Abbotsford: Discovering the Discovery Trail
On Saturday we headed to Abbotsford. Even though it’s only one hour away we had never really been there, only passing through occasionally on the way to the border. We had planned a 57km loop around Abbotsford, incorporating the Matsqui trail along the Fraser River and the Discovery Trail through town. Already after a few kilometers of cycling we encountered a problem. The trail disappeared and instead there was a big pool of water. It turns out that with the warm temperatures we experienced recently, the snow is melting fast, and as a result many rivers are high. We managed to cross the problematic section without incident, but then arrived…
Wenatchee-Chelan Loop: The Columbia, Always a Stunner
Weather forecasts are extremely unreliable at this time of year. Nevertheless, after scrutinizing the charts for the whole region, we determined that eastern Washington would have the best weather, and the rest of the area would be cloudy and rainy. The problem was that it was the May Long Weekend, and long weekends are a terrible time to cross the border to the US. At least we knew what to expect, and brought along a zen attitude and a book. After a 2.5-3 hour wait in the car, with stressed out drivers aggressively trying to change lanes or push their way in after bypassing the line by going to the…
Oregon: The Cycling Revolution of the Scenic Bikeways
When we got back from cycling in Central America last year we had a pile of Adventure Cyclist Magazines to read. From all the articles I read in the next months, one in particular drew my attention. It was about cycling the Old West Scenic Bikeway near John Day, in Eastern Oregon. The first thing that caught my eye was the use of the word Bikeway. It means a route marked especially for cyclists, taking into account traffic, scenery, road conditions, interest, communities along the way and more. The other one was John Day. I actually know a person whose name is John Day, so I was excited to find that…
Central America Route Notes
By popular demand, here’s the approximate route we took on our five month cycling trip from Panama to Belize. As well, we’ve written down detailed route notes below, by country. We tried to take quiet backroads when possible, to stay off the Pan-American Highway, although this “highway” is sometimes as quiet as a small backroad. This is the “dry” version, focusing on the technical details: which places we stayed at, roads we took and would recommend (or wouldn’t recommend!), and some food recommendations. This post would probably only be interesting for people planning to cycle tour in Central America. We also have the much more interesting blog posts about each…
The “Different Israels” Inside of Israel
Being from Israel is not easy… Everyone has heard something about Israel, and often it’s not the good things. It is probably one of the places that people have the most misconceptions about, prejudices and strong opinions even without knowing much. Lately, while travelling we started saying that we are from Canada when asked, it just seemed easier, simpler if you like. But the fact is that we were both born and raised in Israel and (still) have lived there for most of our lives, even though each time we visit we feel a bit more like tourists, and a bit less like locals. Don’t misunderstand me either, I’m the…
Amsterdam: “Every Day is a Critical Mass”
In my sweetest dreams I see a city where everyone cycles – everywhere. No matter if you’re old or young, on your way to work or to the pub – you ride. This is what I do in Vancouver, and so do many of my friends. But a recent brief visit to Amsterdam made me realize how far Vancouver, and most other North American cities, still have to go. A while ago, during one of the biggest June Critical Masses, where hundreds of cyclists take over the streets of Vancouver for one afternoon, we spoke to a group of cyclists from Holland who participated in a bike conference in Vancouver.…
Death Valley National Park: Cycling in a Desert Wonderland
It started out as a crazy idea. We were looking for something to do over the two week Christmas break and a few factors had to be taken into consideration – sun, warmth, blue skies and preferably bicycles. I once heard about cycling in Death Valley and just threw it in the air as an option. Gili made it possible. The idea of driving 20 hours each way did not appeal to us, but then again, neither did the other options like staying in rainy and gray Vancouver, or finding a flight at the most expensive time of the year. Checking the temperatures for Death Valley area left us no…
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…
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 🙂
