Vagabonds in Vancouver and Victoria

Hello Everyone, Lucas here, writing from atop the Pacific Ocean!

We have made it to the West Coast, currently on a Ferry between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island.

What a great week it has been, let me catch you up on all the happenings and what-have-you’s.

We left Delta on Thursday, biking into the city.  We crossed a giant bridge, loaded bumper to bumper with traffic (we walked the steeds across the bridge).  Then Justin and Viera split off on an adventure to find a good bike trail, while Kristi, Garrett and I loosely followed the google map instructions we had to make it down to near Granville Island.  We ended up taking a pretty busy road all the way through Vancouver, but it wasn’t as bad as we would have expected, and actually quite a bit of fun.  Riding through such a big city always tends to take a lot of time, but you never seem to notice.  We ended up meeting up with Steve (the newest member of the group) at his brother in law’s house near Granville.  It was great to finally meet him, but we had to depart quickly, going up to a friend of Justin’s, named Arno.  Kristi had to make a phone call so she went ahead, while Justin and Viera stayed to catch up with Steve.  Garrett and I made our way towards Arno’s, when we stumbled across one of the most amazing things we have discovered so far on the trip: bike lanes.  Vancouver has an amazing display of roads dedicated to cyclists all over the city.  We were on a street with probably a hundred cyclists and it was an amazing feeling of community and excitement that we shared.

We settled in with Arno, his wife Jean, daughter Laura and son Ian, who were all incredibly hospitable to us.  In the morning, Ian took Justin and I for an amazing adventure and tour of the downtown.

We started by going down to the Olympic Village (pretty dead and empty now).
We headed across a bridge and into downtown Vancouver.  Ian had an Ipod and a set of speakers so we were rocking a combination of funk music, classic rock, and latin jazz as we cruised the busy streets.  It all had a very urban feel to it, and we found ourselves full of energy as the rain held off for a little while.

We stopped at a music store downtown, and for the first time on the trip we were dwarfed by something other than mountains; skyscrapers of varying size and utility looming all around us.

Then we rode down through Hastings, which for anyone who knows the area  (one of Canada’s most poverty ridden areas) was a bit of a culture shock for Justin and I.  We walked our bikes up the street and talked about some of the challenges the area had, and mused about possible solutions.
Next we rode through Historic gas town, a ritzy area of town now (ironically only about a block from hastings.... what does that tell you?)

We took a right turn from there and suddenly were at the Olympic torch right by the waterfront.
From there we followed the beautiful Urban coastline down into Stanley park.  It started raining on us, but it was hardly a deterrent as we took the coastline trail, and took in the amazingly luscious sights.

When we finished the trail we went back into the downtown core to dry off and grab some sushi for lunch.  Then we headed over into Granville and back home.  It was so stress free and fun, riding in a big city.  I had such negative expectations on how riding in the city was, but with an amazing cyclist system it was the most fun riding I have had on the entire trip!

That evening Justin, Viera and I went to an event called Bike to Work Week.  It was the last day of the week so they had a wrap up celebration in a park.  It was interesting to see so many cyclists, some with disco lights, lasers and stereo systems all installed on their bikes.  I seriously considered putting a radio on my bike after all the fun that we had with those bikes.

Then we all went out for some Ethiopian food to celebrate our arrival on the West Coast.

The next day we went for yet another ride, this time to U.B.C. to check out the beaches.  We went with all of Arno’s family and it was yet another nice cycle (so much for taking a break from cycling, but it was just to nice).

We met many interesting people in Vancouver, and by the end of a couple days, it felt like a small community.  I was really surprised by how intimate it felt.  We ran into people we had just met in the city multiple times.

On Sunday Garrett and Kristi made their way out to the island to see Garrett’s family, while the rest of us waited two more days to get some stuff done in the city.  

Finally, on Tuesday, Justin, Viera and I made our way out to the island.  Steve was waiting one more day on some last minute supplies, but was going to ride out with Chris, a friend of Viera, who will be riding with us for a couple weeks.  

Arno led us out to the sky train in the morning, and bid us adeiu.  After that we rode the sky train over into Delta, then rode down some busy truck roads trying frantically to make the ferry in Tsawwassen in a torrential downpour.  We were cutting it close with the wind in our face, biking like crazy to catch the ferry.  I had a flat, so Justin and I sent Viera on ahead while we rapidly mended the flat, all while seconds ticked away in the back of our heads.  We ended up repairing it in under five minutes, an impressive feat.  We took no time to celebrate though, as we started tearing down the road for the ferry.  I remember seeing a sign on the side of the road saying 13kms to the ferry terminal, then looking at my watch and seeing we had about 17 minutes.  We would have to bike at about 50kms an hour, or have a small miracle to get on the ferry.
We put our heads down and raced into the wind like we had never raced before.  I remember looking at my watch every once and again, and thinking “damn, were going fast”.

We ended up turning a corner to the ferry after about 8kms of straight fighting the wind down the highway, and suddenly the wind was at our backs and strong.

With the hope remained and we searched deep into ourselves for any remaining energy we had... and found it.

I was still thinking it was just too short of time to make it when an overhead sign announced that the ferry would be possibly delayed.  This only added to our energy, and I was excited by the slight chance that we could make it within these near impossible time constraints.

We moved faster then I ever had before, and as we came around the corner we saw the last staight stretch to the ferry.

I would love to tell you that we made it onto that ferry.  That we made an impossible distance in less time than it could rightly be done in.  It would have made a great feel good story, and probably brightened some
hearts out there.  

But the truth is, we were late.  That ferry left without us.  It meant we would be biking in the dark on the other side, from Sidney down into Victoria.

We could have been mad or upset, yet when the lady at the ticket booth told us we had missed the ferry, I was happy.  We had tried our absolute best to get on that ferry.  How could we be disappointed with that?  We had pushed ourselves more than we ever had, and though we didn't achieve a goal that was most likely unreasonable, we pushed our boundaries more than we ever had, and in the process learned just how much we could really do... much more than we expected.

As good as that little revelation felt, it didn't change the fact that we were riding in the dark and rain on the other side.  

Fortunately Garrett’s Cousin in Law came to the rescue.  She drove up to Sidney and picked us and our gear up, while we left our bikes locked up in Sidney.

When we got to Taylor and Sue’s house, there was yet another amazing meal waiting for us.  We feasted with Garrett’s family (his Uncle and Aunt also being there).  It was really great to all meet up again, and share a warm house, warm laughter and warm food!

The next morning we all jumped into a couple of cars, and made our way over to Salt Spring Island,  via another ferry.

It was the first beautiful day we had seen in a week, so we were basking in the glorious sun that had hid on us for so long.  We stopped at a bakery off of the boat, and enjoyed the amazing culture that came with the island life.

After our breakfast we made our way into town for a full day of finding different individuals who were building different types of houses on the Island.  

First we met with Andrew, who had built his house out of Hemp bale, and was powered entirely by solar off of his property.  He also harnessed an amazing resource that we have been subjected to since we made it to the coast: rain!

He had enough storage to use only his water the entire year round.  His home was also heated by trees on his own property, and with the thick hemp made walls, was very efficient.  
Then we went to meet with a representative of Island pathways who explained to us the recent additions of pathways for cyclists around the Island.  

Finally our last stop of the day was at an institution called Eco-Nest, an architect-builder team who worked together to make incredibly efficient, yet comfortable homes.

The whole day felt like a glimpse into our future as we enjoyed the novelty of warm weather by the sea.  Who knows when we will get to that perpetual summer I have been dreaming about, but this was an incredible taste of what is to come!

We made our way back to the Ferry as the Sun started to go down.  By this point we still have not fully realized that we are travelling over pacific water, it still seems like we are going across large inland lakes.

The next day was Remembrance day, and I took the opportunity to bike down to the legislative buildings to watch the Remembrance Day ceremonies.  It was quite different from all the small town ceremonies I have been to in the past.  Instead of 100 people there was thousands and thousands of people crowded upon the streets to remember the sacrifice of those who have left us.  There were many soldiers and veterans, and it was quite the sight to see planes flying overhead and a naval ship firing the traditional twenty one gun salute.

The next day we packed up and left Sue and Taylor’s house.  They had been such amazing hosts to us, and we were so thankful to be able to stay with them and talk about so many different things, while enjoying such amazing food.

That day Viera and Chris made their way over to Orcas Island to check out a Permaculture Institute, while the rest of us moved to our couchsurfer friends Mike and Josee’s house to work on our website.



 As I write this we are all working towards getting our website content up and running.  It has been a hard couple of days work, but I am so impressed by every ones hard work and determination to get meaningful content from across Canada up on the web.

We haven’t had much time to enjoy this beautiful city, which is too bad, but unfortunately we just have too much work to do right now.

And now for the injury report:
Viera and I have both been having some big knee problems lately (why is it always the knees).  I went in to see a physiotherapist on Friday, which was helpful but a little disappointing as they mostly told me ways to treat the pain, not the actual issue itself.  We have a lot of big riding to do through the states now for a while, so we will see how the knees treat us.

Sorry to all for a lengthy wait on the update, I will keep them regular through the next little while. If you havent done so, please read the Blog Garrett wrote just a couple days ago, it has some really amazing things.

And now for the most exciting news of all:

The Garden content of our website is finally operational and has some articles posted through our mediawiki.  

The crew has been working hard trying to get this working with our website and I am super impressed at our ability to figure these difficult technological problems out.

Please check out our web site and see the new additions.

Thanks for reading again, Lucas and the PEDAL team!
and like usual a little teaser at the bottom:

You want us to feel better

On these darker trails

With the light revealing holy grails

To hike through dangerous weather

You need twilight eyes

Guided by Voices, "Twilight Campfighter"