Ok, tonight I am lying again on my bed in yet another hotel, this time in Abbotsford. My legs are distinctly sore, and my bum... is telling me that it is very angry with the way I have been treating it.... Anyways, I am quite happy with how my day went. I certainly enhanced my ability to inconvenience strangers (that's a good thing, stuff drags out when we play nice). I'll explain shortly.
So I start my day at the bright and early time of 10:00 AM. My cycling buddy Meagan, has been up and about for ages and I conclude to stop ignoring her presence like I have been for the last three hours. I'm not terribly concerned with getting moving, so the morning kinda drags out a bit, however we finally hit the road sometime around noon. Anywho, a quick jaunt to the Seabus gets us to Vancouver proper where I make a slight side trip to the Landmark Education Centre to say so long, and arrange for a course I am now taking in December.
That done, Meagan and I make our way to the SkyTrain where we are planning to get out of the central morass that is greater Vancouver. Now I say that casually but you really need to understand that the size and volume of our bikes is tremendous in comparison to most of the other stuff (like people for instance) that normally uses it. Right from the start I say things like out of the way, move, and you better watch out and fairly easily get on board. Meagan hasn't gotten that yet and for her it's a great kerfuffle as the bike gets wedged in the corner and people are crowding her and the trailer is still sticking out onto the platform. I'll leave that part with a note saying that she survived the ordeal.
There we are, at the end of the line and it's just a quick jump over to Fraser highway where we almost immediately run into another cyclist loaded up with respectable amount of gear. It turns out, that his name is Xavier and he is on his way home to Gatineau, QB. I share with him my experiences to date (including a number from my earlier trip) and it takes us a few minutes to discover that Meagan has fallen behind us and has disappeared out of site. And so begins with the first of many breaks waiting for her to catch up.
For myself, I am totally ok with going at whatever rate is comfortable and works for everyone involved. However, it clearly isn't ok with Meagan who after the third or fourth catchup session says "Xavier, you're a perfect cycling partner for Ted, why don't you go together and I will eventually make it to Calgary". Resigned to being abandoned... "oh great" I think to myself, "is she going to be like this the whole damn way across the country"?
At the next break after Meagan catches up, I let Xavier know that we'll meet up with him the following day, at which point Meagan calls here aunt and uncle (we're in Langly) and arranges for them to meet us.
It's at this point that I notice that one of the shift cables on the bike is just about completely frayed away and is imminently about to break. Hmmm. Well, the aunt and uncle arrive and I greet them with, "Where the hell have you been, like we've been waiting for ages for you to get here", and so begins dinner (mmm wendy's).
Now these folks are retired and are totally impressed with Meagan and myself, and gobble up all sorts of stories from our trip to date as well as a number I have on short term file regarding my first tour across the country. After a few minutes I say, "Well Joe, I have a problem I need your help with. Will you drive me and my bike to the nearest bike shop I have a broken cable and I don't have a spare". His eyes blink for something like half a second, then says "Sure, I can do that"!
As we pull into the bike shop the staff let me know that they are closing in five minutes and won't be able to work on the bike right away. However, I'm great with them and in a minute the technician throws my bike up on the stand committed to getting me back on the road. Now what was really cool was when he couldn't figure out how to adjust the cable, he called the owner, who in turn jumped in the car with his wife and scooted over to the shop where he was promptly able to get things functioning brilliantly.
See none of that would have been possible without being willing to inconvenience peoples ordinary routine, and everyone involved (even the people on the train!) are really grateful for having contributed. Thanks Vancouver! Really.
Anyways, the rest of the cycling was quite dull in contrast and here I am in Abbotsford now at 12:38 in the morning and wishing you a goodnight.
-Ted
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