Rain enveloped the sunshine coast. My brother took me, my uncle, and his wife on a small road trip through the various coastal communities scattered around Gibsons. I love the ocean. Later, my aunt came to Uncle Tim’s house for a quick hello. A pleasant rest day before heading inland…
July 10, 2020
Victoria – Gibsons, ~ 105km (~105km total)
Pre-tour jitters…long time since I’d felt these!
On the night before my date of departure, I’d loaded my bike up with everything and discovered something truly alarming: a sympathetic resonance in my bike, a.k.a. a wheel wobble. It’d been so bad that I’d been barely able to ride around the block, let alone around BC. I’d scrambled, reorganizing all of my gear into what I thought would be a more stable arrangement. In the end, I’d significantly diminished – but not eliminated – the wobble. Certain more aggressive riding positions would be out of the question, but I would be safe, or so I’d thought.
One thing about jitters: they can keep one busy. I ended up leaving about two hours later than I’d planned because of all my last minute adjustments, additions, subtractions, etc. My original plan had been to bike out from home to Brentwood Bay; take the ferry to Mill Bay; continue up to Nanaimo, where I would again ferry from Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay on the mainland; and finally, ferry to Langdale Terminal on the sunshine coast to rendezvous with my relatives living in Gibsons. Due to my late start, I would no longer be able to take the first ferry. I would instead have to ride over the Malahat on the Island Highway. This is not a particularly difficult mountain pass (356m), but it is a heavily trafficked and noisy one.
For the first time in a while, the weather looked to be to be unequivocally sunny and hot. The summer up until this point had been absymal and unseasonably cool and wet. Not exactly the best weather to begin a bike tour. The Malahat was its predictable cacophonic self, but I was encouraged by how easy the first significant climb of my tour felt, one that started pretty much at my doorstep at that! Dad surprised me by driving up and meeting me on the far side of the Malahat. He then drove up again and filmed me biking past. What a dad!
My brother Ben was going to come to Gibsons with me. He’d rented a Ford Mustang convertible for the trip. Soon after my dad’s final farewell, my brother drove past me as he headed towards the ferry terminal. We would be taking the 4pm ferry to Horseshoe Bay, and I ended up meeting him at the terminal 30 minutes before departure.
A couple of ferry rides later, and we were in Langdale and en route to my Uncle Tim’s home. In Horseshoe Bay, where the layover had been long enough to relax for a little while, I fiddled some more with my panniers. I still wasn’t content with the persistent wobble that my bike developed at most speeds. I hadn’t recalled every having this issue with my Surly. I put the front panniers on the back and the back panniers on the front and this seemed to improve the bike’s stability. I still don’t really know why this was. Perhaps the lower centre of gravity of the bulkier panniers? Sometimes, it’s best not to ask questions.
I, my brother, my Uncle Tim, and his wife Lori had a grand reunion, with a massive feast. Not surprisingly, I crashed early.
Day 1 complete!
Unlike my two last major trips, I will be telling this one completely in retrospect. I blogged for the entirety of my 2013 trip across Canada from east to west – all 123 days of it, and it was at times tedious. For my second 2014 trip into Northern Canada, I kept a journal, blogging in real time only for the first half of the trip and updating its conclusion after the fact. For this trip, I kept a journal, although it sometimes looks more like jot notes than thoroughly fleshed out ideas. Oh well. I am hoping that my pictures, of which I took far too many, will help to fill in the narrative holes left by my journal.
Choosing a Route
The ultimate route that I chose was not one I had thought much about beforehand. In fact, this bike tour was to be a combination of organic farm volunteering and bike travel, with extended stops at various locations and an open ended timeline. That didn’t pan out. I had (and still have) a recovering shoulder injury that left me doubtful of my ability to contribute to a full-time farm. I loathed the idea of having to say no to various kinds of work while being given a place to eat and sleep. So, and, perhaps it was for the better after all, my open ended trip into the interior of BC morphed into a loop, taking me as far north as Prince George, BC, through the Rocky Mountains, as far east as Longview, AB, south, and then back towards home along the infamous Crowsnest Highway, or Highway 3.
There was much to look forward to in this route, especially the Icefields Parkway, from Jasper to Banff in the Rockies. That nearly 300km section of highway approached multiple glaciers, crested two mountain passes, and didn’t allow commercial vehicle traffic. There were other sections that also appealed to me: the Sea to Sky Highway (Highway 99) from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet, and finishing near Cache Creek. I had actually done this section in 2013 the opposite direction, and I retained vivid memories of the Duffey Lake Road, between Lillooet and Pemberton. The Crowsnest highway also holds a special place in the bike touring community. It has many mountain passes and diverse geological regions, a worthy challenge.
A New Bike
A few months before this trip started, I returned from South Korea, where I’d lived a total of five years. I was fortunate while I was there to be able to not only pay off my entire music school student loan but also save up a significant chunk of change. Over the years, there were a few bike components that I became aware of that were especially appealing to bike tourists. These I quietly added to the list of what I would put on a dream bike if I were ever to have one.
Well, now I had one, and it was (and is!) truly a dream. The aforementioned dream components were the Rohloff internally geared rear hub and the Gates Carbon belt drive. The former eliminated all of the external moving parts associated with a conventional bike drivetrain, and the latter was waterproof and required nearly no maintenance in addition to not needing any lubrication. Also dreamy were the new Arkell panniers and handlebar bag. Beautifully designed with long lasting fabric and sturdy construction.
For those of you who remember my previous touring bike, my Surly Long Haul Trucker, you may be wondering why I opted for a completely new bike. Well, that bike was in disrepair; the drivetrain needed a complete overhaul. Truthfully, it wouldn’t have been too expensive to get it tour ready (certainly not even close to as much as this new bike cost), but I felt like trying out something new. Female readers, please don’t assume that this tendency also applies to relationships…
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