TO START OUR TRIP FROM THE BEGINNING CLICK BELOW:
This would be our laziest day yet, followed by the most exhausting climb of the trip. I am always amazed every SINGLE day, that I actually think it will be an easy day. I'm not sure when that will end, but for now, I wake up every day and say to Shane - "It's only X miles today, how hard can it be??" So, this morning was no different, plus we had Tony's awesome house to relax in, so we were in no hurry. Seriously...we only had 24 miles...how hard could it be?
To start our day, Tony showed us how to use his spiffy espresso machine, told me how to lock up his house and then he left for work. Shane and I took advantage of the girls playing Legos out in the shed to just hang out and have some coffee together. I worked on the blog and then Shane went to a bike shop to have his rear wheel looked at. He had a lot of weight on the back of his bike and it was seeming to affect the balance of the wheel. So not only was he working hard to pull all the weight, he was also having to fight the wheel rubbing against the frame every time it hit a certain spot on the tire. The bike shop gave him a clear bill of health for the bike, we packed up and headed to Lion's Gate Bridge into Stanley Park. 
Stanley Park is a great place to ride around and lots of places to stop for the girls to play, but very crowded. It is a huge tourist destination (my guess) and this path you see above is packed with tourists on bikes (not bad in and of itself...I realize we are tourists ourselves, but many of these people could barely bike in a straight line. It was a bit wild at times!) You can only ride around Stanley Park in one direction which is GREAT because I cannot imagine the chaos that would be created if people rode in both directions. We stopped in multiple locations to let the girls run around and play, but then we got hungry and needed to find some food. (story of our lives right now)
We followed a trail that ended up going right to downtown Vancouver which was a bit too crowded for us and our huge loaded down bikes. A man with a video camera came up to us and asked us to say, "Happy Canada Day!" for a montage he was making. I said, "We are from the US, is that ok?" he laughed and said OF COURSE!!! Then we all got 15 seconds of fame in Canada (not sure if we actually made it to final cut, though!)
I ran across the street to get the Cycling Metro Vancouver map that Tony had shown me the night before on the computer. It is an amazing map with all the best routes to get through the next 2 days of cycling for us. The map has lots of ways to get through Vancouver without having to be on roads with cars. What a life saver that was going to be!
I went in the info center only to be told they were all out of the maps! UGH!! I did not realize at the time, but our lacking this map would cause us to be stranded on the side of one of the scariest highways I have ever been on (next blog post....I will leave you hanging on that one!)
Camera man tried to give me directions out of Vancouver but after 10 minutes of him trying to explain 15 different routes, I just said, "I think we can figure it out! thank you!" and we rode off. Really, I should have kept searching until someone gave us that map. 12 hours from now I will SOOOOOO regret riding away.
We managed to find the Adanac bike trail and that got us nearly all the way through Vancouver on roads that are primarily for bikes. Along the way we found a bike shop that had a tiny little Vancouver bike map, not too great but definitely better than nothing. We also found a great little deli called Benny's where we got some fantastic proscuitto, cheese and rice crackers! I love food....have I mentioned that?
But as we got out of Vancouver and started heading toward Burnaby....the roads just climb and climb and climb. I am probably being a wimp. If I was on my bike alone, with no gear (or child) I would LOVE to cycle this place. The 160#'s I am pulling is really cramping my style! On a positive note, I get to eat SO much, it is almost worth the personal torture!
We managed to get to the "top" of Vancouver and dropped down toward Burnaby on Barnet highway. I know in my original planning that I had wanted to avoid highways at all costs, but the REALITY of being out here is so different than the PLANNING of this trip sitting with my laptop at Upper Crust, right!!
We rode along Barnet for a while and then there was a sign that went off to the water. We rode over to it and debated trying to follow it to Port Moody, but it did not look like it went through and the thought of having to push our bikes back up the steep gravel trail was enough to keep us on the highway! In a matter of minutes we dropped into Port Moody (gotta love the highway sometimes!) Jill actually loves riding the highway cuz it is so crazy loud and she gets to scream songs at the top of her lungs. She has a grand old time! Plus, there is always a 6 - 10 foot shoulder which is way better than we get on some of the back roads.
We now were officially without a map, AGAIN! We cycled right off the vancouver cycle map and we had not quite made it onto the Fraser Valley Map. It is terrible to be without a map. We were exhausted, sweaty, stinky, hungry and ready to be at our hosts house. She had offered to pick us up, but I never pushed the idea so instead we started following my pre-written directions for getting to their house.
It was now 6:30. We had not eaten since our lunch at Benny's. I am not sure where we get the energy to keep going on days like this, but we did. I cycled over a bridge and a man with his grandson stopped to talk to Jill and I. He was interested in our story and where we were headed. I talked about warm showers hosts and said, "As long as they dont live up there (I point to the highest houses on the hillside) I am good!" He asked what street they were on and when I told him, he hung his head and said, "I go up there for hill training on my bike. I wont tell you how bad it is!"
Oh boy, we were in for it. We started up and up and up some more. I for sure could have cried, but I was so dehydrated that I probably could not have even produced any tears. It was at least a 10% incline when it was "easy" - FAR too steep of a climb to do at the end of a 30 mile day. After pushing for 20 minutes I felt like I was going to collapse. Luckily, Shane remembered that we had a bag of jelly beans - INSTANT ENERGY - and it works like a charm! We climbed another 30 minutes and every hill just got more and more steep. Then a police officer told us that our route was going to take us way out of the way so luckily he helped us cut probably another 15 minutes off. Every minute saved on a climb is a minute I will cherish!!
I have to mention also that this is when the girls get whiny! On the bikes they can mostly take it easy, but when we have to push, they have to walk and the hills are steep so they are actually getting worn out! This is the only time they EARN the donuts and ice cream and candy that we are letting them have!
Shane could not get over the idea of these communities built on hillsides. It is almost like modern "Mesa Verde" cliff dwellings, just clinging to these mountains! How is there a baseball field right here? We just climbed up a residential street with a 20% incline, insane!!
This is to give you an idea of the things that go through our minds on the final hour of ascent to the top of Mount Everest. Who's idea was this bike trip anyway? Why did we think this would be fun? A vacation entirely on a bike, are you crazy? Staying at someone's house on the side of a cliff? I would rather have paid $200 for a hotel room down in the flats! (HA! those of you who know me know that one isnt true! I am far tooCHEAP frugal.) Oh well, just keep climbing.
We finally make it to their house and it is literally on the steepest hill yet. How can that be, seriously? Just as we got to their house, Beth, our host, was getting into her car to come looking for us. We were 2 hours late and we had not eaten for 5 hours. She instantly took us inside and made the girls a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Beth mentioned that they have a creek behind their house so the minute the girls finished eating they ran off through the gate to find it. Apparently they havent met children like ours. They could not believe that after 3.5 hours on a bike and hiking up 3 miles of hills, that the girls would want to go on another hike, but they sure did! Beth offered to go with them so Shane and I could shower and eat and relax.
When she returned we talked with her a bit about our route in the morning because we still did not have a map. She started to draw us one, but halfway through she decided she would rather ride us out to the Golden Ears Bridge herself. She is a marathon runner and participates in Iron Man Races, so even though she had just had oral surgery and was told not to exercise, she told us, "It's all downhill and flat. I will be fine and catch a ride back up to my house!" We planned to get up at 6:30 and leave at 7, our ride tomorrow is over 50 miles - our first REALLY long day....
NEXT POST - TYPE 3 FUN
But as we got out of Vancouver and started heading toward Burnaby....the roads just climb and climb and climb. I am probably being a wimp. If I was on my bike alone, with no gear (or child) I would LOVE to cycle this place. The 160#'s I am pulling is really cramping my style! On a positive note, I get to eat SO much, it is almost worth the personal torture!
We managed to get to the "top" of Vancouver and dropped down toward Burnaby on Barnet highway. I know in my original planning that I had wanted to avoid highways at all costs, but the REALITY of being out here is so different than the PLANNING of this trip sitting with my laptop at Upper Crust, right!!
We rode along Barnet for a while and then there was a sign that went off to the water. We rode over to it and debated trying to follow it to Port Moody, but it did not look like it went through and the thought of having to push our bikes back up the steep gravel trail was enough to keep us on the highway! In a matter of minutes we dropped into Port Moody (gotta love the highway sometimes!) Jill actually loves riding the highway cuz it is so crazy loud and she gets to scream songs at the top of her lungs. She has a grand old time! Plus, there is always a 6 - 10 foot shoulder which is way better than we get on some of the back roads.
We now were officially without a map, AGAIN! We cycled right off the vancouver cycle map and we had not quite made it onto the Fraser Valley Map. It is terrible to be without a map. We were exhausted, sweaty, stinky, hungry and ready to be at our hosts house. She had offered to pick us up, but I never pushed the idea so instead we started following my pre-written directions for getting to their house.
It was now 6:30. We had not eaten since our lunch at Benny's. I am not sure where we get the energy to keep going on days like this, but we did. I cycled over a bridge and a man with his grandson stopped to talk to Jill and I. He was interested in our story and where we were headed. I talked about warm showers hosts and said, "As long as they dont live up there (I point to the highest houses on the hillside) I am good!" He asked what street they were on and when I told him, he hung his head and said, "I go up there for hill training on my bike. I wont tell you how bad it is!"
Oh boy, we were in for it. We started up and up and up some more. I for sure could have cried, but I was so dehydrated that I probably could not have even produced any tears. It was at least a 10% incline when it was "easy" - FAR too steep of a climb to do at the end of a 30 mile day. After pushing for 20 minutes I felt like I was going to collapse. Luckily, Shane remembered that we had a bag of jelly beans - INSTANT ENERGY - and it works like a charm! We climbed another 30 minutes and every hill just got more and more steep. Then a police officer told us that our route was going to take us way out of the way so luckily he helped us cut probably another 15 minutes off. Every minute saved on a climb is a minute I will cherish!!
I have to mention also that this is when the girls get whiny! On the bikes they can mostly take it easy, but when we have to push, they have to walk and the hills are steep so they are actually getting worn out! This is the only time they EARN the donuts and ice cream and candy that we are letting them have!
Shane could not get over the idea of these communities built on hillsides. It is almost like modern "Mesa Verde" cliff dwellings, just clinging to these mountains! How is there a baseball field right here? We just climbed up a residential street with a 20% incline, insane!!
This is to give you an idea of the things that go through our minds on the final hour of ascent to the top of Mount Everest. Who's idea was this bike trip anyway? Why did we think this would be fun? A vacation entirely on a bike, are you crazy? Staying at someone's house on the side of a cliff? I would rather have paid $200 for a hotel room down in the flats! (HA! those of you who know me know that one isnt true! I am far too
 |
| This is the hill to their house looking down to the Valley from where we climbed. It doesnt look at bad as it FEELS!! |
We finally make it to their house and it is literally on the steepest hill yet. How can that be, seriously? Just as we got to their house, Beth, our host, was getting into her car to come looking for us. We were 2 hours late and we had not eaten for 5 hours. She instantly took us inside and made the girls a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
 |
| Later that night, the girls wanted to go AGAIN! |
When she returned we talked with her a bit about our route in the morning because we still did not have a map. She started to draw us one, but halfway through she decided she would rather ride us out to the Golden Ears Bridge herself. She is a marathon runner and participates in Iron Man Races, so even though she had just had oral surgery and was told not to exercise, she told us, "It's all downhill and flat. I will be fine and catch a ride back up to my house!" We planned to get up at 6:30 and leave at 7, our ride tomorrow is over 50 miles - our first REALLY long day....
NEXT POST - TYPE 3 FUN
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