Tuesday, September 08, 2009

an atheist bikes alone

i went on my first self-supported biking tour a month or so ago. loaded up my bike with cassandra's tent, camping mat and stove, stuffed mr fix-it's panniers with clothes and food, strapped my sleeping bag on the top and headed off to the island.


just me and the open road for 90k . . .

actually, just me and a bunch of jesus botherers, who were doing a "bikes for bibles" fundraising ride - we tag teamed up and down highway 19A for six hours. they were very friendly, and i was very proud of keeping pace with them, loaded up as i was.


having biked up the big island i hopped on the little ferry to denman island and biked across to a little ocean-side campground and set up my little camp. i've never camped by myself before. i liked it. i didn't talk to another human for three days.


this was the view over the top of my morning coffee.


and this was my half-arsed anti-bear measure. fortunately the camp ranger told me there's no bears on denman, and there was a cougar, but nobody's heard anything about it since march, so not to worry.

i spent my middle day doing a slow ride round denman, investigating the local craft store, bookshop and cafe, and eating lunch on the beach. it was all very zen.

the next day i up and broke camp, caught the little ferry back to vancouver island and biked all the long way back to nanaimo to catch the big ferry. it's a beautiful ride most of the way. a little too much highway, but a lot of empty forest and gentle rolling hills.


next trip i'm using my lovely new leather saddle instead of that "comfort gel" monstrosity.

2 comments:

simone said...

wow, what a great thing to do. travelling alone is so relaxing.
I would love to do something like this one day, but I suppose I would have to ride my bike more than once every six months for it to be feasible!

gumtreefid farmer said...

it is highly recommended! but yes, significant bike fitness is required. you could do it with a little training!