boys are back in town
today jack and i got back from our 570 km bike ride to kelowna. I’m gonna try to write up the whole story in bits and pieces just so i don’t avoid doing it. if it’s one big monolithic chunk then it’ll never get done.
since i’ve already put a few pictures up, i think i’ll just write out some bike nerd stuff for now, and start writing the real story tomorrow. i’d like to put up my equipment list right now, though, to aid anyone who might be trying a similar trip
firstly, i only have 1 gear on my bike, so i packed light. the hills were pretty tough. I started out with two medium sized waterproof panniers, and then added my small saddlebag of tools and spare tubes. after putting all that on, i strapped my sleeping bag and camping hammock to the rack of my bike.
in the panniers i put mostly clothes and food. for a trip like this, which lasted 4 days, i mostly just wore the same shorts and t-shirt. ya, so i got a bit dirty, but who cares. I also brought along my spandex/polyester cycling pants, which are super awesome to ride in. they kept me warm on the cold mornings and evenings, and also prevented a lot of chafing. one thing i intend to do before the next trip is to get some spandex riding shorts, which would provide the chafing protection but still be cool to wear in the middle of the day. i also brought along a simple cycling rain cape. it has a big extended front so that it covers my hands on the handlebars, and thereby stretches overtop of my legs to cover them too. If you’re taking the greyhound bus home like we did, remember to be considerate to the person who will be sitting next to you and bring a change of clothes for the ride home. ;)
as for food, i didn’t bring much with me from the start…just a couple of power bars as emergency rations. the rest was purchased on the road. more details on that in a minute. first, in order to construct decent meals without cooking, you need some essentials. i recommend going to a fishing and hunting store and getting a half-decent folding pocket knife. i got one that has both a smooth part and a serrated part to the blade for about $15. It was extremely valuable many times during the trip, and also lightweight and convenient to store. Another thing you’ll want is a small container of salt. It’s damn hard to find small containers of salt while you’re on the road, and since you’ll be sweating all the time then you’ll want salt on pretty much everything you eat. you will crave it, and if you don’t you should. learn to love the salt. if you don’t get enough, you can get muscle cramps and stuff. bad news.
so, now that you’ve got a knife and some salt, go hit up the local grocery store. Get some interesting bread (like pumpernickel or sourdough or something…you don’t want to make yourself hate sandwiches by always getting the same bread), and a bunch of different veggies (like red peppers, sprouts, avocado, cucumber, red onion), some mustard, and maybe some tempeh or tofu. The best tofu i found (and it was fairly common) was a kind called “Pete’s Tofu”…in particular their “Tofu2Go” style. it’s a package of tofu made with herbs and spices, ready to eat, and comes with some yummy sauce too. so you take your bread + mustard + fresh veggies, and then cut up some Thai-flavoured Tofu with Ginger-Wasabi sauce, sprinkle some extra salt, and then Boom! - a rockin sandwich or 3. Make sure to vary the ingredients a bit so you don’t get bored, but that there is the easiest (and probably healthiest) road food you can get.
one of the big advantages of getting your food as you go is that you don’t have to carry as much weight. carry only what you need during the day, or however long you intend to spend between towns, and then get pick up some breakfast stuff in the last town you hit before dark. Even if you just get bread and peanut butter, a wise man once told me that you can go a helluva long way on just bread and peanut butter. usually you can do better than that, though ;)
ok, it’s late now and i need some sleep. i promise i’ll write some more soon, and put up some more pictures. as i write this, i’ve only got pics up to the start of princeton, but most of the pictures occurred after that. more coming soon :)
Ride hard, ride free