Tag-Archive for » cycling trips «

What Fresh Hell is This?

08 Aug 2011 -

Climb this...

Hello Monday!

Well, yes, it’s a little late to be greeting Monday, but I work with what I’m given.

Kevin & I have just arrived home after an epic 300 kilometer grind through the Rockies.

Triumphant would be a good word to use for our return after such a feat, and I’m sure if I were Mel Gibson starring in my own movie I would indeed look triumphant, but alas I am Colleen Friesen and I return merely Tired and with whacks of very smelly clothes…such are the problems of a woman without a film crew, staff or her own supply of steroids.

However. It was done and done in grand style. No rain. No flat tires. Nothing but pedaling forever and freakin’ forever up, up, up…with some serious descents thrown in (that were over much too fast).

We particularly loved the Mosquito Creek hostel with the lovely wood-fired sauna and then tucking into our Hansel and Gretel bunks and falling asleep to the sound of the roaring creek. Utterly divine.

As for the Dorothy Parker quote in this post’s title? The fresh hell is that this over-fifty-year-old body seems to be on a rotating schedule of new aches and pains. I seriously thought I’d be hitchhiking back the first day when the left knee started screaming, but icing it at night and eating ibuprofen like M&M’s helped.

Not sure if the Arnica gel and the homeopathic Arnica pills helped or hindered, but I really don’t need a control group. I threw every remedy I could think of at the problem and something worked! Perhaps I return triumphant after all?

Except that my left ankle is a little wonky and though cycling didn’t bother it, walking does, and the next plan is to hike the 285-kilometer Welsh path with my husband.

I’m thinking that my backpack will be sporting a drum of ibuprofen and a whole lot of attitude. I’m going to need it.

Because here is what I know for sure; when the body is happy…I’m happy.

 

Category: Photos, Travel writing  Tags: , ,  6 Comments

Cycling the Canadian Rockies

01 Aug 2011 -

I am writing this post from the comfort of my desk in Sechelt, British Columbia. It is a warm and sunny July day. I knew I wouldn’t have access to the internet so I’ve set up a few pre-written posts for this week.

I’m not sure what the weather will be like when you’re reading this post, but we will be somewhere in the shadow of all those craggy Rocky Mountain peaks. (if you click on the image, it will come in clearer).

It’s rather crazy to be doing this trip again.

I was telling a non-cyclist about last year’s version, “It was hellish. Sleeting icy winds that nearly knocked us off our bikes, my hands frozen like claws and ascents that made me want to weep. My neck was killing me, the downhills were wild and…” I realized she was staring at me like I was quite loony. I finished my monologue, “…it was such a great trip!”

Maybe it’s just one of those things that feels so good when you stop??

Then again, I just guess you had to be there.

I guess I’m there again….

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What to Pack for a Cycling Trip…

27 Jul 2011 -

Click for Jasper, Alberta Forecast
There are so many ways to do a cycle trip. And there are as many variations on the packing theme as there are types of  trips.

There are the oh-so-lovely group trips where all the schlepping and baggage is left up to the sag wagon. There is the B&B style trip where one needs a little stuff, but can mostly get by with just a credit card…and then there is the hostel/cook-your-own-food style trip that we’re about to embark on next week.

For a trip like this, good planning is the key. Luckily for Kevin & I, we don’t have to be great at planning because we’re really smart at picking our travel partners. Ray & Judy Gerein spent this past winter  cycling and traveling around New Zealand & Australia and knocked off a few thousand kilometers.

Exactly. If you want to see human pistons in action, just draft behind Ray & Jude. It’s humbling…

However, they used hostels for most of their trip down under, and since Judy & I did this same route with the Stupids last year, we should be in pretty good shape. Well, except for the fact that Kevin and I will be sucking wind behind them…I mean we should be in good shape logistically.

Judy has emailed us a lovely spread sheet with the distances we will travel each day, which hostel/hotel we’re booked with and what meals Kevin & I are responsible for. You gotta love a woman who takes control. I am generally a take-charge kinda gal, but when someone comes along that really knows what they’re doing? I am a very willing subject and happy to be compliant.

Having only two panniers and a small bag that straddles the back rack makes packing a breeze. With no real room for stuff, one’s gear choices are reduced to the basics.

Here’s my list so far….

Bike Gear: Two cycling capri shorts,  long pair cycling pants, two long-sleeved cycling tops, cycling shoes & socks, rain jacket, Merino hoodie, stuffable down vest, wool gloves, toque & bandanna.

After-cycling Gear: Bathing suit, Tevas, wool socks, long pair cycling pants (see above), quick-dry towel, long-sleeved T-shirt, soap & toiletries, Merino hoodie (see above), pajamas/walkabout wear.

Food Gear: Resealable Rubbermaid container for lunches, knife, fork, Swiss Army knife with corkscrew, Cliff bars, Ziplocs for food purchases enroute.

We will be doing a couple of food drops at two of the hostels as we drive by to the start of our trip, and the rest of our food will be purchased as we cycle through.

As can be seen by my clothing list, this is clearly one of those trips where fashion is not at the forefront of concerns. The forecast is for warm and windy weather, but the temperature drops down pretty sharply at night, though I imagine I’ll be dead to the world long before that is a concern.

Now I just have to plan the dinner, breakfast and lunch box that we’ll be dropping at one of the hostels…

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Travel, Cyber, Old & New Friends

30 Jun 2011 -

 

Life is fascinating, non?

I met Gwen Morrison online in fall of last year. She commented on a post I wrote about wishing to go on a writer’s retreat.

You need to go to ours, she wrote. And in October I did just that. I went to Florida at the Write By the Water retreat and Gwen morphed from an online correspondent into a friend.  And now Gwen and her husband Dave just left after a four-day visit from their home in Atlanta, Georgia.

I’m leaving to go on a bike trip with some of my oldest and dearest friends and we will meet the editor of Adventure Cyclist Magazine in Missoula, Montana because of an email relationship as editor/writer for these last several years.

When I get back Kevin and I will meet up with a couple from Chattanooga, Tennessee. They’re coming to Vancouver for a few days before their Alaska cruise. We met them while on a cycling tour in Hungary.

And I just finished texting my nephew in Fort St. John and my stepson in Vancouver.  I sent a Facebook message to my niece and returned a voicemail from my sister.  I’ll be kissing my husband goodbye and going to Abbotsford to hug my father before I leave.

I feel like I’m held in this incredible web of relationships; cyber, virtual, physical, emotional, all of them connections that weave me into my place in the world. A loom that suspends me within its weft and warp…some, admittedly, more warped than others :)

And on that note…I am off to join my very real, very physical and oh-so-sweaty and quite warped,  Stupid Friends.

Category: Travel writing  Tags: , ,  7 Comments

June-uary on the Sunshine Coast

28 May 2010 -

OK. I don’t like to whine…but seriously, at different times today, various bits of my digits went numb.  First it was a left thumb, then the tip of my right index finger…what’s that all about?  Baby, it’s cold outside.

And yes, I know it’s still May, but it feels like we’re heading into one of those Junes of dark chilly clouds and rain. All the more fitting, as we start our cycle trip on Monday with a forecast for drizzle and continuing cool weather. Nothing like super-timing…and did I mention I am riding a totally new bike?

My old Husky bicycle has been stripped of water bottle cages, the kickstand, the handlebar bag and has been left to sulk in the basement. The Husky held up for fifteen years of good riding but it seemed like it was time to move on. That being said, I’m feeling a little angst about bloging out the new model on this inaugral ride.

Our first day will be up to the West Coast Wilderness Lodge which is about a 66 km ride from our driveway.  That should pretty much let me know if that twisted hip is going to cause any problems, but I plan on packing the jumbo-drum of iburprofen. Nothing like Vitamin I to tune things up.

I did have a moment of panic yesterday when I went to reach down for those touring brakes on this new Surly cycle. It just seemed like a very long reach, so today I took her back in to Spin Cycles in Gibsons so Paul and Mack could add some top rail brakes. It took awhile, but no matter…I went down to the Black Bean coffee shop for hours and wrote and wrote and wrote.

I do believe chapter seven is nailed down.  Whether it’s actually any good is another question altogether. I’m hoping that’s what the Taos memoir workshop will help me with in July.

And now I have something for my writing group on Monday. Pressure’s off. Whew.

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