A Mini-Guidebook to Cycle Touring in Central America
The Number One Question: Why? This is often the first question we are asked, and perhaps the most difficult to answer. Why do we cycle tour? Why travel at all? Lots of books and articles have been written listing reasons to travel. The truth is that there are many reasons, but no particular reason at all is necessary. In other words, go out and explore the world, even if you don’t have a good “reason”. You are guaranteed to be rewarded, at least if you take your time, live in the moment, and keep an open mind and attitude. Why travel to Central America? It’s an unbelievably dense region both…
Cycling + Sex Hotels = Big Bang
Lately we developed a serious obsession with one of the most successful TV shows of all times, “The Big Bang Theory”. When people ask me how did we start watching the program, as it is well known that we don’t have a TV, I reply: “Oh, we became addicted to it while cycling in Central America”. Most people raise their eyebrows and say: “How did that happen?!” As I find getting hooked on a TV show while cycle touring quite surprising myself, I decided to ‘unravel the mystery’, and tell the true story of how cycling and sex hotels created a Big Bang. While cycle touring you very often find yourself…
Pipeline Protest: Putting the Rest of Us to Shame
Two weekends ago we went to an anti-pipeline protest in Duncan, on Vancouver Island (there were simultaneous demonstrations all over BC). The demonstration was small, much smaller than it should have been: where were the rest of the 5,000 or so residents of Duncan? Based on the newspaper reports Vancouver had the same issue – it seems to be a general problem in the western world, at least: the populace is lulled into a sense of apathy, leaving the field wide open for the guys with the ever deepening pockets. Not that I’ve done much, mind you. The whole idea of the pipelines is outrageous, really. No matter how they…
Living the Moment in Central America (Video)
For five months Gili and I rode our bikes around Central America on a journey from Panama to Belize and all the countries in between. Not taking the direct route allowed us to explore, connect with people, take our time and truly live in the moment… I couldn’t think of a better song than U2’s “Stuck in a Moment” to describe the feeling that I had while riding in the heat and in the hills, not thinking about anything except from the moment I was “stuck in”, in a good way 🙂
Sloquet Hot Springs: The Thirty Something Trip
November. The month of desperation. The month in which we change our clocks backwards and let darkness set an hour earlier. The month of rain, as the Guns n’ Roses song goes. It’s also the perfect time of year to visit some local hot springs. I have to admit that when the weekend got closer I was less than enthusiastic about leaving the comfort of our cozy apartment. It seems that by November I am more than ready to adapt to the urban life style almost completely. But Pascale and Ignacio were keen on going and Gili too. So eventually I was convinced and off we went early Saturday morning. Ignacio drove, which was…
Mt. Seymour: A Few Favourites
Mt. Seymour is probably my favourite hike on the North Shore. When we parked the car, I realized I probably share this sentiment with many others, but despite the full parking lot we didn’t see that many people on the trail (where did they go?!). The thing about this trail is that it provides excellent “bang for the buck” – one ends up on a mountain top, but most of the elevation gain is done by car, and it takes only a short while to arrive at the First Pump and the glorious views of the snowy and volcanic Garibaldi Massif, Judge Howay, and Mt. Baker (sometimes). This also provided…
The Chief: Escape from the Fog
The fog engulfed us for over a week. I woke up each morning just to see a dense grey cloud outside our window, with no sign of the sun. Yes, it led to a mysterious atmosphere: I imagined stalkers lurking, waiting for their prey, and was almost run over by a few cars while riding my bike around town. However, after a few days the fog got kind of old, and we considered praying for the sun to come back. In the end, all that was necessary was a short drive out of town to Chief Stawamus, also known as The Chief. During an inversion, cold moist air hangs low…
Princeton-Keremeos Loop: Apples, Samosas and Plenty of Sunshine
Thanksgiving long weekend offered another opportunity for a short getaway. While most Canadians were busy eating turkey and pumpkin pies, we were free to do as we wished, although we did eat a very good pumpkin pie. On Friday I worked very hard on baking eight pumpkin pies. We sold seven of them through Cherry on a Bike (our small baking business), and the eighth one was left for us. We took it with us on the trip and had a little Thanksgiving spirit too. When you live in BC you have a lot to be thankful for, but the weather is not necessarily always one of them. But having…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Metro Vancouver & North Shore, Trip Reports, Urban
Steveston: A Fall Ride Full of Treats
As fall arrives we need to think about more “close to the city” activities. The ride to Steveston is one of our favourite rides in the area, and it is especially appreciated during the shoulder seasons. The first weekend of fall this year seemed like a “stay in the city” kind of weekend, so we decided to ride to Steveston. We took the Ontario Bike Street to Marpole in south Vancouver. In Marpole we noticed many signs calling for “No Rezoning in Marpole”, it looked like a real battle. We connected with the elegant Cambie cycling (and Skytrain) bridge and crossed over to Richmond. Then a short ride down some side streets and we were on the dike trail that…
Blowdown Pass: The Perfect Combo
The forecast looked good for the weekend, so we were excited to get out for yet another September hike. There is something really great about hiking in September – usually we are more in shape, I am actually enthusiastic about hiking, there are less bugs and of course there are berries. Blowdown Pass seemed to offer a perfect combination of short access to the alpine, a picturesque lake for camping and a few excellent scrambles nearby. When we woke up on Saturday to a grey and cloudy Vancouver we were a bit confused. But the forecast still looked good for Pemberton, and actually it looked really hot. As we crossed…
