Golden Ears Camping Trip- Sunday

Up at 7-30 after a good night’s sleep. Powdered eggs, coffee and a bagel for breakfast mmm mmm. Packed up, then hit the road again. We saw a deer enjoying the morning sun (maybe she was drying off after getting a soaking last night too).

We took pretty much the same route on the way back, stopping for a Quiznos. We’d had a Subway on the way out, so it got me wondering who makes the better sub, I think this round goes to Quiznos - better bread and nicer cheese! For the sake of completeness and fairness Holly tells me that she preferred the Subway as it was bigger so it’s all tied at 1 a piece in our house.

Heading back over the Pattullo Bridge was tougher than the cross going out. There is only one bike path so this time we were going against traffic which was quite heavy so it was all a bit hectic. We had to stop for a gummi bear break afterwards!

We made a few deviations from the route out, a few off street paths including the waterfront at New Westminster where we saw the world’s tallest tin soldier.

Winding our way back through the streets of Vancouver, I noticed this very North American phenomenon, the shoes over the phone wire. You see it everywhere in Vancouver, I wonder who started this? Who was the first shoe thrower…

By the end of the ride we were pretty tired but it felt good to have covered the distance and survived a thunderstorm. Can’t wait to get going now!


Dave


We will be cycling the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment below and sharing our blog. 

Golden Ears Camping Trip- Saturday

We decided it would be a good idea to go on a camping trip so we could test out all of our stuff and see that it all worked and if we needed anything else. We reserved a camping spot at the Golden Ears Provincial Park, about 50 miles from our house.

Check out our route, big climb at the end!

So we set of at about 10 in the morning, we were going to leave earlier but for some reason it is physically impossible for us to leave the house before 10 on a weekend.

We headed off down through midtown Vancouver down to the Fraser river past all the squawking crows who seem to be going crazy at this time of year, two even tried to ‘get’ me the other day by swooping at my head. They are just protecting their chicks but they can get very aggressive, I wanted to say ‘chill out crow face, I’ve already had my bagel for breakfast I don’t want to eat your hatchlings’ but I don’t think they would have listened

We continued through Burnaby and into New Westminster part of which was along the ‘7/11’ Bike Route. I think it’s good that 7/11 are sponsoring a bike route, giving people the chance to work off the $1 Big Gulp’s they are selling all summer.

I know 7/11 is an American brand but they will always remind me of Thailand where there is a 7/11 on every corner, freezing cold through the strongest air conditioning known to man with the relentless bing bong of the door alarm that must drive the store clerks mad. I once in Koh Tao saw a cat run into the store do two laps of the aisles being chased by the clerks and then dive head first into a shelf full of cakes and treats. 

We crossed the Pattullo bridge and into Surrey, from there we sped along the Fraser Highway and on to Golden Ears way and over the Golden Ears bridge to Maple Ridge.

As we got to the edge of Maple Ridge and near the park it felt good to be out of a built up area having ridden through Metro Vancouver all day, although there were lots of cool things to see it can sometimes get a bit much riding for miles and miles through a metro area so was nice to be in the countryside. And it felt great to arrive at the park!

The climb up to the campsite although a bit strenuous at times was a nice way to end the day. As the roads were quiet and shaded and it felt great to be out of the city.

We got to the camp in good spirits bought some fire wood and prepared to set up for the night. There had been a bear sighting in the area recently and as we had no car to lock our food in we had to make sure to hang our food from a branch for the night so Mr Bear didn’t come snuffling round our tent.

I'd been carrying the tent and all the cooking stuff, so Holly had the 'pleasure' of carrying the wood the last half mile to the campsite!

Just as we were about to set up the tent came the rain, oh no! And it wasn’t just a light drizzle no it was a proper end of days, thunder lighting wind howling storm. We got the tent set up as quickly as possible, covered our stuff and jumped in the tent shivering and cold. Luckily after an hour or so the rain let up and we were able to cook dinner.

The firewood was wet so despite our best efforts we couldn’t get a fire lit to stay warm. So tired, we decided to hit the hay.

Dave


We will be cycling the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment below and sharing our blog. 

Learning Is Fun – With UBC’s Bike Kitchen, Vancouver

Check out this awesome picture we found online. By: AAron Kuehn- aairline.info 

Ok, so we decided that cycling 2,000 miles and knowing nothing about bike mechanics is probably a bad idea so it was time to get smart and go back to school.

Of course, you can learn anything you want online these days, but the problem is there is so much information that it gets overwhelming, plus a lot of it is contradictory so who knows who to trust? One good resource I did find that I think is worth mentioning is this Guy Sheldon Brown, he seems to know everything about everything, check out his page here.

Another useful tool has been this Bike Repair App which covers a lot of the basics and is very easy to understand.

I still felt unsure and unconfident about a fair few things though so we decided that some practical hands on experience was what was needed and signed up for an afternoon course on bike mechanics at UBC’s BikeKitchen (a not-for profit bike coop which teaches people how to repair and maintain their bikes and also does a great line in second hand bikes).

The course was about five hours long and included all the basics of bike mechanics including;

-          how to clean and replace bearings

-          how to true wheels

-          how to mend a flat tire

-          stem adjustments

-          brake adjustments and installation

-          shifter adjustments

-          bottom bracket adjustment

And there was time at the end to work on our own bikes under supervision and ask questions.

Our instructor, Lucas, was a great teacher very knowledgeable and adept at explaining things in a way that we could all understand.

Obviously in five hours you’re not going to learn everything, but I think the class was a great introduction to bike mechanics and I now feel much more confident to be able to diagnose (and hopefully fix) certain problems that we may encounter.

I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is interested in learning how to tune up and maintain their own bike and at $50 it was a bargain!

Dave

We will be cycling the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment below and sharing our blog. 

Loving my new handle bar bag!

When we head out on tour we will use our handle bar bags to keep our maps and important documents, but for now it has turned into my goodie bag. 



Inside you will find my Cliff Energy bars, lip balm, tissue and... gummy bears.

Gummy bears are my new favourite, I am literally stuffing them in my mouth at every traffic light. I have never been a sweet person, but something has changed and I keep craving sweets. I'm literally salivating every time I get to the scoop section in Save On Foods and I have to get some sweets.

I also noticed a massive difference on my ride eating these so I'm not going to stop.

Yum yum yum.




We will be cycling the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment below and sharing our blog.  

Nice rack... our Rocky Mountain RC10 with front and rear panniers

It's taken us a while to get to this point, but we now have fixed both front and back panniers racks to our Rocky Mountain RC10s.




We had to get a specific rack to fit our front fork as there is no hole and as the front fork is aluminium we have to be careful not to damage them. So when we pack we will aim to put the heavy bulkier items in the back and use these front panniers for lighter items and use to balance out the weight.

We took them out for a spin (about 36 miles) I really noticed the extra weight and also how the bike handled differently. I had to use much lower gears to make it up the hill, however, I'm was more worried about the weight going downhill and not being able to control it. but it's amazing how quickly you get used to things.


The main thing I have to remember, however, is to really slow down over the bumps. We both have visions of something flying off when we're on a busy road - even thought these are pretty secured on.

These bags do fit a lot of stuff, but I have no idea how I will fit everything in these - but as I'm realising, whatever I pack I have to pull myself, so I think will be packing the lightest I have EVER packed in my life. 


We will be cycling the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment below and sharing our blog. 

It had to happen… our first puncture!

Near the end of our 36 mile ride on Sunday, my bike suddenly stopped moving! I always check the front wheel and it was fine so I started shouting to Dave. Got off the bike and saw my back wheel was flat. Damn it!



Dave stepped up to rescue my wheel (as I literally had no idea – we hadn’t taken our course yet!) and popped the tire off, finding a bloody great nail in it!



Luckily we had a spare inner tube with us, but we didn’t have our pod with the app on telling you how to change your tire as we both realized taking the wheel off and the inner tube out to be the easy part.


It was really hot and we both got a bit flustered after forgetting to release the break when reattaching the wheel – doh!


Not a bad job for a first attempt, but I think we definitely need to take a bike mechanic course – good job we have one booked.


If you want to know how to change an inner tube or fix a puncture, here’s a good vid…




We will be cycling the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment below and sharing our blog. 

Our first Double Header - Over 70 miles this weekend!

After stepping up the training rides from 30 miles up to 40, we’re starting to really notice the difference. We’ve also started to use our back pannier bags on our training rides to get used the weight.

I got a bit of a shock the first time I added the extra weight, going uphill especially. The bike even handles differently – so as much practice as we can get the better! 

Saturday - 34 Miles

We took a ride out to Burnaby and back into Vancouver along Kitsalano and around UBC. It’s a great ride. Cycling around by UBC is awesome as you can get used to cycling a highway, but with little traffic and a bike lane.

I love that you can get up to a really good speed with no traffic lights to slow you down. I must say though, I struggled a bit on this ride, I think it was a mix of things, the extra weight, not eating enough and hormones. But none the less, I finished it 33 miles and all.

Sunday - 36 Miles

Thanks to lovely Groupon, we had a sailing lesson booked in Port Moody on the Sunday. After looking on the travel planner, it actually didn't take much longer to cycle there than to get public transport.

Our route there was pretty simple and we seemed to whiz there. Using the highway to  bypass the large Burnaby Mountain, we arrived about an hour ahead of our sailing lesson, giving us time for a poke of chips by the sea - happy days.

After three hours of sailing, I was pretty shattered. I also really didn’t fancy going back on the highway, so we took another route.

A few minutes into our cycle, we hit a section of road (which was labeled as a bike route), the steepest, winding hill I have seen on our training. 

Dave asked “are you sure you don’t want to go the highway?”

At that point I actually wanted to find the nearest bus home, but that is completely against what we have both said from the start - I won’t stop and turn around.

I told Dave I would meet him at the top, he set off up the winding road to heaven. I tried to cycle up the pavement on the side as I thought it may be a bit safer. However, I turned the corner and the pavement ran out. Oh dear.

Let me tell if you stop on a very steep hill, it is so hard to get started again. I managed to use a side road and cycle down it slightly, turning back up the hill. Even doing that, with the weight on the end of my bike, it was trying to do a wheelie! 

I was literally in the lowest gear ever and wanted to cry, but I was doing it. 


Dave came cycling back down towards me. He said he was in shock to see me cycling up; he had visions of me at the bottom with my arms crossed.  

We stopped for a break to decide what to do, as he informed me it went on for at least the same again (he hadn’t seen the end). Did we want to go back?

...did we want to go back? 


No! We decided to press on. I must admit I did put one of my pannier bags onto Dave’s bike (as he only had one) and even though I know he wanted to slap me at that point, he took it for me – my hero.    

Setting off for the third time up the hill, with every push of the peddle I chanted “I can do this, I can do this” to get me to the top. Later Dave told me he was chanting “chicken fried rice”, which I may try next time as he got up there much quicker than me!

I still can’t actually believe that we managed to cycle that hill (well Burnaby Mountain really) but we did.

Have a look at the elevation in the image above – you will be able to spot the section I'm taking about.

I must say, after climbing that, the other hills were a breeze.


70 miles - woohoo!

We will be cycling the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment below and sharing our blog.