Bike Trip Across Canada

New way to keep in touch

2009-11-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Just a short post here- we doubt anyone is checking this page anymore, but if you are and you are wondering- what has happened to our fine adventurers since this epic trip? Check us out at www.delaplante.com for updates, new photos and fun stories about life!

Hope all is well!

CELEBRATIONS ABOUND!

2008-07-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

Super quick post! We are currently in a library rushing off to meet back up with Ed at our campsite in ST. JOHN'S NEWFOUNDLAND!!!!!

We just added about 120 photos... but they aren't all captioned just yet... so feel free to do like my dad and invent your own.... or check back in later too.

We are super happy to be done, but we will definitely miss the carefree, vagrant days of our bike trip!

10 provinces, 7521km, and just about 2.5 months. Wow. What a trip.

We will blog again with more details about the beautiful province of Newfoundland and our travels home... and perhaps even some tips for future bike-trippers (if we are industrious).

Once again thanks to everyone who has commented or just checked in on us over the summer, we always appreciated the lovin' from home!

Must run... We're done!!!!

Speedy McDemonson writes a blog entry!

2008-07-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

'Sup dudes and dudettes! Get ready to have your socks rocked by a special guest post in a non-linear, not particularly factual manner on behalf of Neil de Laplante! Kate, Dad and I are currently chilling in Gander, NL; and by "chillin'", I of course mean "cycling furiously and typing a hundred miles an hour while the ladies at the tourist info desk give me dirty looks because I'm rapidly reaching my 15 minute limit". We've had great weather and great wind so far in Newfoundland; my 4 month experience in St. John's would never have lead me to think that I'd have to come to The Rock of all places to get a sunburn on this trip... perhaps that's more a factor of it finally being July (i.e. appropriate cycling season).

We also spent a day hiking in Gros Morne; it was deathly restful since we decided to climb the mountain the whole park is named after. A great time was had by all, especially our calves and stabilizer muscles in our legs, which are still crying uncle a couple days later. We've been pushing pretty large distances (150-180 kms) due to the duel joys of not having weight and wanting to go whale watching when we get to St. John's. It's a good time all around.

Also: After 7175 km, Kate finally got her first flat tire! Considering I've had 11 at this point, it was with some glee that I hopped off my bike and bare-handed her tire off of its rim. Shows her for getting cocky and discussing her options for bronzing her tubes and turning it into a statute to bequeath to future generations.

We'll post pictures before the end of the universe, but I'm no Nostradamus, so I can't tell you when that will be... you might want to use up your leftover vacation days by 2013 though, that's all I'm saying.

Keep on rocking in the free world,

Neil (on behalf of Kate)

30km from the ferry and hoping to cross tonight!

2008-07-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

SO our repairs this time put us in the situation of having to rush to fit the BOB and our two bikes in a luggage bay of an Acadian bus in about 3 minutes time. After unsuccessfully procuring a one-way car rental and finding that taxi's charged 200 smackaroos to get us to Sydney we were directed to the bus by one of the taxi companies! 4 hours later we arrived into a very dark Sydney, Nova Scotia and found a hotel that was luckily having a sale on their rooms for the night. So today, I sat in the park and gaurded our stuff while book bingeing (that is what we've decided I do.. I don't read a book... I binge it) and Neil went off and bought yet ANOTHER new rear wheel to replace his highly instable one. He did keep his old wheel though and will have it rebuilt with a new rim when we return home. It's currently strapped onto the back of the B.O.B. and looks QUITE hilarious.

We only have but a few minutes at the library now, we are headed out to bike to North Sydney and meet Neil's Dad at the ferry. He just called so we know he made the drive safely and undeniably in much better time than we made the trip!

Promised story from last blog:
Neil met Sarah Belanger at Geek camp, oh, I mean at the Deep River Science Academy when he was 15 and they have remained fast friends ever since. I had the pleasure of meeting her in Sackville, New Brunswick on our last trip out east (that time by car on the way to Neil's Co-op placement in Newfoundland). And just a few days ago.... we both had the amazing pleasure of meeting her boyfriend Aaron! We had just finished biking through this hellacious construction zone/emergency scene detour-combo that had us going on a back-roads detour that had zero shoulders and roads that were not meant for 1 direction of semi-truck traffic, let alone PASSING semi's (don't worry, we pulled off the road whenever traffic from our direction caught up to us again, luckily due to the construction zone before the detour it came in spurts so we could mostly keep riding). ANyways, we had just finished this ride and were back on the normal highway when a dude pulls up in a car next to us with his window rolled down. I was expecting him to ask us for directions, because even with all of our gear people still expect cyclists to be local, when he asked, "Is your name Neil?"

We were both thrown a little until he explained that he was Aaron, Sarah's long-time boyfriend that we were finally supposed to meet the day before but had been thwarted by missing the earlier P.E.I. ferry by all of 16 minutes! SO he pulled over and we had a quick chat and pictures were taken with the camera and camera phone of course... and then he headed back on his way home!

Awesome meeting you Aaron!

Alright, library time is up!

Hope all is well at home!

Nothing like completing 2 provinces in 22 hours

2008-07-08T08:14:00.001-07:00

P.E.I. was WAY hillier than I was expecting. Nevertheless we took the shuttle bus over the confederation bridge out of New Brunswick and had taken the ferry to Nova Scotia within 22hours. Felt pretty sweet.

The maritimes are absolutely gorgeous. Rolling hills, so many trees and tons of water. How could one resist the feeling or smell of the salty air blowing in their hair?

As I said before, we've had fabulous weather since we've crossed into New Brunswick, and now that we've left New Brunswick we've mostly left the black flies too! I was getting close to the end of my rope at being able to keep any semblence of a good mood with random parts of my body continously swelling up on me. It was painful - and I am happy to be back to my normal size once more!

We are now contemplating more bike repairs though, the nipple of one of Neil's spokes broke through his (supposedly "bomb-proof") rim making it highly unstable. Hopefully we can get it fixed in time to meet his dad, Ed, in North Sydney to make the ferry to Newfoundland.

Alas, I must surrender the computer to Neil so he can look for bike shops since we just lost access to the other computer....

will try to update soon!

(Oh! And it was awesome randomly meeting Aaron (sarah's boyfriend) on the road yesterday! That story and more to come later!)

New pIctures

2008-07-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

New pictures posted up until today... captions to come a later date, library closes in 5 minutes!

Cheers!

New Brunswick... New weather!

2008-07-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

We are now in New Brunswick making a quick stop at a library on a longer day of biking. We had quite a few short-er days in Quebec as the weather insisted on remaining rainy/foggy and very windy. However, after turning South and crossing a few of the hills of the Applachian mountains we are now in sunny skies!..... and clouds of bugs. It turns out I am allergic to black fly bites. This has been declared after my eye has swollen up for the second time... and various other parts of my body such as my right calf, both hips, my neck and my right wrist have swollen to double their normal size. So tonight we will be sleeping indoors so I can de-swell and I have purchased extra strength bug repellant to go with my bug hat. Hopefully I can avoid their bites in the future. Note to self: never move to backwoods Canada.

Otherwise we are doing really well! We had a lovely day in Quebec city and are hoping to reach Fredericton, N.B. tonight. We will write soon and will REALLY try to post pictures next time!

Love and hugs!

Bonne St. Jean!

2008-06-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

400 years of history all came together in the celebration of St. Jean-Baptiste day in Quebec on Monday night. I made sure I didnt say a word in the world of francophonia. It was pretty awesome though!

Back-track--
Ottawa was awesome! We had a beautiful hot day to wander around the capital with Julie. I had previously only been to Ottawa in the winter so it was really nice to see the beauty of the city in full bloom. Although, I will admit, both are very nice seasons for the city. Then we had dinner with Barb, John and Julie. John makes a mean roast beef and there was excellent conversation to be found! (thanks again Barb and John and thanks as well for the comments!)

We were a little slow to leave the next morning because I for some reason was exhausted and after successfully waking up for breakfast I laid down on the bed again after my morning meal and managed to nap for about 2 more hours. It was crazy! I felt really awake at breakfast and then kind of just conked out again. Anyways, it was okay because the rain that had been coming down all morning stopped as we finished prepping to leave and we were lucky that it didnt pick back up for the rest of the day!

We are about 10km out of Quebec city right now. We have had some lovely days biking in Quebec along the St. Lawrence River. The weather for the most part has been really great too! Monday night, as I was saying, was the celebration for Bonne St. Jean which this year celebrates the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec. We were in Jolliette, a sizeable city, and they had a huge music festival and fireworks! (which is nice, as I will be missing the annual OBrien Fourth of July bash this year). It has been hard for me in Quebec though, Im not used to not being able to really join in on conversations. Neil speaks excellent french so he usually does the talking, however, we did meet two girls from Switzerland one night who spoke English and we played cards with them at the campground. But at rest stops, and whenever we come across cyclists on the road, it is usually Neil who does the chatting.

We are having a rain day today because the rain hasnt really let up since it started last night and we didnt feel like packing up all of our gear wet. If the weather clears up we will bike into Quebec city today, but if it stays kind of yucky we will wait until tomorrow morning (when it is supposed to be nice) and bike in tomorrow.

We are still having a great time, Quebec has been beautiful (beautiful countryside and old houses). We will be entering New Brunswick the day after tomorrow!

Sorry about the lack of pictures today... promise to post more next time.

(oh, and Dad, thanks for all the comments on the pictures... youre right... I always DID wonder what you thought :) )

Hope all is well at home!

Hanging out in the Nation's Capital

2008-06-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

What's a trip across Canada without a visit to the capital?

Not a trip across Canada we say.

Plus! We get to visit with more of Neil's family! Last night we slept at Neil's Mom's Cousin's House. Barb and her husband, John, have the most comfortable beds. They have "adopted" Julie (Neil's sister) while she's been in Ottawa for university and they are being ever so kind as to let us stay here for the two nights we will be in Ottawa. In fact we are even having dinner with Julie, Barb and John tonight! Hopefully we will be able to meet up with Julie for some tourist/shopping time downtown. I plan on dragging Neil to every girl shopping establishment possible to make up for all of the time I've spent in Canoe/Bike/Outdoor shops this summer :)

But today is our last FULL day in Ontario! That's pretty exciting since we first entered Ontario on May 23rd. Granted we did take a week off for convocation, but that's still a heck of a long time in one province. We accidently crossed into Quebec yesterday when we made a wrong turn. It was the Fleur-de-lis on the highway signs that alerted us to our error.

We've had a great second half to our trip so far, if you discount the weather. There has been a TON of rain. So much rain that we both bought waterproof socks for future rainstorms yesterday. However, weather aside it's been really nice. Our plan to average about 100km a day in the second half (but we've been averaging more around 120km a day) is ensuring that we get a lot more time in cities and we are nowhere near as tired or sore. This is our first rest day since we started back up, and I think both Neil and I physically could have kept biking a few more days. We have had some longer days and some shorter days though. We pushed it to 160km to reach the Rhodes, which was more than worth it. The Dairy there makes amazing icecream and it was wicked to meet Colin's family. Both Neil and I have lived with Colin at different times at "the Barn" (the Waterloo Nordic Ski House) and it's always fun to meet a long-time friend's family! (Not to mention they were extremely awesome and hospitable!)

The next day we had a shorter day to Foresters Falls where Kieran, another one of Neil's housemates and Ski team compadres, is working at a whitewater rafting company (Owl Rafting) for the summer. We debated taking a day to go rafting but the weather was still a bit too cold and we were quite damp from the torrential downpour that hit us right after we finished up dinner the day before. But we did see Kieran! (after waiting around for the bum for 3 hours.. and looking mighty sketch as we hung around the resort looking like we totally lacked a purpose in life). It was worth the wait though, we chilled with Kieran and his coworkers that night around the fire in the lodge and swapped stories with fellow adventurers. Then Kieran was kind enough to lend us his platform for the night (see posted photos) and we were able to stay dry and out of the rain while we slept. The next day we biked about 120km into Ottawa and after some shopping on the west side of town we pulled into Barb and Johns JUST before dark.

We've now completed ALMOST 5,000km of the trip and the 5 largest provinces (cycling wise). Tomorrow we continue East and into Quebec (where Neil will do most of the talking... for a change).

Hope all is well at home!

On the Road Again....

2008-06-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

After taking out time for both Neil and I to walk across the stage and receive a piece of paper that represents 5 years of hard work we are ready to start biking again. In fact I'm looking forward to biking so I can start eating the copious amounts of baking again. See, there are perks!

I've posted some pictures from each of our grads in the new photo album that will follow the second half of our trip.

We will be heading back up across Manitoulin to cover most of what we missed when Neil's bike seat bolt broke. However, instead of coming south again and taking the waterfront route we had previously planned we are going to go the Northern Hwy 17 route through Sudbury etc. to Ottawa.

We leave bright and early so I am off to bed for now! We will try to update relatively soon!

Cheers!

Safe and at Home in Owen Sound

2008-06-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Yeap that's right, we made it back a day earlier than expected, we are that good. Orrrrrrrrrr..... Neil might have broken a bolt that holds on his seat on grooved pavement, we might have paid a guy 100 bucks to drive us to the ferry and Neil's Dad might have picked us up and brought us back to Owen Sound. That's the other story that some people are spreading around in the rumour mill..... you can believe whichever version you fancy.

It's crazy the random mechanical problems we have had on this trip. If you had asked me beforehand what problems I expected to occur.... I would not have named any of the issues we've had. In fact, all of the normal problems have barely occurred. For example, in ~4,200km I did not get ONE flat tire. Crazy.

Luckily my shifter problems that I was getting fixed in Sault Ste Marie ended up being a really cheap fix. The Velorution bike shop was able to take it apart and correctly reassemble it (we had messed up a spring when we put it back together) and repacked my bottom bracket stopping the wretched squeak I'd had since Sask. Total Bill? ~$57

Definitely check them out if you are ever in the Sault. We hung out there all day (camped there the night before for free too!) and they were super nice. They taught me how to redo my bar tape which I will admit I had never had to do before and pointed out the local bakery which had AMAZING sandwiches. It was a really good shop, and as I said before they really promote a cycling lifestyle, the owner is actually a bike enthusiast and does more bike-activism than actual running of the shop.

After the rain subsided a bit that day Neil and I biked another 70km outside of the city and ended up getting a motel room to dry out our stuff (and there were no camp grounds close by) in Bruce Mines. The next morning I awoke AGAIN with a swollen eye, same eye, different part. So I popped some benedryl and we went over to eat breakfast (Neil was aching for so meat and eggs for breakfast) and then we started riding again. The headwind was enough to do me in. I had so much Benedryl in my system that I just had nothing to fight with. Hard as I might try to peddle against it I was just not getting anywhere. So after 20km we were in Thessalon and Neil stopped next to this nice lakeside campground and said," Why don't we just have a rest day?" At first I was pretty upset because I thought I was biking really hard, but when I looked at my average and realized I was only averaging 16km I realized he might have a point. So we set up the tent and I had a great 2 hour nap right off the bat. It was a nice nap too because we set up the tent without the fly and I had a great nap in the lake breeze. I slept a lot of that day actually, Neil went for a walk around town and scrounged up some more groceries for the next day. It ended up being a great idea because we had a day to spare and when we counted it out later it was our 8th day cycling in a row- rest was required.

The next morning we got a late start heading out because we met one of our first random travelers! We've passed 3 different cyclist groups now, but never at a good place to stop and chat. But at this campground an Australian came over to chat with us. He was hitchhiking to Winnipeg to visit a friend there and he had just completed biking from the Northern part of South America to the Southern Tip for 8 months! It was really nice to hear all of his different stories and just get that comradely feel.

When we took off finally for the day we were making exceptional time and decided to stretch our day's goal to Espanola (right where you turn south to go down through Manitoulin Island). However, Spanish Ontario was as far as we got. About 1km West of the city Neil had a bolt break off in his seat post. He has a two bolt system and as long as we stood there and tried to engineer it, there was no way that we could see to fix it temporarily with zip ties or rope or anything else of the sort. The way his bike seat/post is designed there really was no way of securing it tight enough to ride with it, and with the trailer Neil really can't stand and cycle for more than a few seconds. So we pushed our bikes into Spanish where of COURSE it was after 5pm on a Saturday and the hardware store was closed. This time without the Lake of the Woods Search and Rescue team we were really in a bind because we had no idea where we could find someone who might have a tool to take out the bolt. We could have waited around until Monday, but my convocation is on Wednesday and we still wouldn't have been able to bike back to Owen Sound in time, although we might have made the ferry. However, if it is something that can't be fixed we would have wasted a lot of time and risked not getting back in time at all (not to mention then we would need to get rides during the WORK week). So we decided the best thing to do was cut our losses and get a ride back home. The ferry only runs twice a day now so we paid a local, Bill and his wife, to drive us in their Kia Sportage (it was a REALLY tight fit) down to the ferry. We had a really foggy ferry crossing and Ed de Laplante picked us up in Tobermory and brought us home for some tasty stew! We'll be in Owen Sound/Waterloo for about a week while we repair Neil's bike and go to both of our convocations. Then we'll be heading out for the second half of the trip that doesn't have such a tight deadline to St. John's! We're not sure if we will go north first to sort of make up the part that we missed first or just head East right away. I'm sure I'll update you on our route and progress more later!

Thanks again for all of the comments in the first half of the trip! It was always a joy to come online and read all of your support and laugh at all of your jokes! The photos are updated and captioned right up to the ferry and I've started a new album and slideshow for the second half to make it a bit easier to browse through!

Well that's it for now! Will update again before we head off!

Shaking down the money tree in Sault Ste Marie

2008-06-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well I have my second Quasimodo eye, thanks bugs. I actually purchased a really attractive bug hat somewhere on the other side of Thunder Bay because the bugs are driving me nuts. Now, after seeing my reactions to a few of them Neil finally understands and supports my decision.... even though he laughs at me every time I wear it. The swelling isn't too bad though, should still be alright to bike later on today!

So I had a slight fall on the other side of Marathon. I would like to say it was some kind of wicked spill that produced sparks and includes me outrunning a bear or successfully traveling down a cliff.... but no, my chain came off and I was restarting up a hill and couldn't clip out before I hit the ground. Unfortunately that teeny tiny fall got a lot of really loose sand into my rear shifter. It's not broken, but it is messed up. We stayed in a motel that night in Marathon to try and take it apart and clean it up... but we ended up stripping the screw on the back and didn't really get anywhere. SO the next morning we biked into the actual city of Marathon and I grew squeamish as an auto mechanic took vice grips to the screw and got it out and then used brake cleaner and high-powered air to clean it out. Sounds good right? Well.... somehow we messed it up worse. So I've now biked 406km to Sault Ste Marie with only 3 gears.... one of which most people would refer to as "coasting."

I never would have imagined that hills like this exist in Ontario either. I don't think I would have believed you if I hadn't seen it myself. There are the Precambrian mountains (really old rounded off mountains that used to be bigger than rockys) that go through this area, and while they have blasted through the rock the grades are way tougher than anything we saw in the Rockys. At one point we gained 300 m in one hill alone, my quads have been burning a lot lately. That being said though, I think Northern Ontario has been my favourite scenary so far. There is just so much to be said about the Canadian sheild. It is gorgeous here and the views never stop. One of the coolest things about it here is that even when you climb a hill you can ride beside a lake since the rock creates water tables at all different elevations. We've also seen a fair bit of wild life here (I saw my first wild moose that wasn't hit by a car!) and we've stayed in some downright beautiful provincial parks.

Sometimes though we feel like someone should have put us in straightjackets when we decided to do this trip during the end of April/May. We've definitely been questioning our sanity when we hit a cold rain or bike through a cloud of bugs. Our recurring joke of the moment is how after convocation we are going to take the money we will spend on bike repairs in the second half of the trip and go somewhere tropical. Pride, stubborness and the number of people we've told about this trip is all that keeps us going somedays. But we do keep going, we are so close to the halfway point of the trip we can taste it. After doing the bike from Nipigon to the Sault we have biked the worst hills until Owen Sound. With a working shifter the last few days shouldn't be too tough. We biked by the TransCanadian Highway halfway point plaque yesterday which was exciting! More than 1/4 of the highway is in Ontario alone. That is crazy!

Last night we stayed at a free campground for cyclists at the Velorution bike shop. They have a really cool set up here, promoting more of a lifestyle than just biking. Hopefully their mechanics are as good as the mechanics as Petrie's bike shop in Thunder Bay (he works wonders on bikes if you are ever looking for a superb mechanic in that region). We are hoping to make this only a "pseudo-rest day" hopefully biking the 50-60km we got behind the night I broke my shifter. But either way we are still on track to make it back in time for convocation as long as we can handle biking in rain for the next three days!

I know this blog seems a little down, but we are still having a really good time. We've met some real characters along the way who have just been sweethearts. At a roadside cafe the restaurant owner bought us some hot chocolates on a cold rainy day. We have had nothing but encouragement from the locals along the way. Questions we get the most:
1.) Where you coming from?
2.) How far do you bike in day?
3.) What are those things on your shoes? (Bike cleats)

Hope all is well... will update again from Owen Sound!!

So I hitch-hiked for the first time yesterday....

2008-05-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

This will probably be short, only 31 minutes left on the computer, and sorry, no pictures today we forgot the camera cords in our hotel room!

SO yeah, yesterday was the first time I've ever stood by the side of the road and stuck out my thumb... and you know what... when you look really desperate and you have a bike sitting upside down with one of the wheels off (we did that just for effect) people with pick-up trucks will ACTUALLY still pull over.

Yesterday started out badly to be honest. We had spent the night in the beautiful Quetico Provincial Park which made us both really want to take a rest day and go canoeing (I think it pulled on Neil's heart strings a BIT more than mine though). However, Neil's rear wheel had been acting up and so we needed to push on to Thunder Bay for bike repairs. Anyways, before we even left the park that morning Neil got a snakebite in his tube (which is a pinch flat, no actual snakes) and so we had to replace the tube. After that though we had an amazing day averaging 28.6km an hour (which is really fast with hills and weight) because we had this WICKED tail wind. Then at lunch Neil ran into a classmate Scott at a Gas station (which ran out of gas while we were there... pretty crazy to watch desperate people pull up and be told that the tank is dry and that the next pump is about 55 km away). So the day looked to be going well until about 50km outside of Thunder Bay when Neil heard a loud snap while he was climbing a hill and realized he couldn't shift gears. His rear derailer was stuck in the hardest gear on his bike- needless to say we didn't stop until we had reached the top of the hill. At the top we found that his rear derailer cable had severed in half.... no way to fix that by the side of the road. So after looking about desperately for a while and trying to concoct crazy plans on how to get ourselves to Thunder Bay (Neil's bike was still kind of bikeable.. but he did not want to pull 60-70lbs of gear in the trailer up hills without being able to shift... and honestly... who knows if he could have made it up some of those hills without gears).

We quickly realized that we were never going to get picked up at the top of a hill so we coasted down to the bottom and started to look as desperate as we could. We were hoping that someone nice would just stop (because we assumed those kinds of people would be the less creepy kind of people... logical? no?) and then we took off Neil's back tire to make it look like something was really wrong (his bike was also upside down at this point too)... and then we just started thumbing. Luckily the 2nd or third truck actually stopped. He was a really nice guy Alex who was coming back from setting up an expoloration mining camp out in the bush. He drove us most of the way into the city and then easily pawned us off onto his co-workers who drove us the rest of the way. This guy, Fred, actually called and reserved us a hotel room and dropped Neil's bike off at the bike shop for him! Super nice guy. Neil is getting a new wheel built for him and his derailer has been repaired. We are super lucky and getting his bike back this afternoon so we are only behind one rain day(to be explained shortly)

We've actually run into tons of nice people in Ontario. I have a gaurdian angel on the Lake of the Woods Search and Rescue team myself. On my birthday (thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!) we were taking a nice shorter day (only about 90km) and were going to stop at the Rushing River provincial park.. have a fire.. and Birthday Pie (imagine a semi-squished apple pie with matches in it instead of candles... it was super tasty) and just have a nice night of it. Well.... about 30km outside of Kenora Neil was tightening my seat post bolt on my bike because my seat had come loose... when it seriously snapped in half. I was devastated. That was the first time I thought I would have to hitch hike. But nope! Low and behold Mr. VE3EFS pulls up behind us in his pick-up truck. I never did learn his name but his H.A.M. radio name is VE3EFS... so if you are into that sort of thing, tell him I say thanks. Anyways... he calls up his buddy Walter who lives 5 minutes away and who's wife is into cycling and triathlons and Walter brings out a dish of metric bolts (sounds crazy I know).... and wow, one fit! So here we were, thinking we were going to lose 2 days (it was Saturday after business hours and the hardware store would have been closed on Sunday for sure and I could not have biked without this bolt) and these two random men who I had never met before in our lives pulled up and set everything straight in less than an hour. We are very lucky people.

We've had some crazy thunderstorms and rain the last little bit. I've never biked so quickly as I did on the way to Fort Frances as I was scared silly by having lightning and thunder on either side of me. We actually got hailed on for a bit as well! But we are safe and sound and everything is looking well for the rest of our trip. We just feel so blessed that there are so many kind people in this country!! Unfortunately I must end this blog here as I am literally running out of time. We will try to post some pictures soon if we can. We are off to go do laundry and pick up Neil's bike -nothing like stimulating a suffering economy! Everyone should take bike trips like us! The economy would be in GREAT shape then!

Hope all is well at home!

Ontario and Hills here we come!

2008-05-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

I never ever thought I would see a day where I looked forward to hills over a flat ride, but man can I not wait to get into Ontario. The endless sky bit is really cool, but the endless wind is totally draining!

Since Swift Current we've maybe had half a day of nice wind, other than that it's been down-right scary! The first 2 days out had the worst cross-winds I have ever seen. We had gusts of wind that reached over 60km an hour. Luckily the first night we were graced with the wonderful hospitality of Rita and Don Cushing! Turns out I had extended family in Saskatchewan through my Aunt Joan- man oh man do I wish I had known about them earlier in life because they are the nicest people. Rita and Don took Neil and I in for the night and fed us a delicious dinner after giving us a tour of Moose Jaw (which is actually a really cool city by the way with beautiful parks and a mineral hot spring!). Then Rita's sister and parents came over and we had some tea and cake. Her parents are both turning 90 this year and they were just hilarious! I really hope that I can remain that lively and hilarious at the age of 90. Her dad even treated us to a private concert on his fiddle. It might have only been an evening, but it sure felt like a rest day!

The next day we biked to Regina (by the way, it's a slight 2% grade uphill after Moose Jaw pretty much until Brandon, Manitoba on a bike... which wouldn't be that bad if you had a tail-wind or no wind... but man was it brutal), possibly the worst part about the trip to Regina was that we could actually see the city of Regina itself for an hour and a half. When you are struggling against the wind and just exhausted- that is possibly one of the most demoralizing things in the world. We actually took about 4 hours off in Regina just hoping and praying that the wind would die down. So we had a wonderful lunch that Rita had packed us and sat in front of the Saskatchewan parliament in the shade and out of the wind and just relaxed and enjoyed the sights. Then we biked around Regina a bit tackling a few small errands and had dinner and headed out of town again. Bamn! Right away they had a sign for Winnipeg- 572km

Talk about heart breaking when you are on a bike! Even in a car that would be bad! That's a good 6 hour drive! All of the other signs had smaller local cities on the signs- but there it was, just on the other side of Regina- Winnipeg, the city that would haunt us for 4 more days.

Luckily we were right and the wind did die down as the day progressed, unfortunately the sun sets early in Saskatchewan since they don't participate in daylight savings time and we ended up trying to rush it to our destination. We ended up about 12km short of Indian Head and ended up down a gravel road in a campsite in Qu'Appelle (this town only had like 200 people but they somehow managed to support a tattoo parlour- crazy). We were pretty excited about the next day of riding at this point as well. We had been traveling North East for the past few days and the wind had been coming from the North West- so as I've said we were experiencing some pretty wicked cross-winds. After Indian head though our route (basically the Trans-Canada) turned southward and we were expecting to catch a pretty decent tail-wind. Man were we wrong. It seemed like the gods were against us when we awoke in Qu'Appelle and headed out to the highway because the winds had switched almost exactly 180 degrees and were now coming from the east for an almost perfect headwind. We did our best all day just battling the wind... but after 120km of headwind we tapped out. Seriously, it is insane the differences in time we spend on the road depending on the wind. We battled ALL day against that wind and we only averaged about 20km per hour. Whereas otherdays we'll feel like we've hardly ridden and ride 170km. Needless to say we also didn't make it as far as we had that day either and decided to stop in Whitewood. We ate at a nice diner and camped in a city campground that was pecularily placed right next to the city pool and golf course. The only other campers there were a really nice couple from northern Ontario that had been on the road since Easter.

That night I had the coldest shower of my life, I'm actually suprised I survived ;)

(by the way, I realize that this is probably the most sporadic blog, and probably chock-full of spelling errors (sorry Mom) but it's about 12 am here and I'm just trying to pump this out before I crash and we take off tomorrow).

Anyways, we were lucky enough to make up all of our distance the following day. We had planned a shorter day as a pseudo-rest day but it quickly became more of a make-up day. So after a slow start in the morning and also replacing a flat tire that must have been the result of a slow-leak overnight for Neil we were on the road and low and behold we had a slight tail wind! So we used that to cross the border into Manitoba! My 10th province! Officially Neil and I have been to every province there is in Canada and we've even been to all 10 of them together! Manitoba is a very pretty province with lots of trees! But if I grew up in Manitoba I would never have become a road cyclist- their roads here are attrocious! Most of the time there is absolutely no shoulder, just the white line and then a drop off to a gravel shoulder. It's actually really scary on a bicycle here and I'm looking forward to either a.) getting back to shoulders or at least b.) getting away from Truck traffic. The trucks have been amazing, they either slow right down or move over a lane if it is at all possible. But we have been buzzed a few times and that is actually really scary, and we haven't just been buzzed by trucks. I find that cars (especially minivans) are the worst! I guess those soccer games are important... but does it really hurt to slow down for 2 seconds as you pass by someone on a bike? Additionally, anytime we bike on a 2 lane road the traffic coming from the opposite direction can be just as brutal. Trucks coming from the other direction pull a wall of wind with them that sometimes feels just like bricks as you hit it.

We've done our absolute best to stay off of the Trans-Canada in Manitoba, which has turned out to be really fun. Unfortunately on our dash back to convocation we don't have a lot of time for many detours so it's been nice to ride through some of the smaller towns off of the Trans Canada and see some more of the local scenary. We rode through Douglas the other day just on the other side of Brandon and rode for about 3km through this really cool marsh that came right up to the road that is apparently the best breeding ground for a special kind of song bird in the world! Unfortuneatly when we travel off the Trans Canada the roads are not always in the best condition or there is way more wind as the road is significantly less sheltered. In fact, when we found out that there were definitely stretchs into Winnipeg without a shoulder we decided to take the old highway (#26) that is north of the Trans Canada from Portage into Winnipeg to avoid the traffic that always occurs near a big city. This would have been an EXCELLENT decision had there been no wind. In fact, it was still a pretty darn good decision. We were able to ride next to eachother all day to block the wind, but there was so much farmland there that the wind was really strong as it had plenty of ramp-up time to gain speed before hitting us. Sometimes it felt like the wind was just trying to hold us in place where we were. But once again it was significantly more scenic than the Trans Canada and we were able to bike through some nice smaller towns like Poplar Point where a really nice couple just pulled up beside us in their car as we were having a snack and asked us if we needed any water or anything! (we had unfortunately just gotten water from the post office). The back route also didn't add too much distance to our route as we were heading to the north end of Winnipeg and it added a WHOLE lot more adventure. In fact at one point, after our only rest of about 3km with a tail wind on this road we were passing by a house when we heard a dog start barking. Which you know- we thought no big deal. But then we saw that it was a BIG dog (like Beethoven size) and that it was CHASING us. Well, we both took off at that point (which isn't as easy as it sounds with weight or a trailer). Neither of us had ever had a dog chase us for so long and it was actually closing in on us too! Luckily it must have figured we were no longer a threat to its property, but man that gave the heart a good start. This dog could have taken us down with one paw and no effort.

Well after that we called Neil's Aunt Mary because we were behind schedule and let her know we were going to be a bit later than we had planned. They were nice and offered us a ride into the city which we refused and we started our way to the perimeter highway that encircles Winnipeg. I think we would have accepted the offer if we knew what was about to come (sorry Mom, I'm sure this entire blog is not making you feel very happy about your daughter being off on a bike trip!) Inkster road is not a road for cyclists. There was once again no shoulder but this time it was only 2 lanes and there was LOTS of traffic. Sometimes I was more afraid for other drivers because some of the people passing us were absolutely bonkers!

Once we got into the city Neil actually pulled into a gas station just for a breather- it had not been a fun ride into town at all. But we finally arrived safe and sound at Neil's Aunt Mary's house at about a quarter to 9pm having traveled about 813km from Swift Current to Winnipeg in just 6 days making up our snow day that we had to take in Canmore! We've had a fantastic time here at Neil's aunts. She made this amazing cake with a coconut brown sugar topping that is to die for! She was also sweet enough to drive us around town today while Neil got his bike fixed (he's lost control of the trailer a few times on gravel roads, the trailer is very heavy and once it has a mind to tip there is almost no stopping it. He has always been okay as its been at slow speeds but his derailer hanger was bent up and that was really effecting his shifting abilities which is not ideal for the hills coming up). We also purchased a new Thermarest mat for Neil. His was quite a bit larger than mine and we decided that the extra space in the BOB trailer would be nice for Northern Ontario so that we can carry a bit more food just in case we get rained in without a grocery store nearby. We also had lunch at the Forks which is a really neat spot in Winnipeg where two rivers meet and they have an amazing food court with food from all over the world (I had Ukranian food, Neil had a Sri Lankan lunch) and also got to do some sight-seeing from the car as well! Then Neil's cousins came over and we had a lovely supper!

Tommorrow we bike again! The day after that we'll be in Ontario for the long haul. Don't expect any updates about new provinces soon. It will be several weeks until we leave Ontario, but it will be neat to bike in the Candian Shield and take the ferry from Manatoulin Island! Luckily we start the day tomorrow with a ride out of the city. After yesterday's scary adventure we decided to take their offer of a ride to the Canadian Mint which is near the perimeter of the city and skip as much of the scary traffic as we can!

Hope all is well at home! Will try to write again as soon as I can!

2008-05-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

New pics added, blog to be posted later today!

2 Provinces Down

2008-05-15T11:38:00.001-07:00

I'm updating today from Swift Current Saskatchewan.. and let me tell you, Saskatchewan is not flat. This is actually a pretty sizeable town supposedly supported with ranching and oil which I will whole-heartedly believe as we have seen a lot of oil rigs in the last few days.

We crossed the provincial border in the cypress hills which have really been the prettiest thing since the mountains. There have been a lot of farms and cows and pretty much nothing else the past few days. A little tough to handle after the always changing landscapes of the mountains. However, I do give credit to the Prairie skys, they are absolutely amazing.

Last night we camped just within the city after going for Dairy Queen and groceries. The night before we stayed in Tompkins at a really nice small campground. Camping in the priaries is really cheap, which is awesome. We also went for our celebratory "finished a province" beer at the local watering hole in Tompkins and learned that their local school only has 3 different grades. Unfortunately we also discovered that Saskatchewan still had smoking in public places. It seems so foreign and strange these days! It was a really small place. Funny enough, Piapot was the town beforehand and they actually have a Piapot pride parade every year. With a population of 54 we wonder who actually watches the parade??

We still have been super lucky with weather- it seems to be the question we get asked most by our parents. The day going into Tompkins we had the most amazing tail wind practically all day long. You barely had to pedal to travel at speeds that averaged in the 30's. The other days on the priaries have been a bit more hit and miss. Our first two days out we had patches of tailwinds, crosswinds, headwinds and even swirling winds. I swear, big black clouds create their own winds in this province. So those days were a bit longer. The days with tailwinds we usually get into town early enough to do some grocery shopping and really set up camp before the sun sets, but the first two days with wind we didn't get into camp until sunset. The first day was partly because we stopped at this SWEET bike shop- Bow Cycle in Calgary to buy some extra parts we needed. My entire bike is made of carbon fibre- which is sweet for racing or pleasure riding purposes.... but it cannot handle the different stresses of carrying weight. So my parents helped me find an aluminum seatpost there and left it for me to pick up on our way through since they had to go through Calgary a day earlier. With the aluminum seatpost I am able to carry a bit of the weight on a seatpost rack that would otherwise be on Neil's trailer. But if you are bicycle-enthusiast... check out this shop if you are ever in Calgary because it was THE COOLEST shop I have ever seen.

Yesterday on our way into Swift Current I was riding with Amy when we noticed some deer down in a valley to our right and they started taking off and practically leaping through the fields so I raced up to Neil to get him to notice them. We watched them run through the fields to our right for a while and then noticed that they were heading towards the road (it's a 4-lane divided highway in this area) so we stopped to make sure we didn't run into them. There were 5 deer- and they all just leaped over this fence. I have never seen an animal jump like this before. They seriously looked just like reindeer always do in movies about Santa Claus. Neil and I couldn't have been more than 20 ft away at the time. It was amazing.

Also in Swift Current our group is separating ways. So far we have traveled 2 provinces, 2 time zones and over 1700km together. But from Swift Current Amy is going to try to catch her friends, a group of bikers she was originally going to bike with, or tag onto another group. Fact of the matter is, convocation is looming and with weight and no support vehicle, Northern Ontario is a very daunting ambition. Lets face it, the bug potential is enough to scare any sane person away. As a result, Amy has decided that it is best to hang back and try to make it to Winnipeg if possible before convocation with another group, and let Neil and Kate go ahead and tackle the great Ontario North. Lets hope they come out with a greater pecentage of their bodies free from bug bites than covered with them. (Note: the change in writing style is a clear indicator that Kate has surrendered the keyboard, albeit temporarily, to Amy for this section...) Anyway, for those friends of Amy's reading this blog, once I figure out whats going on in a few days, I'll try to update people. I'll likely not start another blog, but who knows? Besides, none of you can escape me (unless of course you boycot your email accounts or redirect my emails, either of which I sincerely hope you do not do!).

Alright, this library only has an hour allotment for internet time- new pictures are up though, I will caption them as soon as I can!

Now the transport trucks are our friends!

2008-05-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick blog update from a library in Medicine Hat Alberta!
Don't have much time- but wanted to write that we are all safe and the weather has been great. We lucked out and mostly missed the rain yesterday (although we still got quite a bit of the winds!) and today was absolutely beautiful. I will do a more thorough update later but... last night we stayed in an abandoned campground that was closed to put a pipe-line through.. but it wasn't officially closed, at least there was no sign... SO we camped anyways. Hey, it was 8:30pm and we had ridden 180 km. Today we had a great tailwind for about 40 minutes where we were averaging between 34-40 km per hour. It was sweet! That got us into medicine hat early enough to shower, grocery shop, check out the public library (which is really nice stop in here if you plan on doing a library tour (?) of canada anytime soon) and now we are going out to eat. This keyboard is really hard to type on... so adios until our next restday when I will write another tome.

God Bless!

P.S. I like transport trucks now because they give you a bit of tail wind that helps pick up your cadence... that and there is not a cliff on the other side of me now!

Hitting the Road

2008-05-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update-
The snow is melting quickly, and after spending yet another fantastic day in Canmore we are going to hit the road again tomorrow, this time without the support van. Hopefully we can make it to the other side of Calgary tomorrow and find a place that doesn't have snow to camp!

It will definitely be difficult to leave though, the Matheson's have been so generous with their hospitality and just an overall blast! We were even treated with some music last night!

Here's hoping most of the snow is gone by the morning!

One Province Down

2008-05-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

We're being pampered in Canmore, Alberta at the moment at Neil's Auntie Kay's house. Who by the way makes THE most delicious date squares.

(note: don't forget to see all of the pictures all you have to do is click on the slideshow in the upper left corner- and there ARE new pictures up!)

We have already spent two nights here with one more warm sleep still yet to come. It was very "unfortunate" that we couldn't camp in Lake Louise (where there was snow!) so we actually drove to Canmore to spend the night before our last stretch to Canmore (don't worry, we drove back the next day to start where we had stopped the night before, we are being very honest about biking it all). It was bears that stopped us from camping there though! They are out of hibernation folks, and they are hungry! So the campgrounds here are all closed to tenters for "the safety of the bears and the people". Luckily Neil's brain is a trap for numbers and he dialed his Auntie Kay right up and we head out there a night early. There was even a bear lumbering down the railroad tracks as we drove to Canmore that night!

But I am getting ahead of myself aren't I?
We had a great tail wind leaving Kamloops- which we were all very happy about, and made record time that day deciding to extend our trip out just a bit. My dad was especially excited for the easy ride because he had a mysterious violent allergic reaction on our rest day. There is a picture of how swollen his face got. In fact, the picture doesn't even do it justice, he just started swelling that morning and stayed swollen the entire day. We still have absolutely no idea what caused it. No idea. However, we kept him fully loaded with Benydrl and watched his ability to breathe and his blood pressure etc., and the next morning he was feeling a lot better- and he's been fine ever since. So crazy fluke allergies are all that we can label it.

Anyways, we had a nice ride out of Kamloops and we've had beautiful weather all the way to Canmore. One day we decided to take a side road for lunch down to this beautiful lake, and luckily it wasn't too many extra kilometers because the road ran mostly parrallel. It was a really nice ride beside this crystal clear mountain lake.

Wow, it's crazy how blurry all of this is already. Anyways- it's been amazing being on the road like this. We get to see every stream, every waterfall- every change in the foliage in the forests. It's been really mentally relaxing and worth every strained muscle. The day that we traveled from Sicamous to the edge of Glacier National Park was just absolutely gorgeous. The sun was shining- the mountains were gorgeous and the temperature was just perfect. We had a great time winding our way through the valleys stopping to take pictures with a giant rock on the side of the road and we had lunch at Three Valley Gap. Three Valley Gap was this crazy GIANT chalet that someone spent WAY too much money building in the middle of nowhere. It even had a heritage ghost town that you could buy tickets to. The tourist in my REALLY wanted to... but we didn't, instead we ate lunch out on the grass in the back that had a view of a cliff with two stunning waterfalls and an eagle even flew by!

We've had a lot of trouble finding campgrounds so far. A lot of places don't open until Mid-May. However, a lot of them are still letting us camp (at reduced rates too!) but there have been a few nights where we have been really happy to have my mom around with the van. She's been able to scout out ahead for places to stay and drive us back and forth between major cities. This was especially important near the Glacier National Park. We had made pretty good time and decided to do more than we had planned to get some of the climb to Roger's Pass out of the way. However, none of the campgrounds in the park were opened yet so she had to drive us at least a half an hour back to Revelstoke to camp, and then back the next morning. Roger's Pass wasn't actually as bad as we thought though (it definitely wasn't the toughest pass... it was Field pass right before the Provincial border.. man that hill was tough). It was long, but we definitely went up the easy side. We were going to eat at the top but the clouds looked pretty ominous and we decided to press on and get the descent out of the way before it started to snow. Thank god we did, it started to rain on the way down, and we have heard all sorts of stories of trucks coming out of the pass just after us covered with snow. That descent was probably the most nerve-racking 40 MINUTES of my life. There was rain, lots of traffic passing and tons of braking for dear life. We rode our brakes hard the entire way down and still never got below 40 kph. To make it worse, we all wear sunglasses while we ride and the first snow-shed tunnel was PITCH black, I couldn't see a thing in front of me and could hear a car coming up behind me. So I looked to the end of the tunnel, held on tight and hoped that I didn't hit a pothole unexpectedly.

Unfortunately I didn't eat right that day though and ended up bonking pretty hard, harder than I ever have actually. It took me 24 hours and more food than I usually eat in a week to come out of it, but luckily I was able to keep up with the group in the meantime. The rest of the trip- man I want to say uneventfull.. so I can end this blog, but it's been so cool. In Yoho national park we saw some students out on a field trip looking at a roadcut so Neil went over to talk to them. It turns out they were actually from Princeton! (Can I just add that Neil's fix for biking in the cold has been to wear black long-underwear over his bike shorts and they have a hole in the knee... so he was looking PRETTY classy talking to all of the ivy-leaguers).

We also stopped in Lake Louise and saw the chateau there which was pretty neat although I think it is a shame that they have remodeled it. Apparently it used to have beautiful old stone facing and now it's a nice hotel... but it looks like any hotel in Vegas- but set next to a gorgeous mountain lake.

Then, like I said we came to Canmore to crash and the next day we rode the Bow Valley Parkway through the Banff National Park. That was by far the best road we've taken so far, there was so little traffic that we got to ride three abreast and really enjoy all the twists and turns on this super smooth road. I would say it's been my favourite part of the trip so far- and we saw SO many more animals that day!

It's been great spending time here in Canmore, the hospitality, company and food have all been amazing. We also got here JUST IN TIME. We woke up this morning (our rest day) to snowfall! They are expecting 20 cm by the time it's done. My mom wants to go Christmas caroling as a joke as it looks so much like Christmas here. But the rest day has been really nice, our knees were all getting a bit tight so we took a trip out to the Banff hot springs and spent about an hour there chilling in front of the power jets massaging out our legs. It was pretty cheap too because its the off season. Cheaper and less busy = awesome. Needless to say we might have to impose on the Matheson's hospitality for one more day if this snow doesn't go away. Thank god we made up a day in the mountains. Either way though- biking or no biking my parents leave tomorrow. It's definitely going to be sad to see them go. It's been nice to have them on the trip.. a.) because they are hilarious and awesome and b.) because with them goes the van and a lot of our freedom!

But now I must go.. I've been missing out on the hilarious conversations going on in the kitchen. We hope all is well at home and we have been enjoying the comments! Thanks for checking in- we'll try to update soon!

B.C. done!
Mountains... almost!
Prairies here we come!

Ahhhh… first rest day, or as my Dad put it, first rebuilding day

2008-05-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

Wow is it ever beautiful here- when it doesn’t rain.

This trip has been awesome so far, already about 450km accomplished and we are currently taking a rest day to restore our legs (and our bottoms) in Kamloops, B.C.. We started on the Monday from Vancouver a bit later than we would have liked but we were still able to reach our target destination, albeit just barely, before nightfall. We were partially delayed by our drive into the city (my tire actually blew out while it was on the rear car rack on the way into Vancouver.. first flat before we even got started!) and just by all of the prep work it takes to get 5 people organized.

We took the ceremonial first picture with our back tires in the Pacific Ocean and started off with a nice bike ride on some paths that followed the harbors within Vancouver before heading straight out for a night in Kilby Provincial Park. The weather was beautiful when we started but it quickly switched to rain as we reached the city limits. Luckily it was classic gentle West Coast rain so the biking was still safe, just colder and with more mud spray than normal. We stayed in a beautiful spot in the Kilby park, right beside this gorgeous lake with mountains all around it. However, right after doing the dishes the wind picked up HUGE. My parents were lucky enough to have already gone to bed but Neil, Amy and I had to run around like crazy to make sure that everything was secure. My father had brought a teepee tent to keep the bikes under at night- that had blown over right away… and even our sleeping tents were taking quite the beating. So we ran around and found huge rocks (and by we, I mean Neil) to keep our tent anchored and attempted to sleep while the wind tried to fold our tents into two.

The next day was another wet day, but it ended with sunshine!! That day was all about the trucks, tunnels and waterfalls. The scenery here is so gorgeous. Every few minutes we bike by waterfalls that tumble down the mountain side… or we catch a glimpse through the mountains to some beautiful snow-capped peaks. The “creeks” here would beat up rivers from back home any day, and they have created valleys that are well over a hundred feet deep (those bridges are fun.. but kind of scary to cross). Unfortunately with all of this beauty we paid a price, transport trucks. We actually counted at one point and we realized that we had one passing, on OUR side of the highway, every 3 minutes. MAN can those things push you around with their wind. The worst is definitely when you are in the tunnels. They nicely put sidewalks in each of the tunnels, and some have warning lights to let drivers know that there are cyclists… but still, when a transport whips by you in a tunnel you get blown right against the wall with the force of it, especially because these guys are hauling to make sure they get up every hill. I would say that the scariest thing for me has definitely been the tunnels. However, like I said, the sun came out that afternoon so everything seemed a bit brighter as we were finally able to dry out our clothing. We also took a side-trip into Hope and had a really good lunch there and purchased some items that we realized that we would need (such as more wool socks, back-up gloves, long-underwear… can you tell we were cold?). That night we beat my mom to the campsite and the owner, Bernard, was nice enough to make us a fire (see picture of my dad trying to warm up his feet) and we successfully dried out our belongings and our tents from the previous evenings adventures.

The next day Neil got a nasty sidewall puncture in his front tire. He went through 3 tubes trying to fix it, and ended up having to use a patch on the inside of his tire. At one point he actually sheared a valve clean in two while trying to pump his tire full of air. Other than that- lots of climbing. The past two nights we’ve stayed at different RV parks and it’s finally gotten warm again. We’re in the desert and we are enjoying the heat before we go back up into the mountains… the real mountains this time. No one is looking forward to Roger’s Pass, but we are looking forward to Canmore where we get to stay with Neil’s Auntie Kay! Our legs will probably be happy to see the mountains, and the long crazy grades go, but we will definitely miss the scenery. But I suppose I am getting WAY ahead of myself, we still have about a week left in the mountains, wishful thinking perhaps?

I’m going to end this blog now, I’m sure I’ve left out tons of details… but I’ve already written over a page in Word! So we hope that all is well at home and we will try to update again soon!

Safe and Sound, but drizzly in Vancouver

2008-04-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is the last uber-frequent blog of the trip. After this we get out on the road where our internet will be slightly more limited, but we promise to do our best. Especially while my dad is still around- I know everyone wants to know how well he will survive ;)

It is completely official. Neil and I will NEVER ever go back to South Dakota. Even if you were to have an event where you handed out million dollar bills.... we still wouldn't come. ESPECIALLY if that event was anywhere close to Rapid City. After hitting the Sea Gull RIGHT after we crossed the state line we thought that we had gotten any negative events out of the way... nope, we were wrong, South Dakota definitely has something against us. We decided to take a side-trip through Badlands National Park and low and behold we get a flat tire.... at 3:30pm on a Saturday. Needless to say we booked it back to Neil's favourite city- Rapid City South Dakota. We were really lucky to get our tire fixed that day and were only delayed about 3 hours total.

The rest of the ride was luckily uneventful and we arrived in Vancouver around 3:30ish local time. Judy and Byron Wilson were so sweet to put us up in their beautiful home, and we went and picked up Amy at the bus stop (yes Mr. and Mrs. Adams... she is safe and sound with us).

Amy was zonked so we dropped her back off at the the Wilson's so she could sleep while Neil and I headed downtown to visit some of my friends that I lived with while I was in Scotland. (My parents obviously stayed behind as well to visit!). Steamworks was awesome, hadn't seen a lot of those guys in 2 years... it was amazing! Thanks for coming out everyone!

So today we start the biking... 110km planned for today- hopefully we can get out of the rain at some point. We'll be updating soon... we start today!!

Why did we come back to South Dakota?

2008-04-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

We're officially on the road!

We've had a pretty decent start to the trip out so far. Last night we had some thunderstorms but we are currently driving through South Dakota... where it snowed last night. Lets hope that this isn't an omen for the trip and we don't end up with weather like this while we bike.

But yes folks, we are back in South Dakota... for those of you who heard the stories from this summer's Road Trip that means we are back in the land of the gigantic hail stones. Let's just say that Neil was sleeping when we took the road through South Dakota instead of going through North Dakota. We are currently about 260 miles from where Neil's car lost both of its windshields and was totaled during a freak hailstorm leaving us stranded in a gas station for over 4 hours… and Neil stranded in a bad hotel room for 5 days. But hey, it can't be such a bad state right? I mean... we've only hit a seagull today... and that didn't break the windshield after all.

Otherwise things are great! We've loaded a few photos from the start of the trip! My beautiful best friend from home, Kathryn, gave us quite the send off with a full outfit to raise our spirits and cheer us on. I hear she will be hand-designing the t-shirts for anyone who wants one, just let me know and I'll pass your email on :) just kidding. But the shirt WAS sweet, I mean… Neil even had a handlebar mustache on it.. which is hot.

The sleeping arrangements in the car are also pimp. My father built a platform in the back out of ply-wood and we have sleeping pads, pillows and sleeping bags back there as well, so we've all been able to catch some sleep as we have driven halfway across! It’s like driving in an RV without killing the earth as quickly.

We will be updating again soon! Looking forward to meeting up with some friends in Vancouver and getting on the roads!

5 days until the journey begins!

2008-04-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

ONLY 5 DAYS AND TWO EXAMS UNTIL WE DEPART. Officially it's 8 days until we begin biking.

So excited

So excited. This is going to be great. (Psssshhh anything will be great compared to exams haha)

I will be able to post actual pictures and stories soon!!!

Preparation nearing completion, new photos added!

2008-04-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone

Quick post today- we are all still in the middle (more like at the beginning) of studying for our last set of finals (hopefully!)- So I will keep this brief.

Preparation is almost complete as all of the pieces and materials required for the trip have almost all been accumulated. We just received our B.O.B. trailer (www.bobgear.com) that will hold most of our stuff for the bike trip as we make our way across the country! We've also just received our high-tech water filter (supposedly it's so good we could drink out of puddles) and our stove (which is a source of personal manly pride for Neil as it burns any kind of fuel, even jet fuel... emphasis on the JET fuel).

I posted 2 new pics of Neil and I before our first ride with the B.O.B. - like I said, can't wait to get out on the roads and take some scenic pictures - not too long now!!

I also found out that the Picassa web album that holds the slide show also has a location feature for each photo. I promise to do my best to link each photo to a location as we go so that you guys can follow our biking path (but no promises on that, we'll see how much computer time we end up having)

Cheers until next time!

Only 1 month to departure!

2008-03-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

It's almost here!

April 24th we will take our last University exams and ship out! The current plan is for Neil and I to finish up our last exams, drive to my house and drive out to Vancouver with my parents. Hopefully we will be able to join Amy and the boys there to begin cycling on the 28th of April. Exciting times! We are planning on going from coast to coast dipping our bike tires in both oceans ending in St. Johns, Newfoundland at the end of July. Hopefully through this blog we will be able to keep everyone up to date.

Preparations are wrapping up for our trip, and by wrapping up I mean we are currently scrambling to make sure that we will have everything that we will need. We are all in good spirits and very hopeful about what is to come! Our biggest worry is that this strong winter will not subside enough to bring us warmer temperatures in the mountains at the end of April.... here's crossing our fingers!

Below are two pictures of Neil and I training in his basement laundry room. I promise the pictures will get more exciting and picturesque once the trip begins! Please bookmark this blog and check back in!