Kirk's Journal

10:11 pm: Wow, this is real! We’re in Victoria, it’s pouring rain and we’re just packing up for the start tomorrow. I’ve been watching our website since it was created 6 months ago, the counter heading ever so slowly down to zero. Now, if I were looking at it, it would read 0 days, 10 hours, 49 minutes.

Our motel room (a comfort we’ll soon surely be longing for) seems a little small with the 3 bikes in here, loaded heavily with out gear. To backtrack a little, we left Montreal at 8:30 yesterday morning. Michael’s dad picked us up at 5:30 (he had a minivan to carry the bikes). My dad and Geoff’s family followed. All together, we created quite a scene at Dorval airport, bagging our bikes into the Air Canada approved bike bags. The flight to Vancouver was long; the flight to Victoria was comical: a tiny 2-propeller plane, with only 1 stewardess. Her well rehearsed safety demonstration was longer than the flight itself (15 minutes). Once at Victoria airport, we once again created a scene (we’re getting used to this) busily unpacking our bikes. With no permanent damage, we were on our way to the hotel in little over an hour.

Back to the present time, today I spent washing and tuning my bike, along with a ride down to “Mile 0”, just to check it out. “Mile 0” is the start of the Trans Canada Highway, and also the starting point of our 8245km, 70–day bike trip across Canada. We’ll head down there around 8:00am tomorrow with our official start at 9:00.

Anyways, it’s well after my bed time (we’ll be keeping the sun’s hours this summer), so I’ll end this first journal entry here (big day tomorrow). I hope to write at least once a day, although probably not all this long.

Sunday, June 10, 2001 (Day 1) *

7:50pm: Wow. Sorry to start this journal entry with the same exclamation as yesterday, but this was truly an awesome day. For starters, we cycled through mountainous terrain with, at times, torrential rains and still totally outdid our expectations by reaching Nanaimo in time to ride the ferry to Vancouver. In fact, we’re on the ferry now, scheduled to arrive on the mainland shortly before 9pm. We’ll quickly camp and make some supper.

The day started with a 6:30 am wake up call; we were at Mile 0 a few minutes after 8:00am. As per tradition, we dipped the rear wheel of our bikes in the Pacific Ocean and took a bunch of pictures. We actually started cycling about 15 minutes late, as it took longer than planned to get all our photos.

The ride itself was humbling. I had somehow managed to become quite overconfident and convinced myself that this trip wouldn’t be too hard, but the long climbs almost immediately out of Victoria left me hurting and quickly dispelled that notion. Probably the biggest surprise of the day was Mike’s incredible ability to climb. He was always way ahead of us on the hills, and he made it look easy to boot. Part of that may be because his load was considerably lighter than ours (he packed really light).

No matter where we went today, we attracted attention. Our well-loaded bikes indicate that we’re on a long trip, but they’re pretty surprised when we tell them we’re going to St. John’s. We had several honks of encouragement, one guy even wanted to take our picture.

We’ll it’s nice to be leaving Vancouver Island; the weather was pretty miserable. When things got tough today, Mike would remind us “It wasn’t meant to be an easy ride.” Something to remember. As the ferry approaches, we’re looking at snow capped mountains in the distance. We’ll definitely have to remember that!

All great journeys begin with a single step. Today was that step, and it was incredibly successful. A good sign of things to come!

Monday, June 11, 2001 (Day 2) *

8:59pm: A day full of stories, this one won’t soon be forgotten. The adventures started first thing in the morning (during breakfast) when a police officer visited us. He told us it is illegal to camp overnight at a public park in West Vancouver. We apologized and explained that we were cycling across Canada and we were just about to move on. The officer got all interested in our trip, told us not to worry about the camping and asked a bunch of questions about our journey.

We were on our way shortly, headed towards Vancouver by the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, the sidewalk was closed due to construction. We started cycling on the road, but with heavy bridge traffic and narrow lanes, it quickly became apparent we were going to get ourselves killed. So, we flagged down a car and asked the driver to put her hazard lights on and escort us across. She agreed, and the plan worked beautifully, until, at the other end of the bridge, we were pulled over by a Ministry of Transport truck. It seems we caused a bit of a traffic jam, and the guy was not happy about it. He sternly lectured us for a few minutes about how you’re not allowed to bike on the bridge, but then let us go, so it’s all good.

Having finally reached Vancouver, we cycled through Stanley Park, and then right into the heart of downtown. Just as I was biking past a taxi (which was stopped at a red light) the passenger decided to open her door. The door hit me on the left thigh and I was knocked off my bike. I was fortunate that the result was only a bruised thigh, with no major damage to me or the bike.

Having (barely) survived the morning, we made it to Randy’s (my stepbrother) work. I had promised to visit them on the way, so we did, and took advantage to grab a hot shower.

As we passed through Coquitlam, it started to rain harder than I have ever seen. We couldn’t see anything at all, so we found an overpass to pull-over under. Because it had been pouring for the past 2 days (there was even flooding in parts of Vancouver) everything we owned was soaking wet. So, we set up a clothesline under the overpass and camped out. I’m not sure if it will be totally dry in the morning, but we’ve got nothing to lose.

We’re anxious, very anxious, to see the sun!

Tuesday, June 12, 2001 (Day 3)

8:53 am: Last evening, camped beside the road, we received many honks of encouragement; the only problem is that they continued all night!

10:23pm: A short journal entry tonight cause I’m really tired. My knee, which has been bothering me since day 1, really started acting up today. It was so painful; I was cycling with my right leg only, so we decided I should see a doctor. We visited a clinic in Pitt Meadows and the doctor explained that my patella was rubbing roughly against my femur, causing swelling, irritation and pain. He gave me some anti-inflammatory pills to take (for free) and suggested I buy a knee brace. We took the day off cycling, and hopefully that will be enough to get me back in the saddle tomorrow.

The day off was not a total loss though, as we were busy most of the day with groceries, laundry and drying our stuff when we got sunny patches.

The rain over the past few days had really gotten team morale down and with my knee problem we are behind schedule. Mike particularly was noticeably unhappy today, hopefully if we can get a good day of riding tomorrow that will make everything better.

The Rockies are looming large; the next week should be interesting!

Thursday, June 14, 2001 (Day 5)

Sorry for not writing yesterday, ran out of time. We had a great day of cycling (covered a lot of distance, even with the hilly terrain). Near the end of the day, we got to the junction of hwy 7 and 1, near Hope, BC. We decided to pull into town to stock up on food/water and came across a campsite so we stayed there. This also gave us a chance to shower. But by the time we were done all that, it was quite late and I didn’t want to keep the guys up with my flashlight, so I skipped writing my journal.

The scenery all day yesterday and today has been quite spectacular as we have been travelling the Fraser Valley. Today, in particular there were several awesome views of the Fraser Valley Canyon. On top of that, we got some great sights of snow covered mountains and huge waterfalls, some the entire length of the mountain.

Today we also experienced out 1^st tunnel (and 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th). As we had been forewarned, there are no shoulders in the tunnels. Today’s tunnels were pretty short though, so it wasn’t too hazardous.

There are a lot of trucks on the road, many of them carrying logs. We also saw a lot of logs being floated down the Fraser River. I don’t know if the timber trade dispute with the US has been resolved, but the timber people sure seemed busy (Ed note: now, in late November, the timber dispute still shows no sign of being resolved). At one point we saw two heavily loaded log trucks pass each other, going opposite ways on the highway. Mike wondered why they didn’t just both stay where they started!

Today again was a strong day of mountain cycling, although we haven’t started climbing significantly. My knee has been doing pretty good, hurting at times, but not enough to make me stop cycling. I am wearing a brace, taking anti-inflammatory pills and stretching before each ride. Good riding yesterday and today have managed to put us back ahead of schedule.

We’ve been basically riding/camping beside train tracks ever since Vancouver, which is quite noticeable since there are a lot of trains (at least 1 per hour) and they are really long (we figure 80-100 cars). Today we amused ourselves by throwing rocks into open bucket cars of a passing train at the bottom of a cliff.

Team morale has improved with the 2 good riding days, and we continue to get along very well. Mike is quite worried about the mountains, which makes things tense at times, but nothing too serious. Today he got his 6^th flat (in 5 days) which is really frustrating him. I have not had any, although I just discovered a broken spoke on my rear wheel.

The days have been rough and busy. It still takes us a long time to get everything packed in the morning, so we really haven’t had any time to just relax. Then the idea that we are actually biking across Canada may start to sink in; for now we are just too busy to think about it.

Our campsite tonight is really cool; it’s in an area that was levelled by a rockslide, leaving a nice, flat, secluded area. Hopefully, there won’t be any more slides while we’re here!

Friday, June 15, 2001 (Day 6) *

9:48pm: Sun-beaten, moisture-deprived, avalanche-plagued cliffs were the scenery today as we travelled first the Fraser and then the Thompson River Canyons. The terrain was extremely hilly, with some long, tedious double-digit grade climbs. Even so, we managed a significant 108km, putting us in range to arrive in Kamloops tomorrow. If that happens, then we will take Sunday as our first rest day before starting the climb to Jasper.

The terrain today, however, was only one of the stories in another very noteworthy day. While riding yesterday, my rear panniers were running into the spokes of my rear wheel. At camp, I solved the problem by moving the panniers forward a little. However, I also discovered that 2 of the spokes were broken. Geoff and I tried to replace them with spares I was carrying, but we lacked a sprocket remover to do the job. Reluctantly, I decided to ride on the wheel until the next bike shop.

The only problem is that 90kms into today’s riding, we had not yet found the next bike shop. That’s when, with a loud crack, 2 more spokes broke. The wheel was wobbling by several inches; it quickly became apparent that it was not rideable. The increased pressure on the remaining spokes would have caused a landslide effect till the wheel collapsed on itself (which probably would have been a painful experience). We were 10km from the nearest town (Ashcroft) so, with no other choice, we decided to walk. We tried to flag several large vehicles (pick-up trucks, campervans) for a ride into town, but much to our disgust, no one would stop.

Half way to the town, we came across a museum and restaurant. We stopped to ask for a ride. We got both good and bad news. The bad: Ashcroft is a dinky town with no bike shop; the nearest shop is in Kamloops. The good: the guy we were talking to (Kim) is a bicycle wheel builder and could fix the wheel himself! He fixed the 4 spokes, and then trued the wheel to better than it was originally!

What are the odds that we should run into a wheel builder exactly when we had a broken wheel? It’s not exactly a common skill. Had we not found him, we would have been totally screwed, with no bike shop to Kamloops. By the time he was done, it was quite late, so he even let us camp on his lawn. Mike and I went into town for groceries, while Geoff set up the tent. Kim even offered us breakfast at the restaurant in the morning; it will be a nice treat.

To make the day more interesting as well, we also ran into some construction work on the Trans Canada. No big deal, except that it was a 25km long gravel road. The extremely hilly terrain, gravel road and huge trucks was a rough combination to say the least.

A final noteworthy point, all along the Fraser River, we noticed that there were 2 sets of train tracks, one on each shore. One of them is CN, the other CP. They each have there own bridges, tunnels, etc, side by side. Now if only companies could learn to share.

The combination of dusty construction and sunscreen has left us covered in dirt from head to toe. I’m quite anxious to get to Kamloops for a nice shower and some relax time. It has been an extremely eventful first week, should make for an interesting trip.

Saturday, June 16, 2001 (Day 7)

10:08pm: Kamloops, finally! After 3 hard but strong days of pushing, we are here. Tomorrow will be out first rest day, although we’ll be quite busy anyway with groceries, laundry and bike repairs. I am going to buy a new rear wheel, as it hasn’t been the same since all those broken spokes. We’re camped right now in a beautiful campsite on the shore of the Thompson River looking at the Kamloops skyline just across the river. This river will be our guide for the next week or so as we push towards Jasper.

The terrain this morning was more of the same desert-like landscape I described yesterday: very few trees, lots of sand and rock cliffs. I am quite surprised that such a climate exists in the BC interior; it reminds me a lot of the landscape in the Grand Canyon. We also learned quickly that the sun could be our biggest nemesis, and that it is possible to get a sunburn on a cloudy day. Having suffered a couple of minor burns this week, I have started putting sunscreen on all my exposed skin every morning. This should stop the burns, but I’m afraid it will also prevent me from getting the great tan my friends are expecting and I had hoped for. Being at the campsite, I got to take a shower this evening. That’s when I noticed I have a large (the size of a $10 bill) bruise on my left thigh, where I was hit by the taxi door in Vancouver. It doesn’t hurt anymore, but sure looks ugly. As for my knee, it is still definitely sore from time to time, particularly in the morning, although it has not affected my cycling at all. Usually once I get going the pain goes away, or at least subsides enough so as not to inhibit me. I continue to wear a brace, take anti-inflammatories and stretch every morning. I am hoping the problem will go away all together, but if it stays as it is now, I will be able to finish the journey.

Before ending this journal entry, I think I should backtrack to this morning. As you may recall, we camped on the lawn at Ashcroft manor. That’s where Kim lives, the guy who fixed the spokes on my rear wheel. The town of Ashcroft itself has an interesting history. I had a chance to tour the museum this morning. I am usually not a museum person, but the collection of artefacts showing the life of people in the gold rush days was quite fascinating. I strongly recommend that any one reading this visit it.

The other interesting facet was the history of the Manor itself. The famous “hanging judge” held court there for a while, the first governor general of Canada and his wife stayed there during their tour of the Pacific. So not only was our stay there useful in terms of getting my bike fixed, but I learned a lot too. We also had breakfast at the restaurant!

The rest day tomorrow will certainly be enjoyable. The terrain in the last few days has made for some hard riding. However here in Kamloops, we are only 350 meters above sea level, and we will have to climb to 1675 meters before Jasper, so we realise very well that the hard work is not done. Once we leave Kamloops, we will likely only see 1 town a day and we will have to start hanging our food as well. The next week, therefore, will likely be one of the toughest of our trip but this was meant to be an adventure, and I am quite excited! Bring on the Rockies!

Monday, June 18, 2001 (Day 9)

9:52pm: Yesterday was our first official rest day, and so we set out in “downtown” Kamloops with lots of errands to run. Our first stop, as usual, was the bike shop. Unfortunately, being a Sunday, it was closed. So we tried the two other bike shops in town... same result. Then we went to the library to check our email and update the website, but it was closed. At this point, we made a note to ourselves that rest days on Sundays are not ideal. We did, however, manage to do laundry and groceries.

Back at camp, Mike approached me and said he really, really did not want to go to Jasper, and so we ended up changing our route to the shorter mountain crossing (through Banff). This just about ruined the day for me, as I (being the adventurer) was totally looking forward to not only seeing Jasper, but also crossing some the famous glaciers along the Icefields Parkway. Perhaps what frustrates me the most though, is that Mike did not want the detour because he is afraid of the mountains. This, to me, is the worst possible reason; this whole trip is about overcoming our fears to accomplish something extra-ordinary. Oh well, we are a team, so these things will happen. I will, however, make use of the extra time to “explore” the Rockies (hiking, canoeing, etc...). Anyways, I was pretty frustrated yesterday, so I didn’t write.

Today (Monday) we set out to accomplish the errands we couldn't do yesterday. I wanted to buy a new rear wheel. I broke two more spokes yesterday (the fix in Ashcroft was only a patch-up, it seems). Unfortunately, there were no 700c, 9-speed rear wheels so the shop had to have one shipped up overnight from Vancouver. That means we’ll be staying here again tonight. Geoff also decided to buy a new, lighter, bike. He ended up getting a Trek 1000 (the same as Michael). We also made it to the library today and were quite impressed; it was both big and gorgeous!

Today, having been turned into a second rest day, there’s not too many other stories to tell. Mike has decided that we should name our bikes, but he hasn’t come up with any suggestions on that. More on that later if it comes through. I should get my wheel around noon tomorrow, in which case we should be on the road by 1:00 and get half a day of cycling in. the 2 days off, however, have done wonders for my knee, which seems to be almost completely healed!

Tuesday, June 19, 2001 (Day 10)

9:17pm: After 2 rest days, today we hit the road (in Mike’s case, literally). He biked head on into a construction pylon, which brought him and his bike to the ground. Both Mike and his bike were only mildly damaged (a scraped elbow, a scraped knee and a bent brake lever); the pylon escaped unscathed. Once again, Mike could be counted on for the quote of the day though, while putting a band aid on his knee, he commented “Just like patching a tire.”

Much of the day was actually spent in Kamloops (I got my wheel from Vancouver around noon and it was on by 1:00). Earlier, I owe a great deal of gratitude to Josie from Josie’s Tailoring for sewing velcro onto my front panniers for free. The handles were rubbing on the spokes, but she solved the problem beautifully. Geoff took care of some adjustments to his new bike, and we also went to the library to see the updates to our site that I submitted yesterday.

We left town at 2:00pm and after a much longer than expected rest day, it was nice to be back on the road. And the rest seemed to have paid off, as we cycled 50km in just over 2 hours. Quite surprisingly, the terrain was very flat (we really expected to be climbing hard today). After the first 50km, it became hillier, which slowed us down a bit, but we still ended up with 95km by the time we set up camp. The scenery today was very picturesque, along both the South Thompson River and Shuswap Lake. Also picturesque and surprising was the completely cloudless sky for the first time this trip. Apparently we’ll have a few more days like that.

Geoff’s bike seems to work very well, now he’s up with Mike on the big climbs, leaving me alone in being way behind! Oh well, I’m still fastest on the downhills.

Wednesday, June 20, 2001 (Day 11)

7:09pm: It was 4pm and I was beginning to get concerned that I would have nothing to write about tonight when Geoff realised (as we were refilling our water bottles at a gas station) that his wallet was missing. It was in a pouch strapped to the outside of his panniers, which he remembers seeing at lunch (45km earlier). So, he decided to turn around and go back in search of it. Not 5 minutes later, a pick-up truck pulled into the gas station with Geoff in the passenger seat and his bike in the back... He had gotten a flat tire (not his lucky day). So he swapped tires with Mike, armed himself with my patch kit and set off again. He is not yet back. In retrospect, it was not a good plan: we should have given him money for food, shelter or an emergency and a light in case he’s not back by sunset. Mike and I set up camp beside the gas station, had supper, and now we wait for him. To make matters worse, it just started drizzling. If he’s not back by sunset, I’ll probably set out with my headlight to try and find him. I’ll write again either tonight or tomorrow with the conclusion of this story.

As I mentioned in the first line of this entry, today was looking to be our first boring day, until the Geoff thing. I guess there are no boring days in a cross-Canada trip. The clouds were back today, but no drops until just a few minutes ago. Remarkably, we still have not started serious climbing, remaining below the 500m altitude. Kicking Horse Pass is at 1667m, so we got to climb eventually.

Lying here in the tent, I was just enjoying a precious few moments of silence between trucks. The traffic is really loud; one more reason to appreciate cycling.

8:16pm: Another little story, I noticed the other day that my bungee cords were made by a company called “Snappy Hookers”!

Today, in the grocery store, I overheard 2 ladies talking. One of them was really overweight, and carrying a bottle of Pepsi. Her friend said: “I though you gave up drinking Pepsi”. “No” replied the fat lady, “I gave up drinking Coke.”

11:28pm: So, Geoff cycled all the way to Salmon Arm (approx. 60km) without finding his wallet. The patch kit came in handy, as he got another flat along the way. He also found an apple (which Mike had dropped during the day). This was particularly lucky, as he had no other food. In Salmon Arm, he decided to visit the police station to see if anyone had found it. It turns out someone had, and had it at his home in Sicamous (half way between here and Salmon Arm). So, Geoff took a cab (with his bike) to Sicamous to get the wallet and then he took another cab back to the gas station beside which we are camped.

Now, around 10:00, Mike and I became quite worried so we set out to the gas station to ask the truck drivers if they had seen a cyclist on the road. So, we were standing outside the gas station while he was inside eating supper (there is a restaurant there as well). Finally, Mike and I decided to go inside to call the police, which is when we noticed Geoff. So, he is now in the tent, safe and sound, with his wallet. Never a boring day!

Thursday, June 21, 2001 (Day 12) *

The snow-capped mountains in the distance were suddenly all around us; the waterfalls we had spotted with binoculars suddenly we were enjoying the cool air they brought as we cycled past; the climbs became persistent; the towns scarce; today, day 12, the first day of summer, the longest day of the year, we entered the Rocky Mountains.

The morning started pretty easily as we used the relatively flat Eagle Pass to traverse the Monashee Mountains, the precursor, of course, to the Rocky Mountains. We spent a couple of hours in Revelstoke, having lunch, buying groceries and fixing a broken spoke on Mike’s bike. Also there, we picked up some more patches, which have become a hot commodity. Geoff, ever since buying his new bike 3 days ago, has managed 8 flats, surpassing Mike’s 5 flats. I still have 0.

From Revelstoke, we began the climb (which we will finish tomorrow) to Roger’s Pass at 1337 meters above sea level. We’re camped right now in a gorgeous site right beside a waterfall at 800m. This is one of the many stunning waterfalls we passed today. We also marked our arrival in the Rockies tonight by hanging our food for the first time. It took a few tries, but Geoff and I were able to get it up in a tree pretty well. We’ll get even better, I’m sure.

And finally, today, a name for Mike’s bike: “Shisum”. A term his friend uses instead of saying “shit”. Mike decided it was appropriate for his bike, which has been a source of frustration for him.

Friday, June 22, 2001 (Day 13)

10:15pm: Not bad for a Friday, day 13. We started with a strong climb to the Summit of Roger’s Pass (1330m) that was actually easier than I thought it would be. From there I figured: “No problem, only 300 more vertical meters to our highest point (Kicking Horse Pass at 1647m)”. The problem was that after Roger’s Pass, we dropped quickly to 850m (which is basically where we are now in Golden). That sets us up for what should be our hardest day of the trip tomorrow: 90km and 800 vertical meters to the Summit of Kicking Horse Pass. If we can do that, then we are only a day away from Banff and our 2^nd rest day. Before we set off tomorrow, though, we hope to grab some showers, groceries, etc...

Today we crossed Glacier National Park and took a long lunch at the summit of Roger’s Pass. I particularly enjoyed looking around the Roger’s Pass Discovery Center, with lots of info on the building of Canada’s first cross-country rail link and also the effects of avalanches in the area. Several times a year, when snow builds to dangerous levels, they shut the highway and fire exploding canisters into the mountains to trigger avalanches. They then clean up the mess and reopen the road. Over the past few days, it has been easy to spot huge cliffs wiped bare by avalanches. Also today, we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone, which had the strange effect of a sunset at 10:10pm tonight.

All this mountain cycling has had us eating quite a bit, but at the same time we have been eating impressively healthy, especially considering the constraints of a single stove and no refrigeration. So, I thought I would document our diet.

Breakfast: Bagels with peanut butter (whole wheat bagels for me, blueberry for Geoff, cinnamon-raisin for Mike)

Lunch: Campbell’s Chunky soup with rice (different flavours every day)

Supper: Whenever we find a grocery store near supper time, we have a meat dish (hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken breast) otherwise we have spaghetti. We also always have a vegetable (broccoli, coli flower, yellow/green beans, carrots are common)

Snacks: We have snacks throughout the day to keep us going. For me, it’s bananas and dry Kellogg’s Vector Cereal, for Mike; bananas and sliced bread by the loaf. For Geoff; apples and when possible, trail mix. And of course, lots of Gatorade. Also, whenever we pass a grocery store, we get a container of chocolate milk to give us some milk and for the treat.

Saturday, June 23, 2001 (Day 14) **

11:58pm: Today we climbed to 1759 meters above sea level, but more on that later. Of all the places I’ve been, I don’t think I’ve seen anything more magnificent than the view of Lake Louise. I can't even begin to do it justice in words, but the turquoise blue lake reflecting the glacier-capped peaks proved a truly awe-inspiring sight. I had to just sit there for quite a while, taking it all in. As the sun set, we watched as the lake was slowly covered over by a layer of frost, an event which, at this altitude, happens year round. Even now, I am peering out into the dark expanse that is the lake, from our tent about 15 feet offshore. While the view from shore is stunning, tomorrow morning I am going to rent a canoe ($30) and go out on the lake itself. I am incredibly excited.

One of the coolest things about both the lake and Kicking Horse River which drains it is the really unusual color. I have now learned that rocks grinding against each other inside the glaciers create rock dust which drains into the lake and absorbs all colors of the visible spectrum except blue.

Now, back to the climb: 950 net vertical meters from Golden to Lake Louise, while travelling over 100km! Today was expected to be the toughest day of the trip, and it probably will be, yet it went extremely well. We moved along at a solid pace, even on the long climbs and managed to reach the lake in time for supper. We also reached our maximum altitude for the trip (1759m); from here it’s all downhill. Since Lake Louise is in Alberta, we also crossed the provincial border (thanks to Melissa Baker, who we flagged down on the highway to take a group photo for us at the “Welcome to Alberta” sign). And, btw, I won the first sprint to provincial border, just beating Mike who gave me a scare with a solid push at the last minute. I was also the first one at the top of Kicking Horse Pass, although Geoff was way ahead of us in reaching Lake Louise.

Tomorrow, after my canoeing, we have an easy 57km downhill ride to Banff where we will take a rest day on Monday. On Tuesday, we expect to make it to Calgary as we leave behind the Rockies to take on the Prairies.

Camping in the woods next to a gorgeous lake, surrounded by glaciers high atop the Canadian Rockies: perfect. Our drive through BC has been truly an incredible experience. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a summer, and we still have 9 provinces to go.

Mike is missing out on the magnificence of this all, as he is in one of his more and more frequent bad moods. He is sore from today’s climbing (like all of us) and really doesn’t want to be here. He actually tried to get himself a room in the Chateau Lake Louise but decided against it when he found out that rooms are $200 per night. Hopefully, he will soon be able to realise the magnificence of this whole trip, but in the mean time, Geoff and I are not being dragged down by his mood.

Sunday, June 24, 2001 (Day 15)

11:07pm: I stepped out of the tent this morning and was again taken back by the beauty of Lake Louise, just a few feet away. Then I was taken back by the hordes of people standing at the main observation area. With so many people, I decided I should hurry up and get to the canoe rental place because they only have 10 boats or so. I got there at 9:30 (they open at 10:00) and by 10:00 I was still the only person there! Later on in the day, I learnt why this was the case. Every few minutes, a bus full of tourists would arrive; everyone would have 30 minutes to get off, take a bunch of pictures, look around and then get back on the bus to go to the next attraction. Therefore, they didn’t have time to rent boats. Geoff and I agreed that this is no way to see the Rockies.

Surrounded by huge mountains and glaciers, the lake itself looks small. But when you canoe across it, you quickly realise that it is not. I made it to the far end and back in 1 hour and 15 minutes, but I was paddling pretty hard (Mike and Geoff stayed in bed!) From the boat, the water still had its “unnatural” blue colour, but yet was remarkably clear; something that has to be seen!

We took highway 1A from Lake Louise to Banff. This, I decided was my ideal type of highway: rolling hills, curves and incredible mountain scenery (snow-capped peaks in every direction) and the bike to truck ratio was 10:0. The peacefulness of not hearing the trucks roll by can not be understated!

We are now camped in the beautiful (and incredibly huge) Tunnel Mountain Campground in Banff, where we’ll stay for 2 nights (tomorrow is a rest day). Tomorrow, we’ll do the usual: laundry, groceries and internet access at the library, and I hope get some touring time in as well.

Tuesday, June 26, 2001 (Day 17)

11:49pm: Cold, rainy and strong headwind ensured that today will not go down as one of the highlights of the trip. However, it was our longest day, both in terms of distance travelled and cycling time. And its not so bad, cause right now I’m lying on a queen size featherbed at the Stoke’s house (a friend of Mike’s family) in Calgary (they also bought us pizza for supper).

Today we spent the day crossing the foothills, which means we bid farewell to the Rockies and hello to the Prairies; a whole new set of experiences. It also means that we are stepping up our daily goal to 150km/day. This will mean some long cycling days to come.

Yesterday (rest day in Banff) we took care of laundry and website updates. Mike went to the hospital (his knee has been bothering him since his collision with the construction pylon. The doctor found nothing serious though.) Then Mike and I took Banff transit to the hot springs. I paid the $7.50 admission and was thoroughly disappointed to find what amounted to a crowded heated swimming pool. I was expecting a hot spring in the woods full of bikini-clad women! So the cement-encased pool with a bunch of fat tourists wasn’t impressive. But at least I got to see the Banff hot springs; maybe I’ll find a less-commercial one somewhere else along the journey.

Well, I really need to catch up on my sleep, so the journal entries are going to be a little shorter for the next while.

Wednesday, June 27, 2001 (Day 18)

10:58pm: By the time we got up this morning (those feather beds are a rare treat), I (finally) wrote a mailing list message, we stopped at the grocery store, Canadian tire and bike shop, it was 4pm. Having only gotten a few blocks from the Stoke’s house (and once again thinking of those feather beds) we decided to just head back there for a second night. That also gave me the opportunity to do some well needed work on my bike (brake adjustments, chain cleaning…)

And so, today goes down as our fourth rest day, which puts us about 200km behind schedule (even though we skipped the Jasper detour). We’re going to try hard over the next few days to put in some big kms and hopefully get us back on schedule. We’re also talking about skipping a rest day if possible.

Today I finally learnt how to properly adjust my brakes (the guy at CyclePath showed me) and I practised this evening till my brakes were perfect. I am going to try and work through my bike repair book as quickly as possible; it’s interesting and will save a lot of trips to the repair shop.

Thursday, June 28, 2001 (Day 19)

11:07pm: An almost perfect day; we blew away all our previous highs: distance (222km), time (8:46) and average speed (25.3km/h). This was facilitated by a combination of an unexpected rest day yesterday, great weather (mostly sunny, 20km/h tailwind) and easy terrain (very small hills, 500m net drop). This day was nice because it finally proved we could do 150km/day and because it put us closer to being back on schedule (we’re 150km behind).

The scenery was pretty boring, except in the morning when we passed through downtown Calgary, seeing the SaddleDome and that tower thing whose name I don’t know (Ed. Note: The Calgary Tower). Actually, getting out of Calgary was a little trickier than normal (and no, not because we had to give up the feather beds). The first route I plotted put us on highway 2 but bikes are not allowed on highway 2 and Mike was concerned about traffic so I had to go back to the maps. For the second route, one of the roads shown on the map didn’t actually exist in real life, and so we found ourselves at a dead end, which sent me back to the drawing board to plan a third route.

We’re camped right now just beside the town of Brook. 150km tomorrow will get us to the Saskatchewan border (after going through Medicine Hat) and anything that we can get beyond there will help put us back on schedule. We will have to stock up heavily in “The Hat” because there are almost no services in the first 150km of Saskatchewan.

The humorous highlight of the day: a sign on a bridge in Calgary: “Danger, do not jump off bridge”.

And, just as I was about to go to bed, I just heard a pop and the sound of escaping air. All 3 of us checked our air mattresses, but couldn’t find a leak. Then we realized it must have been a bike tire, although it’s kind of weird that it would just pop like that. So one of us will have to fix a flat in the morning, but we don’t feel like going outside to find out whom.

Also, I was about to say that tonight, for the first time, we are not camped beside train tracks, when I just heard a train whistle. I guess they’re never that far away!

Friday, June 29, 2001 (Day 20)

11:01pm: Mike is slow. He had us going 20km/hr, with a 30km/hr tailwind. I think I spent more time today waiting for him than cycling. He warned us yesterday that the 200km nearly killed him, but I figured that was just his usual overactive panicking. Even with flat terrain and a strong tailwind, we managed to finish 50km short of our goal, so we are still in Alberta. Days like this make me wonder if he’ll make it across Canada (sometimes I wish he’d just quit now). He’s also not so good at watching where he’s going: he rear-ended me hard today (sending us both to the ground) which is his third crash in a week (he also rear-ended Geoff and ran into a construction pylon). Anyways, we both escaped with only cuts and bruises. 2 cars pulled over to see if we were alright.

Getting a little more positive, all the waiting today gave me a chance to some thinking. Today was exactly what I pictured cycling across Canada to be: farms on both sides of the road, small towns sprinkled here and there and the highway visible for kilometres in either direction. Of course, the scenery across Canada is as diverse as this country is large, but this just seems typical. Maybe it’s just starting to sink in. Anyways, my lifelong #1 dream is coming true, and it’s really cool.

The other thing notable about this scenery is the lack of a sharp descent from the Rockies. We climbed hard to Roger’s Pass, but then we never really descended. We remain near 800m above sea level, and had a net drop today of only 1m. Once again, my expectations of the terrain were wrong: instead of the steep, fast descents I had been hoping for, we’re getting a long, almost indistinguishable descent as we cross the Prairies (maybe we should have gone the other way!)

Saturday, June 30, 2001 (Day 21)

Bruce Davidson cycled across Canada last year, and at the end he listed five Canadian myths, one of them being: “The Prairies are flat”. Today was quite hilly, similar to the Calgary foothills. We keep expecting it to get flat, but it doesn’t happen. We also expect to descend, but that doesn’t happen either (we actually climbed 3m to 762m today.) Finally, we expect the famous westerly wind, but today we fought a strong head wind pretty hard. We did manage to do 110km, but still considerably less than our goal of 150km/day.

We have been drafting pretty consistently for the last few days. Today we decided to take Mike out of the lead rotation, that way he can draft all of the time while Geoff and I take turns pulling the lead. By the time we made this decision, it was late, so we’ll see tomorrow if it helps.

We crossed into Saskatchewan today, marking my first time in that province. We’re quite happy to see that the wide 3-4 feet shoulder we have had for almost the entire journey continues. I again won the sprint to the provincial border (Mike took off first, but I was able to catch him) and we again got a motorist to a take a group photo for us. Finally today I found a stick to use as a flagpole, as I will have the Canadian flag flying off the back of my bike to mark Canada Day tomorrow.

Sunday, July 1, 2001 (Day 22) *

12:26am (the next morning): Today’s journal is dedicated to this great country, whose incredible vastness and unparalleled beauty inspire us to keep pedalling everyday. Today, the Maple leaf flew proudly off the back of my bike in honour of our national holiday and the honks and waves of encouragement came from almost every vehicle. It probably also looked like we had partied a little too hard, as a strong cross-wind (southerly) had us swerving all over the shoulder.

We finally made it to Swift Lake in the early evening with absolutely no food left, so our first order of business was to get groceries. Unfortunately, both grocery stores in the town closed at 5pm (it’s Sunday) so we had supper at Subway and decided to do groceries first thing in the morning tomorrow. For that reason, we’re actually camped in a patch of trees in downtown Swift Current.

Geoff and I decided to go to the Canada Day party, and Mike came too so as not to be left alone. The Canada Day party was the conclusion of “Heritage Days”, a 4-day exhibition of life in the old-days

They also had rides, a band playing at the Grandstand and a very impressive fire works show. Here in Saskatchewan, Canada Day is a big event. Geoff and I (who were wearing bike uniforms) got a few strange looks (even Mike would only walk 30 feet behind us) and a few comments as well (“Nice Speedos”) but we didn’t mind. A few people actually asked us where we were biking from.

When we got there, we walked around the place, Geoff and I played on a large slide, we had a beer at the bar and listened to the band for a while before the fireworks. The 20-minute fireworks show was very impressive for a small city. Then, we drove back to our camp around midnight. It was a nice change from the usual bike, eat, sleep.

Tuesday, July 3, 2001 (Day 24)

I was tired yesterday so I didn’t write. Also, I didn’t have much to write about. The exciting and eventful days of BC seem to be over. I don’t know if it’s because we’re getting better or because our luck is getting better; probably some of both. Anyways, yesterday we did a solid 170km from Swift Current to Moose Jaw. We were cycling so well, we didn’t stop for lunch until 5pm! That’s when we ran into another group of cross-Canada cyclists! They were 2 guys and 2 girls (we’re jealous, we want girls too!) They were all wearing the same Maple Leaf jerseys, which is the same one that I happened to be wearing that day, so they invited me to join their team. (They’re way ahead of us now; I probably should have). They’re taking the US route around Lake Superior, so we won’t see them again until Ontario, and even then we may be too far apart.

Today the plan was to take care of all our rest day activities in Regina, and then get out of the city. We’re skipping the rest day to try and get back on schedule, but of course we still have business to take care of. It went really well: we got to the Canadian Tire, grocery store, laundromat, bank, library, and bike shop. However, on our way out of the city, Mike got a flat. He put a spare tube in and flatted that a few kms away. At that point, he put his last spare in (Ed note: the flat was at the valve and couldn’t be patched) but with no bike shop from here to Brandon, MB he didn’t like going further from Regina without a spare tube. So we camped where we were, and tomorrow we'll go back into town and stock up on tubes, tires and patches. We did however bike 70km in the morning to get to Regina, so the day was not a total loss.

The flat situation for Mike and Geoff is getting a bit ridiculous. For Geoff, I lost track of the flat count at 12 and Mike now has 7. I still have not had a flat. Geoff changed both his tires in Calgary and seems to be doing better since (no flats) (Ed note, he got very few flats during the rest of the trip with those new tires). Mike just changed his second tire today, hopefully that will solve his problem as well. (Ed note: nope, it didn’t.) We don’t know why they are getting so many more flats than me, but needless to say I love my tires.

And so, we continue to crawl across Saskatchewan, we’re now 245km behind schedule, even though we gave up the rest day today. On the positive side, Mike has been cycling better in the last 2 days, so hopefully if we can fix these flat problems, we’ll be able to get moving quickly.

Tonight we’re camped behind a transmission station, a few kms east of Regina. There is no urbanization here at all; this city seems to have no suburbs (a downtown surrounded by endless Prairies). It is also a perfectly clear night, so I might go do some star gazing after I finish writing tonight. I have been hoping to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights, but we are usually in bed so that doesn’t happen. Maybe tonight. Finally, today we noticed that the barbed wire fence beside which we had camped for the last 4 nights was no longer lining the side of the highway. None of us noticed when it ended, but we are quite disappointed there weren’t any signs: “Fence ends 500m”, “No fence” and then “Remember, fence has ended”.

Writing that last sentence, I heard a train whistle in the distance. Some things never change!

Wednesday, July 4, 2001 (Day 25)

We’re camped under a full moon and clear sky halfway between the highway and the train tracks somewhere in south eastern Saskatchewan. No flats today, but the slow Mike was back. We finished with 166km but that includes the kms spent going backwards to Regina to get spare tubes, so the actual total is slightly under 150km.

We had lunch today at the Indian Head visitor center. The visitor center consisted of a buffalo rubbing stone (apparently wild buffalo used to scratch themselves by rubbing against this large rock), a huge Indian head (with which I got a photo) and a small building with two little old ladies who were very anxious for someone to talk to.

Tonight we had supper (spaghetti) at camp. Sunset is getting earlier now (9pm) but hopefully tomorrow we’ll cross into Manitoba, which will push it back an hour as we enter CDT (Saskatchewan is also in the Central time zone, but they don’t observe daylight savings time.

Thursday, July 5, 2001 (Day 26)

10:03pm: An interesting day. Today we crossed the “2^nd Meridian”. I’m not sure why it’s called that, but anyway it’s the line from which all the land in the province is divided. Except for the cities, we definitely noticed that whole province was divided into huge, rectangular fields, some of them with crops, others with cattle. Another thing we noticed is that any time we pass a field of cows, they all stare at us. It can actually be rather intimidating having 40 cows starring at you. I guess when you’re a cow, there’s not much else to do.

The Trans Canada Highway throughout Saskatchewan has alternated several times between a 2-lane undivided highway and a 4-lane divided highway. However, they are working on making it a divided highway straight across the province, and today we passed a section, 33km long, where they were busily building the other side of the highway. It will be nice when it’s done. We’re camped tonight in Saskatchewan; about 15km form the Manitoba border. Since Manitoba does practice daylight saving time, we’ll lose an hour first thing in the morning when we cross. We’ve also been warned a couple of times that there are no paved shoulders on the highway in Manitoba, so this is another things we’ll be watching for, as that will make our job quite a bit trickier. If it gets really bad, I do have a back-up route planned (this route also has no shoulders, but apparently a lot less traffic).

We passed many small lakes today, the strange thing is that they did not have any streams feeding or draining them. Geoff called them oversized puddles. Regardless of what you call them, they do signal a change in the terrain, perhaps a precursor to the undraining land of the Canadian Shield. Also, the trees are becoming quite abundant, whereas last week we could go 15 minutes without seeing one. Indeed, our days in the prairies are numbered.

A quick little note, passing through western Canada, you’d think that a company called Co-op owned the place. They have co-op grocery stores, co-op gas stations, co-op convenience stores, co-op taxis and today we say a co-op feed center (some agricultural thing, no doubt).

Today was a slow day of biking, thanks to a wicked headwind but we made it to Moosonin. Apparently, this town used to the capital of the North-West Territories! The town also boasts that it was the first in Saskatchewan to be connected to the railway, which is really not that surprising since it’s the easternmost town in Saskatchewan and the railway started in the east. Apart from all these historical tidbits, the thing we noticed most about the town is that all 3 of us are badly allergic to it. As soon as we entered the town, we were just about crippled with allergies, in my case, the worst I’ve had in years! We’re now camped about 10km east of town and we’re fine. We are, however, getting an impressive lightning show that is lighting up the whole Prairie sky. The source of that lightning is quite far away though, as we need to wait nearly 10 seconds to hear the thunder.

Tonight, when I put down this pen and before going to bed, I am going to do crunches and push-ups. The start of what I hope will be a nightly routine. It was one of my goals for this summer but I put it off until things got settled down a bit, which they have now. More later on how that works out.

Friday, July 6, 2001 (Day 27)

11:11pm: The day started off pretty cool. To begin, an awesome storm put on quite a sound and light show just after midnight. The lightning ran almost continuously for nearly an hour and it poured really hard along with a strong wind. It was quite exciting! Then, when we got up (7am) there was not a cloud in the sky and all that was left was wet ground and a nice tailwind.

Once packed up, I headed down to the shoulder of the highway to stretch when a truck roared by, then slammed on the brakes and pulled over. The driver gets out and comes running towards me. With the early morning sun in the east, I couldn’t see who it was, but finally realised it was my cousin Jay. He works for my stepbrother’s (Randy) moving company (R and R movers) and often drives across the country. I had been starting to wonder when we would run into him. Anyways, it was nice to have a visitor although he couldn’t stay long because he had two hot hitchhiking chicks waiting in the truck!

A few minutes later, we crossed into Manitoba. I won the provincial sign race, although it wasn’t much of a victory as Mike decided not to participate and Geoff wasn’t aware we had reached a border! Just after the border, we stopped at an ESSO for well-needed showers. It had been 5 days!

The beginning of Manitoba looked really good: the first bilingual welcome sign of the trip and a paved shoulder contradicting what several people had warned us of. But, from there, it all turned bad. The road became a divided highway a few kms later and then shortly thereafter the shoulder became gravel. The pavement literally extended 1 inch beyond the white line, forcing us to bike inside the line. To make matters worse, the road was horrible: I have never seen so many cracks and holes in a road before.

Having managed to survive the conditions till evening, we started looking for a place to camp when we came upon the Spruce Woods provincial forest. We followed the signs to the information panel, which was a huge panel with absolutely nothing written on it. From there, we visited the bathroom, which was the most disgusting thing ever: there were hundreds of dead bugs on the counter, the toilets were covered in shit and there was no toiled paper; it was clear that this bathroom hadn’t been cleaned in months. Pretty strange for a provincial forest! We camped here anyway, but it certainly won’t be the highlight of our trip. Tomorrow we have 175km to Winnipeg, with a rest day there on Sunday.

Saturday, July 7, 2001 (Day 28)

11:42pm: And then there were two. Mike quit. It was bound to happen; this journal has made many references to the fact that he is unhappy. Today, as planned, we reached Winnipeg and he informed us that he was going his own way. He has family in “the Peg” which whom he will stay and then find a way to get home. And it is for the better. His constant bad mood and slow speed had put quite a strain on all of us. Geoff and I spent about 20 minutes re-juggling our loads (we have to take the tent now as well) but we did it successfully and made our way to a campsite on the southern side of town where we will stay for 2 nights, taking tomorrow as a rest day, as planned.

It had become quite obvious Mike was not interested in this trip. He was fed up with biking and he was fed up with camping. The problem is that’s all we do: bike and camp. I was hoping to do more touring/exploring but he was never interested. I think those opportunities will now be available. Also, we should be able to pick up the pace significantly, thereby eliminating the scheduling concerns that had come up. We implemented a rotating leader drafting system after the mountains, with fast (3 minute) rotations but quickly had to abandon it because Mike couldn’t keep up. He insisted on leading all the time (so that he wouldn’t be left behind) which slowed us down even further. Anyways, we’ll probably go back to drafting now and I expect we’ll really fly! Of course, now I’ll get to see what it’s like being the slowest rider, because Geoff is a stronger cyclist. I think when I draft off him, I should be able to keep up (at lest on flat ground, he kicks my ass on the climbs).

Well, we got to drive through downtown Winnipeg today and I was quite impressed: it’s a really pretty city (now I know why people would actually want to live here). We did however get pulled over by a cop on a motorcycle for running a red light, but he just told us not to do it again! He was quite friendly.

The drive into Winnipeg, however, was not so impressive, the shoulder alternated between paved and gravel with seemingly no pattern. Why? Who knows! This is Manitoba!

Tomorrow will include the usual rest day activities and then on Monday we go to Ontario! I also called home today, which I hadn’t done since Banff, so my parents were happy to hear from me.

Sunday, July 8, 2001 (Day 29) *

Well, in case I haven’t been clear enough so far, Manitoba sucks. However, this dark cloud does have a silver lining, and that is Winnipeg. Today was an awesome day, and no not just because we didn’t have Mike’s whining (Ok, I guess I should stop trashing Mike). Winnipeg is a beautiful river city (very clean) with incredibly nice people. We had a lot of people stop to talk to us during the day, including the little old lady biking to the grocery store and Donna Dixon who invited us perfect strangers into her home for a bbq and to stay the night. We hesitated a little -- not wanting to take advantage -- but she insisted it would be their pleasure, so we were convinced.

During the day, we took care of the usual: groceries, Canadian Tire, bike shop. Then we went back to camp and Geoff napped while I did my tune-up/inspection of my bike. Around 6:30 we headed over to the Dixon’s and we’re greeted with a family eager to take care of us. Donna and husband Dave have done a fair bit of cycling themselves and will be spending 6 days this summer hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. Dave is a Winnipeg police officer, who spent a couple of years patrolling on bike and also did some time with Winnipeg police dive unit. They served us hamburgers, garlic bread, Caesar salad, beans and potato salad. Their youngest kids (Sam and Katrina) made the fruit punch as fast as we could drink it, and also prepared the basement for us to sleep in. When Mitch came home, they even brought us down to the park to set off fireworks! It’s difficult to comprehend that these people could be so nice to perfect strangers. It’s these kinds of people who really make the trip special.

Monday, July 9, 2001 (Day 30)

2 large hills and 4 deer sightings marked our passage from the Prairies to Ontario just as a beautiful sunset was occurring behind us. We left Winnipeg this morning after a visit to the bike shop and internet café. Dave peddled with us to the bike shop. He’s the cop who visits the schools in the area and talks to them about traffic safety so in order not to be a hypocrite, we had to stop at all the stop signs. It was cool anyways and now we can say we’ve had a police escort. Donna had already left for work and the kids were still in bed so we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to them or thank them again for being so friendly.

It was a good, fast day of biking, with a quick draft rotation; we were moving at 40km/hr for a bit! Also today we crossed the longitudinal center of Canada (96°48’35”) which was really cool. We haven’t reached the half way point of our trip yet, which I guess is due to the fact that the road is straight through the Prairies but very curvy though Ontario and the Maritimes.

It was getting dark by the time we reached the Ontario welcome sign, so we decided just to camp nearby and go out tomorrow morning for the group photo. From there, we head out into the vastness of Ontario where we will spend close to 3 weeks before (finally) reaching Quebec.

The last few days have been blue sky and incredibly hot (above 30°C) which is definitely taking its toll on us. We’re forced to drink tons of water, which could become a problem in western Ontario, where water source are few. However, it is nice to see the blue sky, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. We have also been leaving the roof off at night to let more air in the tent.

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 (Day 31)

11:16pm: Today, day 31, after just over 3000km from Victoria, I got my first flat tire. I’m kind of disappointed; I was beginning to think I would make it all the way, but a gravel section of the highway, under construction, did me in. (Ed note: at the time I am typing this (November 2001) my front tire is going on 10,000kms without a flat: it’s still the got the factory installed tire and tube! I wonder if there’s a Guinness record.) I also broke a spoke today, so it wasn’t a great day for my bike, but my body is doing quite well. Today was my second day biking without my knee brace and I have not felt any pain at all. I have also been cutting back on my food intake to try and lose more weight, and that’s going good as well. Finally, tomorrow morning I am going to resume my upper-body training which I suspended last week because of the whole Mike thing. While I’m on that topic, let me say that cycling with Geoff is going great: we were probably never more than 10 feet from each other when on the bikes, the leader setting a strong pace and the follower keeping up. We hardly even look back anymore because we know the other guy will be there.

We slept in this morning (a lot) and so by the time we left the Ontario Visitor’s Center (after having taken the “Welcome to Ontario” sign group photo) it was around noon. We had lunch in Kenora, a nice town on the magnificent Lake of the Woods. We then endured 2 gravel patches to make it just past Sioux Narrow. The scenery was quite spectacular (cliffs and lakes) making me think it would be nice to live around here, but literally, the thousands of mosquitoes that attacked us tonight has quickly changed that. We were hardly able to see our feet there were so many of them, and then when we got in the tent we had to kill about 30 that had sneaked in with us. The tent walls are covered in blood; the floor covered in dead bugs. We decided as long as we’re in western Ontario’s lake country we’ll try to have the tent up by sunset cause the mosquitoes are just too bad.

Tomorrow, we continue south on Hwy 71 and then turn east on Hwy 11 towards Thunder Bay. The terrain today was quite roller coaster (up, down, around) which is fun to drive but slows us down a little. This is what we expect for the next while. We also had 2 more deer sightings today, including one that ran across the road right in front of us.

Thursday, July 12, 2001 (Day 33)

11:57pm: The generosity of perfect strangers can be truly amazing. Once again, someone we’ve never met has treated us as if we were their own kids. Our thanks to Wendy Taylor at Quetico North Outfitters who prepared us a truly great meal of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic toast, muffins, ice cream and chocolate sauce, along with fruits and juice and anything else we could possibly want. Sure beets the plain spaghetti we were going to make.

The scenery over the past few days has been truly spectacular, as the road winds its way along the narrow paths between all the lakes. The terrain has been quite hilly, which means we work harder, but the cycling is more interesting. Geoff and I are still cycling very strongly though, and we manage to get our daily distance done every day. While the lakes are magnificent during the day, at night the mosquitoes are so bad that it’s nearly impossible to go outside. We have taken to setting up camp 1 hr before sunset to try and get in the tent before they come out, but even then there are quite a few around and we are forced to wear out track suits and face bug nets to deter them. We also passed through 2 nice lake towns (Kenora and Fort Francis). In Kenora, the Safeway had a boat parking lot so that you could park your boat and go grocery shopping. There are many inhabited islands and so the people use their boats to get around. Leaving Fort Frances, the highway (11 and 71) crosses Rainy Lake, which is about 20km wide. This looked really strange on the map (that would be an incredibly long bridge) so I was quite anxious to see it. It turns out that they actually just built a bunch of small bridges to connect the naturally occurring islands in the lake. Last night we thought we had completed the crossing, but this morning we once again crossed a bridge which said “Rainy Lake” so it turns out we had actually camped on an island!

Tonight we saw a bunch of teams surveying the highway. I was curious as to what they were doing exactly, so I decided to go talk to them. The guy I spoke to was a civil engineering co-op student at Lakehead, and he was working with a PEng. They were using a computer to record the coordinates and elevation of a huge number of points along the side of the road. That data will then be fed into a computer which will generate a 3-D plot of the area using CAD software. Apparently, the province intends to rebuild the highway, so they need this data for planning. In some places along the road, it is quite evident why they need to rebuild the highway!

We also met another cyclist who was going from London to Victoria. He confirmed that we were in for hilly terrain. He also told us that there is a group of 3 girl cyclists about 2 days ahead of us (heading east) and so Geoff and I are hoping to catch up to them!

We’re looking for another strong day of cycling tomorrow, with our goal being to do the 170km to Thunder Bay. After a stop for groceries we’ll then spend the next 4 or 5 days working our way around Lake Superior to reach Sault-Ste-Marie, which will be our next rest stop. From there, it’s off to Ottawa and then Montreal. We’ll also cross into Eastern Daylight Time tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 17, 2001 (Day 38)

11:48pm: A summary of the past few days:

Day 34: Once again, the heat was intense (well above 30°). It had been like that basically all week, and it was definitely taking a toll on us. Geoff and I both find it is slowing us down, partially because we have to stop so often for water. Even still, though, we had set a tough goal for ourselves today: 170km in the hills to reach Thunder Bay. Well, we got up early and biked hard (doing 100km before lunch for the first time this trip). We ended up surpassing our goal, reaching Thunder Bay in time to do groceries and then camp on the other side of town.

We’re not the only ones who have noticed the heat and the dry weather! A fire ban has been placed on much of western Ontario (banning all campfires) and many areas in the Prairies have declared a state of emergency because they are losing their crops due to drought.

Day 35: Today’s journal is dedicated to Terry Fox. We camped last night at the Terry Fox Memorial Lookout just east of Thunder Bay. This is a scenic lookout overlooking Thunder Bay and Lake Superior along with a statue of Terry Fox. It is located at the point where recurring cancer forced Terry Fox to end his Marathon of Hope, which began in St. John’s NFLD.

We got off to a late start today (around noon) which was mostly because of me. I was really tired and also had a lot to do (adjust the shifting on my bike, call my mom, repack some stuff, etc…) Once we did get biking though, we moved well, reaching 100km (Nipigon) before lunch for the second time this trip and in a row! I was thinking we were an unstoppable team, and then Geoff quit the team. After lunch, we stopped at a gas station to refill water. When I came out of the bathroom, there was a pile of food on the ground, along with the tent and Geoff said (paraphrasing): “I don’t mind waiting for you to fix your bike, write your journal or do your push-ups, but I didn’t want to wait for you to look at tourist attractions, so I’ve made a decision: I’m leaving!” And, as I stood there stunned, he took off on his own. I continued to sit there stunned for about an hour, contemplating what to do. I thought about packing up the stuff and going after him but I figured he probably did not want to be caught so he was probably hauling ass and I likely would not be able to catch him. I also thought about dropping my panniers (to make me faster) and going after him, but I decided to stay there. I was also trying to figure out why this happened. It seemed like a pretty dumb decision he had made (he had no tent, no stove, no gas, no first-aid kit, no maps, no pots, no rope, no toilet paper, etc…)

Having sat there for an hour I was still pretty shocked by this turn of events and so I decided to check myself in the motel across the road to make a decision. The significance of this is worth noting, this is the first time I have been in a motel since Victoria. Once I checked in, I considered the possibility that Geoff would reconsider his decision and come back, so I decided to go back across the road and hang out at the gas station. I was having a hard time predicting what he might do, because I never could have guessed in a million years that he would have left in the first place. We had had an awesome week; we were biking really well and were getting along super well. It was really the first week of the trip in which I don’t remember a single argument and we were joking and having a lot of fun together (laughing about how we were going to bike day and night to catch the group of three girl cyclist a few days ahead of us).

Anyways, I stayed at the gas station till they closed at 11pm (babbling with my mom on the phone, reading newspapers, eating supper and talking to strangers) but Geoff never came back. I was feeling pretty lonely as I went back to the motel to go to bed.

Day 36: I was feeling better today, and the decision was clear that I would go with my heart and keep cycling. I decided to bike back 100km to Thunder Bay to buy a new, smaller tent, along with some tools (sprocket remover, chain wrench) and groceries before continuing to head east.

I also finally got to talk to my dad (he wasn’t home last night). He criticised me by saying that “if both Mike and Geoff had quit then it must be my fault”, which really pissed me off. I was so taken back by the lack of support from my father; I lost motivation to go back to Thunder Bay and spent the day in the motel instead.

Day 37: I woke up this morning still fuming at my dad, but I did ride into Thunder Bay. I was not used to riding by myself and found it both lonely and scary. It was clear my concentration was not there, as I nearly wiped out in the gravel on the side of the road several times. To make matters worse, I was biking in the rain and very dense fog on a highway with no shoulder. Ironically, the stretch of highway between Nipigon and Thunder Bay had been renamed the Courage Highway in honour of Terry Fox. A couple of times, I think that was the only thing keeping me going.

I was quite impressed to realise that I made it to Thunder Bay quite quickly (under 5 hours, about the same time as it had taken Geoff and I two days earlier). I checked into a motel in Thunder Bay for the night.

Day 38: A very productive day, I bought a tent, bought my tools, did groceries, went online, did laundry and called my parents. I also met another solo cyclist who was biking across Canada and actually considered asking him to team up but decided against it.

Today was still somewhat of a lonely day (especially doing things like groceries at which I am used to having company). I was also getting pretty bored of Thunder Bay, so that didn’t help either. I did, however, get lots of encouraging emails, which was really nice! Having finished all my errands, I left town (heading east again) and camped at a KOA campsite. This should be my last night pampering myself, tomorrow night its back to the side of the road (Ed note: ya right!). It was also my first night in my new tent; quite nice, though I don’t know how the hell you’re supposed to fit 2 people in here as they claim.

Tomorrow I should pass Nipigon, and then continue onto new territory on the northern shore of Lake Superior!

Wednesday, July 18, 2001 (Day 39)

9:48pm: Once again, the Courage Hwy (for the third time) and once again it was an inspiration. Today the problem was extremely dense fog (the worst I’ve ever seen) made it very difficult to see anything. To complicate matters, my glasses were getting fogged up making it worse and so I ended up taking them off. That allowed me to see short distances better, and my long distance vision was null in either case.

Then the fog cleared and it started pouring rain. I took shelter at the Husky in Nipigon. There was a large tent set up in the parking lot, which it turns out belonged to the Wolf Head Circle Tour who organizes an annual five-day motorcycle circle tour of Lake Superior. The tent was one of their check points, so there were motorcyclists coming and going. The let me use the tent to cook and eat supper and one of the volunteers even offered for me to stay at her home for the night because it was raining so hard. By the time I was done supper the rain had stopped though so I decided to keep biking as I still had a few hours till sunset. At 8:45 though, a flat forced me to pull over and I set up camp. Since there are so many bugs and diminishing light, I’ll fix the flat in the morning.

Once again today though, I wasn’t happy. It is incredibly lonely crossing this vast country by myself; not seeing a familiar face in a week and not having a friend within 500km. I have definitely lost my confidence and am almost constantly nervous. Somehow, the whole world seems much scarier. I also miss Geoff a lot; I considered him a good friend, and I miss his company. I wonder how he is feeling, where he is and what he is doing. I am hoping that these feelings will go away soon and that I’ll once again become comfortable, or, even better, that he’ll change his mind and that we can team back up somewhere along the way.

Friday, July 20, 201 (Day 41)

2:37pm: At the motorcycle tent in Nipigon 2 days ago, the volunteers pointed out that you can’t cross Canada without going through Nipigon. (Ed note: Or, if you’re like me, without going through it twice!) Ontario is crossed by 2 highways (11 and 17), both are called the Trans Canada Highway (which I think is dumb) but they come together and share the same road for the 100km stretch between Nipigon and Thunder Bay. Tomorrow I’ll reach the town of Marathon, whose motto is “Superior in the long run”. Get it?

I passed through Rossport yesterday. 2 kids had built a ramp to jump their bikes. They wanted me to try it, but I think my bike would have been destroyed. Yesterday was tough: a flat tire and a broken spoke (at different times), fog so thick it was dripping off my helmet (I had to ride without my glasses again), huge hills that rivalled anything we encountered in the mountains. I made it 76.3km to Schreiber and decided to stop at the Voyageur motel for supper and the night. I am still treating myself (even though I have said several times that I would stop) but I figure I am doing something pretty extraordinary here and I deserve it. The thick fog continued today and I decided to stay put. I made it to the library though and was overwhelmed by about 10 emails of encouragement from everyone from Gregg who is going to meet me in eastern Ontario to buy me a meal to a perfect stranger (who happened to come across our website) to my grandmother (her very first email). I so appreciate that support, it may just be what keeps me going. I also sent an email to Geoff. As I have mentioned in this journal before, I continue to find it extremely lonely doing this by myself and I continue to suffer from a serious lack of self-confidence. Having no idea what Geoff is feeling, or why he even left in the first place, I decided to write him asking him if he wanted to team back up for the rest of the trip. I don’t know if or when I’ll get a reply but at least I know I’ve done what I can to fix this. If it works, I’ll be overjoyed, if it doesn’t, I’ll eventually get used to being alone and complete my dream knowing that I did everything I could to make it a team effort.

Saturday, July 12, 2001 (Day 42)

10:50pm: Today was a good day! I finally got some of my confidence back and convinced myself that I could bike across Canada by myself. The 100km I did today seems low but I only left Schreiber around 2pm and was plagued with bike problems all afternoon. I had a tough time leaving Schreiber; I had grown rather fond of it. (Ed note: Schreiber was eventually given the favourite town award). Part of that is due to the fact I was staying at a really nice place: the Circle Route Motel attached to the Voyageur Restaurant. The employees were super friendly and the restaurant served great food (it was also the only place in town that served ice cream, making it a major hang out spot for the whole town). In particular, I kept on running into two kids on mountain bikes with whom I chatted a number of times. It’s a small little town (from what I could see, most people know each other) and when they give their phone numbers, they only give 4 digits (it seems the first three are common to the whole town!)

The library staff was also really friendly. The town had a power failure just as I got there to use the internet, so I chatted with the librarians for half an hour until power was restored. It’s really interesting how all across Canada the libraries have become popular hang-out spots for young people because of the internet. Teenagers line up outside the library before it opens to try an assure themselves of a computer. This seems like a complete reversal of a couple of years ago, when many of these people wouldn’t be caught dead in a library. All of the ones we have visited so far have had free access (didn’t even need a membership card) except in Banff where nothing is free!

Another part of the reason I was late leaving Schreiber is that I ran into Patrick Armstrong. He’s another cross-Canada cyclist (Victoria to St. John’s) whom I first met in Thunder Bay (when I went back to buy my new tent). He had spent a couple of days visiting friends, which is why he’s not way ahead of me by now. It was nice chatting with him again and we ended up having lunch together at the restaurant. We are using a fairly similar route and biking at a similar pace, so we hope to run into each other many more times by trip’s end.

I also spent some time this morning watching Lance Armstrong capture the yellow jersey in the 13^th stage of the Tour de France! I find this highly motivational and have been watching quite a bit of it as I have been staying in motels. Lance is expected to hold onto the “Maillot Jaune” to win the Tour a week from now, I’ll try to remember to update my journal with the final results at that time.

So for all these reasons my stay in Schreiber was quite therapeutic and I left town feeling quite a bit better. Even the weather was improved (the fog was thin enough that I was able to keep my glasses on!) I also saw a fox on the side of the road (though I guess it could have also been a wolf, since I’m not sure the difference). I would have stopped for a photo but it was at the bottom of a hill and I was doing well over 50km/hr. He probably would have run away anyways.

Sunday, July 22, 2001 (Day 43)

11:38pm: Today was another good day (wow, 2 in a row!) I finally solved the problem of my rear tire being perpetually low on air by buying the only 700x32 tube in the city of Marathon and putting my new tire on as well. I also managed to fix my shifting (which had become very frustrating in these mountains). While I had my bike apart, I did a full inspection, tightened all the bolts and adjusted my break alignment. After all that I got out of Marathon at 3pm and biked strongly through the mountains to reach White River (110km) by 8:30pm. I remember something about the town being the birthplace of Winnie the Pooh (from reading Alan’s journal) but I’m not sure the story, so more on that tomorrow.

The plan is to spend the day tomorrow reading my “How to fix a bike for dummies” book, another project of mine and then get back on the road on Tuesday.

Monday, July 23, 2001 (Day 44)

11:27pm: Well, I finally saw a bear today, but unfortunately it was just a statue of Winnie-the-Pooh. Ironically, in the statue, he was sitting atop a tree, which lends little confidence to my “hanging my food” strategy. Actually, I probably saw almost 100 bears today, as this town has gone totally Pooh-crazy. There are pictures of him in the window of every store and the gas station has more Pooh dolls than everything else combined! Anyways, here is the story from the info board: “On Aug. 24, 1914, Lieut. Harry Coleburn purchased a black bear cub at White River, ON while en route overseas. He named her Winnie after his hometown (Winnipeg). Winnie became the soldier’s mascot and was left in the care of the London Zoo on Dec. 9, 1914 while Lieut. Colburn served in France. In 1919, he gave her to the zoo for permanent keeping, where she was watched and loved by many, including author A.A. Milne and his son Christopher. In 1926, AA Milne and illustrator E.H. Sheppard gave the fictional character to Christopher and the world for prosperity. Winnie entertained visitors to the London Zoo for nearly 20 years and lives on in the hearts of children of all ages.”

Tuesday, July 24, 201 (Day 45)

10:35 pm: I am just preparing to leave White River tomorrow after a 2-day stay. The stay was successful in that I managed to read my bicycle repair book, but I didn’t like the town as much as I did Schreiber. Then again Schreiber may well win the best town of the trip award, although I had a good time in Winnipeg as well, but that’s not a town!

I also managed to do my laundry here (even though the Laundromat was closed, I found an apartment complex and their laundry room door had been propped open). And, of course, a trip to the local library where the internet connection was tediously slow and there was actually a $3/hr charge (although they did give me a discount since it was so slow).

Now that my bike is working properly, my book is finished and I’m in better spirits I plan to get back to serious riding and put an end to the motels and restaurants. I am on schedule to miss my flight from St. John’s by 1 day, so I’m going to try and make up some time, which is why I’ll be setting strong goals for myself. Tomorrow I would like to reach Montreal River, which is 195km from here. That’s a tough goal under the best of circumstances but if the terrain is tough, it may be out of the question. My next rest day will be in Montreal in about 8 days from now, if all goes well.

Wednesday, July 25, 2001 (Day 46)

11:00pm: I did it! Things looked pretty bad in the morning, I was really tired, couldn’t get anything done and didn’t get on my bike till 11:00am. But I pushed myself hard, harder than I have all trip, and my body responded with a full day of strong biking allowing me to accomplish my goal of 195km to Montreal River. This was really important to me because I was moving so slow last week; I really felt I had something to prove. I also accomplished the 100km before lunch feat, for only the third time this trip.

On the way, I passed through Wawa and got a photo of myself with the semi-famous huge Canada goose statue. I also managed to solve 2 mysteries:

1) Why would you call a town Wawa?

2) Why would it have a statue of a goose?

Well it seems Wawa is an Indian word meaning “Wild Goose”. The statue was placed there to commemorate the completion of the Trans-Canada Hwy around Lake Superior.

I also passed through Lake Superior Provincial Park which offered a couple of impressive lake views but I was so determined to reach Montreal River I refused to stop for pictures. It also offered a 24km stretch of construction. There were 9 separate places where crews were flagging traffic, which I actually liked because it made the riding interesting and took my mind off how many more kms I had to do. And, of course, the flag girls are usually cute. There were no gravel sections, which was also nice.

I’m currently 115km from Sault-Ste-Marie, hoping to get there during business hours tomorrow to run a couple of errands such as library and bike shop. From there, I turn east, headed for Montreal.

Thursday, July 26, 2001 (Day 47)

Today’s journal is dedicated to the amazing Lake Superior, the largest fresh water body in the world. It was my last day along her shores but it was also the best, with many breathtaking views of the lake and rocky shores. I stopped at one point for a hike along beautiful Agawa Bay, Lake Superior. Today will certainly be in contention for the most scenic day of the trip although Lake Louise was pretty impressive as well.

Almost as pretty though is Bellevue Park on the shores of the St. Mary’s River in Sault-Ste-Marie (“The Soo”) which is where I am camped now. I felt a little sluggish today (Ed note: no doubt a little lactic acid from yesterday’s huge ride) so while I did make it to the Soo, it was too late to do my business so I had to camp in town.

Throughout the west, I had gotten rather accustomed to writing my journal to the sounds of trains and trucks, but tonight it’s the ships that are serenading me. It reminds me of watching the ships on the St. Lawrence Seaway back home, but of course, I’m not all that far from home anymore and indeed many of these ships are headed there as well. It’s impressive just how far ships can penetrate this continent from the east. From Thunder Bay, they would sail the huge Lake Superior, through St. Mary’s River to Lake Huron, through the St. Claire River to Lake St. Claire, then through the Detroit River to Lake Erie, through the Welland Canal (bypassing Niagara Falls) to Lake Ontario and finally the huge trek along the St. Lawrence River, Seaway and Gulf to reach the Atlantic Ocean. I guess the lack of shipping possibilities in the west is why there are so many trains; another sign of the many changes as I cross the country.

Today is a good day, actually, to be talking about changes from west to east, because I passed the center point of the Trans Canada Hwy! Located just before the Soo, I am now half way through my epic journey.

Monday, August 13, 2001 (Day 57)

Well, it’s been a while. It’s funny that my previous journal entry is dedicated to Lake Superior and here I am in Montreal. Sorry about that, and I’ll certainly try not to let it happen again.

Let me start by dedicating today’s journal to Lance Armstrong who returned from his death bed with testicular cancer to win his third straight Tour de France this year!

Ok, and now a bit of a recap: Leaving the Soo, I had a couple of really bad days. A fierce headwind was making biking almost impossible (it’s so frustrating to fight your way up a hill and then fight your way back down the other side!) That was combined with an extreme streak of bad luck: my helmet was stolen at a campsite just before Sudbury; I somehow lost my sprocket remover and then promptly proceeded to break a spoke -- which I therefore could not properly repair. Anyways, I arrived in Sudbury and had to take a day off to take care of everything (buy a helmet and sprocket remover, fix my bike, etc...). Sudbury is a strange city, very mountainous and huge stone cuts right in the city. It’s obvious that they didn’t choose this location because it’s a good place for a city but because those mountains are full of nickel and other ores. It’s a very industrial city; when you enter, you’re greeted by the Sudbury skyline (which consists of tall smoke stacks, not buildings!) Sudbury is also the first city where I encountered a noticeable French population. This continued through Sturgeon Falls and North Bay and there were several towns in eastern Ontario where the population was almost entirely French. Obviously, this phenomenon will continue through Quebec and NB, another sign of the changing times as I cross the country.

North Bay was a much smaller town than I had thought, only about a quarter the size of Sudbury. It is, however, where the two Trans Canada Highways (11 and 17) cross, so that, like Nipigon, you can’t cross Canada without going through North Bay.

Once I left Sault-Ste-Marie, the “Lake Superior Circle Tour” signs became “Lake Huron Circle Tour” signs. I only spent a day or two on Huron before reaching Lake Nipissing (a huge lake, although not quite great lake size on whose North Bay is located the town with that name. Huron was the second and last Great Lake I got to see; Erie and Ontario are too far south for my route and Michigan is entirely in the US.

Anyways, having passed through North Bay, I stopped in Corbeil to make some phone calls. That’s where I ran into Mark Stewart, who invited me to camp on his lawn and use his phone. I accepted. While making the calls, they cooked me supper: Blueberry pancakes and bacon (looked more like breakfast, but it was good so that’s what counts.) I then met his wife, Donna, and their three sons: Christopher, Mike and Kevin. The boys were really cute, asking me a million questions. They even felt bad that they had heard of Terry Fox but hadn’t heard of me! (I explained that I had both my legs). After supper, they offered me a bed in the basement and made me breakfast in the morning. Before I left, the boys gave me a mountain bike jumping demonstration. They were quite excited because they were going to spend the day at the North Bay Heritage Days Fair. It’s funny how many towns in Canada have Heritage Days (I saw part of the Heritage Days in Schreiber, ON and Swift Current, SK).

From North Bay, it was 2 strong days to Kanata. Again, the landscape was changing, leaving the rock cuts of northern Ontario for flat land. The bushels of hay and the farms had me thinking I was back in the Prairies. Kanata was my goal because I had arranged to meet Yves Mailhot there. He is considering his own cross-Canada bike trip, and had stumbled across my website, so he sent me an email and offered to take me out to supper when I passed through, an offer too good to refuse. He took me to Swiss Chalet for a great supper; I also did laundry and took a shower at his house. He wanted to invite me in to sleep, but his wife was hesitant since they have 2 young daughters so I camped on the lawn.

Kanata is an impressive city: very rich, huge homes; very pretty and a huge tech park, with all the major companies. It looked very much like Silicon Valley. Apparently, they actually call it Silicon Valley North. Yves was living in a 6-month old house. He is an electrical engineering grad of RMC and owns a company which basically runs itself. He created software to be used in internet cafes and kiosks.

Leaving Kanata, I had 2 special days, passing through the homeland (Ottawa and Montreal). Both cities are, of course, quite important to me, as I have called them both home. I had been looking forward to getting here all trip. It started badly, as I had lost one of the screws holding the clip to the bottom of my shoes. This prevented me from clipping out, but fortunately didn’t cause me to fall over. I did however have to take the shoe off in order to get off my bike. So I detoured to a bike shop to get a new screw before leaving Kanata (also got a spare in case it happens again.)

Having reached Ottawa, I circled Parliament Hill and stopped for a photo at the Centennial Flame. I then invented a new tradition; pouring water from that fountain over the center of my bike (seemed to make sense.) I looked into doing a Center Block Tour (I like doing that, even though I’ve practically memorised the tour) but the waiting list was hours so I decided to keep cycling instead. That evening, I camped at the Ontario Welcome Center and so I hit the Quebec border first thing in the morning (it was nice to finally leave Ontario). The photo at the Quebec sign was my first solo provincial sign photo.

That day was my day to go home, and I was anxious. I woke up at 6:00 and was biking shortly after 7am. My mother’s family (Mom, Daniel, Matt, Granny, Grampa, and Aunty Linda (Uncle Dave had to work)) were meeting me at the Fairview Shopping Center at 10:00am. I had planned that so as to give me ample time to make it, but a fierce headwind had other ideas and so I was about 30 minutes late. I had planned on crossing onto Montreal Island via the Ile-aux-Tortues Bridge (Hwy 40) but construction had reduced it to two very narrow lanes and it would not have been bikeable, so a construction truck pulled me over and shuttled me across.

I had an awesome reception at Fairview Mall. Approaching the mall, the first person I saw was my grandfather. He had worn his brightest red shirt for that reason and it worked (a story, I’m told, that he’s been telling all week!) From there, I saw my mom and Daniel, but that was it (it seems the welcome party panicked a little at 10:01 am and turned themselves into a search and rescue party). (30 minutes late when I’m biking from Victoria doesn’t seem so bad to me, but oh well!) Everyone made it back within a few minutes. My mother hugged me and cried; my aunt hugged me and cried much more! My mom had Ami (her former boss at Brilliant Signs) make up a sign that read: “Welcom Home Kirk” (Ami’s not very good at spelling!) It was really awesome; Aunty Linda took us all to lunch (at Vessels and Barrels) and then we went back to her place where they had a chocolate cake with bicycles on it that said “Way to go Kirk”. It was baked by Sandy, a co-worker of my Aunt.

I hung around here for a bit, but had to take off as I had a second welcome party waiting for me on the South Shore. It was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, perfect for biking along the Montreal bike paths as I made my way home! It was really nice biking through Montreal, because these are the paths that I grew up on! (I also didn’t have to look at the maps every 10 minutes). I met my Dad, Laraine and Amber at the old Steinberg’s Mall and they were all on bikes, so we biked home together. My dad got the whole thing on video, and then they took me to supper at Pacinis.

On Sunday, I spent the day at LaRonde with my brother and on Monday I relaxed. Tuesday was my business day (reading mail, emails, etc...) and on Wednesday I tried to find a place to live this fall in Waterloo but failed miserably. This was getting rather desperate, so it had to be taken care of, so I got on the overnight bus and went to Waterloo. On Saturday I had decided on a place and came home on Sunday. Monday (today) I continue the trip. While I was in town, I went to lunch with Maggie and spent an evening with Caroline (Ed note: my good friend and also Michael’s sister). The latter was pretty funny. I had proposed that I would bike over and could just sit at her place and chat, since we had a lot of catching up to do. When I got there, she met me at the front door and suggested we go for ice cream. It seems Mike hates me (he apparently blames me for the failure of his trip) and so his mom doesn’t want him to see me in the house or with Caroline. I, of course, have no problem with Michael, so I find it a bit silly. Especially since Caroline and I will likely be friends forever, he’s going to see a whole lot more of me in his life, so he might as well let it go and get on with his life! Anyways, I’m bashing Mike again, so I’ll stop it. Caroline and I had fun, so that’s what counts.

8 pages! Not bad, but I had a lot to catch up. I’ll probably even write again tonight! Until then…

10:00am: Oops, I also took the opportunity of being home to weigh my equipment, so I wanted to throw those stats in here as well:

Back Left Pannier:                    20lbs
Back Right Pannier:                  31lbs
Front Left Pannier:                    18lbs
Front Right Pannier:                  20lbs
Water (4.5 Litres):                    10lbs
Tent:                                         10lbs
Sleeping bag/mattress:               16lbs
Sub-total:                                 125lbs
Bike:                                        29lbs
Total:                                        154lbs

Note that that includes full water and food. Also note that I’m not sure how accurate the bathroom scale is!

9:11pm: Well, after that journal entry this morning, I got out of the house around 11:30am and got as far as the train tracks on Grande Allée (for anyone not familiar with St. Hubert, that’s walking distance) when a huge rock put a hole in both my rear tube and tire. It was only my third flat of the trip, but the torn tire sure does complicate things. I decided to turn around and go to the Andre Primeau bike shop to have the tire replaced. At the same time, I had snazzy new handlebar tape applied; my old stuff was getting pretty worn out. I only actually got out of town around 1pm, so I was quite happy with my 100km today. Especially with sun set down to 8pm now, I’m going to try to get earlier starts in the morning, at least until I enter Atlantic Time.

The landscape today was quite interesting, as the road winded through all the small towns on the shore of the Richelieu River. At the southern end, I got to see towns that I had heard of many times (Beloeuil, McMasterville, St Basil-le-Grand, Ottoburn Park) but never actually knew where they were. Further north, I came to a number of old religious towns whose name all fit into the template: Saint-(something)-sur-Richelieu. At the center of each of these towns would be a large and architecturally impressive church. Also helping to make things interesting is that the road ran immediately beside the river, so the view was scenic for the entire day. I am quite enjoying these small regional roads. From Ottawa to Montreal, I followed hwy 17 instead of superhighway 417 and from Montreal to Rivière-du-Loup I’m using highways 223 and 132 instead of superhighway 20. Traffic ranges form light to non-existent; there are no big trucks, period, and you really get to experience the small, historic towns of Ontario and Quebec.

The weather today remained dry, which has been the case for most of the country for a long time. There are fire bans across all of Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes. In many cities there are also bans on lawn watering, as lake and river water levels are extremely low.

Tonight I am camped in a beautiful spot right on the shore of the Richelieu. At only 13m above sea level, this is actually my lowest campsite so far (the previous level was Pitt Meadows at 17m).

Tuesday, Aug 14, 2001 (Day 58)

Well I thought yesterday’s campsite was pretty nice but today’s is a thousand times better. Don’t worry though; today’s journal wont compare with yesterday’s. Tonight I’m camped at the edge of a cliff overlooking the mighty “Fleuve St-Laurent”. This spot is also a scenic lookout, so I have the bonus of picnic tables and garbage cans! (I’m less concerned about concealing my campsite when I’m riding on these smaller highways). I got here around 7:30 and was able to get some pretty cool pictures of the sun setting over the river.

Other than this river view, the scenic highlight of the day was the bridge to Trois-Rivières. It is really impressive, although I wonder if it’s not over-engineered a little. Apart from that, many more small towns were the order of the day, and I actually ran into some hills towards the end (I might be approaching the Appalachian Mountains, not sure). Tomorrow I’ll pass along the South Shore of the city of Quebec and then on Thursday I should reach Rivière-du-Loup, and then turn south towards New Brunswick. For now, though, I’m going to bed.

Wednesday, Aug 15, 2001 (Day 59)

9:32pm: I’m lying here, starring through the mesh top of my tent at the beautiful star field above. The top of the tent is made of a net-like material, so when it’s not going to rain, I can leave the roof off and stare at the stars. Again tonight I’m camped along the St. Lawrence and again I was treated to a magnificent sunset. I also have neighbours tonight, a Chinese couple from Toronto who are out here on vacation (I’m camped at a rest stop, and they decided to spend the night here as well, although they’re sleeping in their car). Tonight I write my journal not to the sound of a train’s whistle or a ship’s horn or a truck’s engine but instead the sound of a cow “mooing”. Actually, it sounds more like moaning; I don’t think this is a very happy cow!

Talking to that Chinese couple tonight, I realised that’s the first time in days I’ve spoken English. I enjoy talking French though (don’t get many chance in Waterloo).

Today was quite a hilly day, especially after Quebec (although I didn’t actually go through Quebec since I stayed on the South Shore but I enjoyed passing through Levis, it’s a really pretty city).

Thursday, August 16, 2001 (Day 60)

9:17pm: Today was my last day cycling along the St. Lawrence and it might be fair to say they saved the best for last, but the last 3 days have all been scenic so it’s tough to judge. I’m camped at a municipal campsite in Rivière-du-Loup to take a shower and do laundry. Before heading out tomorrow, I’m also going to get my hair cut (it’s getting way to hot under my helmet.)

Today I biked a fine line between the mighty St. Lawrence to the north and the Notre-Dame Mountains to the south. The terrain was hilly, except for 15kms before Kamourasksa, which was perfectly flat and perfectly treeless so that I could see the town for that entire distance. (Ed note: this probably actually deserved an award for most unusual geography/geology of the trip – it was really weird – but I didn’t think of it.)

A nice westerly wind helped me make the entire 150km to Rivière-du-Loup; the first noticeable tailwind I’ve had in 2 weeks. Now that I’m alone, I’m setting my sights a little lower, so 150km is a strong day.

RDL is an interesting town, built on the side of a steep mountain, there’s easily a 300m vertical distance from 1 side of the town to the other. It also offers an impressive view of the Saguenay River and Tadoussac on the north shore of the St. Lawrence. Of course, it’s a big tourist town and popular with the whale watchers.

Friday, August 17, 2001 (Day 61)

9:52pm: Today I left the river and turned south towards New Brunswick. This means that the Notre-Dame Mountains I had been driving along; I was now crossing over and the westerly wind I had enjoyed yesterday was no longer so helpful. And so, it was a slow day; I also left Rivière-du-Loup late after doing laundry and getting a hair cut.

It’s really cool: there’s a bike path that also crosses these mountains from RDL to Edmunston. It’s gravel – unfortunately not much good for me – but still really popular. By the look of it, it’s probably a converted rail line. (Ed note: Yep) It’s actually designated a provincial park (in both provinces) albeit a very long and very narrow park: “Parc Linéaire” (Ed note: Linear Park).

I had hoped to reach NB today, but the factors mentioned in the first paragraph put that out of reach, so that will be on the orders of the day early tomorrow. Once I do, I’ll have a scenic 2-day drive along the St. John River all the way to Saint John. (Makes sense, eh?)

Saturday, August 18, 2001 (Day 62)

10:00pm: Last night I camped in Degelis, a small Quebec town (near the NB border) which is crossed by the Parc Linéaire bike trail and a dune buggy trail. I considered setting up my tent at the intersection of those trails, although a couple of drunk guys at the tavern across the road had we hesitating. Then I heard someone coming along on a dune buggy and was rather surprised when they stopped at the bike crossing and looked both ways before proceeding. (This didn’t seem like typical dune buggy driver behaviour). The driver was Jocelyn and it turns out he was patrolling the trails in town – a volunteer job he holds. This, along with the fact he had his young daughter in the seat behind him, probably explains the responsible driving. Anyways, the noise of his buggy made me even more hesitant about the decision but then he offered for me to camp in his backyard and so I took him up on the offer. Cycling through town, I noticed that dune-buggying seemed to be a popular pastime; there was one in almost every garage – with the cars usually relegated to the driveway or even street curb!

I woke up today anxious to hit the Maritimes and really eager to reach the Bay of Fundy. I did, of course, reach the Maritimes pretty quickly and the first impression was favourable; the NB Welcome Center was by far the nicest I’ve seen so far with huge flowered gardens and water fountains. Of course, being Canada’s only bilingual province, everything was bilingual. The Welcome sign was huge; so much so that we had trouble getting it into the photo. When I went inside it was raining; when I came back out it was sunny! I figured this had to be a good sign.

Shortly thereafter, I hit Edmunston. I was prepared to go back to talking English, but quickly found out that this is a French town.

Although I did have the excitement of my last land border crossing (PEI will be by bridge, NS and NFLD by ferry) today was a frustrating day in that I had hoped to get further than 100km. This was especially true in Edmunston: I had noticed that my rear wheel was partially out of true and so to avoid breaking spokes I decided to stop at the bike shop and have it trued. After leaving the bike shop, I got 2 blocks and broke a spoke!

Sunday, August 19, 2001 (Day 63) *

223.23 hilly kilometres!! to reach Fredericton. I had thought about making Fredericton today, but basically ruled out the idea. Even with 2 teammates to share the draft, that kind of distance through the mountains would be considered remarkable. Today though my body seemed to have something to prove and I just went along for the ride. I usually take rest stops on average every 25km but today my body just said “keep going” and so I did. Even after 100km I was roaring my way up hills as if I was going downhill. The result was my longest distance so far this trip and my lifetime single-day personal best. My pedalling time (9:59) was over an hour above the previous high time for the trip! As I pulled past the 200km mark, there was a pretty sunset to my left and the air was filled with the awesome scent of pine trees from the surrounding forests. It was a perfect day!

By the time I reached the town, though, it was well after sunset and pitch black. I scoured downtown for an appropriate campsite but that was futile (for some reason, there are no campgrounds in town). With the time going on midnight, I passed the Lord Beaverton hotel and decided to check myself in there for the night. Of course, being downtown it was expensive ($99) but it is a gorgeous hotel and after 223km I deserved it. Finally, one last record on this incredible day, the hotel (right on the Saint John River) is at 5m above sea level; my new lowest campsite (I feel like I should buy some rain boots).

Wednesday, August 23, 2001 (Day 66)

Back on the road today after a double rest day in the capital. The first day was completely unproductive: I think the highlight of my accomplishments was to order a pizza. I guess that 223km took everything I had. Yesterday went much better, until evening that is. I got all my errands done and then decided to go out for supper before biking out of town to set up camp. I really wanted to get an early night, so I left the restaurant in a hurry and left my helmet behind. When I did find a campsite, I frustratedly realised this and called the restaurant. For some reason, the girl couldn’t find it. I was so mad, I hardly slept at all. I eventually did get to sleep and woke up quite late. I went back into town, and sure enough my helmet was still at the restaurant.

One of the highlights of my time in Fredericton was meeting lots of other cyclists. Yesterday afternoon I went to a grocery store and just as I arrived, Kevin was leaving. He is cycling from Hamilton to St. John’s and so we chatted for a while. He was taking a few days off (staying at a hostel in town) because his knee was really sore. I told him about my prior knee troubles and about my brace. While we were talking, Tomas pulled up on a bike even more loaded than mine. He’s just finishing up an around-the-world cycling trip (started in Germany, through India, China, southern Asia, New Zealand, Chile, Mexico, US, and Canada! St. John’s is the end of his trip as well. It’s kind of neat that all three of us decided to do groceries at the same store at the same time. Kevin told me about 2 Aussie girls he had met the previous day who were crossing the country (Tomas almost abandoned his groceries to go catch them!) Earlier that day, I also met a guy and girl who were part of a 30-person team (from all over the country) that was cycling across Canada to raise awareness of air pollution. We decided that early September is possibly a popular time to finish a cross-Canada cycling trip and so all these groups are naturally converging around here. I actually ran into Kevin again the next morning and he was wearing exactly the same brace that I had been using. He too found it very helpful.

Fredericton is an interesting city, although smaller than I had thought. There were two ceremonial guards (the kind that have to stand still causing people to make a fool of themselves trying to get them to laugh) and every hour they would change the guard with a ceremony and a parade downtown (along Queen street) led by drums and bagpipes! I thought it was a bit much but I guess it’s a big tourist draw and typical for a capital city.

Fredericton is also quite near CFB Gagetown and yesterday the army was holding a training drill in town. The hotel manager explained that they were simulating a scenario whereby the city was being attacked by intruders from across the (St. John) river. And so they were apparently on the roof of the hotel spying on these attackers. The drill didn’t inspire much confidence though as most of the soldiers were more interested in wandering through the shops or flirting with girls. Fortunately, it’s probably not very likely that the town of North Fredericton will cross the river and invade Fredericton.

Today I followed a small road (102) through Oromocto and along the St. John River toward St. John. It was hilly the whole way, but there were a few monster climbs that were the steepest so far this trip. Tonight I’m camped for the last time on the St. John River in Evandale, right across from the Evandale Inn and Restaurant. From what I can see, this Inn is pretty much all there is to Evandale yet there’s a small, provincial ferry here that runs all night long. I can’t imagine there’s really any reason to run the ferry all night, but I won’t question the NB Department of Transportation. They are currently in the midst of reorganizing the highway system between Fredericton, St. John and Moncton (including a brand new 4-lane Trans-Canada Highway) which uses more direct routes and city bypasses. Unfortunately, my map was not up to date so that I found myself perplexed a couple of times as I was trying to navigate with a map that did not reflect the roads. I did get a new map though and was quite impressed by the changes; they make a lot of sense. Also, the roads in NB, both major and secondary, have been in excellent shape with almost no cracks or potholes. It makes cycling much nicer!

Thursday, Aug 23, 2001 (Day 67)

9:31pm: When I woke up this morning, I’m pretty sure I was still camped beside the St. John River (since neither rivers nor tents tend to move overnight) but I couldn’t see it (or anything else) because of a thick fog. As I cycled throughout the morning, the fog slowly lifted, dramatically revealing more and more of the river and its surrounding mountains. The river here is interesting: it’s quite wide (in French, it’s even called a “fleuve”) but with many islands and meandering channels. The terrain along the shore was very hilly. My route left the river for a bit, only to rejoin it at its mouth and gateway to the St. John harbour on the Bay of Fundy.

This is also the location of St. John’s primary attraction, the Reversing Falls. At this point, there is a gorge with many rapids and waterfalls (at low tide at least). As the tide rises, the level of the water in the bay matches that of the river so that there is no longer any current (called “low stall”). As the tide continues to rise, the current reverses causing rapids and waterfalls flowing upstream (towards Fredericton). Once the tide again begins to drop, another equilibrium point is reached (high stall) after which the river again begins to drain normally with the greatest rapids visible at the lowest tide levels. Boats can only navigate the river around the stall points when there are no rapids. I was there just after low stall, so that the river was flowing backwards but it was still pretty calm. Of course, to really appreciate the phenomenon you would want to witness an entire cycle, but I didn’t have that kind of time.

After the reversing falls, I drove through the city of St. John – quite a bit larger than Fredericton – and centered, of course, around its harbour. I also (kind of) got my first glimpse of the magnificent Bay of Fundy. I say “kind of" because I couldn’t actually see any waster, just a large patch of incredibly thick fog which I assume must have been on the bay because there was no fog anywhere else. But that’s ok, cause tomorrow, no “kind of” about it I will see the bay, feel the bay, walk through the bay (at low tide), kayak the bay (at high tide). I’m currently camped 44km from Alma – where I’ll be doing all of this – and so tomorrow will be a bay day! I’m also camped at a quarry for probably the 3^rd or 4^th time this trip. Another perfectly clear night tonight, so I’m lying in bed starring at the stars. I’m going to miss this. (Ed note: yes, I do)

Friday, August 24, 2001 (Day 68) *

Today I saw the Bay of Fundy, no ifs, ands or buts about it. The day started pretty early – around 5am – when I was awakened by rain falling on my head! Last night the sky was perfectly clear so I decided to leave the roof off the tent, but I guess I’m in the Maritimes now and the weather can change pretty quickly. So I ran outside, threw on the roof and got back inside as quickly as possible. The rain only lasted half an hour and I didn’t get back to sleep, so at 6:00 I was up and getting ready to leave. I was also pretty excited about my bay day.

I had 44k to go to Alma, which is where my kayaking reservation was, and it started very slowly with lots of painfully steep climbs. Not too far from Alma (in Fundy National Park) there was a sign saying I was at 366m above sea level. Since the Bay of Fundy is at sea level, I had to go down. Well I did, in one huge, steep, windy hill. I hit my maximum speed of the trip, 72.6km/hr, and would have even surpassed that but I had to ride my brakes to avoid hitting a minivan in front of me. That was obviously quite frustrating and I tried to pass him a few times but heavy traffic coming up the hill prevented that. The minivan did try to speed up to accommodate me, but he obviously cannot take the sharp turns as well as I can (he would flip) so it was futile. With the speed limit at 50km/hr, I think that’s the most I’ve ever sped.

I got into Alma at low tide and once again could hardly see the water, this time because it was so far away. I had to walk along the bottom at a good pace for about 15 minutes to get to water. I also had to pick my path carefully, as there were little streams and patches of deep mud. I traded my biking shoes for my sandals and went out to watch the tide come back in. It was unreal watching the water overtake the land at walking pace. A couple of times it came in from the sides and stranded my on an island – an island which was rapidly sinking – but that was no big problem with my sandals. As it advances, the air trapped under the rocks bubbles so that the ocean seems to be boiling. I had to constantly walk inwards; any time I stopped I would get my feet wet. There was a family playing with their dogs on the beach and – while the dogs were loving it – they were noticeably suspicious of the moving water; stopping a few times to sniff it.

When the tide was mostly up, the water was just a few feet from shore and the boats in the harbour were once again afloat; it was time for me to go meet my kayaking group. The guides were really thorough; we spent about an hour going over the waivers along with equipment and dry-land training. Once we got in the water, it was really awesome. The wind was pretty strong, creating huge waves about 1½ feet high. I never imagined you could kayak in that kind of water but the boats were really stable. As the waves came, they would push us along; it was almost like we were surfing. I was one of the two people in a single boat – there were five double kayaks. We stopped for lunch at some beach along the National Park. Unfortunately, the guides decided that with the waves being so high, it wasn’t safe to take us back out and so they had to cancel the second half of the trip. This was kind of disappointing of course, bit it was still a really fun experience. I lay here listening to the roar of the ocean, for the first time this trip!

In the evening, there were 2 French-speaking couples from Lac St. Jean who were playing a game on the beach similar to horseshoes whereby they would throw these heavy metal balls trying to get them to land as close as possible to a red target ball. I watched for a bit and then played with them until it was so dark we couldn’t see anything. And even though it was a perfectly clear evening, I put the roof on my tent.

And so I finally got to explore the Bay of Fundy and it was pretty cool. The attraction, of course, is the world’s largest tides. And while I was here, I finally figured out why that’s the case. In brief, the length of the bay is exactly right such that it takes a tide swell (a standing wave) 13 hours to travel the length and back which is the amount of time between high tides. This resonance causes the tide magnitude to be amplified, kind of sounds like stuff I’m doing in my electrical engineering courses.

Saturday, August 25, 2001 (Day 69)

9:32pm: Well in case anyone was dying to know, last night I did have the roof on my tent and it didn’t rain. It was still a good decision though because it got extremely cold. I woke up around 4am and the wind was ferocious and the waves sounded like they were crashing just a foot away. I knew there was a high tide around 5am so I started thinking I was going to be swept into the ocean. I tried to verify the distance of the water but it was pitch black outside and I couldn’t see anything. Of course I knew I was actually in no danger, just a bit of silly paranoia, so I went back to sleep and all was fine.

Once on the road, I biked through Moncton and picked a route that also took me through its neighbouring cities: Riverview and Dieppe. Together, I’m told, often called the “tri-cities region”. The cities sit along the Peticodiac River; I would love to say the beautiful Peticodiac River, but I really can’t cause its little more than a path of brown mud with a trickle of water running down the middle. I’m not sure if the low water is caused by the dam upstream (at Peticodiac Lake) or by low tide on the bay or what. The brown clay-like mud also makes the water brown, giving it the nickname “Chocolate River”. The city of Moncton itself, however, was very nice with friendly people. I made only one quick stop for groceries and then just flew through town.

Tonight I’m camped at a campsite in order to have a shower and do laundry. This will be my last laundry till St. John’s, although hopefully I’ll get a few more showers – it’s really nice to shower after days of biking. Again tonight I’m camped on the shore as the campsite borders Shediac Bay, which opens onto the Northumberland Strait. Tomorrow I will cross that Strait via the Confederation Bridge to hit PEI. Also camped here is a hovercraft, which is kind of cool because I don’t think I’ve seen one before. It runs on water, land, ice… I’m just dying to see it pass me on the highway. It apparently will be leaving tomorrow morning, but I’ll probably be out pretty early so I don’t know if I’ll get to see it. Also camped with me are the 2 French couples who camped with me last night. They passed me on the highway twice (honking feverishly) and by coincidence we both ended up camping here.

Well, 1 entire journal book done. As I realise I’ve come to the last line of this book, so let me end here.

Sunday, August 26, 2001 (Day 70)

9:04pm: There’s something neat about biking on Price Edward Island; I don’t know if it’s the freaky red soil or maybe just the fact that no matter how far I go in any direction, I’m always beside the ocean. Indeed, tonight, for the third consecutive night, I’m camped along the shore (got to love the Maritimes) and for the second consecutive night, I’m on the Northumberland Strait (but this time on the other side). I crossed that strait today via the Confederation Bridge by shuttle bus. I tried to get them to let me bike it, but they wouldn’t, not surprisingly. Tomorrow I will again cross that strait on the 1½ hour ferry ride to Nova Scotia.

I started the morning by doing the last 60km or so in NB, an area which was entirely French (this is the Acadian regions). I noticed this last night in Shediac as well. Also, from Moncton to here, I hit several roundabouts on the highway, which is pretty unusual in Canada (these are the first I’ve seen this trip). At the bridge, I had to wait over an hour for the shuttle and then, of course, another 15 minutes to cross. The bridge itself is magnificent; what else can I say, truly impressive. Also impressive was Gateway Village, an entire village of tourist traps right at the PEI side of the bridge. I bought an Anne of Green Gables snow globe for my mom – as she had requested – and mailed it to her. The island itself was surprising hilly, although a tailwind helped a bit and I’m now camped on the outskirts of Charlottetown. I am a little concerned though; I hadn’t counted on waiting so long for the shuttle and had hoped to get further today. My schedule for making my flight in St. John’s is becoming really tight and I’m going to need to start getting some strong distances, especially if I encounter serious mountains in NS or NFLD.

I just went outside to take a pee, and there, staring at me from above was the Big Dipper. I wasn’t even looking at the stars, but it was just so obvious my eyes caught it. I have never seen it so clearly.

Monday, August 27, 2001 (Day 71) *

Another day, another province! Once again, got to love the Maritimes! The highlight of the day today would have to be a visit to Province House, which contains the Confederation Chamber (the birthplace of Canada) along with the PEI legislature. It is here in the Confederation Chamber that the Fathers of Confederation first met on September 1, 1864 at the Charlottetown Conference to discuss Confederation. Represented at the Conference were delegates from the 4 British Colonies: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Canada (which included Sir John A. MacDonald, future first Prime Minister). No paperwork came out of the conference; nothing was signed; that was done a month later at the Quebec conference. The result of the Charlottetown conference was simply an agreement on an idea: Canada. At the time, the Chamber was actually home of the Senate of PEI. Like all provinces, PEI once had an upper house but has since abolished it. The lower house met, and continues to meet, on the other side of the building (Canada’s 2^nd oldest active legislative chamber). With 27 seats (Canada’s smallest legislative assembly) it is best described as “cute”. It was really interesting to see the room where this great country was born. Also interesting was the video being shown, called “A Great Dream” which said that the Fathers of Confederation dreamed of a great country where all Canadians could fulfill their dreams. That alone makes it an interesting stop on this journey, as I do exactly that.

That was only part of a busy day though. I also cycled through downtown Charlottetown and the University of PEI. In the morning, I had some shopping to do, which is where I met another cyclist: John. He’s from Victoria, a student at McMaster University in Hamilton and he’s biking across the Maritimes from Moncton to St. John’s. We cycled together to the Wood Islands Ferry (it was strange having a cycling partner again). It was kind of humbling too though, because he was enormously powerful and able to drop me at will, no matter how hard I tried to stay with him. We parted at Wood Islands (I decided to take the last evening ferry, while he decided to stay the night. The ferry across the Northumberland Strait was interesting (although it was late and I was tired). Both docks seemed unusually difficult to reach as the ferry had to wind through a narrow, windy channel of red and green buoys. It made it interesting to watch, especially at night. The 1 hour and 15 minute ride was also a final reminder of how impressive the Confederation Bridge is. I camped immediately on the other shore, in Caribou, NS.

Tuesday, August 28, 2001 (Day 72)

10:46pm: Today was one of those days where I just really wanted to bike but kept on having to stop for one reason or another. That was the case right from the start when I woke up to find a flat tire, so I had to fix that before even leaving camp. In doing so, I broke one of the tire irons on my beloved Alien multi-tool which forced me to make a stop at a bike shop in Antigonish. Then, it happened again:

1) I notice my wheel is untrue and so to prevent breaking spokes decide to have it trued.

2) Spend 30 minutes at the bike shop having my wheel trued

3) 5 minutes later, break a spoke

4) Spend 30 minutes fixing the spoke

5) End up back where I started with an untrue wheel (although this time I actually took a bit more time and was able to true it pretty accurately with the brake pads.

And so it was a somewhat frustrating day but I did still get a decent distance so it’s not so bad. Nova Scotia also gave me a few nice ocean views along with an unusual sunset where the sun was a large, fire-engine red circle. It was so strange; I almost fell off my bike!

From here on in, the rest of the trip will be spent on an island (Cape Breton for the day tomorrow, and then of course Newfoundland for the rest). I’m currently camped at the Cape Breton Island Welcome Center with an impressive view of the Cano Causeway which bridges the Cano Strait to connect the island with mainland Nova Scotia.

The causeway, it turns out, is the deepest in the world (217ft). It is 80ft wide at the surface but over 800ft at the ocean floor. At 4300 ft in length, it required over 10 million tons of rock and cost $20 million (it opened in 1955).

There is a huge mine operating on the other side of the strait and so I am sitting here watching tractors, trains, and ships scurry back and forth. I’m quite a bit above it though, so from here it merely looks like a really realistic (and complex) model toy set.

Tomorrow I bike 145km to North Sydney, on the other side of the island, where I will get my NFLD ferry at 9:00am the next morning.

Wednesday, Aug 29, 2001 (Day 73)

“The inventor looks upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by an idea. The spirit of invention possesses him, seeking materialization” –Alexander Graham Bell

1:30 am (the next morning): Today was a historical day. For starters I visited the Alexander Graham Bell National Historical Site in Baddock, which is where he had his second home (his first home was in Washington, though he was born in Scotland). Also, I saw the site where Scottish explorers first landed; the birthplace of New Scotland (which is, of course, the translation of Nova Scotia). Also on a historical note, I mentioned the other day that PEI had the country’s second oldest active legislature. I have now found out that Nova Scotia has the oldest. Finally, my time in Nova Scotia is itself history as I’m camped tonight at the ferry terminal and tomorrow morning I will board the Caribou towards Port-Aux-Basques, NFLD. But before I get back to that, let me take a moment to talk about Nova Scotia. I had written it off as an annoying 2 days between majestic PEI and mysterious NFLD but it provided me with 2 days of incredible scenery. And I didn’t even get to travel the Cabot Trail which is supposed to be 1000 times better and has even been called the most beautiful scenery in the world (I had to cancel that part of my route because school starts next week and I have run out of time). Indeed there’s more to “Canada’s Ocean Playground” province than I had given it credit for, especially beautiful Cape Breton Island with its inland sea, Bras d’Or, and I will to give it more attention on my next crossing.

Once I got to North Sydney, I took care of all my errands (internet, groceries, shower, phone home). And so with a new set of clothes, I prepare to head to a new province (Canada’s newest – NFLD joined Confederation in 1949). I have already set my clocks ahead 30 minutes to NFLD time. While I won’t actually reach the Rock until 3pm, the ferry itself is really part of the Newfie experience. I am quite anxious to explore this strange province about which I know so little.

Thursday, August 30, 2001 (Day 74) **

8:48pm: Let me backtrack to last night for a bit. The NFLD ferries are operated by Marine Atlantic and their North Sydney Ferry Terminal is really nice. There’s a restaurant, bar, TV lounge, kids area, but also some extra nice features like showers. It’s also open 24hrs which is nice and the staff is really friendly. They filled up my water bottles form their bottled water fountain and allowed me to plug in my camera battery charger behind the counter. While it was charging I called home and took a shower and then was very proud of myself when I came up with the idea of drying my towel using the hot air hand dryer which worked beautifully. My mom, btw, was thrilled with the snow globe of Anne of Green Gables.

Surrounding me on the walls of the building were posters about Newfoundland talking about it’s National Park (Gros Morne) whose mountains are 20 times older than the Rockies; its coastline, where icebergs migrating south cross paths with whales migrating north (2 of the natural wonder of the world, side by side); the oldest city in North America (St. John’s); the land were the sun rises on the new world every morning; a land where the Northern Lights are visible 220 days of the year and where the people are as friendly as they are interesting. They say there are even places where no person has ever set foot. Indeed, it was well after my bedtime but I was so anxious and excited about exploring Newfoundland I wasn’t interested in sleep. I was also very excited about the ferry ride (my longest ever boat trip).

There was a panel commemorating the 100^th year (1989) of the North Sydney to Port-Aux-Basques ferry service. This was really interesting, with tons of information about the ships then and now. The flagship at that time was the SS Caribou (named after the animal displayed on NFLD’s coat of arms). It was the largest ship in the fleet until – believe it or not – it was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in 1942 and sunk, killing 137 people! It was obviously a very different time back then; I couldn't possibly imagine my ferry being torpedoed. The current flagship of Marine Atlantic (largest superferry in Canada and largest in the world at the time of construction) was named the MV Caribou in honour of its predecessor. (SS stands for Steam Ship, MV stands for Motorized Vessel). I later found out that the Caribou would be my boat to the Rock. From the pamphlet:

Automobiles: 370
Tractor trailers: 77
Passengers 1200
Cabins: 49
Dormitory sleepers: 112
Length: 179 meters
Breadth: 25 meters
Displacement: 16,203 tonnes
Engines: 4 MAK diesels of 7000HP each
Max speed: 22 knots

All of this had me downright giddy, and I didn’t get to sleep till about 3am when I decided that if I didn’t go to sleep then I would probably sleep though my 9am ferry and miss the whole thing. I really didn’t feel like going outside at that point in time to set up a tent but Tim the security guy suggested there was a lounge upstairs with padded benches that I could sleep on. He even offered to make sure I was up in time to board. It didn’t take much convincing so I grabbed my sleeping bag and went to sleep upstairs. I awoke around 7am and there she was, out my bedroom window, a huge ship about 1km off shore, proudly displaying her nameplate: Caribou. I went out on the patio to watch her dock and then put away my sleeping bag to get ready to board.

I peddled out to the waiting area and was only there long enough to eat half a bagel when one of the traffic directors said I could board right way. None of the cars were allowed on yet and I was thrilled to be the first passenger on board. “Well”, he said, “you can finish your bagel first”, but I just threw it in my pocket and said “that’s ok”. I wanted to explore the ship. He chuckled. Well, it was as impressive as the posters suggested with features you would expect on a cruise but not a ferry: movies on large screens, lounge with live entertainment, restaurants, cafeteria and snack bar, private cabins and public dormitories, etc…

I went up to the front of the boat to watch us undock and head out to the open sea. I also got a good view of the city of Sydney (and finished my bagel!) The rolling waves had a soothing effect though and the lack of sleep quickly caught up to me. I remembered seeing the dorms when I first toured the boat and the doors were unlocked so I went up there, grabbed a bed and took a nap. I woke up about 3 hours later with the huge ocean waves outside my window. I went back up to the front of the boat; I could just barely make out the faint outline of land: my first view of Newfoundland! I grabbed some lunch at Mr. Sub (onboard) and went to watch the docking.

Once on the island, I had my photo taken at the welcome sign and looked around the welcome center. I biked for a bit but was really tired. I also was a little lonely: it was nice have a security guard to chat with at 3am, but now I was once again by myself in the world. I camped early (and there was little traffic on the road so I didn’t even bother to hide). Just as I was about to go to bed, I heard a car pull up and stop. I figured that was probably bad news, then I looked outside and saw that it was a police car and figured that was even worse! I expected him to come tell me I can’t camp there or something, but he just sat there for a few minutes then put on his flashing lights and took off after a car. 15 minutes later he was back, and did the same thing, this time nailing a tractor trailer. It was a speed trap; I went to sleep.

Saturday, Sept 1, 2001 (Day 76)

9:28pm: Wow, Corner Brook is a really beautiful city; surrounded by huge mountains and centered on the Humber Arm of the Bay of Islands. With only a few days left, it will be tough to beat for most beautiful city of the trip. It also demonstrates one of the many little NFLD quirks: I crossed about a dozen brooks today, whereas I don’t think I crossed any in the rest of Canada (they would have been called creeks or even rivers).

Something I forgot to mention in my super long last message. When I entered the province I not only saw the welcome center but also my first St. John’s distance sign: 890km. This is something I had been waiting to see for a long time.

Shortly thereafter, I broke a spoke, which has become a daily occurrence lately, which is incredibly frustrating since it takes so long to fix. I believe my rear wheel is finished since it is also unable to hold true for more than 15 minutes! Also, the holes that the spokes go through at the hub are becoming deformed and rough, causing me to break the same 3 or 4 spokes over and over again. I’ll probably put up with it though and buy a new wheel in Waterloo.

Last night I camped beside a meadow or something. The ground was covered in grass and small bushes, but if I stood anywhere for more than a few seconds I kind of started to sink though the ground. It was also weird since the area was totally flat but surrounded everywhere by huge mountains. I’m told this landscape is tectonically formed.

Today was a good day; I was biking by 8am and finished the day with 190km, which included a stop in Corner Brook for groceries. I also didn’t break a spoke, which was nice. The wind was incredibly fierce but also totally confused (it was all over the compass). It tended to blow in sudden strong gusts that nearly sent me to the pavement a couple of times. A number of big, black clouds have moved in tonight and it sure looks like I’m in for a nasty storm. I tried to find a dry place to sleep at the one restaurant here, but they were unaccommodating. Well the trip is definitely nearing its end, especially since I’ve been managing good distances. I’m in my 10^th of 10 provinces, my 6^th of 6 time zones, looking at my 24^th of 24 maps. The goal is for me to spend 4 more days (of about 150km each) to reach St. John’s on Wednesday, Sept. 5 (Day 80). I’ll then have the day Thursday to pack up my bike and do my other errands. My flight is on Friday at 6:10am. I arrive in Montreal at 7:50am where Dad has rented a van to pick me and my bike up. I’ll spend that day packing in Montreal and then he’ll drive me and stuff to Waterloo on Saturday. Sunday I unpack and start school on Monday. Crazy, eh? So that’s why I need to keep pushing at 150km/day cause there’s really no give to this schedule. So far, it has worked though I’ll see if I can keep it up.

Sunday, Sept 2, 2001 (Day 77)

3 days to go. Boy that sounds weird! Well, I did get a storm last night: the wind was incredibly strong and it poured for hours. By morning there were litres of water in the tent. I had tied down the tarp on my bike but it still managed to blow off within 15 minutes and I decided it was futile to go fix it. And so I didn’t actually start cycling till 2pm today as I had to clean up the water and dry things off. This brings me to one of NFLD’s other little quirks, the forest fire danger here is listed as “low” whereas in the rest for the country it is off the scale extreme. I guess now I know why. Another little quirk is that everybody here says “Good Day”. I thought that was an Aussie thing but I guess the Newfies do it too.

Traffic on the Trans-Canada is very light – probably lighter than any other province; it’s more like what I would encounter on the secondary roads – even though it’s Labour Day long weekend. Unfortunately, road-side services are much fewer as well, often over 100km apart, so I have had to be very careful with water. Yesterday I had to cross NFLD’s huge Long Range Mountains. And so I was rather grateful that the Humber River Valley provided an almost perfectly flat pass (it was actually the flattest section of the day!). I was equally grateful that the Dept. of Transportation chose to run the highway through that pass (hey, these are Newfies, after all).

Another NFLD quirk is these strange chipmunk-like animals that make a really weird chirping sound. They’re everywhere; I’ve heard them at all my campsites. They’re also really cute and not very afraid of me.

Well the weather improved today; the clouds were mostly gone by afternoon and the wind regained some self control. Once I did get biking, I managed 143km to just past Grand Falls. I have been biking extremely well through NFLD (which is good because I don’t really have a choice); yesterday I managed 110km before lunch (a trip record) and today I biked 61 km before my first break (also a trip record). And so even with the storm causing me to lose half the day, I’m still ahead of my schedule to reach St. John’s! Let’s hope it continues.

I had another “last” today as I hit my last 1000km milestone by reaching the 8000km mark of the trip. Tomorrow should bring several more, as I take my last shower and do my last groceries when I get to Gander (my last city before St. John’s). Also, tomorrow I celebrate Labour Day by, well, biking!

Monday, Sept 3, 2001 (Day 78)

9:00pm: 2 days to go! Crazy! Also crazy was the temperature last night, I’m sure it was close to freezing, and so was I. This morning I could see my breath, although that was the case in BC as well. The other thing I saw today was a pair of moose – one big one and one baby – crossing the road. Still haven’t seen any bears though.

Today was a bit of a disappointing day; I had planned on doing groceries in Gander but everything was closed because of Labour Day and I had planned on showering at a campsite in Terra Nova National Park but a broken spoke just before sunset forced me to camp a few kms shy of the campground. And so both of those errands are moved to tomorrow. I also want to get good distance tomorrow so as to get to St. John’s as early as possible on Wednesday. And so I’ll be looking for a strong day tomorrow. With that said, I’m going to end here and go to bed.

Tuesday, September 4 (Day 79)

9:22pm: 1 day to go: Unbelievable! But hold on a sec! It was an incredibly tough goal: cross NFLD with 6 consecutive 150km days. I have never been able to do that before; not even close. Yet, until now, it was easy (I even came very close one day when I started at 2pm)

Biking across Canada, though, is not easy and today I was reminded of that. For starters, I just didn’t have it today. My legs were mush; they had nothing left. Add to that a really tough headwind and some strong climbs. Plus, I had to stop for groceries and a shower. The result: I came no where close to my distance and I sit now 180km from St. John’s. In some ways though it was a good reminder that this trip is not easy and it will make my arrival in St. John’s tomorrow (if I make all) all the sweeter. That, of course, brings up the possibility that I may not actually make it to St. John’s tomorrow, especially if this wind continues. And so maybe this is my last night on the road, but we’ll see.

In certain respects, today was a good day to go slowly because it was probably the most scenic day of the trip, as I looped around many rivers and bays and sounds (what exactly is a sound?), the fingers of the ocean through Terra Nova National Park. It was also hilly, and so there were many waterfalls, to the point I could almost perpetually hear the sound of crashing water; as I got far enough from one to silence it, I would start hearing another.

Tonight, I camped at the town of Clarenceville Welcome Center. These welcome centers are great!

Wednesday, Sept 5, 2001 (Day 80) *

6:30am: A nice, early start on what may be the final day of this journey. As has become usual for NFLD, I’m shrouded by a thick fog but the yellow glow of the sun just rising above the treeline promises to make short work of that. Also as is usual, the tent and bike are soaken wet from the morning due, to the point there’s actually even a small puddle forming inside my tent and it hasn’t rained.

I just happened to read my journal entry for day 1. It was an awesome day as we totally surpassed our expectations to be able to take the ferry off the island. That day started at “Mile 0” and so maybe today I will again have an incredible day to reach “Mile 0” and make it my last day. I will push with everything I have. There is, after all, no reason to save energy anymore.

Saturday, September 8, 2001 (Epilogue) *

The power of the human will is incredibly strong, but so is the power of fate. On Wednesday, I was determined to get to St. John’s. 180km is a long distance but this was my dream and I wanted to accomplish it and nothing else mattered. When I got a flat tire, I though that was pretty crappy luck on my last day but I fixed it as quickly as I could to keep going. Then I got a second flat. What are the odds? That’s when I realised I had a hole in my tire. I put a tire boot in. Then another flat; the boot had ripped through. This was starting to throw a wrench in my St. John’s plans but I was still determined to make it. In a desperate attempt to keep that dream alive, I put my last two boots over the big hole, hoping that would get me to St. John’s. I also put my last patch on my last tube. I was getting pretty hungry by this point so it would have been a good occasion to take lunch but I wanted to bike instead.

Even though I was biking extremely hard – well beyond my normal limits – all the flats had delayed me and I was 30km from my goal about 30 minutes after sunset when I was pulled over by an RCMP car. Of course, I asked if I was speeding, drawing a chuckle, but he actually pulled me over to tell me it was getting dark! Well, he also wanted to let me know that the area is really bad for moose and tractor trailers at night and that there was a provincial park at the next exit with a nice campsite. He was really friendly though, and told me to do whatever I though best. I thought back to the one piece of advice that Bruce gave me before leaving: be aware of traffic and wildlife; both can kill you. Although I so badly wanted St. John’s I decided it didn’t make sense to continue, especially with my crippled bike. I still had not taken lunch, after 155km, my new record by very very far!

That night it poured for hours, soaking all my stuff and my spirits too. I got a late start on Thursday but once I was back on the highway the signs for St. John’s got my adrenaline going again and I started to move. Until I got a flat. 15km out. With no more patches, I resorted to walking, but that was tediously slow. I had planned on replacing my rear wheel in Waterloo (since it had been breaking so many spokes lately) so I decided to bike on it anyways. So, with one tire flat, I crawled into St. John’s and headed for the “Mile 0” marker, but it wasn’t there! Finally, I asked for directions and found out that they tore it down to build a hockey arena (Ironically, called Mile 1 Arena). There was, however, a “Canada Starts here” sign and so I made that the official end of my journey and got some photos.

I still had a lot of work to do of course but the locals really helped me out, starting with Bill (of Bill’s Cycle and Sports) who picked me up in his van, drove me to his bike shop to fix my tire (even though it was closed) then drove me to Business Depot to get some bubble wrap and to a hotel near the airport. Brent (the porter at Airport Plaza Hotel) took over from there, driving me to the airport to get some bike bags and to a store for some postcards.

By the time all this was done and I had gotten supper it was nearly 11:00 and I set to packing up my bike. I was done around 3am and Brent drove me and my stuff to the airport to wait for my flight at 6:10.

The flight was nice; took off 5 minutes early and landed 30 minutes early. I went up to the cockpit and chatted with the pilots (they were really interested in my trip). I ended up going back to sit in the jump seat for the landing, offering me a beautiful aerial view of Montreal from the huge cockpit windows. A perfect ending to my journey and my dream!