Vancouver and Victoria Adventures

Good day lads and lasses, right now it is the morning of June 8th and we are in Victoria, preparing to leave for Comox. Heres a more detailed synopsis of the days so far.

June 5th

We landed in Vancouver and spent about 2 hours assembling our bikes from the mess that they were in the bike boxes. Vancouver was rainy and gloomy, which threw off my dreamy illusions of it being sunny wherever we went. We biked to our hosts place through some pretty nice neighbourhoods. Turns out Vancouver has a lot of really nice, well kept neighbourhoods and everyone spends a lot of time tending to their hedges. After some dinner we went to MEC to replace some gear. Im getting pretty sick of MEC right now to be honest, frankly its becoming far too popular, almost cult-like. Then we did a power tour of Vancouver downtown by bike. It was still pretty gloomy weather but nevertheless we explored all different parts of the city from the ghetto (hastings st) to the core area and waterfront. Maybe it was the bad weather but Vancouver didnt capture me yet, however a lot of our sightseeing was as it was getting dark too. Next time we will explore Stanley park and do a more fitting tour.

PS. Lakers lose to Celtics in Game 1, much disappointment follows.

June 6th

Yesterday was more of mental test with the shitty wheather and all. It was a different feeling to actually be out here knowing that you cant turn back as opposed to the happy daydreaming that took place in Ottawa safe from the elements and surprises of the road.

Today on the other hand would prove to be a physical test. We left late at 11 am and underestimated all of the distances. Just getting to the ferry took 3 hours. At first it looked even worst when we found out that we would have to take a 1.5 hour detour becuase we couldnt pass through the tunnel cross the fraser river, but we then found a shuttle bus that takes bikes across. As we would find out, the western cities (at least van and vic) are much much more bike friendly than anywhere else ive been. Victoria even goes as far as calling themselves the bike capital of canada.

The ferry ride was peaceful and a well needed rest. We ate some food, drank lots of water. Once we got off, we rode to Victoria, which took 4 hours, also a lot more than initiallyl anticipated. The lochside trail which follows the coast was absolutely gorgeous and I recommend it to anyone in this area. However, in these 4 hours i ate very little and forgot to fill up on water. I crashed and burned and the whole thing was pretty brutal. Near the end we stopped for subway, which was a saviour. The inital veiw of vic was amazing, more details to follow on our vic adventure. right now we have to leave for comox.

PS. Djokovic loses to Nadal in tennis, disappointing, but Nadal is the clay champ. NBA game 2 tonight.

For pictures, check out the group Mike created on facebook, it is in my groups, i havent had a chance to upload any to my albums.