We have just been visited by 20 (yes, 20!) young cyclists on a two month tour of British Columbia. They are part of this year’s Otesha series of informative rides – see The Otesha Project They were here for 5 days, and are quite an inspirational group of young people.
We tried to fit them all into our house for a meal on arrival!
This weekend in Courtenay, BC we were visited by three very interesting cyclists! Dave and Christian just setting out on the beginning of their round the world trip, and Rob just finishing his after 5 1/2 years on the road!
Here they are about to head North from our house. Christian and Dave at the start, and Rob nearing the end of their adventures!
For our non-Canadian friends, this is not normal! Usually at this time of year, we are enjoying double digit temperatures while the rest of Canada freezes! On the evening TV news we watch them struggling with lots of snow, and have a quiet chuckle to ourselves and maybe go cut the lawn or play golf!
But now the boot is on the other foot! We are struggling with that white stuff called snow, and the rest of Canada enjoy their evening newsreels watching us dig our homes and cars out from under! Up here in Courtenay, we got 2 feet (60cms) of it!
But hey Ontario – just you wait until February……!
Now take a look at our photos…!
Here is my “training” ride for this year’s BC Lung Trek. Starting from Jasper, I covered 720 kms in 6 riding days. Best day was 140 kms, but averaged 120k per day. Climbed a total of 4,700 metres including 2 mountain passes. Most exciting ride was down Kicking Horse Pass, where I was able to use the traffic lanes (no vehicles in sight) and did not touch my brakes all the way down! Fastest was 71 kph without pedaling descending Sunwapta, and I hit this going through a corner with a speed limit sign posted in big black on yellow letters “50 kph” – ah well, that was meant for cars wasn’t it?!
Lots of hill climbs this trip, but biggest surprise was heading out of Vernon – thought the mountains were behind me, but spent a hour in low, low gear to get up that one! From there to Kelowna where I flew to Vancouver, ferry to Nanaimo Duke Point, then my last day pedaling back to Courtenay – Maxine was going to meet me in Nanaimo and drive home, but that plan didn’t quite work out!.
Read on for some photos:
We have just been visited by Jose on his 7 year (YES – “Seven YEARS” !) round the world cycling oddesy! Not only is Jose a cyclist, but he can also cook! He made us a lovely Spanish meal complimented by a nice Spanish wine! For all you folks on the Lower Mainland, Jose will be wintering in Vancouver. He has a slide show of his trips and can be contacted via his website where you can also read all about his adventures:bicicletos
Here is Jose about to leave Courtenay and head north! If you read this Jose, drop in again and next time we will cook!