Therefore, we covered quite a bit of ground! We stayed on the beach until the path led into the forest via the lighthouse. It was a bit of a steep climb up to the lighthouse (where there was a really nice view!), then mostly downhill through the forest back to the beach. Michael and Travis took a bit of a side route that resulted in them getting wet trying to get back off the rocks (and then they had to detour back through to forest again just to make it back to the beach without being soaked head to toe by the ocean). There were three WOOFers working on the reserve (at Chez Monique's), who were still around, chilling out. They cooked us up a burger for dinner, and it was delicious! We then went to set up camp and build a fire. We finished off the smores and vodka and camped out under the stars. I went inside the tent part way through the night because my sleeping bag was getting a bit wet. The other two stayed camped out and apparently by morning, all their things dried (according to Michael, Travis was fast asleep all night and didn't notice anything wet at all).

Day 10

We set the alarm for 7am this morning. By the time we had breakfast (oatmeal), and packed everything up and hit the road, Sean had already left. We set out, hoping to cover a lot of ground today. We were told that the first part of the trek was easier and although it's a 75km route, the 53km mark is halfway time-wise. Therefore, we wanted to cover as much ground during the easy segment as possible. Unfortunately that didn't quite happen. In total today, we only covered 11km. Most of the trail today was along the beach and it was SO slow going! We had to walk over a rock shelf for parts, which wasn't too bad, but when we had to walk on the sand or gravel it was as if with every two steps forward, we were taking one back. It was SO slow going, we were so happy when we finally were able to take the bush path! It was still a nice day, but overcast at times. By the time we got to our camp it was beautiful again!
We camped out at Tsusiat Falls. There was a massive ladder system going down to the beach. In order to get to the camp, we had to cross a stream (created by the runoff from the falls). There was some wicked camping on our side of the stream already, so although we wanted to scope out the other side, we left our packs behind. The water was REALLY cold, so at first (partly for comfort and partly for a challeng) we started making a bridge. There was a lot of driftwood, but the stream was moving too fast, and it proved quite difficult to do. How many ppl does it take to build a make-shift bridge? Apparently more than 2 engineers and 1 carpenter. We gave up not long after starting and rolled up our pants and crossed the FREEZING water. Michael found some random skull. We tried guessing, but don't have a clue what animal it could have come from!
Although the other side did have the washrooms and bear lockers, Our original side had a cave we could camp in, and some wicked large rock formations that blocked some of the wind for our campfire. We set up our tent in a cave, and then started making the fire. We cooked over the fire instead of using the stove. After dinner, we had smores and more skittle vodka and tried to make the fire bigger than yesterday's. Unfortunately with the wind, although the fire was very large, it was too smoky to sit by comfortably. Therefore, after Michael and Travis hung our food, we put the fire out early and had an early night's rest to hopefully get an early start to cover some ground tomorrow!

Day 9

We woke up REALLY early today to get the 6:15am bus for the West Coast Trail. Our original plan was to start the trail on Sunday, but since Michael and I got into Victoria on Saturday afternoon, there was not enough time to get everything ready for Sunday. Unfortunately the bus only leaves every second day, which is why we didn't leave yesterday (and instead got a double tour of Victoria). But Renita was amazing (thank you so much for everything Renita)! She woke up early just to drive us to the bus (then I'm assuming she went home and went back to bed for a bit). There was only one other person waiting at the bus stop. His name was Sean and he just graduated from U of T engineering. He spent the past six days hitch hiking across Canada to do the trail.

The bus was long and windy. All of us slept for most of the ride up to Bamfield. Roughly six hours later, we were at the Start of the West Coast Trail. We signed up and $168 later, we were allowed to do the trail! We had to wait until the info session at 1pm, explaining things about the trail before we were allowed to begin. They went over a general overview of the trail, talked about safety (ie bear/cougar/wolf info, info on tricky parts of the trail, etc). Then we headed off. Sean was a bit ahead of us, and at the 3km mark we caught up to him and the four of us continued to our campsite. It was a gorgeous day for hiking. The sky was blue, the sun was out, and the scenery was spectacular! The forest was so dense and interesting at times, and there were some amazing beach views! We also saw some sea lions, and climbed down for a closer look (not too close obviously!). Just before the campground, we stopped off at the first lighthouse on the west coast. The lighthouse operator came out to talk to us for a bit. She thought I was someone she knew in school, and then told us about her job, and showed us the glass balls that washed ashore from Japan. It was really cool.

We decided to camp out at the 14km mark. It was a nice campground on the beach. It was just the three of us and Sean who camped out there (everyone else decided to camp out at 12km). We set up camp, started making dinner, then started making a MASSIVE bonfire. It started out tame enough. We passed around the skittle vodka for a bit and had nice deep conversations about life (etc). Then we decided to make the bonfire MASSIVE (and by we, I mostly mean Michaeland Travis). There was so much driftwood to use that it wasn't hard to make the flame as tall as Travis. Then we packed up and put our food/toiletries in the bear lockers and went to bed.

Day 8

Today Renita (Michael and Travis' friend from McGill rowing) showed us around town. She arrived at Derek's with Nat (another McGill rower) and we went for breakfast. She was going to take us to the same restaurant Derek took us to yesterday, but after finding out we have already been, she took us to the "Blue Fox." It was really good. Nat had to go after breakfast (he had rowing practice) and Renita proceeded to take us around Victoria. It was funny because EVERYWHERE she took us, Derek took us the day before. It was nice to know we thoroughly saw Victoria, twice over. But Renita gave us a more thorough tour of U Vic (and then took us to the same grocery store as yesterday), and the liquor store. We then went to Renita's to watch the Habs game (Montreal won!). We got all our West Coast Trail stuff from Derek's and brought it back to Renita's (we were crashing at hers for the night and then getting a ride to the bus for the West Coast Trail). Her parents made us an AMAZING Indian food meal! It was delicious! Then we packed up all our gear and went to bed.

Day 7

Today was Mother's Day. Happy Mother's day mom! We started off our morning with a rower's special breakfast with Derek at a cute little restaurant. We spent the next part of the day getting our stuff together for the bike and the West Coast Trail. We ended up hitting up MEC, then walked around downtown Victoria. We had some really good sea food on the dock and then met up with Derek and Simon. We were going to go to a bar to check out the game, but the bars seemed to be empty (even during the playoffs!). So we saw the parliament building, saw the house boats (house boat village of sorts?), went to "mile 0" with the statue of Terry Fox (it's where he was planning on finishing his run across Canada), saw U Vic (quick drive through), and drove along Dallas Rd (a nice, scenic drive). Then went grocery shopping, and started sorting ourselves out for our upcoming adventure!

That's family!

I got up this morning to another beautiful morning. I was so cozy in my sleeping bag, and the air was so nice and fresh that I didn't want to get up, but we had to meet up with Travis today so we could get started on the West Coast Trail. I was a bit sore this morning, but after walking around a bit it went away.As we were cycling along the highway, everyone was warning us about the Malahat - a mountain just south of Mill Bay. I guess it was because we were so mentally prepared for it, but it didn't seem too difficult. Sure, it was relatively steep and fairly long, but it didn't seem to compare to those summits near Port Alberni. Going down the mountain was a beauty. Steady downhills that lasted a long time. As we were heading in to Langford, the trees grew thick around us, and there was a gorge along the highway that was very beautiful and scenic. For the first time since we landed, it rained... only for 20 minutes, but I was forgetting that I was in BC with the lack of rain we've lucked out on.

We arrived in Saanich to meet up with Travis at his brother's place by 3:30 pm. His brother, Derek, is on the National Rowing Team, and he was planning on having a bunch of naitonal team guys over for a bbq and a celebration since they figured out who will make the team for Worlds through a tough regiment of seat racing. When they figured out that Travis and Derek were brothers, they kept on saying "Oh man, that's family"; and when they found out that Nicole and I were twins, they extended that to everything. Shotgunning bear (opening it with a huge knife or teeth) - that's family; tossing around a cantaloupe and taking bites out of it after it cracks open - that's family. They were an absolute riot!

It was also pretty cool that they told us that were were intense for doing this trip. I mean, here are monsters of human beings, who wake up super early and row three times a day, six days a week, and some of them already have gold medals from the 2008 Olympics, telling us that we were hardcore. It was a pretty cool feeling.

Fun facts, stats and lessons learned

Distance travelled today: 82.08 km

Total distance travelled: 332.08 km

Starting point: Chemainus River Campground, in Chemainus.

Our Route: Took Highway 1 all the way to Helmcken Road in View Royale, which turned into Wilkinson Road, and then went North on Highway 17 and turned off on Haliburton road, where Derek resides. All roads have decent shoulders, except when passing through Duncan, and on Helmcken/Wilkinson where the bike path seemed to start and end at every block.

Ending point: Derek O'Farrell's place, in Saanich.

• Malahat summit is 352 m.
• We biked to the grocery store after taking all our gear off. The bike felt as unstable as the first time we put on the gear.
  

Day 6

We started off the morning with a 5:30am alarm. I apparently didn't even hear the alarm go off, and Michael pressed the snooze. We ended up actually getting up just past 6am and were on the road by 8:30. Our plan was to make it all the way to Victoria by mid afternoon. From Nanaimo onwards people were telling us that it was a decent ride except for the Malahat. Everyone warned us about the Malahat mountains and said how big of a climb it would be etc. Therefore, we were a little nervous, having just done a day of hills the day before yesterday, we knew how hilly Vancouver Island could be. But that being said, we also figured it couldn't be worse than the roads leaving Tofino because the Malahat was a more populated area and therefore, there would be more room, and less steep inclines (this is what we were telling ourselves before getting to the Malahat). Turns out it wasn't so bad after all! It was about a 5km steady uphill, followed by a continuous downhill (and fairly downhill into Victoria....with some ups and downs). We definitely built it up so much (from all the warnings) that we definitely expected much worse. I don't know if I would be saying it wasn't so bad if we didn't have all those warnings though...
It was a beautiful morning and a really hot mid day! The sun was beating down on us (as it was yesterday in Nanaimo) and although we were wearing a lot of spf45 sunscreen, both Michael and I are nice and red. On the other side of the Malahat, it started raining (and we thought, this is more like what we expected, and dreaded from Vancouver Island). We put on some of our rain gear, which kept us very comfortable (we didn't feel it was hard enough rain to pull out all our waterproof pants etc). But the rain was weird. It just suddenly started, and then suddenly stopped. And once we passed the area it stopped, the roads were instantly dry. It was like it only rained in that one spot that we unfortunately had to pass through.
Because of our technical difficulties with the stove last night, we didn't want to take the chance and start it up on the road again, so for most of the day our snack consisted of carrots (which we polished off), and raisins (since we bought SO many!). Turns out, after getting into Victoria, Michael and Travis had another look at it and it was working fine, so who knows what the deal was!
It was a nice ride, and we ended up doing 82.08km today, with a whapping total of 332.08km from Tofino to Travis' brother Derek's in Victoria! We got here by mid afternoon, as we hoped, and had an amazing ride and are looking forward to starting our trip with Travis! Both Michael and I have slightly sore knees and tight thighs (and I definitely have) sore shoulders (when cycling you are supposed to relax your shoulders, but with all the gear, if we relax too much, we swerve into traffic!). Oddly enough, my right hand is still tingling. I have bad circulation in my hands and feet and sometimes when I ride my toes fall asleep (which happened only a few times on this ride, but for the most part was alright!), and my hands (usually my thumbs, esp my right thumb for whatever reason) feels like it's falling asleep. For whatever reason, it happened again yesterday (around the time the rain hit), and it still feels off. Hopefully it's better tomorrow or in the next few days!!!
For dinner, the three of us decided to head down to the grocery store to get some steak and then over to get some local beer. Without all our gear loaded up on the bikes, Michael and I found our bikes were actually wobbly! It was almost the complete opposite sensation of when we put our gear on the bikes for the first time (which felt like going on our bike for the first time! didn't think i could do it at first!)! We quickly got used to it again, but it felt so light! It was weird. But after dinner, a bunch of Derek's team came over (he's on the national rowing team, which is wicked!). It was funny to hear national rowers (some of whom have gone to world cups, olympics and even the podium) say how impressive our trip is! We think what they do is unbelievable and with all the training etc they do, we didn't expect them to be impressed with our journey! We had a great night and want to thank Derek and his roommates for having us over!

Nanaimo bars!

We got up, and we decided to take a short walk along Cathedral Grove. The trees were impressive, but the trail was very short so were able to start cycling early. Today was the first day that it felt real that we're actually cycling this country. Yesterday was a long bike ride, but to wake up early and do it again the next day was a different feeling. The roads were rolly, but mostly downhill, and a tailwind made the cycling very easy as we maintained 35 km/h for minutes at a time. It was a bit scary when we went on Highway 19 since the speed limit is 110 km/h and it had a small shoulder. It was especially intimidating as large trucks zoomed by, but I got used to it after a while and it was fine. A few days ago I was worried that we wouldn't even be able to start our trip since Nicole was very wobbly on her bike and kept on saying "I can't do this." But with a little rearranging of equipment (put the heavier stuff towards the bottom of the panniers) and time, I even got comfortable enough to stand up while going uphill.

As we completely underestimated the time it took to get to Port Alberni, we overestimated the time it would take to get to Nanaimo.

We were excited.

We decided it would be a great idea to stop for a while and air out our equipment, take showers, and enjoy the sunshine! After getting Nanaimo bars at a local bakery, we're currently chilling out along the port boardwalk. The sun is shining again, people are strolling along and talking to us, and there is someone playing the guitar not too far away. Nanaimo is a cute town, with a downtown area with old style shoppes along well maintained brick roads.

We spent a full four hours in town, and left after the wonderful break. We were hoping to make it to Duncan, but we finally decided it would be best to stop in Chemainus instead of trying to find a place in the dark.

Fun facts, stats and lessons learned

Distance travelled today: 104.20 km

Total distance travelled: 250.00 km

Starting point: MacMillan Provincial Park, along the side of the road near Cathedral Grove.

Our Route: Took Highway 4 to Highway 4a in Coombs, which led to Highway 19 (Inland Island Highway). Just before Nanaimo, the Highway split and we took Highway 19a (Island Highway) into the town. As we were cycling along, we found a bike path that ran parallel with the highway, so we switched over and it took us straight downtown. Leaving Nanaimo, we went back onto Terminal Road, which led to Highway 1. The shoulders have been decent, and the roads are in very good condition with the exception that there are frequent encounters with patches of rocks/pebbles.

Ending point: Chemainus River Campground, in Chemainus.

• MacMillan Park contains some of the only remaining old growth coastal Douglas-fir in Canada.
  
• During high winds, people should evacuate the hiking trails immediately.
  
• There is no "must go" shop to get Nanaimo bars.
• Many BC campgrounds, if you show up after the office closes, will let you stay on an empty site for the night and you pay in the morning.
• When following someone, there's a tradeoff between drafting and being able to see potholes or debris ahead. I found it most effective to draft on the flats, but leave space on the downhills.
• Having that extra small front chainring helps a lot on the uphills. I am much faster than Nicole since she only has two up front.
• There is no sales tax on bikes sold in BC.
• Nicole and I could demolish 1 kg of trail mix as if it were an in-between-meal snack.
  

Getting Ready to Join in

All my gear is packed up and ready to go, my flight leaves to Victoria at 6:30, can't wait to join you guys!

I'll wait till we're all together before I do my official Gear Post.

Day 5

Today was beautiful! The weather was beautiful (again)! We started off the day with a hike through an old forest in MacMillan Park. It was a nice way to start our morning! We ended up hitting the road around 9am. It was definitely a net downhill, with a wicked tailwind! It was smooth sailing into Parksville, with rolling hills. Then into Nanaimo it was significantly downhill! It was wonderful and quick! Before hitting Nanaimo we stopped off at a rest area where we met a couple who were cycling down to Nanaimo for the day. They recommended an alternate route into Nanaimo (instead of Highway 1) which we ended up taking (the Island Highway). It was nice and scenic, and we found a bike path which took us all the way downtown. Our first plan: get a nanaimo bar! We did. actually we bought 6. I could barely finish 2 (they were SO big and sweet!) so Michael had the other 4 (well, 31/2. A homeless woman came over when Michael was halfway finished the last and asked for some food so we gave the last bit). We ended up staying in Nanaimo for 4 hours (and still managed to cycle 105km for the day!). Other than the nanaimo bars, our other priority was a shower! Seeing as how we haven't showered since like day 1 (don't judge.... we do our best with no facilities!), it was essential to feel clean again!!! We also called home and got our tires pumped at a local bike shop. Afterward, we took advantage of the tail wind and continued on to Chemainus, where we stayed at a campground (first time we've paid for lodging since we left Tofino). The people who owned it were very nice and let us use their computer to figure out how to get to Travis tomorrow. We had some technical difficulties with the stove, so just snacked for dinner then passed out! I still felt sick from the nanaimo bars until bedtime! ...but they were definitely worth it! (Michael and I were planning on eating nanaimo bars in Nanaimo since we officially decided to go through there!).

The long and winding road

The Pacific Rim Highway is very hilly. There are plenty of terrible uphills and downhills. Just before heading out for the day, we stopped to ask a construction worker what to expect up ahead, and he said that there was this big hill named Hydro Hill. He said "[we] will know when we hit Hydro Hill" … and we did. They don't just give any hill a name in this neck of the woods. It was very steep, windy, and seemed to go on forever. I was in my lowest gear (on a mountain bike!) going less than 4 km/h, but I rode the whole thing. You would’ve been proud if you seen it – with the gear and a headwind too. There was another major hill heading east out of Port Alberni. This one wasn't as steep, but it lasted for over 9 km (no joke - we measured it on our odometer!). The worst part was that we could only see about 400 metres ahead of us, and it seemed to peak just around the corner, but we were wrong and disappointed far too often.

It wouldn’t be fair to talk about the uphills without the downhills. The one coming down from Hydro Hill was a solid 18% grade. On many of the downhills, we had to go onto the main road since it was far too windy and we were going too fast to safely make our way to the bottom along the shoulder, if there was one at all. Many stretches up/down a mountain had a rock face on one side, and a steep drop on the other, with a visibility of around 50-200 m. But somehow we lucked out with the traffic and there were no cars behind us as we zoomed down the hills. Just past Hydro Hill, I hit a max speed of 58.3 km/h in a headwind and using my breaks, and I tried to slow down because I realized that if a gust of wind came from my side, I would've been thrown off my bike and sprawled along a 100 m stretch of the highway, maybe not in one piece. We had a headwind all day, which made some of the downhills feel like uphills. It wasn’t a strong headwind, but it was consistent and we definitely felt it. It seemed to take forever to get to Port Alberni, which at first we thought we could make on our first full day of cycling. Port Alberni is a quaint little town, with nice people that like to chat us up. We enjoyed talking with them for a bit, but since we were on a bit of a deadline to meet up with Travis in Victoria and we wanted to find a place to stay for the night that I got a little impatient. We weren't rude to them, but it made me think that maybe people think that Torontonians seem unfriendly since we're used to direct, efficient answers.

After Port Alberni, we were looking for a place to camp as we cycled down the summit. We wanted to camp by 6-7 pm every night so we're sure we don't get stranded in the dark without a tent pitched or a place to stay. We ended up in MacMillan Provincial Park, but camped behind a concrete barrier after a river. The forest is starting to look like a BC forest in this area, with tall trees and the moss that is on almost all the branches. It was a solid day of cycling, and we get to do it again tomorrow.

Fun facts, stats and lessons learned

Distance travelled today: 99.31 km

Total distance travelled: 145.80 km

Starting point: somewhere along the east side of Kennedy Lake, by the side of the road.

Our Route: Took Highway 4 into Port Alberni, turned left at Johnston Road, and continued on Highway 4. The roads were in excellent condition, although there was no shoulder for the first 50 km (which could've been very dangerous), then a small shoulder, then a decent shoulder as we approached and left Port Alberni. The only place with a less than great stretch of road is the 10 km leading into Port Alberni from the west, where there were plenty of potholes, cracks, no shoulder and lots of traffic.

Ending point: MacMillan Provincial Park, along the side of the road near Cathedral Grove.

• Summited 2 peaks today. Summit west of port Alberni: 240 m; summit east of Port Alberni: 411 m.
• Maximum speed: 58.3 km/h.
• Vehicles must wear winter tires or chains from October 1 - April 30 along these roads. That's just a week ago. We really lucked out with the weather.
  

  

• Saw two black bears today along the side of the road, grazing along and eating. We were no less than 30 m from one of them.
  

Day 4

I have one word for the day: HILLS! and lots of them! It was actually a long day of hills. We summited two mountains (one was 240m and the other 411m.... but the 240m summit was HARD. it was steep, a lot of uphills with a few downhill/flats. It was MUCH harder than the 240 suggests).
When we woke up and started packing up our gear I went over to talk to the road crew guy holding the stop/go sign to ask about the weather for the day and the roads ahead. He said if it rains it will rain a bit and it won't last long, but it's probably not going to rain at all (there were slight sun showers that lasted like a few minutes and were comparable to the cool zone at wonderland). But regarding the hills, he said there are two really bad ones: Kennedy hill (the hill in front of us that we stopped in front of), and hydro hill. He said once we got to the two lane highway we're in the clear (have a few ups and downs, but the worst of the hills are over until Port Alberny). He was really nice and said that if we hit the road before 8am we could have the whole lane on the other side of the pylons, but after 8am the road crew would be there working on the roads. Unfortunately we left after 8am but they still let us use most of the area on the other side of the pylons so we didn't have to deal with local traffic! Much safer!!! It was a hard hill for sure, but nothing compared to Hydro hill (when I asked the road crew guy how I would know when we reached Hydro hill he just said "oh, you'll know" and we did!). When I started swerving I decided to walk. It was too narrow (one lane), had no shoulder, was INCREDIBLY windy and steep, and had a lot of logging trucks driving past. I just didn't feel like it was safe to bike up and swerve into traffic. Michael, being Michael, cycled it. He has a lower gear set than me so kicks my ass on the uphill. I still beat him at the downhill. ...Unfortunately the uphill is more important, especially when we start tackling the Rockies...
One of the biggest highlights for the day would be the bear sightings! We saw two bears! The first was pointed out to us by a guy driving in the opposite direction. He stopped to tell us to stop and take a look. That bear was on the other side of the road. The second bear was on the same side of the road as us, down a gully. It was really cool to see! The bears were happy out just grazing and both left after realizing they were being watched.
Another thing to note is the amazing weather! So far, three days of great weather! Not too shabby!! (esp since BC is known to have a lot of rain!).
I also want to say thank you to all the drivers who gave us a lot of room on the road! We really appreciate it! (and most ppl did give us our space!!! so thank you bc!!). And no thank yous to those who didn't. Like if there is an empty lane beside you, there's no need to ride close to us, or speed right beside us! We get it, you're faster. Good for you, your motor is faster than our thighs. You win! Now give us our space so we don't get hit!
After summitting the 240m mountain (killer mountain I should say), it was a decent ride into Port Alberni. There was one are where Michael and I both walked up a hill because it was too dangerous to cycle it (it wasn't ridiculously high, but there was NO shoulder, a lot of traffic, and a lot of potholes. the likelihood of falling or veering into traffic was too high). But other than that it was a decent ride into Port Alberni. Leaving Port Alberni was a different story. There was a 10km uphill out of the city (or town?). It was long and difficult climb! It just seemed to last forever! But finally, we summitted it and started looking for a place to
camp out! We found a provincial park on the map and headed for that (MacMillan park) only to find out that there is no camping at MacMillan. Instead we decided to camp out at the side of the road. We pitched our tent behind a concrete barricade so we would be safe, and passed out (Michael was passed out the whole night, I woke up every so often as cars passed by and kept honking for whatever reason!). But our hard day is now over! Now onto Nanaimo tomorrow!