San Juan Islands: Island Hopping & Cycle Touring
May Long Weekend is usually the opening of the cycle touring season for us. This year I was off my bike for eight weeks due to my injury. This is a long time not being able to ride, taking into account that cycling is one of my favourite activities. We were considering options of where to go, and I wanted something that is mostly paved and not too strenuous. Seeing that our Trader Joe’s supplies were running low, it seemed appropriate to go the the US and to stock up on the way back, and the Sun Juan Islands met all the criteria we were looking for. We really thought…
Boundary Bay: Maya’s First Ride in Two Months
There is a neat gravel trail that follows a dyke in Delta, along Boundary Bay. We chose this trail as Maya’s first ride since her accident. Not being able to ride her bike, was one of the most annoying results of breaking her arm. She was super happy to be back on her bicycle! The trail is flat and scenic, and it follows the shoreline along the extensive mud flats that attract many birds year round.
Cuba: Cycling Journey to the Land of Socialism and Endless Coconuts
Often there were more horses and oxen than cars When you think of Cuba, what do you think of? Perhaps Fidel Castro, Cuban cigars, cheap rum, old American cars, communism and the US embargo come to mind. But the experiences we had, such as riding alongside more horse carts than cars, gulping coconut after coconut given to us for free and watching kids ride to school on a tractor, never failed to surprise us, and gave us a glimpse of another Cuba. A Cuba that keeps marching on to its own special drum, despite huge obstacles that have been put in front of it (thanks in large part to Uncle…
Prince Rupert to Skagway: Looking for Sunshine
Some people say it rains a lot in Vancouver. I suggest them to take a trip, or better yet, a cycling trip to Prince Rupert, the rainiest and cloudiest city in Canada. In an average year, they get only 100 days with some sun and the total precipitation is 2552mm. But this year wasn’t an average year. It was a cold and wet summer in this part of the world. Ignoring all those facts, or simply not knowing the exact details, this is where Gili and I chose to start our cycling trip through Northern BC, the Yukon and to Skagway Alaska. Like every great adventure it all started by…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast, Trip Reports
Salt Spring Island: Birthday Cycling Weekend
My birthday is in July and therefore associated in my mind with sun and warmth. It didn’t look like I was going to get any of those this year. The forecast called for rain and clouds, so our initial plan to do a hike somewhere fell through. For some reason we thought that cycling in the rain is not too bad compared with hiking in the rain, so we came up with the plan to cycle to Salt Spring Island. We cycled in the rain to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, just like we did on the May long weekend when we cycled the Galloping Goose Trail. We caught the direct…
Kelly Lake: The Backroads of Lillooet
We left Vancouver early Friday morning and drove to Lillooet and beyond. The starting point of the trip was actually farther then we thought and was way past Lillooet. The original idea was to do a trip along the Fraser River which was quite involved with steep down and uphill sections. I wasn’t too excited about it and we came up with a plan B that worked out just fine. Anyway we discovered that the road down to the Fraser was closed for construction, so it’s not even sure that we could have done it. The road we drove on (the Clinton-Pavilion road) was washed out, luckily close to the…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Cycling & Cycle Touring, Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast, Trip Reports
Gabriola Island: Discovering Another Gulf Island
On the last week of June we headed to Gabriola Island. We woke up on Saturday morning and what a surprise – rain! We started cycling from home and it was pouring all the way to Horseshoe Bay. Once there we caught the ferry to Nanaimo and then cycled to another ferry terminal where we caught a small ferry to Gabriola Island. There is something so calm in the Gulf Islands that even once off the ferry I felt so relaxed. There is a nice campground less than a kilometer from the ferry. It is just on the beach and it wasn’t crowded at all. We had lunch by the…
Washington Rails: Rails-to-Trails Over the Border
On the first weekend in June Gili and I headed to Washington State. We had just bought a new (used) car the previous week and it was time to start using it. It was also sunny and quite warm which is always an advantage. We headed to the border early Saturday morning and crossed with almost no waits. We drove to a town called Sedro-Woolley and started to ride from there along the Cascade Trail till another town by the name of Concrete. What we discovered is that this trail is very popular and gets a lot of use from the local community for cycling, hiking and mainly dog walking.…
Galloping Goose Trail: How to Avoid Traffic and Ferry Waits on Long Weekends
For a few months now Gili and I don’t own a car. It doesn’t affect us at all during our midweek life as we don’t use a car in the city anyway, but when it comes to weekends it a bit more challenging. During the skiing season we managed fine either by catching a ride with other people or filling up a co-op car with merry VOC’ers. However, now that cycling season has started it is more of a problem to fill a car with bikes and people, and also as much as we love the VOC, it’s also nice to be just the two of us. As May long…
Mexico: November Sun – Cycling in Baja California
September was already rainy, October wasn’t much better. The famous “Mamas and the Papas” song “California Dreamin’ ” kept on going through my mind. The skies were indeed gray and the leaves were brown. As November was getting closer, “November Rain” by “Guns N’ Roses” was now stuck in my head. I had just submitted my thesis and the question “what to do now?” was looming from every direction. This time the band “Queen” had the answer, “I want to ride my bicycle”. Combining “California Dreaming”, “November Rain” and “Bicycle” resulted in a November cycle touring trip in Baja California, Mexico, which is even better than the American California. We…
