15 months to go

In exactly 15 months I will leave BC (starting point to be determined, Vancouver or Tofino) to start my adventure across Canada by bicycle. This is something I have wanted to do since I was in high school and Mike Jensen and I would take short and long bicycle tours together. 3 months ago I decided to make a cross-Canada trek a reality.

A lot has happened over the past three months. I have established a tentative route, developed a training plan and researched and picked up new camping equipment to replace my aging or “misplaced” camping equipment. My friend Paul McCloskey put together this awesome website. I called Paul one day and asked him to teach me how to blog, and he told me I ruined his surprise, he was already planning a website.

At first I was apprehensive about telling people about my trip, but I’m actually finding it motivating. This website is really helping out in this vain as well. For the most part people have been pretty supportive, but there are those who think this is a risky endeavour. My mom thinks it’s pretty awesome, the same woman who 35 years ago didn’t want me to ride my bike from Kingston to Ottawa for my brother Bob’s wedding. “You’re going to get into an accident and ruin the wedding”, was her argument. Dad said I could go, so I went.

Moving forward, I obviously need to get in better shape and am working on it, I will continue my planning and this summer I will hone my bike-camping skills. I’m a little out of practice sleeping in a tent and cooking on a one-burner stove since I stopped being a Scout leader a couple of years ago. I’m looking forward to taking a few short trips this summer on my bike, and am hoping take a trip with Sue along Le P’tit Train du Nord again.

In closing, thanks for joining me on this journey. I hope to provide some interesting reading for you as I prepare for and execute a journey across this great country of ours.

Bill