The End, sort of.

From Port Coquitlam, BC, we rode just over 50km's to a harbor in Vancouver to dip our tires. But...not before I popped two more tubes and ripped two tires, forcing Adrian and Rainer (who generously offered) to ride forward to the nearest bike shop, which I had fortunately located and drawn on a map before we left. Mike and I sat on the side of a busy road, watching the rush hour traffic home for about 45 minutes before seeing Adrian and Rainer biking towards us bearing toothy grins with new tires in plain view. I was overjoyed to have new tires, new tubes, and new brake pads, which I desperately needed, forgot to mention to the boys before they left, but which they still remembered for me. I love my team!!

So, from there we biked beneath the skytrain towards the very edge of downtown Vancouver. On the way I popped another tube, ripped my front tire, and so was now riding on my two brand new tires and tubes, which reassured me a good deal. A little peace of mind went pretty far at this point, an assurance that was solidified once Rainer bought a dozen donuts we devoured while the tire change was in progress. We definitely eat like real cyclists.

So on we went, through Vancouver, and what a beautiful city it is. Granville, Stanley Park, all the shopping areas are filled with eclectic local stuff (plus the customary crap stores in every city) and restaurant and pub areas are lined with trees. I immediately got hooked by the city.

We eventually found the water and chose the rowing club as our tire-dipping point. We were welcomed with open arms there and some of the vets at the club bought us pitchers and shots, which as you can imagine, directly after biking hits the system very quickly.

From there we were picked up by Geoff Scoates, our good friend and roommate of the rest of the guys, who took us back to New Westminster, a beautiful suburb not too far from downtown.

In the following days we got to:

-See Transformers
-Take the ferry to Vancouver Island
-Ride to Tofino with Matty Bond, go surfing and camping
-Visit Victoria, hit the bars, and free tickets to see Rise Against, Silverstein, and Comeback Kid
-All you can eat Sushi in Vancouver for lunch
-Hilarious t-shirt shopping at the vintage shops downtown
-Enjoy the great company of the Scoates family
-Mail pictures and letters to all the families and people who housed, helped, or provided camping spots along the way
-Bike through a gigantic paper finish line made by Geoff (video coming soon)

So our flights arrived back in Toronto late last night, and Mike reached Moncton a bit earlier for his 10 day solo trek to Montreal. To make up for the portions I missed from Sudbury to Espanola and Bassano to Calgary, I'm biking solo to Montreal (gonna do it in one day, 200 or so kms, eeesh), then will ride with Mike back into Ottawa.

What a journey this was. The four of us did little training for this trip and mapped out our route along the way. We met some of the most generous people this country has to offer and experienced the massive beauty of its landscape. It's impossible to pick a favorite moment, so I won't. Each part of the trip, the easy rides and those straight into heavy wind and/or rain, combine to form our collective experience, one we won't forget for the rest of our lives. I highly recommend doing this trip yourself, it's not a matter of how much time you budget or money or weather or bike. Though having some things on your side and a bit of luck is always beneficial, toughness, patience, character, and determination allow both people like us and couples in their 60's to travel the exact same roads and conquer the same challenges. It's a personal test that is as mental as it is physical, and one that feels pretty damn rewarding upon completion. As we sat on the docks of the rowing club having a pint and telling locals of our journey, we couldn't help but smile while taking in the high-rises and olympic construction towering before us. "We biked across Canada!" Rainer said, and I replied, "we sure did."