Tired of I.T! » British Columbia

BC Statistics

Dave — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:50:29 +0000

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I’ve got short arms for my body size, and it was difficult to find a rain jacket that would fit me properly. I took a gamble and ordered a jacket off the internet and I have to say,I love my Gore Bike Wear jacket. It does what it is supposed to, which is keep me dry. It looks good on me even when I’m not on the bike. Decent products, and depending on how well of a super sleuther you are in finding deals, it can be had for a reasonable cost. The only thing I am frustrated with it is the gigantic ad it has on the breast area. Like, I’m cool with a little logo on the back of the jacket or something on the wrist, but not something that is going to appear and be in the forefront of every picture out there..

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Luckily I have a secret weapon. Non Toxic, Permanent, and doesn’t run off in water, Sharpie markers are your friend. They’ve saved me a few times when I was working with Marine Aquariums to keep things looking a bit cleaner. They’re also great for scribbling things down as well. Modifying my jacket is what I set out to do, and the result shown more accurately describes what I’d rather have on my jacket.

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Whaddya think?

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Sparkles from the Diamond in the North

Dave — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:41:54 +0000

First off, I must apologize for the lack of updates since arriving in Yellowknife. The fact of the matter is that I’ve been incredibly busy, if you can call sitting on a sun porch watching the endless sun from a far, safely protected by the mosquitoes, wasps, and brief amounts of rain ‘busy’. The beauty of the capital city of the Northwest Territories has impacted me in more ways than one, and I found myself quickly settling into a very comfortable spot in life. So far, this has been the pinnacle of the tour, and I liked it so much that I canceled my flight out of the city, and extended my stay for another week.

Yellowknife, population 18,000 is at the end of the road – In the summer. Concrete and gravel are the only ways during warm months to get around on wheels, where as the landscape opens up nicely in the winter, when the many lakes, rivers and bays freeze up, allowing for transport of goods to remote communities, creating makeshift driveways to park in front of your houseboat, and opening up a whole opportunity for new forms of recreation.

My stay, was a full on summer experience however. Meeting my target of arriving for Solstice was the best decision I made of all trip. Within minutes of arriving, I met new people in the Coffeeshop ‘Javaroma’ which had some of the fastest internet connectivity I had seen in months, which offered a wonderful opportunity to upload photos, video, and send another copy to another location for backup paranoia. On the first day, I ended up riding over to the campsite to grab a spot and caught a wave from someone out of the corner of my eye. It was Anne, one of the women I had met before at Chan Lake, who invited me over to her daughter and soon to be son-in-laws house. Highlight of the moment was being offered to have a sleep in the backyard shed – darkness for the first time in a month! I slept until the late morning before having a little chat, and headed over to the coffee shop again. It was raining for the entire afternoon, and the sun poked its head out until another set came down – rain coming down in sheets nearly sideways. I wasn’t moving.

I ran into a series of people, all interested in the hairy guy with a bike fully loaded down, some cyclists who had performed a long distance run down to Hay River a few weeks before, and some planning a longer excursion to Edmonton. 180km days were being planned, and I shuddered a bit thinking about it, definitely needing a rest. The shop closed and I was approached by a few cyclists, who asked if I wanted to go for a midnight solstice ride – but of course! It was a nice 80km route, and I was invited over to two of their houses afterwords for Brownies and Blueberry wine. They were nice enough to have me stay in their guest room and giving me the key to their house should I wish an extended stay. I took off the next morning dealing with some laundry and looking forward to checking out the celebrations on National Aboriginal Day, a territorial holiday.

When I arrived, a huge lineup was snaked down onto the street for those interested in getting a free meal served by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a fish fry complete with pop, bannock, and corn on the cob. I went back for seconds it was so savory. I stopped and watched some of the local bands while people were invited to dance jigs and then headed over to my bike to perform some maintenance, change my shirt (I change my shirt every 30 minutes to body dry the fabric as its all wool). In the process I managed to snap the tip off of my other knife – The SpyderCo Mini Manix that has a very nice grip, sharp blade and smooth operation. Frustrated, I packed it up, headed back over to the celebrations before getting a nudge in the ribs to a familiar face – The massage therapist I met on my first 10 minutes in town! We chatted for a bit, watched the celebration and made plans to go riding on down to Yellowknife River, where another celebration was going on. It was great! She hadn’t ridden much on her new bicycle and the 12km ride was good for her, with the end result in us watching another traditional fish fry, more bands, aboriginal handgames, jig dancing, and throat singing. The sun was shining, and we ended up going over to a showing of a movie titled ‘Reel Injun’ put on by a local film collective known as Cinema Politica. The movie was interesting, an hour and a half documentary on the travels of a film maker seeking to understand and showcase how Hollywood portrays aboriginal people. Informative, with a dash of hilarity the end of the movie brought out the director Neil Diamond for a lengthy question and answer session. Beaming, we headed off and had a few cocktails and had a meal afterwords – the midnight sun blazing.

It turns out we shared a few things in common, both had itchy feet for travel, and we shared stories and trip adventures well into the late night, and I had the opportunity of watching a presentation of the recent 5 month travel across parts of the USA, Canada, and Mexico and an impressive amount of different beds slept in – 53! Couchsurfing.com was a major part of the stay for her and I relayed my experiences with Warmshowers.org. It turns out her parents have been hosts in Prince Edward Island (and even wilder, for 11 years the longest I’ve seen anyone on the site) – so I made some notes to look them up when I make it over there.

The next couple of days went by quick. Bike Rides, meeting new people, coffee shop excursions, and dinner parties peppered the long days with warm weather. The community, with the average age of 32 was very welcoming, eco friendly, progressive and full of creativity. Yellowknife’s uniqueness stretches many different ways. For example, the dump is the equivalent to the Craigslist in local cities. One can find many gems in a seperated section away from the majority of the messy stuff. A glass recycling shop, which spends its time cutting wine bottles into drinking glasses also operates a bicycle repair/co-op facility. I quickly fell into a real solid group of individuals, eventually being asked to stay in Old Town, on a house elevated on the top of a rock. It seems everyone has their mitts in something, piano, guitar, painting and I was happy to take in an environment that had so much positive energy circulating.

A community of houseboats exist in one of the bays, where many people live year round. It’s a vessel without a motor, so one must canoe to them when the whatever is flowing and live on it property tax free while it is in ‘distress’. Some of the loopholes in the law are certainly being executed and at Government Wharf there is a barge currently being assembled in very short order for another couple to partake in this popular activity.

Dumpster Diving is alive and well in the city. Grocery stores, restaurants and stores refuse are routinely picked through, and some of the friendly folk I met routinely distributed this food to others in the city. I’ll just say that the potlucks and dinner parties were fantastic, diverse sets of food, and good times had all around. The cost of living is incredibly high in the area, Electricity costing 3x the amount I would have paid in Vancouver, food typically 2x the cost, and even water in some parts of the city requiring to be trucked in and out on a regular basis. Luckily, there is ample work for everyone, and the occurrence of minerals from Ore to Gold to Diamonds that are being routinely discovered ensure that one is able to keep finances in order.

I accepted an interview request from a local news website, talking for 25 minutes about some of my past experiences, in an attempt to inspire other viewers. I was known as ‘that guy’ who cycled in, some chuckling that I was a local celebrity. All was taken in good jest and I was able to exchange many contact details for later hangouts in the week, or to be used as a contact should I run into trouble. Another weird, but oh so necessary experience was when I was riding my bike around and noticed that a big truck was beside me, with a woman yelling at me asking what I was doing. “Riding my Bike” was the logical reply, and I was told that I needed to come for dinner at her house that evening. Sure – why not – I’m saying yes to things I normally wouldn’t on this trip and it just worked. I brought Lindsey, my friend along for the experience, which turned out to be one of the nicest, prolific encounters I’ve had while on the trip. The woman, who had never invited a stranger into her house was trying things new as well. A tumor was discovered and she had to deal with brain surgery years before, and she had one of the most positive attitudes of anyone I met. Sharing stories, handmade aboriginal gifts, and teaching us phrases in Denai, the language of the local aboriginal tribe made for a real heart warming experience. I took her address and will send over a few postcards along the way, with her stating that she’d make sure she beats it and lives another 5 years. It was because of that experience, and some other positive events that prompted me to change my flight, and continue to rest – not feeling complete from my experience in Yellowknife. The extra days would allow me to forge further relationships, and celebrate Canada Day, hoping to meet up with friends that I had met while on the road who would be in at the end of the month, not to mention the film crew, who of which I had heard were making their way slowly up, encountering a few issues, animal encounters, and welcomes that I shared on the very same roads.

A young city that only really exploded in population in the 1930s, the area of old town still has many of the old buildings standing, where as the newer downtown core up the hill on its main drag makes way for a few skyscrapers. A visit to the heritage museum offered a glimpse at northern life over the past 100 years, touched upon traditional cultures, aerospace, and mining. It’s a great place to spend an afternoon, and is right beside the Legislative Assembly building, an architectural marvel designed to allow as much light as possible into the building. It’s fairly new, 10 years old or so – Members of the parliament used to convene to discuss matters of the territory in Regina, Saskatchewan – something that confused me greatly. I got so excited in my trip, that I didn’t leave enough time to even visit the inside of the building, dulling my goal of checking out the caucus rooms of each Province and Territory. Not sure what to do about that one at this stage.

I’m entranced by the beauty of the area. NWT does a spectacular job of promoting themselves, and keeps a number of recreation sites available for those wishing to check out its beauty. I had the opportunity to head over to Prelude lake, for a late night camping trip, leaving at 6pm, arriving at 9 and camping on a huge rock overlooking a beautiful bay. Good company, good food, and minimal bugs allowed us to laugh, reading a children’s book aloud to each other (Gary Larson, one of my favourite cartoonists used his quirky humour to put together: There’s a hair in my Dirt!), listening to music, sharing stories, and later catching a movie in the tent. The campsite manager was excited to see a bunch of cyclists come in and even asked to ride my bike around! He was beaming, nearly took a tumble during mount but took it all in stride.

Canada Day, due to the loop of the sunlight, I missed the parade festivities but spent the time meeting up with the film crew, who arrived, visibly haggered, did a few video shoots with them, and went for a nice dinner, before sharing a bottle of champagne with some other friends. Sleep was minimal, as I wanted to take in the most experience I could of the city before departure. I’m now in the southern part of British Columbia (more later) and in a whole other world, dearly missing the warmth, hospitality and wonder of this Canadian Gem.

My next stage of the trip has me heading up north, through the rockies another time, into the small communities of Fairmont, and Invermere, where I’ll wave goodbye to British Columbia finally. It’s going to be good run to get to the other side of this continent before the weather turns sideways, and I’ll need to be diligent, focused, and in good health. 14 days of rest has been good, yet I do worry about how the next few weeks will be. I experienced a bit of body pain with my knees, and want to make sure I don’t harm myself any further. My Bicycle, is holding up well, but visibly showing wear. I managed to destroy my left pedal, and need to get something replaced in Edmonton. I also did a good job by snapping the head off a bolt which will impact how my front rack will hold up. Zip straps on hand for the ensuing carnage. My health is good, even though I’ve been known to have been smoking Djarum clove cigarettes over the past few weeks and I’ll nip that habit once riding, and may get a bit of weaving, hacking and short breath symptoms – solidifying my goal to not inhale those horrendous sticks of poison. A few posts back, I posed the question of what should I do with my hair – One person publicly commented, and I’m getting the gears from my friends on Facebook and other Social networking sites, that I am looking quite like a hippy. I do like the feeling of running my hands through it, and find I’m looking a little bit less intense, even though it does have a little itch factor associated with it. I’ve never grown my hair out like this, and it just seems fitting. New stage of life, so give it a whirl until I’m good and ready.

I’m now ready for the next step, even though the tearing away from one of the most enchanting environments is going to be tough – I’ll push forward. Thanks Yellowknife, the people, the creativity, and the magic – it’ won’t be forgotten. Hopefully you readers will undertake the journey up to this little goldmine, as rough roads reap large rewards.

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It sets in.

Dave — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:32:05 +0000

After I wrote the last post I left the Tetsa Outfitters Cafe and headed on down the road with hopes of making it up the final climb through the Northern Rockies. 40km to go at 9pm doesn’t offer too much hope for success, but I rolled with it anyways. I swapped my gloves, and started pedaling to build up my core temperature, not knowing what weather I’d be in for. It turned out to be dry, and warming up fast. Steam coming off the road made for surreal riding as I continued a steady descent from my 1070 metre elevation to 633. I had my first encounter with Mama Bear and her two cubs, freaking out a bit and attempting to get it on video. Sadly, I had the wrong switch set and only have the audio.

I was faced with a choice – stop at the bottom of the hill and attempt the last 15km into Steamboat (it’s likely titled this as this is a 600 metre climb in 10km or so) or pop into the Tetsa Regional Park for the night. I was in good spirits, and knew that there was a good empty lot at the top of the climb that would give me a good stealth site for the night – I don’t need a picnic table anyways.

I noticed my altimeter in my Garmin 705 was acting funny, as in the elevation was dropping while I was climbing the first part of the hill, a 200metre climb in 1km. It’s been giving me some problems as of late, and I’ve noticed a few others on the internet voicing the same. Let’s hope it doesn’t start failing on me as I’ve come to rely on its data logging features. I was climbing up the hill and started using the “S’ technique, making wide turns to make the climb easier when i felt I was going to topple over – from the wet pavement.

I looked down and noticed that the rear tire was flat. I cursed, looked down the hill, looked up the hill, wondered if I could inflate the tire and climb the hill, then noticed it was still leaking air, but the rubber was flat as well. I tried to inflate it and head down the hill to the campsite, with no such luck. Mosquitoes swarmed me while I ripped apart the entire rear panniers, trunk bag, and pulled off the rear wheel. What I saw was an alarming site, it looks as if I wore down the rear tire to the point of showing brown rubber. I put in a new tube, one I’ve been holding onto since Southern California, a Bontrager, and found that it’s stem is abnormally long, and the valve feels incredibly loose. Certainly not up to par compared to the other tubes I’ve been using in the past. Regardless, I swapped it out, and rolled down into the Campsite.

There’s a fine layer of uncertainty over tomorrows ride, if I’ll make it out of the campground, if the tire is shot, could I swap my tires temporarily, will I be able to get a spare tire in Fort Nelson, 100km away, Should I make sure I’m on the road early and get to town before things close, Will an RV’er pick me up if I hitchhike with my gear? This is all easy stuff to deal with, and I’m not worried in the slightest at what happens next, it’s all part of the day. The weirdest feeling came over me when I thought to myself, I should go to the bike store when I get home and have them order me in some new tires to have as spares on hand – until it dawned on me, I am home, and don’t have a traditional apartment/condo/rancher with double car garage. This is it.

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Parting shots from Mother Nature

Dave — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:28:37 +0000

Sitting here enjoying the biggest Cinnamon Bun I have ever seen in my life some 120km outside of Fort Nelson. I’m making good time and still will meet my planned arrival time with hours to spare, giving me a chance to poke around some of the nooks and crannies of the town before backtracking to Route 77. I’m in the last stretch of passing through the Northern Rockies, but due to a violent storm that snuck out of nowhere I figured it would be in my best interest to come inside so that I had a chance of surviving. Metal Framed bike makes a wonderful conductor, and the multiple bolts of lightning that were coming down very close to me followed by the boom of thunder that resonated up my arms from the handlebars were starting to get a bit spooky. One and a half hours of it was enough for now… I managed to catch some good video of the storm, soaking the Zoom Q3 in the process watching water droplets appear behind the protective screen. I definitely want to move up to a GoPro Hero camera – it’s waterproof ability lures me, not to mention the superb 1080p video it takes in such a compact footprint. The company offers various mounting options – helmet, handlebars, surfboard, you name it.

The good thing to report out of it all is that my rain gear performed wonderfully. No leaks in the new pants, my head is dry, my torso is a bit moist, but certainly not from the rain, more likely condensation. The only thing I could improve on would be to invest in some Neoprene gloves. The hands and especially the digits get a bit cold, and painful as I’m forcing them into a locked position for more time than usual. Will have to do some research I think into how others are getting by.

It was raining a bit on the morning that I was to head to Liard Hot Springs, tented behind the RV’s and Harold and Cathy from Connecticut. I lied there to wait it out until I heard voices – it was Harold and he brought me a hot breakfast and left me some food for the day. This started me off on a good foot – rain disappearing shortly thereafter giving me an early start to the day anticipating the soaking I was going to give my bones.

I wasn’t moving too fast, perhaps 8km/h for the majority of the first half of riding – a pattern I’m seeing more often daily, and stopped in a cafe about 60km in to have a burger, attempt to upload photos, and post some entries, as there has been quite the back log. Getting a proper upstream internet connection has been very difficult, signs of things to come in the future, when I am overseas likely – It was there I met Eva, a cyclist from Germany who was on her way from Calgary to Fairbanks Alaska. We exchanged some stories and made plans to do some riding when I’m over in that area of the world, and left at 5:30pm racing the final 60km to Liard Hot Springs.

Earlier, I passed through some beautiful landscapes, an area known as Whirlpool Canyon offered a look at wonderful rock cuttings from repeated rise and falls of the river. I met a couple from Edmonton who began to get me excited of the trip north to the Northwest Territories, sharing little spots to stop at, and offering tidbits of information that the majority of areas are fossilized coral reefs. While one of them was explaining it, a huge smile came over her face and I could tell that the time they travelled north meant a lot – Proof was that she said she’d do it again in a heartbeat. I heard some of the downsides – the highway and the desolate stretches that are coming shortly, which actually aren’t worrisome to me whatsoever anymore. There will be traffic on the road and I can flag down an RV’er for some water if necessary, as I will have everything else.

The RV’ers have been just wonderful to me the past few days. Each day I seem to meet a handful of couples from different places in North America (typically they are American, 1:10 is a canuck) sharing stories, conversation. They are very interested in my journey and it usually involves a few photos together before I’m off – One time when leaving the Hot Springs about 4km down the road I was chased down by one of them who gave me a bag full of nuts and treats for my days journey. These are good people, who all offer waves while I cycle by. They’ve warmed this part of the trip up dearly for me and I feel pretty astonished when someone donates me food or gifts because they want to make sure I am in good hands. I make notes on each and every one I meet and hope that they are able to find me on the internet, even the ones that I didn’t get a chance to give one of my cards. For the ones who do, it’s a nice souvenir for them to hold onto from their vacation.

Wildlife has ramped up in an amazing way over the past 3 days. From the start of the day to Liard, I managed to see a Black Bear eating grass beside the road, followed by a herd of Wood Bison. I stopped for some photos, until one of them decided he didn’t like me all too much and headed towards me. Travelling in herds, the others followed suit, one obviously having an itchy back, as he scratched himself ripping out a signpost in the process! They followed me for quite some time, and I decided it was time to go and let all the other passer-by’s have a chance and make a spectacle of themselves Right before I was puling into Liard I caught about 20 of them, bulls, cows, and calfs on either side of the road. They didn’t like the sound of my bicycle and started running. I got some incredible video footage racing beside them gathering quite the crowd of onlookers.

Moose, Big horned Sheep and mountain goats seem to pop out of nowhere while travelling through the mountainous ranges, often coming within feet of me. The moose tend to charge a bit so my general rule is don’t stop too close to any of them, as I don’t know what’s going on through their minds. Still I’ve managed to catch some good photos of them, and feel incredibly lucky to have had a chance to see all of them.

Liard Hot Springs was a wonderful stop. The campground was full (It is reserved weeks in advance!) but that was no problem for me, I pitched a tent in the picnic area, and quickly cooked up a dinner, anxious to get my soak on. It’s worth it, a short 5 minute walk gets you to the Alpha pool, which has a range of temperatures dependent on the location, it’s typically the most populated, so I decided to head over to the Beta Pool, another 5 minutes walk, which actually is almost a perfect circle. Bubbles pop out of the water and it’s 3 metre depth deters most people from visiting this cooler pool, giving me the opportunity to spend some time by my lonesome treading water, stretching all muscles in my body in ways it hasn’t felt in what seems like months. By the time I was finished my soaking it was nearly 1am, and I headed back to the tent to get some reading done before an early rise the next morning. The different sounds coming from the birds amazed me, with one series of birds making sounds that I could only describe as Nature’s Arpeggio. With the sun well risen, I headed back into the pools, and enjoyed some good chats with other swimmers, before being goaded into heading over into the hottest part of the pool (I’ve heard temperatures of up to 56C occur), putting a rock ontop of the pile of other rocks as some sort of right of passage. It was hot, but I did it! Such a beautiful area, with 160 different types of plants growing in this macro area due to the unique minerals the hot springs exerts. It’s the nicest hot springs I’ve ever been to, so – if you get the chance, GO.

Not being outdone, shortly down the road is Muncho Lake, a 60km ride up some light hills offering great views of the valley below stretches out for nearly 10km lengthwise, with its emerald green colour, a by-product of the copper dioxide that leeches from the neighbouring mountains. There are a few BC Parks in the area offering campsites, an overpriced lodge, and a great restaurant named GG’s with a very friendly cook who made me feel very welcome. I was told to stop there by another cyclist who I had met 20km earlier – he was outfitted in a 2010 Black Surly Long Haul Trucker, Ortlieb gear like me, but had in his estimation 120lbs of gear, and was ready to take on worlds collapsing it seemed. It was his first tour, and he was grinning due to the fact that he’d been reading my blog. You can read his journey at “Blackhorse to Whitehorse”. He also had no issues other than a few flats along the way – sounds like we have winning combinations of gear.

I stayed in the cafe for a while, 4pm – 7pm listening to the stories from the truckers coming through, trying to upload more photos with no such luck, and drinking 6 cups of coffee. It was going to start raining and I considered stopping at ‘Strawberry Flats’ park just 2km down the road. I figured it would be a waste of all the caffeine in my system and pedalled into the night, stopping at midnight. It was the best decision I made all day. I wanted to ride into dusk to catch some of the wildlife, apt to come out a bit more often than during the hot days, the rain assisted in getting me up 1 of the major climbs that are part of the Northern Rockies, I made it up the 600 metres like a champ, keeping my breathing in a steady pattern, resulting in a good working of my heart. Also, it being ‘magic hour’, it provided a great opportunity to take some photos of the towering mountains. I camped out in the bush after I rode into Toad River ending the day with another 114km on the odometer, hoping to grab a beer, or some wifi to attempt yet again the batch upload, now at 120 some odd photos and tonnes of video.

Raining in the morning, I skipped making breakfast and stopped into the first (and only cafe) that had a great menu, cool atmosphere with many travellers stopping in to see the 7,100+ hats hanging from the ceiling. I ate a breakfast, and two lunches dawdling hoping that I could get the photos uploaded. 3 hours after starting, I was 50% complete and headed out, not before again being offered some home made energy bars and some peaches from a friendly family in Kentucky who made it clear I need to stop in and see them when I am in the area. The bars helped today while I started the huge climb over the 1300metre summit. Constantly eating throughout the day ensures my mind is clear, letting me focus on riding, not being clouded over by pangs of hunger, resulting in a lack of attention of road hazards. I became awfully dehydrated from the Hot Springs and managed to run out of water, so I pulled out the 6 litre MSR water sausage and added it to the back rack. I figure I consumed over 6 litres of water yesterday, an abnormal amount considering my body is conditioned to drink perhaps a litre while riding per day. I’ve got an experiment going and I’ll report the results when I’m done regarding my consumption.

I can’t help but think about this area and this part of the tour to be training grounds for what’s to come in Africa. I’m going to invest in another MSR water sausage, this time the 10litre one, for additional carrying ability as I’m envisioning some pretty scarce offerings in some parts of that continent. I’ve also made up my mind that I am going to learn how to build a wheel this winter, and engineer a power source that will output 5v via my front wheel, with an array of batteries offering backup power to continuously power many devices. I’m a bit spoiled with my speaker system, and the GPS is offering a great look at my daily statistics with its built in computer features, and I’d feel terribly naked without them. Unfortunately there won’t be any RV’ers that time around to help me out should I run out of supplies..

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Night of the living bugs

Dave — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 05:59:12 +0000

Thank goodness before I came up to the north I had a chance to pick up mesh pants and mesh shirt for when I was stationary. I’m sitting in my tent just fearful of what would happen to me if I didn’t have protection from these nasty mosquitoes. By far, tonight is the worst I have ever seen bug infestations. Looking on the mesh liner of my tent door I view 9 trying to get in, and at least 3 dozen flying around the vestibule. I’m not sure I have any more blood to give these guys however, as I’m just covered in bumps, scabs, and red dots already in the first place. I look like I’ve been infected by Captain Trips from Stephen King’s The Stand.

Even still, when I open the door to quickly go to the washroom at night (I’m keeping it classy by unzipping my vestibule, and thrusting my bits outside and going right beside the tent, bare footers beware) a handful still manage to get on the inside of the tent, and I spend a bit slapping the side of the tent randomly throughout the night when I see them. Die.

I’m camped beside the Laird River, out of the Yukon after a 90km ride out of Watson Lake. I had some errands to take care of, namely pick up my stove (which arrived intact – Thank you PW from Cranbrook) and head to the doctors to go sort out some prescriptions. I didn’t expect the one doctors office to take so long, as by the time I was done it was 12:30pm. I rode by the Downtown RV park looking for the crew, and noticed they had vacated sometime between Greyhound and Doctors Office, so I did a pit stop at the food store – grabbed a few granola bars (not before being stopped by one of the baggers who handed me a bag of chips that I had left outside in a shopping cart the night before) and made my way out of town hoping to catch up with them. 60km later I knew that by my regular pace, something had gone wrong and they never made it out of town. I won’t have internet for the next 5 days so it’s going to be a crap-shoot for contacting them, as of course cellulars are down too.

I did hear rumors however, when stopping at Contact Creek – where workers who started from opposite ends of the Alcan Highway in 1942 met up and the rudimentary highway was complete that they were looking for some propane valve in Watson Lake, and the owner of the general store had phoned up to see if it was available down the road. I can only imagine what has happened – the stove blew up again and they’ve lost their main source of meals? Welcome to my world for the past week, but at least that stretch of 450km had services every 75km. There is next to nothing for hundreds of km here – I’m stealth camped in a big parking lot along with a bunch of RV’ers. All campsites, RV Parks, and gas stations are closed down and for sale – This is a repeating trend I am noticing in the north – Obviously the tourism industry has been hit hard, forcing these businesses to close down. Knowing I might not see them at my destination of Laird Hot Springs tomorrow I\ve started to come up with ideas of what to do if we can’t connect, and my most reasonable idea is to push forward, and make it to Yellowknife for June 21, the longest day of the year and also Aboriginal Day. It’s sure to be a party there and I want to experience it. It all seems manageable with 1350km to go, 2 days are straight climbing, and 7 days are gravel roads. That leaves me with 3 days of average conditions, whee!

Saw my first Wood Bison pair today, these guys are huge! Hairy, 2000lb and standing at the side of the road I felt a bit nervous that one would get nasty and run towards me knocking me off my bike, but I managed to evade them, even grabbing a quick video clip. Am sure there will be more up ahead, as the couple I am tenting behind have told me they saw a family of 5 less than 3 miles away.

I suppose I understand another different type of touring now, the supported concept. Mind you, I’m still carrying all my gear (yet still used only half of it, of my stripped down equipment list that I only used half before – what does that say!!), food, and panniers – however tonight as soon as I pulled in Cathy from Connecticut came over to me with her husband Harold, and offered me my choice of Ham or Turkey Sandwich, along with chips, apple, and a huge cup of Iced Tea. I wolfed it down before the bugs could just in time for her to come out with a beyond huge bowl of Ice Cream. They even are letting me store my food bag in their truck overnight as the bear situation is getting a bit sketchy. I suppose I may have to reinvest in some bear spray and some bangers, perhaps a starters pistol would be cheaper. A friend has passed on to me a few times that Raid Hornet Spray is much more effective than traditional bear spray, cheaper (by about $20) and has the benefit of minimal backdraft into YOUR eyes. I’ll pick some up when I get to Fort Nelson for the real insane part of the trip.

I have to kind of laugh, at the lack of planning for this leg of the trip. I came up here not knowing a single thing, even my route, and left all the gear that would have come in handy up here back in a box in Cranbrook – I’m not sure where my logic was hiding the day I packed as I will likely not need to use it again as the remainder of Canada is going to be a bit more manageable than these neck of the woods.

My health is still good, and I’m now adjusted to the sun nicely. Other than the bug issue, my body looks and feels great, but I’m starting to get a bit annoyed at the hair concept. I regularly shave my head, and I’ve got almost 2 full months of hair on my face and at least 3 months on my head. We’ll see how long this lasts – at least for a couple more weeks I reckon. Gear is holding up well – although my merino wool shirts are starting to have holes in them. I love the products, however just can’t afford the price tag they command. Need to figure out a way to get a sponsor or something.

Every night I mark down a log in a spreadsheet of where I stay, distance covered and money spent. I hope to have this available online for you to see, but since it’s not ready yet, I’ll give a few brief stats since it’s been 2 months for me on the road today:

Days: 62 | Total Distance: 4313.11km | Total Cost: $2586.65 (Food accounts for $1334, and my beer consumption comes in at a whopping $428) | Total Ascent (Climbs) 37653 metres | Total Descent (as in cruising down the hills at 60km/h baby!) 37217 metres | And the reason why it doesn’t give two shakes as to what I put inside my body as it just gets burned in a matter of minutes anyways: Total Calories Burned 178144.

More thoughts after I’ve had a chance to soak in some hot springs tomorrow.

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An even slower way of looking at the world

Dave — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:02:19 +0000

Life at 15km/h is pretty mindboggling. You get to capture so many moments in slow motion while riding a bicycle as opposed to driving in a car. Subtle changes in colours every few metres, different smells from vegetation and plants, and interactions with the wildlife are just some of the things we take for granted. If you haven’t ridden long distances on your bike, do so – it’s a different way to look at the world, an excellent opportunity to visit smaller towns and villages you’d normally pass by in a car, and be one with the outdoors. As mentioned in a previous post, word was going around about someone who was taking it one step further.

Meet Pierre,he’s a 64 year old from Vancouver, BC (who recognized me from being in MEC all the time) who is currently walking to the Arctic Ocean. As I was leaving Watson Lake, Yukon I saw a dot in the distance that turned into a man with his shirt off, bandanna on head, and a sturdy 3 wheeled cart. Smiling, he told me his story, and I had the opportunity to ask some questions, dare I say the same questions that most ask him, looking back now, I should have spiced it up a bit, as I know how it feels to repeat yourself over, and over again.

He’s self contained, stove, tent, sleeping bag, rain gear, change of clothes in this rugged cart. He’s dealt with all sorts of wildlife, recently had to hide behind a few RV’s due to bear a few hours before I met him, and has stories to fill multiple books he says. I believe him. I never got a chance to dig in as to what was driving him to do it, but I did get that he is retired, and wants to do this before he goes down to the tip of South America with the same gear. All the power to you Pierre, and if you viewers ever see him walking down the street give him a thumbs up for following his dreams – it shows that there is always time to achieve your aspirations and dreams, you just have to put one foot forward and go with what comes next.

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One wrong turn, two big climbs, countless grins

Dave — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:52:34 +0000

The weather network states that its 5 degrees outside, and I state that something is wrong with the calibration of their devices – its downright chilly outside! It’s the first night I’m in my tent in my sleeping bag with my clothes on. I’m writing this at present in my tent in Nelson BC. I never once expected to be in this town, but, a few wrong turns will take you anywhere in life. It’s been a vibrant few days to say the least.

After my rough patch that I spoke about in an earlier post, I never looked back and continued forward on my journeys. Still being a little bit quirky and neurotic, I chewed off some of my finger nails, well, that was after I manically tried to file them down. Can’t figure out what my trigger was, but I’m going to start all over again and continue to beat that filthy habit. Cycle Recycled. I remind myself its stupid when I get mud or grit in the ends and they start stinging.

My foot, each day getting better, I’ve trained my body to not put weight on the toes and only seem to have trouble on stairs, which is far and few between. The sausage swelling is going down, and the colour is 90% back to normal. It’ll be a few weeks before I walk away laughing about that incident, but I’m glad I was able to come out so good from the situation, however I did it, total freak accident. I’ve still not once opened my first aid kit, and I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing – meaning that I’ve got the itch to strip it down and dump some of it out. Of course the day I do that an anvil will fall from the sky and strike me, so I’ll just let it sit in the bottom of the front pannier as it is.

I’m preparing a purge of equipment, grouped into two dumpings, one for when I travel to the Yukon next week, and one to dump when I return the following month. I just have far too much gear. On the list is one of my pots, some stuff sacks, and lots of clothes. I’d say 80% of the clothes can go – Useless. I’ve worn maybe 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, and 2 pairs of socks out of the entire pannier. It will cut down a lot of weight, which is starting to become cumbersome now. Maybe it’s the hills, or maybe I’ve had a chance to understand what is used and what’s not.

It also likely has something to do with my energy levels. I’m burning out in different ways. Pains are starting to creep up in areas, then rapidly disappear, weight is being lost, and I struggle to do certain tasks. It’s all part of the journey, but certainly interesting to note each difference on a daily basis. The one that has been making me smirk tonight is I have contemplated sticking my thumb out on the side of the road to get to my destination. I never did, but the fact that it crossed my mind is fairly funny. I should probably preface it with the fact that the two situations involved meeting up with someone and being horribly late – with one involving a gut wrenching climb for 34km to 1240 metres, and the other one involving a 100km detour away from the intended destination.

Trying to remember all the details that have occurred is becoming a struggle. I’ve lost a bit of interest of maintaining a presence online, spending my time researching on ideas and slowly wading through the backlog of emails. I go through them in bursts, but seem to be behind by about a week with any spare time typically spent with my nose in the mapping programs. I’ve discovered another free piece of software by Garmin named Basecamp, which makes planning routes a heck of a lot easier, being able to view elevation charts, and a cool feature that synchronizes your camera with your GPS unit to make all your photos Geotagged by location taken! However, really it just boils down to the fact that I have been socializing and visiting with people, whether they being my hosts for staying the night, or random strangers that I meet along the way, and it seems much more reasonable to speak with my tongue rather than my fingers. Everything is cyclical, so as situations change, we may see a different pattern emerge.

I’ve met a bunch of new people that hold some significance, two cousins (well ok, I met one before they had all their teeth!) were introduced to me while staying at an Uncle’s house in the Okanagan area, a family that I met through the Warmshowers service, and a couple that is roughing it on top of a mountain overlooking the mighty Columbia River. Add to that another nurse practitioner who rides a Surly and the assortment of random stranger conversations and it has been pretty busy.

I had the opportunity to see my Grandfather in Kelowna, he was being let out early by a day, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing – due to the loss of frequent rehabilitation appointments or just being happy in your comfortable spot at home. He’d been in the hospital for 69 days, so I’m sure it was starting to feel like home a bit. He was very jovial, laughing at some of the experiences there, and was nice to connect with that side of the family, as based on our calculations it had been 15 years since I had seen some of them! Time flies. Going to make a point to keep in better contact however with family, as it holds some importance to me.

I rode around Kelowna for a bit searching for the Ogopogo statue wanting to get the obligatory me with bike and just bike alone photos to add to the gallery, before heading to the Greyhound station to send a box back to Vancouver. On the way I witnessed a pretty horriffic car crash, which totalled one of the cars – a younger man was driving and…. TALKING ON HIS CELL PHONE. The rims were even pushed off the front of the car. I didn’t hang around for the 2nd wave of paramedics, and went on my way, traveling the very busy Highway 97 back into the Vernon area. Blustery winds paired with Sunshine continued to add colour to my body without any realization, and I took a break overlooking the Armstrong Valley before catching a youth expo at the Convention Centre. There were a bunch of kids riding skateboards at the park with a radio station, and the announcer obviously thought he was funny when he announced that I should ride my bike over it all panniers and all. I’m having enough problems holding onto my gear thanks!

I had a place to stay just outside of Vernon and showed up right at the time when the host had to run a few errands – and the next thing I knew, I was in an elementary school dance, acting as a pseudo-chaperone, because you know kids in Grade 3 really know how to pull out the real crazy stuff. The punch was spared from spiking and nobody started doing the YMCA so I would call my chaperoning a success. I stayed with a family who lived on a farm, the father, who had actually grown up on the very location returning after heading out to school when he was younger, the mother who is an artist, and two children, a few years apart. The adults stayed up for a while talking about various things, biking, health, thoughts and I slept hard throughout the night. Body starting to ache over the past few days, I have to say sleeping on a couch has been the most comfortable sleep of the whole trip. Its funny, when I was living in a house, I frequently had sleep issues, yet when I migrated over to the couch, I was sound asleep within minutes, why is that?

I loaded up on caffeine in the morning before saying goodbye to the hosts and made my way east, getting a brief cellular signal so that I could text message a friend who was going to meet up with me. I estimated I was about 80km away and said I’d be there for 4. Less than an hour later, I replied, and made it 6 – and this is where the fun starts. I made a calculation error in my mapping program where the elevation chart didn’t appear correctly, and it was a day of hills. EPIC hills. I pedaled until 2pm before stopping at a recently opened cafe ‘Moms Diner’ and had one of their Sasquatch Burgers. I was hungry, but not hungry enough as I couldn’t finish the stuffed meat burger along with its fried egg, bacon, mushrooms, and cheese in between the bun. I should have took a picture of this 8″ work of art. I did need the carbs, as my 3pm departure went straight into a climb for 30 some odd kilometres, grades of 8-12%. There were moments where I wanted to lean over the side of the bike and throw up, and times where I contemplated hitching. Finally, my brain got into the mode and I pedaled. Cars passed me on the very narrow shoulder, mostly RV’s as it was the start of a long weekend. A bit nerve racking. I made it to the top of the summit, took a photo, and pedaled the next 30k on rolling hills stopping to put my coat on, it was downright freezing!

Spirits running high by the many people stuffing their thumbs out the window at me, grinning while I pushed and pushed to get to my destination, with the last 20km being a descent. I grabbed a great video of it cruising at speeds of 65km/h down the windy path. The last 3 km was a 12% grade and I flew at high speeds down the slope, having to use my feet as brakes to stop just inches from the gate for the ferry I was to take from Needles to Fauquier. It was just being loaded and they let me on as the last passenger. It was a short 10 minute ride, and I caught my breath while coincidentally meeting my riding partner’s sister, and answering questions from other people in vehicles curious as to who would be crazy enough to climb the Monashee pass. Forever will go down in my books as one of the toughest days I’ve ever had, but some of the most memorable. Perseverance goes along way, and extreme focus.

My 6pm arrival turned out to be 8:45pm, and my friend was waiting, in good spirits, taking me over to his friends place just up the hill. The hosts had a 40 acre plot of land, with a pure free flowing water source, and one of the nicest views I’ve seen in my life. They lived rustically, with no electricity, well, not true, no lights – but were able to operate the essentials like Satellite TV, laptops, and stereos via the solar panels mounted on the porch, and roof with the sun’s energy stored in batteries for backup. An open air Outhouse, and a Garden completed the way of living, with hopes of living off the land year round. This has definitely kept my mind running, interested in the concept and seeing a future in living in a secluded area, not knowing my neighbours. One of them was a representative for a few outdoor product companies, and we gabbed regarding my choices in equipment, and some thoughts on how things have worked out for me along the way.

Tim, my riding partner for the weekend lives in Rossland, about 400km away woke up the next morning with a bit of nervousness. He has never toured before but has lots of experience riding bikes. He borrowed a trailer from a friend and was very organized. He left behind the stove and cookware as it was redundant for both of us to carry it (or was it looking back now?) and abstained on bringing the frisbee – a lofty idea to go running after a spinning disc after sitting in the saddle all day long. He knows this area very well, so it was nice to have certain spots pointed out, not to mention company for conversation. He made it through a 105km day without too many major issues, other than the fact I heard him squealing with joy when flying down the hills after suffering up the other sides of them. We managed to find a campground in New Denver, which had the added bonus of offering a Pancake breakfast the next morning.

Along the way we met Jen, a nurse practitioner who has travelled the world, and is heading up to Yellowknife about the same time that I am. She gave me all sorts of helpful advice for my upcoming journey, and I tried to convince her to come along for a bit of Africa’s journey, after she spent 15 minutes explaining some of the perils she experienced when travelling through that continent by car. She wanted to come ride along with us for the first part of our day, with the goal being Kaslo. Tim was preparing for the morning climb, and seemed a bit worried about it. We made our way out and I stopped for a conversation with a pair of ladies on a hike not really that far away from I started, fully expecting to catch up to the two.

I pedaled for 2 hours, got honked at by an RCMP officer, stopped by a woman who wanted me to turn around and go look at a bear (I went, pedaled 5km uphill and didn’t find it, oh well), and grabbed some photo opportunities at some vista points. It wasn’t until my odometer registered 60km that I started to figure out that I was not going the right direction. Kaslo being only 52km was a short climb similar to the one I went through, and then mostly flat and downhill. I had taken a wrong turn and was on the other side of a mountain pass!

I laughed, but worried about my friends wondering if something was wrong and quickly found free wi-fi from the farmhouses near by and sent a few text messages via the web, as my cellular was yup – you guessed it – No Service again. Boo to Rogers/Fido for their meager wireless offerings. I added a good 100km onto my route if I wanted to meet up with Tim at the hotsprings, which I would have appreciated to soak my tired bones in. We finally made two way contact, and I had only made it to Nelson, BC – with the hotsprings still 50km away. I found a community campground that offered free showers (ya!), free wi-fi (double ya!), all the power I could use (triple ya!), at a reasonable price (win). I zipped down to the grocery store and ate the equivalent of breakfast lunch and dinner and a few beers before starting to write this post, sorting photos, and going through the strings of emails flying in.

I was relieved coming online to find out that my friends cat had been found, I guess technically I’m the dad of it, and the poor guy went for a little journey on his own one day in the middle of busy Vancouver. I made a few calls to a teary eyed girl who wished that her cat was back, and she even explained that my cat (technically she’s the mom of this one, who shes taking care of while I’m gone) was even crying, scratching at the floor wanting the little guy back. I tried not to fear the worst, gave a few suggestions and it sounded like one of them worked. Whew!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ib8qGf3UCE]

I get to fly into Vancouver for a night before heading into the Yukon so looking forward to seeing the mom and the two boys and some shopping. Taigaworks has agreed to fix my pants, claiming a technical issue, and I want to return some things to MEC, a broken laptop, get some medications for the trip, and finally enjoy a beer with friends before heading off less than 17 hours later after arrival. Far too busy for my liking but I am lucky I can close up some of these loose ends.

I’ve found a few gems on the road lately, some Canadian flags! One has worked out very well, as it has quite the mast connected to it. I’ve placed it flat on my trunk bag, with the flag on the left side of the bike. When traffic gets a bit too close for comfort, I simply extend the flag out towards the cars a bit more. It’s helped keep me out of trouble from trucks and cars, as this is something different that will catch their eyes and ensure that I don’t lose a limb from drivers with stickers on their 18 wheeler stating “King of the Road”. Eventually I’ll hang the flag properly off the bike but for now it looks great!

I’m continuously finding ladies jewelery on the sides of the road, wondering if you all are throwing it out the window or something? Or maybe men don’t wear bracelets, at least most. I don’t know. Still the road junk is everywhere, dispersed between plastic bottles of pee tossed out of windows high speed by truckers. Hubcaps, broken cellular phones, Mp3 Players, cassette tapes are some of the common finds along the busy routes, but mostly just beer cans. Budweiser mostly as well – I wonder if there is any correlation to that as well..

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