Black Eyed Peas - "Let's Get it Started"

And the base keep runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and
runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' , runnin', and runnin' runnin', and...
C'mon y'all, lets get woohoo!
Lets get woohoo! (in here), Lets get woohoo! Lets get woohoo! (in here)
Lets get woohoo! Lets get woohoo! (in here) Ow, ow, ow!
Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya...

-Black Eyed Peas - "Let's Get it Started"

Today was Orientation Day and I was feeling fairly ok apart from the general, ‘what the hell have I gotten myself into’ sort of nerves. It was nice to finally meet the other participants and also meet Bud, the founder of Tour du Canada. We had a fantastic breakfast of cinnamon buns, yogourt, fruit and muslix so I was right at home – best breakfast ever. Apparently this is the ‘basic’ breakfast that will be the morning ballast for our journey across Canada.

Throughout the morning I quickly confirmed my suspicions that bikers – particularly those doing this trip – are of a certain breed… eg. hardcore with loads of cycling experience. I guess you’d have to be either hard core or just a bit mental. I think that I fall into the latter category as I am certainly not hardcore – particularly given that on my Tanzania biking trip I accidentally wore my bicycle shorts backwards and did most of the 12-day biking trip in the wrong gear….

There are 38 people in the group including myself and the age gap ranges from about mid-20s through to about 60(ish?). Everyone is sooo nice and everyone has a story to tell. It’s hard to remember the names and I find myself introducing and reintroducing myself to quite a few people. I've narrowed it down to 'tall man', 'man with large calves', 'man with padding in his cycle shorts', 'hardcore man' etc..

We were divided up into ‘Galley Crews’ which are crews that will cook and clean up on a rota basis – there are 7 groups so it means that each group will be on Galley Duty about 7 times. Being on Galley Duty is actually much more complicated than it sounds – particularly because you’re responsible for cooking and cleaning up after 38 very hungry people..!! It’s quite a sophisticated operation but good as it ensures that when the system works properly, everyone will pull their weight.

Some of the key take aways from the day included:

- learning that when food sits around a camp, squirrels are just as vicious as bears
- how to use the coffee machine
- survey of who snores, who doesn’t (mental note, keep tent away from snorers..)
- the true definition of ‘snake bite’, ‘tire boot’, 'bonking' (unfortunately no sex involved)
- how to run to the front of the queue for food
- how to use the Cue Sheets (very important as this is how we find the Tim Hortons).
- how to fit as many of your belongings as possible into a small black basket
- policy on the beer kitty (very important)
- how wearing a reflective triangle can save your life (if tight, reveals all lycra hasn't already scared everything / one away)

The orientation lasted most of the day… I must admit it was all a bit overwhelming so as soon as it was over Brendan and I escaped to indulge in a beer back at the pub while the crew for the evening made dinner. Again, the Guinesses did not disappoint..! It felt good to get away from all the bike-talk and back into more neutral surroundings… (eg. beer in hand, football and rugby on tv!).

On the menu was a true favourite – spaghetti… never disappoints. Yum. Fortunately someone learned how to use the kitchen.

After dinner a small group of us went to ‘Wrek’ beach which offers fantastic views over the Pacific. Ironically, this is also a nudist beach (we didn’t realize this until we got down to the beach!!) and because it was also the Summer Solstice it was also a reason for a large portion of Vancouvers hippies (or perhaps just the nutters) to walk the beaches naked whilst smoking large quantities of pot. And man, were they ever naked… The atmosphere was totally chilled out and so different from anything that I’ve ever seen in other parts of the country or even the world for that matter..! It is hard to make a generalization about the Vancouverites but judging from those I’ve met and those I saw along the beach they are much more ‘chilled out’ and ‘laid back’ than the rest of Canada. Also much more 'naked'.

We walked a bit further down the beach and came upon what was 3 large ‘stages’ built out of cedar and into the clay cliffs. We stood admiring the work of art when a slightly dodgy looking, slender man with slightly glazed over eyes and weather-beaten skin bounded down toward us and offered us a bag of grapes and invited us to check out his ‘work of art’ - a series of three stages built out of cedar into the clay cliff face and framed by huge trees.

We stood chatting to Jack for about 20 minutes and, if everything that he told us was true, he was a true gem of a Canadian and lived one hell of a global life…. He was one of 12 children born in Montreal but moved to Vancouver as soon as he could as he hated the cold. Somewhere along the way he met a wealthy gentleman who offered him a scholarship to study anywhere in the world that he pleased… so off he went to University du Caire where he studied Islam and then traveled to Morocco, to Casablanca, to set up a womens clothing line – made by women, for women… A very progressive business venture. Unfortunately it never happened as just before they were about to launch a bomb exploded in Casablanca killing 12 people, throwing the city into political and cultural chaos… Jack decided to leave. We never really established what Jack did between then and now but I suspect that it involved a significant amount of cannabis and poetry readings, not to mention the construction of his cedar stages. He would have been happy to sit and talk with us for hours (he was not short on words or opinions..!) but the tide was coming in so we made our scenic way back to the camp.

The walk back to the beach where we started from was incredible – the sun was setting into the Pacific Ocean casting a golden glow over the sand and its hippy inhabitants. The waves crashed steadily onto the shore. One of the nudists were walking around with bagpipes (it was hard not to get an X-rated picture!!), and it was a really ‘calming’ sort of atmosphere – totally appropriate as my stomach was doing flip flops with nerves. It was an ‘Oxford Street’ moment – one of those moments where you take total ‘city chaos’ and juxtaposition it in your mind next to the serene, calm yet slightly surreal surroundings. It was a very, very cool evening to end quite a day.