Day 19 - September 27th - Winnipeg, MB to West Hawk Lake, MB - 162km - 2701km total
Day 20 - September 28th - West Hawk Lake, MB to Dryden, ON - 201km - 2902km total
Day 21 - September 29th - Dryden, ON to Ignace, ON - 109km - 3011km total
Day 22 - September 30th - Ignace, ON to Sistonens Corners, ON - 204km - 3215km total
Day 23 - October 1st - Sistonens Corners, ON to Nipigon, ON - 141km - 3356km total
Day 24 - October 2nd - Nipigon, ON to Neys Provincial Park, ON - 167km - 3523km total
Day 25 - October 3rd - Neys Provincial Park, ON to Obatanga Provincial Park, ON - 147km - 3670km total
Day 26 - October 4th - Obatanga Provincial Park, ON to Montreal River, ON - 173km - 3843km total
Day 27 - October 5th - Montreal River, ON to Sault Ste. Marie, ON - 128km - 3971km total
Friday, September 29, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Miles and Miles of Flat
If one thing characterizes our last week in the prairies it is an obsession with wind direction. We learned quickly that the winds out here are almost always strong and that wind direction was going to make or break us: it could be the difference between killing ourselves to push forward at a depressing 20 kph with the wind roaring in your ears, and a quiet, peaceful, practically effortless spin at 40+ kph (on one particular stretch of flat road with a strong wind dead astern we reached 48 kph!). The joys associated with the latter were sweet indeed but perhaps not exactly compensating for the struggles of the days when the wind was coming from the “wrong” way. After one particularly hard day between Brooks and Medicine Hat, AB (where we slogged all day long to cover only 109 km) we wrote in the day’s journal entry:
“cycling in a fierce headwind is almost soul destroying. Much worse than climbing a mountain, which seems like a justifiable challenge and (sometimes) has rewards on the other side, a headwind feels like the gods are punishing you … It is a costly price you pay for which it feels like you get nothing in return … And it is relentless: you never stop pedaling even on the downhills!”
Spirits soared or sank with waking each morning to see where the winds were coming from that day, and the lookout for road signs indicating upcoming passing lanes (code for big hill coming) we learned in the mountains was replaced with a lookout for signs indicating an upcoming curve in the road accompanied by a quick calculation whether this would increase or decrease our headwind/tailwind component. And given the wind’s direction seemed to vary wildly in space and time, I became fanatical about looking for indications of wind direction as the scenery whizzed by: flags, smoke, ripples on a lake, blades of grass, the flow of air past my ear …
Many people warned us of the monotony of straight flat roads and prairie scenery, however it took days and days for us to tire of it. The landscape itself was quite varied and took on very different characters in different weather and times of day. We cycled through flourishing fields of bright yellow and green and equally barren gray, windswept deserts, fields of sunflowers and dusty buffalo ranches, past large-scale working farms and plains dotted with big oil pumps. The skies were big and ever-changing in which the clouds seemed to take on a living character. We also had our first red sunsets and some beautiful evenings when the colors of the world would turn extra rich and the shadows extra long.
The prairies do however have a very solitary and isolated feel to them. Unlike BC, we had long stretches between towns and even passing traffic could become sparse. We became convinced the cows would watch us as we passed and would try to attract their attention. We also grew quite fond of trying to make the train conductors blow their whistle for us, at which we became quite skilled.
We had one unusually "big city" moment in the middle of nowhere in Rouleau, SK when we litterally rode across the set in a live taping of an episode of "Corner Gas", a popular Canadian sitcom about life in a small prairie town. We knew we were entering the town where the show was set but we had no idea that the gas station we were hoping to stop at for a cup of coffee wasn't a real gas station at all but was instead an active movie set. Despite messing up their take (apparently a tandem riding by in the window doesn't fit with their image of "local" traffic) we begged our way onto the set for a brief look and nodded heads with the stars.
Despite the solitude, we did meet a couple characters along the way. We had multiple run-ins with “Trailer Dude” who was biking solo from Vancouver to Winnipeg and also got to partake in some wisdom from “Crazy Woman”, a road-roughened woman who had left Toronto who knows how long ago and seemed to be cycling aimlessly in an approximately west direction. The tavern-owner in Gleichen, AB (a pretty depressing town consisting of only a liquor store, tavern and Chinese take-way on the edge of a reservation) had also cycled cross-country twice and was very keen to dispense his advice (obviously he was very starved for conversation) but it soon became clear that he had spent a little too long in Gleichen. This leg of the journey also included the event of our first passing of another vehicle on the highway: a farmer’s tractor barreling down the shoulder. After days upon days of cars and trucks speeding by at 110 kph, especially those that throw a wall of wind in your face, this was very heartening indeed!
Stage two of our journey also saw the first two exciting episodes of in-situ bicycle repair (up until now we had been tested only with a flat tire). Upon arrival in Medicine Hat we discovered four broken spokes and a buckled rear wheel. Steve set up shop on the sidewalk outside a dairy bar, and fashioning a make-shift chain whip out of the broken spokes, was able to replace them on site. His efficiency was undoubtedly fueled by the encouragement of a nice old lady who lived across the street, who kept wondering over to see if we needed anything, on one occasion delivering toasted tomato sandwiches made with the tomatoes from our garden. A few days later, we discovered that hidden under all the stuff we keep strapped to the rear rack, our rear tire had worn through all the rubber and was down to the canvas. I guess cycling 2000 km in a straight line had done that! We crossed our fingers and continued on 30 km to the next town featuring a “Canadian Tire”, all the way Stephanie feeling like she was sitting on a bomb ready to explode. We arrived an hour before closing and disaster was averted.
Now we sit in Winnipeg with the plains behind us and the rocks, lakes and trees of Northern Ontario and the Canadian Shield ahead. This upcoming leg of the journey comes with a lot of hype: it seems we have been receiving a continuous stream of warnings about the hills, the cold and the never-endingness of this stretch even before we set out to cross the Rockies … But things have been turning around recently: after a snowstorm outside Calgary followed by 4 days of a tormenting headwind, we have more recently enjoyed warming weather and a westerly wind and we are feeling more rested and stronger than maybe anytime so far. Next update as soon as possible: Thunder Bay? Saute Ste Marie? Ottawa? One week? Two weeks?
“cycling in a fierce headwind is almost soul destroying. Much worse than climbing a mountain, which seems like a justifiable challenge and (sometimes) has rewards on the other side, a headwind feels like the gods are punishing you … It is a costly price you pay for which it feels like you get nothing in return … And it is relentless: you never stop pedaling even on the downhills!”
Spirits soared or sank with waking each morning to see where the winds were coming from that day, and the lookout for road signs indicating upcoming passing lanes (code for big hill coming) we learned in the mountains was replaced with a lookout for signs indicating an upcoming curve in the road accompanied by a quick calculation whether this would increase or decrease our headwind/tailwind component. And given the wind’s direction seemed to vary wildly in space and time, I became fanatical about looking for indications of wind direction as the scenery whizzed by: flags, smoke, ripples on a lake, blades of grass, the flow of air past my ear …
Many people warned us of the monotony of straight flat roads and prairie scenery, however it took days and days for us to tire of it. The landscape itself was quite varied and took on very different characters in different weather and times of day. We cycled through flourishing fields of bright yellow and green and equally barren gray, windswept deserts, fields of sunflowers and dusty buffalo ranches, past large-scale working farms and plains dotted with big oil pumps. The skies were big and ever-changing in which the clouds seemed to take on a living character. We also had our first red sunsets and some beautiful evenings when the colors of the world would turn extra rich and the shadows extra long.
The prairies do however have a very solitary and isolated feel to them. Unlike BC, we had long stretches between towns and even passing traffic could become sparse. We became convinced the cows would watch us as we passed and would try to attract their attention. We also grew quite fond of trying to make the train conductors blow their whistle for us, at which we became quite skilled.
We had one unusually "big city" moment in the middle of nowhere in Rouleau, SK when we litterally rode across the set in a live taping of an episode of "Corner Gas", a popular Canadian sitcom about life in a small prairie town. We knew we were entering the town where the show was set but we had no idea that the gas station we were hoping to stop at for a cup of coffee wasn't a real gas station at all but was instead an active movie set. Despite messing up their take (apparently a tandem riding by in the window doesn't fit with their image of "local" traffic) we begged our way onto the set for a brief look and nodded heads with the stars.
Despite the solitude, we did meet a couple characters along the way. We had multiple run-ins with “Trailer Dude” who was biking solo from Vancouver to Winnipeg and also got to partake in some wisdom from “Crazy Woman”, a road-roughened woman who had left Toronto who knows how long ago and seemed to be cycling aimlessly in an approximately west direction. The tavern-owner in Gleichen, AB (a pretty depressing town consisting of only a liquor store, tavern and Chinese take-way on the edge of a reservation) had also cycled cross-country twice and was very keen to dispense his advice (obviously he was very starved for conversation) but it soon became clear that he had spent a little too long in Gleichen. This leg of the journey also included the event of our first passing of another vehicle on the highway: a farmer’s tractor barreling down the shoulder. After days upon days of cars and trucks speeding by at 110 kph, especially those that throw a wall of wind in your face, this was very heartening indeed!
Stage two of our journey also saw the first two exciting episodes of in-situ bicycle repair (up until now we had been tested only with a flat tire). Upon arrival in Medicine Hat we discovered four broken spokes and a buckled rear wheel. Steve set up shop on the sidewalk outside a dairy bar, and fashioning a make-shift chain whip out of the broken spokes, was able to replace them on site. His efficiency was undoubtedly fueled by the encouragement of a nice old lady who lived across the street, who kept wondering over to see if we needed anything, on one occasion delivering toasted tomato sandwiches made with the tomatoes from our garden. A few days later, we discovered that hidden under all the stuff we keep strapped to the rear rack, our rear tire had worn through all the rubber and was down to the canvas. I guess cycling 2000 km in a straight line had done that! We crossed our fingers and continued on 30 km to the next town featuring a “Canadian Tire”, all the way Stephanie feeling like she was sitting on a bomb ready to explode. We arrived an hour before closing and disaster was averted.
Now we sit in Winnipeg with the plains behind us and the rocks, lakes and trees of Northern Ontario and the Canadian Shield ahead. This upcoming leg of the journey comes with a lot of hype: it seems we have been receiving a continuous stream of warnings about the hills, the cold and the never-endingness of this stretch even before we set out to cross the Rockies … But things have been turning around recently: after a snowstorm outside Calgary followed by 4 days of a tormenting headwind, we have more recently enjoyed warming weather and a westerly wind and we are feeling more rested and stronger than maybe anytime so far. Next update as soon as possible: Thunder Bay? Saute Ste Marie? Ottawa? One week? Two weeks?
The Praries : Calgary to Winnipeg
Day 9 - September 17th - Calgary, AB to Brooks, AB - 215km - 1322km total
Day 10 - September 18th - Brooks, AB to Medicine Hat, AB - 109km - 1431km total
Day 11 - September 19th - Medicine Hat, AB to Gull Lake, SK - 176km - 1607km total
Day 12 - September 20th - Gull Lake, SK to Swift Current, SK - 62km - 1669km total
Day 13 - September 21st - Swift Current, SK to Moose Jaw, SK - 181km - 1850km total
Day 14 - September 22nd - Moose Jaw, SK to Weyburn, SK - 154km - 2004km total
Day 15 - September 23th - Weyburn, SK to Saskatchewan / Manitoba border - 188km - 2192km total
Day 16 - September 24th - Saskatchewan / Manitoba border to Holland, MB - 203km - 2395km total
Day 17 - September 25th - Holland, MB to Winnipeg, MB - 144km - 2539km total
Day 18 - September 26th - Rest day in Winnipeg
Day 10 - September 18th - Brooks, AB to Medicine Hat, AB - 109km - 1431km total
Day 11 - September 19th - Medicine Hat, AB to Gull Lake, SK - 176km - 1607km total
Day 12 - September 20th - Gull Lake, SK to Swift Current, SK - 62km - 1669km total
Day 13 - September 21st - Swift Current, SK to Moose Jaw, SK - 181km - 1850km total
Day 14 - September 22nd - Moose Jaw, SK to Weyburn, SK - 154km - 2004km total
Day 15 - September 23th - Weyburn, SK to Saskatchewan / Manitoba border - 188km - 2192km total
Day 16 - September 24th - Saskatchewan / Manitoba border to Holland, MB - 203km - 2395km total
Day 17 - September 25th - Holland, MB to Winnipeg, MB - 144km - 2539km total
Day 18 - September 26th - Rest day in Winnipeg
Saturday, September 16, 2006
The downwind side of the mountains
We did it! Up and over the mountains and here we sit looking at the welcome sight of miles and miles of plains without a hill in sight!
Day 5 was up and down the Selkirk mountains (summit 4300 feet) through Roger's Pass. For the most part it was a morning of gradual climbing although the last few kilometres made one of us remark "Never in my life have my legs felt like this!". There was little time for recovery as Day 6 up and over the Rockies (summit 5296 feet) through Kicking Horse pass. The last 4 km are up what they call "the big hill", steep enough that they have built these cool spirial tunnels for the trains to double back in to allow them to traverse the slope. Unfortunately there were no spirial tunnels on the highway... In fact there have been several instances of "train envy", as it seems the train tracks always get the most favourable grade. But despite (and likely because of) the challenges, the last few days have been quite the rush. It sure is fun to take the celebratory photograph at the summit sign and see the look on the people's faces when they get out of their tour buses at the top and see us with the bike. There has been lots of laughter over the fact that through it all, our only source of topographical information has been a schematic produced by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 reproduced in a pamplet we picked up at a tourist info centre. It has been absolutely central in both psyching ourselves up and providing relief for what is to come ahead and hasn't let us down.
In case the local topography wasn't enough of a challenge, Mother Nature has been doing her best to provide further tests with the weather and in the past few days we have seen pretty epic winds, rains and snow. The descent from Roger's Pass (which turned out not to be really much of a descent at all - the fact that these mountains don't seem to be very symmetric has been quite a disappointment!) turned very wet and very cold. And despite being soaked already, when the trucks barrell by to coat you in high pressure water and mud, you feel that much wetter. Approaching Kicking Horse pass the next day we faced a monster of a headwind: I liken the experience to what it might feel like to cycle into a brick wall while getting the wind knocked out of you. But both these days seem rather balmy compared to yesterday afternoon when we cycled downhill from Banff to Calgary in a raging snowstorm. So much snow fell the plows were out on Highway 1! We spent a rather low and soggy hour in a gas station variety store on an Indian reservation looking out on the winter scene. Spirits were lifted however by people pulling over to offer us rides (which we gratefully declined), by our "celebrity status" in the truck stop ("We saw you guys 100 km ago !") and perhaps most by the special treat of a night in a motel in Cochraine.
We are making lots of friends on the road. When we are slogging up the sides of the mountains often we get beeps or shouts of encouragement, sometimes even "hang loose" gestures out of windows. Also, lots of people like to ask us where we are going. Not wanting to be too over-confident this early into the trip it has become our company policy to reply "east" and wait for further interrogation.
Finally, I was expecting to have lots of time for deep thoughts as the legs turned over, over and over again but I'm finding what I think most about is food. We have quite the appetites and I have developed a bit of an obession with hash browns. I fantasize about them for most of the early morning cycle before our stop for second breakfast.
So now it is on to the prairies. There has been lots of fantasizing about flat roads and big tailwinds. We've mapped out the next week and we hope to be in Winnipeg in about 8 days time. Update from there, hopefully before!
Day 5 was up and down the Selkirk mountains (summit 4300 feet) through Roger's Pass. For the most part it was a morning of gradual climbing although the last few kilometres made one of us remark "Never in my life have my legs felt like this!". There was little time for recovery as Day 6 up and over the Rockies (summit 5296 feet) through Kicking Horse pass. The last 4 km are up what they call "the big hill", steep enough that they have built these cool spirial tunnels for the trains to double back in to allow them to traverse the slope. Unfortunately there were no spirial tunnels on the highway... In fact there have been several instances of "train envy", as it seems the train tracks always get the most favourable grade. But despite (and likely because of) the challenges, the last few days have been quite the rush. It sure is fun to take the celebratory photograph at the summit sign and see the look on the people's faces when they get out of their tour buses at the top and see us with the bike. There has been lots of laughter over the fact that through it all, our only source of topographical information has been a schematic produced by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 reproduced in a pamplet we picked up at a tourist info centre. It has been absolutely central in both psyching ourselves up and providing relief for what is to come ahead and hasn't let us down.
In case the local topography wasn't enough of a challenge, Mother Nature has been doing her best to provide further tests with the weather and in the past few days we have seen pretty epic winds, rains and snow. The descent from Roger's Pass (which turned out not to be really much of a descent at all - the fact that these mountains don't seem to be very symmetric has been quite a disappointment!) turned very wet and very cold. And despite being soaked already, when the trucks barrell by to coat you in high pressure water and mud, you feel that much wetter. Approaching Kicking Horse pass the next day we faced a monster of a headwind: I liken the experience to what it might feel like to cycle into a brick wall while getting the wind knocked out of you. But both these days seem rather balmy compared to yesterday afternoon when we cycled downhill from Banff to Calgary in a raging snowstorm. So much snow fell the plows were out on Highway 1! We spent a rather low and soggy hour in a gas station variety store on an Indian reservation looking out on the winter scene. Spirits were lifted however by people pulling over to offer us rides (which we gratefully declined), by our "celebrity status" in the truck stop ("We saw you guys 100 km ago !") and perhaps most by the special treat of a night in a motel in Cochraine.
We are making lots of friends on the road. When we are slogging up the sides of the mountains often we get beeps or shouts of encouragement, sometimes even "hang loose" gestures out of windows. Also, lots of people like to ask us where we are going. Not wanting to be too over-confident this early into the trip it has become our company policy to reply "east" and wait for further interrogation.
Finally, I was expecting to have lots of time for deep thoughts as the legs turned over, over and over again but I'm finding what I think most about is food. We have quite the appetites and I have developed a bit of an obession with hash browns. I fantasize about them for most of the early morning cycle before our stop for second breakfast.
So now it is on to the prairies. There has been lots of fantasizing about flat roads and big tailwinds. We've mapped out the next week and we hope to be in Winnipeg in about 8 days time. Update from there, hopefully before!
The Mountains : Vancouver to Calgary
Day 1 - September 9th - Vancouver, BC to Harrison Mills, BC - 132km
Day 2 - September 10th - Harrison Mills, BC to Merritt, BC - 184km - 316km total
Day 3 - September 11th - Merritt, BC to Chase, BC - 171km - 487km total
Day 4 - September 12th - Chase, BC to Revelstoke, BC -162km - 649km total
Day 5 - September 13th - Revelstoke, BC to Golden, BC - 150 km - 799 km total
Day 6 - September 14th - Golden, BC to Lake Louise, AB - 85 km - 884 km total
Day 7 - September 15th - Lake Louise, AB to Hwy 1, Exit 161, AB - 178 km - 1062 km total
Day 8 - September 16th - Hwy 1, Exit 161, AB to Calgary, AB - 35 km - 1097 km total
Day 2 - September 10th - Harrison Mills, BC to Merritt, BC - 184km - 316km total
Day 3 - September 11th - Merritt, BC to Chase, BC - 171km - 487km total
Day 4 - September 12th - Chase, BC to Revelstoke, BC -162km - 649km total
Day 5 - September 13th - Revelstoke, BC to Golden, BC - 150 km - 799 km total
Day 6 - September 14th - Golden, BC to Lake Louise, AB - 85 km - 884 km total
Day 7 - September 15th - Lake Louise, AB to Hwy 1, Exit 161, AB - 178 km - 1062 km total
Day 8 - September 16th - Hwy 1, Exit 161, AB to Calgary, AB - 35 km - 1097 km total
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
At the Foot of the Rockies
4 days in and 649 km behind us. We've been treated to beautiful sunny weather which makes the spectacular BC scenery easy to enjoy. Day 2 up and over the Cascade Mountains was the first big climb. Had fun racing the semis, each of us in our lowest gear and working very very hard! Much of our company on the roads is logging trucks and we have passed lots of saw mills. Steve is compiling his list of questions for the logger he hopes to meet at the next truck stop.
We're feeling a little short on sleep, mostly through no fault of our own. Our first campground was on the shoulder of the Canadian Pacific railroad, the second 100m from a sawmill which sawed all night, the third back along side the railroad and last night we had rabbid dogs and thunder directly overhead.
We can see the Rockies ahead and this morning we set out to climb Roger's Pass. Stephanie is feeling a little scared ...
Next update should be from Calgary, Alberta on Saturday!
We're feeling a little short on sleep, mostly through no fault of our own. Our first campground was on the shoulder of the Canadian Pacific railroad, the second 100m from a sawmill which sawed all night, the third back along side the railroad and last night we had rabbid dogs and thunder directly overhead.
We can see the Rockies ahead and this morning we set out to climb Roger's Pass. Stephanie is feeling a little scared ...
Next update should be from Calgary, Alberta on Saturday!
Saturday, September 9, 2006
About to depart
We arrived in Vancouver without too many adventures ...
The first was at Boston's airport. The nice ladies at the check-in desk weren't quite sure what to do with a 5ft6" box, despite Air Canada's website claims that they were "tandem friendly". In fact, they weren't even sure that it would fit through the baggage door of the plane. Their only suggestion was to go to the gate and watch out the window to see if the baggage handlers could squeeze it through the door. Thankfully it went in with a few inches to spare!
We changed flights in Toronto and dragged our stuff through customs and immigration. It was a great joy to cheer up a rather dour-looking customs official who didn't even make eye contact until we answered her question about our cycling destination, to which she replied "Holy crap!" and suddenly sprang to life.
The next dose of excitement was at Vancouver airport when neither the bags nor the tandem arrived. Luckily the very friendly Air Canada baggage claims man promised he'd deliver anything up to the size of an elephant to our hostel.
We're happy to report the bike was waiting for us this morning and is now re-assembled and ready to go. The panniers are fully loaded and we've just squeezed the last of our Pop Tarts into every last inch of space we have. It certainly seems like we have a whole load of stuff!
We've already had a number of people inquire about our adventure, including the hostel owner, who has made one of the first entries in our guestbook. We're off now to the coast for the ritualistic dipping of the rear wheel in the Pacific. Then we'll head east for a while.
The first was at Boston's airport. The nice ladies at the check-in desk weren't quite sure what to do with a 5ft6" box, despite Air Canada's website claims that they were "tandem friendly". In fact, they weren't even sure that it would fit through the baggage door of the plane. Their only suggestion was to go to the gate and watch out the window to see if the baggage handlers could squeeze it through the door. Thankfully it went in with a few inches to spare!
We changed flights in Toronto and dragged our stuff through customs and immigration. It was a great joy to cheer up a rather dour-looking customs official who didn't even make eye contact until we answered her question about our cycling destination, to which she replied "Holy crap!" and suddenly sprang to life.
The next dose of excitement was at Vancouver airport when neither the bags nor the tandem arrived. Luckily the very friendly Air Canada baggage claims man promised he'd deliver anything up to the size of an elephant to our hostel.
We're happy to report the bike was waiting for us this morning and is now re-assembled and ready to go. The panniers are fully loaded and we've just squeezed the last of our Pop Tarts into every last inch of space we have. It certainly seems like we have a whole load of stuff!
We've already had a number of people inquire about our adventure, including the hostel owner, who has made one of the first entries in our guestbook. We're off now to the coast for the ritualistic dipping of the rear wheel in the Pacific. Then we'll head east for a while.
Sunday, September 3, 2006
5 days and counting ...
Purchases are mostly complete, the tandem is ready, the blog is live and the photo gallery is up. The bike box, packing and a million little tasks are still to do!
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