Introduction...

Many people have said that the ‘Tour du Canada’ is a “journey and not a destination”. The past 2.5 months has been a journey of many respects. It has been physical journey as I regularly climbed on my bike and over the course of 72 days migrated from west to east over 7,500 kilometers of Canada’s vast geographic expanse - from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It has also been an emotional and, dare I say it, ‘spiritual’ journey. A journey through which I feel I have ‘discovered’ Canada and come to better understand how I fit into the social and cultural geography of a country for which I long proudly claim citizenship but hardly knew.


Jun 20, 2008

CCR - The Long Road Home - "Travelin' Band"


Seven Thirty Seven coming out of the sky.
Oh! Won't you
take me down to Memphis on a midnight ride,
I wanna
move.

CHORUS:
Playing in a Traveling Band.Yeah!
Well, I'm
flying 'cross the land, try'ing to get a hand,
Playing in a Traveling
Band.

Take me to the hotel, Baggage gone, oh, well.
Come on,
come on, won't you get me to my room,
I wanna move.

- Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Travelin' Band" - The Long Road Home

Saturday, June 22, 2008

Yesterday I arrived in Vancouver after a nervous good bye to my parents and a big pep-talk about ‘living the dream’ – which in many ways is true... It seems that the ‘cycle bug’ has woken from its dormancy and instilled in my parents a romantic notion of biking along the nice flat Dutch countryside… so peaceful, so green, so flat and so carefree… My fear however is that in reality the image will be slightly less romantic and significantly more sweaty… an image of me lugging my body and my bike up a steep mountain pass here in the Canadian Rockies. What my Mom meant about living the dream however was the fact that back in 1992 she cut an article about the Tour du Canada from the London Free Press and, strangely, found it just last week whilst cleaning out an old desk. Fate…?! Perhaps -- I'll let you know if I survive this journey..!

My bike arrived safe and sound off of the Vancouver Airport oversize baggage belt without any problems and I hopped into a cab which took me to the leafy green UBC campus. I checked in and met up with Brendan. Brendan, better known as ‘BC’, is a good friend of mine and the Canadian / London connection who originally got me interested in the Tour du Canada after he signed up just over a month ago. It was so nice to catch up and see a familiar face in the midst of all the ‘unknowns’ and have the opportunity to share some of my sense of excitement, nervousness… and also goals and ambitions for the journey ahead..!

Brendan and I, picking up from where we left off from the UK immediately headed out to the local Irish pub for

  1. beer and
  2. burgers

(we have our priorities straight..!). Brendan had cleverly already scoped out the campus and found the best place to get a Guinness. Nice one BC.

One thing that I love about Canada is the ‘terrace’ or ‘patio’ culture – most pubs have outdoor patios sheltered by a leafy veranda with heavy wooden oversized patio furniture and smiley waitresses… This was one of those pubs that had just that… topped off with some fantastic food and, according to Brendan (a Guinness conaisseur..!) the best Guinness he has had on this side of the Atlantic..! That is one for the guide books..!!

I awoke bright and early on Saturday morning at 5am in my little dorm bed on my side staring at my bike and wondering how on earth its two wheels were going to transport me (comfortably?!) 7500 kilometers across the country….

Ohman..

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