passablecyclist
The Passable Cyclist
Life in the slow lane
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Just moving some antique side tables and a vacuum. https://www.instagram.com/p/CQSQQx5sJp7/?utm_medium=tumblr
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Riding like a Ruth! 55 km of forest and dyke trails yesterday. (at Pitt Meadows Dyke Trail System) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFa3YvcB5tx/?igshid=j1qk2nyesrca
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Three days, three islands, and a duct taped pedal crank that lasted the whole way. (at Gulf Islands, BC) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE5GTAqBf7u/?igshid=xnojz8pdpsxp
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Camping love, friend love, bike love (at Golden Ears Provincial Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEo68Qrs5TJ/?igshid=1sva81rp7a6dg
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Quick bike tour on Galiano Island with a theme of abandonment. https://www.instagram.com/p/CEhJvKsBcA-/?igshid=rg0v6dgdiy0r
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#porthardybiketrip #porthardlyashoulder Day 15, back to Brentwood Bay, 77 km plus buses and boats. Life took over and I was pretty delayed making this last post. This first photo is from my first day back in Vancouver-some new muscle I have never seen before, maybe thanks to a particularly long 12% grade hill. It was majorly sad to say goodbye to such a hard, beautiful trip. I’m amazed me how well Lisa and I travel together. I was the navigator, weather reporter, and electric company. Lisa was the doctor, entertainer, and traffic reporter. Lisa was calm and cool when I panicked about the heat. I reminded Lisa of the “holy shit” bumps along the shoulder to keep the cars in line. A trip like this is a test for any pair but I think it was superglue for our long distance Squamish/Vancouver friendship. We rode to Nanaimo in the morning and said our goodbye. Roding off alone made me feel pretty emotional. It was an uneventful ride to Ladysmith on the flat, busy highway. I was very lucky to catch the last delayed Mill Bay ferry. My sister had saved me dinner and had a jigsaw puzzle going. I have a couple nights in on the Island before I’m back in Vancouver after over a month away. I’m sad to be leaving and question why I should. I arrived on the Island following a break up with someone I had been with for a year and a half. It could have been a lonely month but it turned out to be one of the most love-filled and meaningful months I’ve had. https://www.instagram.com/p/CETQOOxhS91/?igshid=1bldviy9acqzs
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#porthardybiketrip Day 14, Deep Bay, 45 km We had to be very careful today as the forecast was for 30+ degree heat. We were set on arriving at Deep Bay by noon and did a quick early morning ride, just stopping to enjoy Union Bay’s small museum for a half hour along the way. Early morning rides are lovely. We celebrated meeting the goal with lunch at a restaurant adjoined to the campground. It seemed most people here were long term RV residents. A guy that had lived there 18 years offered us free use of his kayak! But the day got so hot that we couldn’t do much but lie around and nap on the grass. We tried to take a walk and lasted 15 minutes. Day ended with double dessert devoured in about 5 minutes and one last ukulele singalong. Note the air mattress under Lisa’s tent and relaxy chairs! RVers love to take care of us bike folk. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDt6QV5B51F/?igshid=vetv33hi9sc1
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#porthardybiketrip Day 13, Comox Lake, 25 km On the advice of good people we veered off course to Cumberland and Comox lake for the night. We anticipated an “easy ride” and started late. Famous last words. Wound up riding uphill on a sea of asphalt with no shade at peak heat for the whole ride and were practically falling apart by Cumberland. That 10 km stretch felt like 80. We have learned in these two weeks that it really helps when you can plan around sun, wind, direction of travel to know if there will be shade cast on the road, and day of the week. We also learned that up north, weekend riding is way better to avoid huge logging trucks zipping past a foot away at over 100 km an hour. We got ice cream, calmed down, and then set up camp in the parking lot of Cumberland Park’s full campground thanks to a kind attended. Despite what this photo shows, lake culture was lively. Pretty relaxed people up here. Not sure what the thinking was behind this stabby heart mannequin. He was scenery along the way. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDt5RpBBrm2/?igshid=ze7ccsvbktf
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#porthardybiketrip Day 12, Roberts Lake to Kitty Coleman Provincial Park, 73 km Nice early morning, a swim in the lake, and a long easy ride to Kitty Coleman. There was scant camping available south of Campbell River so we got lucky. I felt happy and strong. The boys were rock climbing in the area and stayed with us another night. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDt3lXaBQtp/?igshid=14vd45lo8f7hb
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#porthardybiketrip Day 11, Roberts Lake 30 km We had a short restful ride back to Roberts Lake. Easily our favourite camping spot of the trip. Such nice swimming, few other people, no cell service, no mosquitos, peaceful. Afternoon was spent searching for beach glass with some young kids there with their dad. In the later afternoon a familiar silhouette popped into view. Lisa’s partner, Evan, followed by friend Alec! They were on their way back from a kayak trip and had a rough idea where we’d be. They decided to camp with us and we had a great time with those boys, and the lake all to ourselves. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDt2RAmhlo9/?igshid=v1vpye948446
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Day 10, Woss to Sayward, 73 km We only had 45 km to go today (you see where this is going) so we had a lovely lazy morning by the creek and planned to do our big ride after 2 pm for shade. While killing a little time in Woss we ran into some friends from Vancouver coming home from an epic kayak trip. Small world! Also this random dog. D’aw. We decided that, strangely, there was a lot of shade on the highway in the middle of the day so maybe we’ll take advantage of the low Sunday traffic and no logging truck situation to ride farther to Sayward. Lisa had lost sandals and her favourite hat somewhere in that 30 km stretch. She rode on the wrong side of the highway and searched while we did the two toughest climbs of the trip. The chances of finding them were extremely low 6 days later but it couldn’t hurt to try. It turned out our morning shade was an anomalie due to the road facing south briefly and that for the rest of the day we had no shade to speak of. I soaked my shirt and hat in every possible stream along the way. We stopped at the only pitiful shade we could find and ate lunch with the cars steaming by. We made another stop later at a forest road junction. As we relaxed a little Lisa searched the bushes. Suddenly she reached into some thick brush over a barricade and pulled out a hat. HER hat. Unbelievable. How did it get there? She wouldn’t have even been looking in such an obscure place had it not been for the chatty break. No sandals but the hat miracle is cause for celebration. The universe got payment with a fall for Lisa. Wounds displayed in photo. But we found excellent camping at Elk Creek Recreation Site nearby and spirits were rolling high. We wanted to celebrate at the pub nearby but it was closed (keep rolling, spirits) and Lisa’s tent pole broke (come on). Whatever! We were happy. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtzevABUkn/?igshid=1l8lzds7ktamr
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Day 9, Port McNeil to Woss, 66 km We found a recommendation for camping near Woss on the iOverlander app and made that our goal for the day. The small frequent hills along Nimpkish lake were challenging in the sun but Saturday traffic was low, no logging trucks! Nice riding. I took a picture of the shoulder so you can see what we’ve been biking on...that narrow part between the road and the gravel. You might call it a shoulder it you were a very narrow person with arms that spring out from your neck. A little dirt road from the pullout led to the river and we camped on the river beach. It was beautiful and perfect. Dry night and privacy meant no tent fly and a view of the stars. We had a fire and a great relaxing time. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtvb9CBG3M/?igshid=cspsmyobp0rw
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Day 8, Port Hardy, 62 km This was a really hard day for me personally. I had some kind of reaction to an IPA and my face started flushing badly, overheated, felt tingly, and the roof of my mouth peeled....freaky. My sister told me later that similarly weird reactions to alcohol have happened to her too when under a lot of stress. That was comforting but I was scared at the time. This trip is good stress but the physical toll is real. Sore knees (which became less sore as we got stronger), heat, sunscreen rash (my skin hates sunscreen), inevitable sunburn, steep hills, long days without much down time. The rosiness looks cute but it doesn’t feel cute. On top of that Lisa had a painful swollen eye from some bad dust on a logging road in Port McNeil. What a pair. Though Lisa got to finish my pizza and beer. I think that healed her eye. So not the most fun day but we did check out a tiny museum that we were both nerds for and the ride back to Cluxewe was really nice. Finally switching to North to South riding, we have the wind at our back and shade in the afternoon. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtuQa5h_Xx/?igshid=41uwlyg49xcm
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Watch for the fish #porthardybiketrip #cluxewe #salmonrun https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtpiCQBr3s/?igshid=sam2qr5y4jig
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Day 7, Anutz Lake to Port McNeil 62 km. I got a head start because Lisa is faster than me riding, but since I’m the navigator and we were out of cell range, I made a sign at the split of the road. Isn’t it pretty? The shoulder here has been incredibly narrow for a couple days maybe around 30 cm - yikes. Feels like we’re single-tracking and there are massive logging trucks. We didn’t realize the shoulder issue when we made this plan! I’m not traffic shy but reasonable cyclists are. Lisa modelled a high level of caution and I tried to soak it up. We stopped at Port McNeil and saw their one thing-the worlds largest burl. It was actually kind of impressive. Then went on to Cluxewe Resort. It’s actually very basic camping without even potable water, but showers for just $1 for 6 min. We have been showing in lakes for a week so it was a draw for sure. Cluxewe’s beach was beautiful. We happened to stay during the salmon run that happens only every two years. Loads of salmon jumping out of the water in the ocean right in front of our site. It was so cool to watch. Our neighbour got waaaay too drunk and was singing to himself and grunting all night. Ask me in person to do an impression, I will. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtov4zhCd5/?igshid=10ky9qziawozw
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Day 6, 12 km rest day. Little Huson Caves We had a really fun gravel ride to the caves. The caves were really impressive. Very much awe. Maidenhair ferns were everywhere, a rare sight. The water was warm enough for swimming and there were fun “rides” you could take through the small canyons. We ended the day with some beach time and a campfire with Baldy and his wife...Meryl? We couldn’t remember her name. Not as memorable as something like “Baldy.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CDiff0oBZir/?igshid=1en280zq1h1di
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Day 5, 70 km, Eve River to Anutz Lake Easier riding today. A good break for sore knees. Lisa’s fuel unexpectedly ran out so we started sharing a canister -a bit worrying as we aren’t likely to find more fuel until Port Hardy, but we can live on chips and granola bars if it comes down to it. No backpacking fuel, not even a restaurant in the town of Woss. We found great free rec site camping at Anutz lake, just a bit down a logging road. A retired logger who called himself “Baldy” made himself our camp grandpa. RVers are the nicest folks. He let us use his BBQ and boiled us dish water on the fire. Anutz Lake is windy, beautiful, and rugged. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDidy-hBXLE/?igshid=1jl2ue01ewg9z
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