Some Figures

Hi everyone,

This is the last picture I took with my phone on the trip.

So the trip is over, and it's been an adjustment getting back to work.  Pros: indoors, air conditioning, constant access to cold water, comfy seat, I can even out my tan, and I love my job.  Cons: I can't see a window from my seat, I have "real world" responsibilities now, and my mind was still in a go-go-go gear.  But it had to happen sometime!

I haven't conducted a full analysis of the trip yet, but here are some initial top-level figures for you:

Days 35 & 36 - Strategy

Moose Jaw supposedly has the world's largest moose.

One of the significant factors of the trip is our status as travelers, not tourists.  We don’t have time, transportation, and energy to do the things that we would normally do: examples of which include Hopewell Rocks, the last spike in the railroad, various museums, and even downtowns of cities.  In a way, these are all missed opportunities, but as I wrote last week, the real adventures and stories are in the challenges, the journey, and the people we meet along the way. 

So on to Day 35, where we cycle a half day into Regina.  It is into an unfavourable crosswind, so it takes over three hours to do the 70kms.  Regina is a good example of a city that I would have liked to spend some time discovering, but we don’t.  Exhausted, we use the afternoon to rest, nap, do laundry, grocery shop, and update the blog.  These all take priority over the possibility of having fun on a Saturday night in the city.  Kyle and I do take in a Jays game (blowout of the Red Sox) at a sports bar near the hostel.  This is the third HI hostel of the trip, after Fredericton and Charlottetown, and we take advantage of the facilities to make tacos!

This is a good time to get back to the title of the blog and introduce some major undercurrents of these last two weeks of the trip: support, infrastructure, schedule, and wind.  In reverse order:

One last living sunset.  Overall Saskatchewan sky rating: mediocre.

Wind is especially relevant here in the Prairies.  We do 21km/hr in head/crosswind, and 30+km/hr with tailwinds.  That is a crazy variance in our day, and we will absolutely need to optimize our use of the winds.  Next is schedule: we have no more scheduled off days, and only three half days.  Our plan for Northern Ontario is the most ambitious of the entire trip, and we recognize that given the terrain, it might not be possible.  For infrastructure, the Northern Ontario stretch could be the worst of the entire trip, and we can’t count on repair-free days like we’ve had lately.  Last is support: given our experience with Monica and Elaine in BC, having on-the-road support can speed us up by incredibly large margins, and we have some upcoming support that we can use to great advantage.  These are the most important decision-making criteria for the upcoming weeks. 

Now to Day 36, which is a scheduled half-day leaving Regina, which paired with the half day entering the city, gives us a 24-hour “off” day.  We run some errands in the morning and hit the Trans Canada by noon.  And this is where some big decisions are made. 

With a 15km/hr tailwind, we simply destroy the roads.  Ultimately, we would finish the day with our highest daily average speed, at 30.1km/hr.  Insane.  But also significantly, it is a nice but not hot day, so we don’t need to take many breaks (two total).  The road is smooth and for the first time in Saskatchewan, actually noticeably flat.  We want to take advantage of the tailwind while it exists, and so all of these factors lead us to go well past our 125km goal, finishing at 177.7km in Whitewood. From a 12:00pm start, that is quite unexpected.

Before we wrap up the day, a few more “very Prairie” level Saskatchewan stories.  First, this province hates chocolate milk.  A strong word for a strong correlation.  Having been persuaded by the chocolate milk lobby, we usually buy some several times per week.  We tried to order chocolate milk at a Tim’s in Moose Jaw, and they gave us a large milk and a large hot chocolate and told me to mix it.  Too much milk for one sitting?  Probably.  We also tried at an Esso and a Shell in the eastern part of the province, which had a combined total of one carton.  Not cool, Saskatchewan. 

The second story is more of a personal anecdote.  My only relative who lived in Canada pre-WWII is my paternal grandfather, who grew up in Melville, Saskatchewan, before moving to the still German community of KW after the war.  Although it is not along the Trans Canada, I did get the photo of me with the Melville exit sign.  When you’re flirting with the 30.0km/hr average, you usually don’t take chances stopping for menial photo ops.  But I’m glad I did! 

And so we end the day camping in Whitewood, 53km ahead of schedule.  [If you're keeping score, that's 1 fantastic shower and 0 flats.  Win.]  I hope the plan is well-explained - it is a large decision-making process, and I wrote this blog as fast as I possibly could.  But the other large factor that will influence this week is in the air as we fall asleep, after having been delayed four hours by WestJet.  If you follow us on Twitter, you know what I’m talking about.  Can’t wait for tomorrow........

Calgary Off Day!

Hello Faithful Followers!

The blog is back to be up to date and continuing my contribution as the "off day blogger" I am sitting in my Uncle Gary and Aunt Barb's beautiful house overlooking the Kananaskis Mountains with a full stomach and a great feeling of contentment.

Like a Gordon Lightfoot song

The last few days for us have been fantastic, we have successfully crossed the Rockies and are looking forward to (hopefully) having a strong tailwind to blow us across the Prairies. I could take a full page to describe our excitment about the upcoming change in Canada's topography and speculating about the future; but instead I will focus on the last two days.

Sunday, July 15We wake up in Canmore and having forgotten to set alarms (again!) and enjoy a little sleep in. Upon waking up however, we get our butts into gear pack up our stuff into our panniers, eat our breakfast and for the first time in three days we begrudgingly put our saddlebags back onto our bikes! A rough moment that no one particulaly enjoyed after the luxury of having the Davie's Support, but we put on our stoic faces, jump on the bikes and push on and begin the day.

Tour 4 Kids

Before beginning we knew this was going to be an easy one. Only 100kms to Calgary area and options galore for places to crash. The bike ride really nice, the roads were hilly but more downhill than up, and the scenery was beautiful and the bags didn't hinder our progress as much as we feared. We hit some rain, but it wasn't debilitating or much of an issue except for the cold. But after what we went through in Quebec and New Brunswick this rain is barely worth mentioning. A little too cold perhaps, but with our new dishwashing gloves (great idea, thanks Phil and Alex!) and some long sleeve shirts on we were fine.
The ride was also marked by the Tour for Kids. A cool organization where hundreds of cyclists bike for a great cause, for us it was an opportunity to draft effectively and maintain some easy speeds and we flew towards Cochrane (until we eventually passed a group of them!). It was a fun testament to our improved bicycling skills and as we passed a group we'd been chatting with with cheers of "These guys are BEASTS!" as we pushed our bikes fast towards Calgary.

With our panniers back on the bikes we also got reintroduced to our long lost foe...the Flat Tire. Jordan had our first flat since the support crew joined us. A sad moment, especially since it was in the rain and chilly. But luckily for me I got didn't realize right away and eventually pulled into a gas station where I prepared sandwiches for the boys, drank hot chocolate and waited with a book. It was nice, until after 45minutes I watched incredulously as they sped right past the gas station and had to hastily pack up lunch and struggle to catch up. Eventually I did since they stopped where I shared the laugh about enjoying the inside comforts of a gas station and the quick pack up needed to keep from falling to far behind.

The day continued with one other note of interest. Coming into Calgary on the 1A we had a great tailwind, and it was mostly downhill and we FLEW! We covered the last 20+kms in about 30 or 40minutes and sped in and past the off ramps all the way to my Uncle John's house in Calgary. We weren't really ure what to expect having made some dodgy plans but the arrival was fantastic.

Stampede Fireworks

There was a party, it was the last day of the stampede and there were 15people having a good time, eating dinner, and drinking. And we eagerly joined in! Kyle took a good 10minute break when he fell asleep on a couch in the middle of the festivities but other than that small moment we held up valiantly. We enjoyed the luxury of great food, great company, and FIREWORKS! As part of the conclusion of the 100th Calgary Stampede there were 4 simultaneous sets of fireworks going on all over the city, so after a game of Dixit 6 of us headed out to the top of Nose Hill that overlooks the city and the display of bright explosions. We braved the bugs and eventually made our way back to John's house to conclude the night with (even more) drinks and bed.

Monday, July 16Miraculously, I don't have a hangover, but we do sleep in...again. Till almost 10! At which point we get our stuff together and head out to take on the day. Jordan and I go to the prearranged bike shop in Calgary and drop them off and head to the city centre to meet Jordan's friend Nasra. We share some stories and a fast food lunch before parting ways and making our way to visit Jordan's cousin Taylor. We enjoy her company in her ridiculously swanky apartment and arrange to potentially have her join us in the morning for te Calgary departure.

Oh, Kyle at this point is doing our laundry back at John's house! Haha, sorry Kyle.

John and Mark

Anyway, the day continues and we make our way using the easy public transit of Calgary back to John's house where we get a ride back to the bike shop to check out our familiar bikes with all new casings, sprockets, shift cables, overall tune-up, brake pads and lots of other stuff. A big thank-you to Cactus Cycle and its Owner Steve for the discount and essentially neglecting store priority and getting three bikes ready to go in 6hrs; and the bikes actually look a little healthier! Needless to say, we're excited to test out the bikes after their beautiful hollywood makeovers.

To finish the day my cousin Rory picked us up from the bike shop and drove te three of us to Bragg Creek to visit my Aunt and Uncle. Two notes, the food was fantastic and the company great. As I sit at their kitchen table it's really easy to imagine myself sleeping in tomorrow and staying here for the coming days and feeling as good as I now. However, the road is calling and there will be time to rest again at the end of the trip.

Big thanks (once again) to Monica and Elaine for making the Rockies a little easier.
Uncle John, Mark, and Sean for taking care of us, shuttling us around the city and making our little Stampede experience great

And Aunt Barb for waiting for us on Highway 1 (even though we weren't on it) to help us out should we need it, uncle Gary for opening his house and the tasty steak and Rory for driving us around and giving me a hard time for my lack of phone communication skills.


Time to get back on the bikes. Here we come Prairies.

Weekend Update (Days 20-22)

Well, we made it!  We went as east as we could go, and now we're heading all the way back across the country to resume the cycle in Vancouver.  But first, blog housekeeping...

48 hours apart!  

I'm going to leave adventures of Days 18 and 19 for now, because we know you want to know what we're up to NOW!  So I'm going to break the chronology to keep this blog more current, and here goes!

After spending three weeks in extremely close proximity, I finally got a break from the antics of Kyle and Tyler.  While I'm back in Ontario, they have been incredibly busy this weekend in Vancouver: first, finding a bicycle shop to get the bikes serviced, second, acquiring new and replacement parts (clips!), and also connecting with friends and family.  Big thanks to old friends Tyler and Kim, and also to Tyler's family in Vancouver for their hospitality.  But that's their story, and as I'm just about to hop on a plane and join them, here's my weekend story.

Stunning

In case you didn't already know the structure of our trip, we chose not to cycle "coast-to-coast" for a few reasons.  We thought it would be a cool, unique spin to the trip, and it was phenomenal having our friends and family send us off, and it will be again when we complete the trip in their presence.  But the most important reason is that my sister was married yesterday.  Obviously, this is the highlight and priority of my summer, and doing the Waterloo-east and west-Waterloo route would ensure that I could attend the wedding!

It was a whirwind in which I didn't get much a chance to do B4B stuff.  Friday I flew in from St. John's in the afternoon, and we rehearsed with family and old friends.  Saturday afternoon was the ceremony, and I MCed the reception later that night at Grey Silo.  Today we had a relaxing family brunch, and now they're off to Panama!  Jealous?  Hard to say.  Not exactly the rigor of the road, but I'm not well rested.  I doubt the guys in Vancouver are, either...

To paraphrase my talking points, Carly and Chris are an amazing couple who are incredible together, and Chris is such a coup for our family.  We're thrilled for their future and on behalf of all of the Schmidts, we couldn't be happier.  Chris was as handsome as ever, Carly looked divine, and I will get a photo up here as soon as I can!

I did manage to do the laundry and waterproof my rain gear.  I have added new equipment (Gatorade powder, gear for colder weather, and a solar panel from the happy couple - thanks!) to take with me up the Rockies.  Now I'm off to the airport to meet the guys in Vancouver.  It didn't feel like we burned three rest days, and we pedal off in about 18 hours...

Roadside: Canada Day

The irony of spending Canada Day in Charlottetown is not lost on us, but even more poignant is the opportunity to reflect on our trip across the nation.

At Victoria Park in Charlottetown.

First, the obvious: we are finally getting around to see our own country. Cities and regions that we haven't experienced before, including this city for Tyler and I, and Newfoundland and the Prairies for all of us. It's big, but it's fantastic.

But also, like David Johnston said today, we are seeing the Canada that is the envy of the world. Everywhere we go, in everything we do, we see nothing but unequivocal support, both in principle and in local advice. (Maybe not that guy in Peterborough!)

And especially, to everyone back home. For every tweet, every email, every message, text, like, bbm, phone call, every blog read, every photo looked at, and to anyone who has hosted and met us along the way. We can't say it enough, thanks so much.

Happy Canada Day!

Also, Happy Birthday to Kyle. Tyler and I are trying to plan something exciting. Maybe Charlottetown fireworks?

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

The Rest Day in Quebec!

Once in a while things work out well without actually having to plan for it. Our rest day is an example of one fo those fortuitous circumstances.

Plains of Abraham

Having arrived at the house of Claude Gratton, an old friend of my father, late the evening before we took advantage of comfortable sleeping arrangements and slept in till 8am, a real treat after having been on our bikes before that time for most of the previous week. Now, let me explain something about Claude - he's crazy. Don't get me wrong, he's an accomodating host, a riot around the dinner table, and excellent company, but he's an army veteran who won't let us speak English much - which really causes a problem since Jordan is the only one who can string a decent sentence together in French without having to resort to English and risk the Claude reprimand. However, we've managed to learn to peek over our shoulders to see if Claude is listening before conveying our thoughts in English, and in a mere two days have picked up a few more passable french words and phrases to communicate.
On to the rest of the day..
After I made the boys breakfast we set about taking care of the "rest stop necessities". That really just means laundry and filling our stomachs with food at our leisure as we planned the rest of our day. We weren't moving quickly but we did manage to accompany our host on a beire/pain/lait trip to the corner store.


We then planned our day trip back into Quebec City, took our panniers of our bikes and started biking.

It's interesting to note how scales of distance can change through experience. Today, on our rest day we biked around 40kms; month ago this would have been a good day of biking for us, now it's considered an easy day off. Oh how things have changed.

Old Quebec

Back to the day and the fortuitous circumstances that made it special.
Turns out today (Sunday) is St. John le Baptiste day. A huge celebration focusing on Quebec culture, and birthday of the province. When we planned our day off here we didn't realize the stat holiday was going on. It was just another Sunday. But upon arrival the night before we realized something huge was going on. There was talk of parties, revelers, concerts in the part, potential riots and all sorts of other fun stuff. There was also A LOT of people and tourists enjoying the beautiful city on a gorgeous day. We biked down to Quebec City from Claude's house in St. Emile, about 16kms and then started biking UP to the old city. And up. Dodging traffic and pedestrians on the old, narrow, streets of the city. It really did feel and look like a town Europe. We made our way to the Plains of Abraham and snapped some beautiful pictures (coming later) rode around the park, imagined the battles and looked over the Fleuve Saint-Laurent.

Chateau Frontenac

Went around Le Chateau Frontenac before stopping in a nice (expensive) restaurant beside the Frontenac to eat Poutine and watch the England v Italy. The price tag was high, we were wearing our awkward biking clothes, but the experience was worth it. It's delightfully cheesy (literally and figuatively), but we did it. We ate 10$ plates of poutine in Old Quebec City. Day complete.



Poutine

20kms back to Claude's house, two delicious pizzas waiting, some cold drinks, some funny stories, Happy Gilmore, and early to bed to prepare for our first potential 200km day and 4:30am wake up.
Rest day over, back to biking.