bike tour summer 2010

Ok, as it has been a while since I have last posted I apologize, I have been a bit busy planning to conquer the world, at first I was really excited to travel to South America, but then as I did a bit more research I found that there is still much political unrest in many of the areas that I wanted to travel to. Second I have my heart set on the Himalayas, but seasons and the Chinese government not letting cyclist do the friendship pass took that dream away this year, so now it is back to Japan, I hope it will still be an adventure, yeah the country is safe and yes very westernized but!!! there is a whole deal of epic mountains in the center of the country and yes mt fuji, also tickets to Sappora, northern japan are only 7oo so, off I go to plan. The tenuous plan is to bike from north to south, where I will take the hydrofoil to Korea and indulge on kim Chi, no visas required and plenty of soju, i have recently learned a thing or two about mountain bikes, and I have equip’ed an gary fisher tassajara for the tour, 26 inch wheels and front and back racks should be able to carry about 100 lbs of gear, thats a whole lot of soju my friends. I will be around for a bit maybe making a guest appearance in yosemite, catch me if you can

Ok, as it has been a while since I have last posted I apologize, I have been a bit busy planning to conquer the world, at first I was really excited to travel to South America, but then as I did a bit more research I found that there is still much political unrest in many of the areas that I wanted to travel to. Second I have my heart set on the Himalayas, but seasons and the Chinese government not letting cyclist do the friendship pass took that dream away this year, so now it is back to Japan, I hope it will still be an adventure, yeah the country is safe and yes very westernized but!!! there is a whole deal of epic mountains in the center of the country and yes mt fuji, also tickets to Sappora, northern japan are only 7oo so, off I go to plan. The tenuous plan is to bike from north to south, where I will take the hydrofoil to Korea and indulge on kim Chi, no visas required and plenty of soju, i have recently learned a thing or two about mountain bikes, and I have equip’ed an gary fisher tassajara for the tour, 26 inch wheels and front and back racks should be able to carry about 100 lbs of gear, thats a whole lot of soju my friends. I will be around for a bit maybe making a guest appearance in yosemite, catch me if you can

Ok, as it has been a while since I have last posted I apologize, I have been a bit busy planning to conquer the world, at first I was really excited to travel to South America, but then as I did a bit more research I found that there is still much political unrest in many of the areas that I wanted to travel to. Second I have my heart set on the Himalayas, but seasons and the Chinese government not letting cyclist do the friendship pass took that dream away this year, so now it is back to Japan, I hope it will still be an adventure, yeah the country is safe and yes very westernized but!!! there is a whole deal of epic mountains in the center of the country and yes mt fuji, also tickets to Sappora, northern japan are only 7oo so, off I go to plan. The tenuous plan is to bike from north to south, where I will take the hydrofoil to Korea and indulge on kim Chi, no visas required and plenty of soju, i have recently learned a thing or two about mountain bikes, and I have equip’ed an gary fisher tassajara for the tour, 26 inch wheels and front and back racks should be able to carry about 100 lbs of gear, thats a whole lot of soju my friends. I will be around for a bit maybe making a guest appearance in yosemite, catch me if you can

I extend my blessings and merritt to all of you who have helped me, physically, emotionally and mentally on this tour. Thank you!

Bodhitree

Its so easy to get carried away with the destinations on a trip, that it takes time to realize that the destinations mean nothing, and that its all about the jourey, and what is learned along the way. I spent about 4 days on vancouver island, 2 on the island itself, staying in Nanaimo and Victoria and two days on Salt Spring island. Salt spring was so similar to santa cruz there were times that it gave me deja vu. I found a great campground on the southern side of S spring, where I camped right on the beach and met several other bike travelers carrying everything from salt and pepper grinders to wooden cutting boards and ikea knife sets, on girl actually steamed beets for dinner. They all kind of laughed when they saw my burnt miller beer can stove, but when I was eatting hot baked beans with PB and Js before they could even set up their stove, they quickly stopped laughing. Victoria was beautiful but super packed as it was canada’s second largest holiday which brough in a 200 piece symphonie orchestra and a large fireworks display. It was nice to take a break and walk my bike through the crowds. The trip back to seattle was so anti-climatic that on several occasions I thought about skipping the train and biking back. Califronia is great, and i had forgotten how beautiful the eucaliptus trees are. I have been back for a whole day now, and I am already iching to get back on the road. I thought that I would write a bit of a synopsis of the tour, to help anyone who has the time to get out on the road.

Bike Gear:
I pretty much brought every tool needed to repair the bike except for a large wrench to remove cassette and a tool to open up the bottom bracket. I needed none of these tools as I was blessed with a great bike, a 30 year old Univega Gran Tourissmo, I did however have 8 flats, the Schwalbe Marathon touring tires are in no way puncture proof, 4 of these flats were on the crazy Coquihalla hwy.
Camping gear and clothes:
One complaint, the sea to summit wet dry bags do not work! Everytime it rained I got into my tent only to find a damp and sometimes soggy sleeping bag, down does not dry easily! The biking knickers supplied by Swrve clothing company LA worked great! Thank you guys! I felt really guilty at first, but buying a tent really helped when it came to camping after a hard days ride, I know I could do without one, but I dont think that I am at that level quite yet.
Panniers: Arkel, rear panniers are probably the best on the market and gave me no problems what so ever, thanks moto!
The route and ride:
Steep climbs and hot weather never bothered me, but the amount of traffic on a road can quickly get you down, especially when they are 4 long logging trucks, a little extra time each morning planning the route and actually take some advice would probably have helped.
Cold weather, snow, ice and hail: can all be found in the summer months in the canadian national parks, sometimes mother nature has to try to slow you down, rain can really get you down if you dont have the right attitude
Attitude: The most important part of the tour, I think that everything really comes down to your attitude, there is no way that I could have made it through some of the rough times without laughing to myself about it, the night in Idaho with all the mosquitos was really hard, but i knew it wasnt going to last forever and in a way i knew that i was definetly getting a good experience.
Best ride: Road to the sun in Glacier national park
Worst ride: By far the Coquihalla hwy
Worst day: 2 liters of orange juice and some local water from the streams means that there are a lot of liquids that need to exit your body, bacteria for some reason makes the liquids pass into your intestines peeing is easy, diarrhea sucks!
Longest day: Longest two days; 112 miles Waterton to Fernie, 150 miles Fernie to Radium hot springs.
Words and questions that you start to ignore over time:
Far, Steep, not possible, crazy, are you on medication?

Well, summer is hardly over, and I have decided to skip grad school this year, and travel until the money runs out, second bike tour time. I was thinking about a couple destinations and I would love to have your input on them;
Japan
New Zealand
South America, (Patagonia to terra de fuego)
China(Karakoram hwy to pakistan, and tajakhistan)

I will probably be around socal until the end of August, and then its time to embark again. Let me know what you guys think and contact me if you want to hang out or chat.

Bodhitree

i have made it safely to vancouver! so many great stories and new friends, 5 days of riding across the BC province, and 240 km on the worst highway i have ever ridden the coquihalla pass. Consider biking the grape vine on high way 5 in california in the dead of summer, super hot, no shoulder, huge lumber truck and no gas stations or supply stores to get water. I tried to plan ahead and fill up all my canteens but with a 60 km head wind it doesnt take long before your mouth is parched and you are looking around for more water. At the top of one of the passes on the route I got 15 minutes of a downpour soaking all my clothes and panniers, but once the sun came out temperatures rose again to about 35. I got so desperate for water that i thought about drinking my own urine, luckily my clothes in my bags were all wet from the rain so i was able to squeeze them out for water, i got about 100 ml of wet sweaty clothes water, that tasted great, after 15 minutes of consuming the water, a guy pulled of the road and offered me water, i filled up my bottles and denied an offer for a ride to vancouver. Within another 3 hours i was out of the coquihalla and onto the side roads. Its great to be alive, its warm and the sun is shinning in Vancouver, special thanks to Sandy and Donna in Vanlemount, for letting me stay at the twin peaks resort, thanks to Sylvia and Bogdan for the swiss treats, Larry and tammy for the cabin at the log inn pub and to my new friend Debbie in Kamloops, for the hospitality and great food. I wont be in vancouver for long, I am off to the island to stay in victoria, from victoria off to Orcus island to the hot springs then off to seattle, i will be back in LA on aug 5th. way to much to write, I cant wait to tell you all the stories.

Bodhitree

Canada has so much land, the last three days I have biked from Banff to Jasper and there is not one minute of unsensational beauty. The weather however has not been so good, rain and hail and a bit of ice coming down steep passes is not fun. My fingers get so cold that there is almost no feeling to use the brakes. Lots of other bicyclists, all heading in the other direction, several families on tandems too.  I have arrived in Jasper, my supposed final destination, I went to the bus station yesterday and I was told that it would be $200 to take the bus to vancouver, that pretty much leaves me with one option, RIDE! Its about 880 km and according to some of the locals over here it is the best road trip route, I will fall out of the mountains and into the desert, Kamloops has cacti and a small oasis, and the temperature should warm up to around 30-35C. I may not have as much time as I wanted to explore the islands of BC but it just doesnt seem right to board a bus when I have a beautiful bicycle that can easily do the journey. I hope to start today, super expensive over here, laundromats cost $10. Anyway, I recommend to you all to come out and see the glaciers over here before they disappear. I hope to be in Vancouver by the 29th. See you guys soon!

Bodhitree

In the last couple of days I have done some die hard riding only to feel totally out of place in the most touristed thus far. After biking the 112 miles to Fernie from Waterton, I biked a whole 240 km (150 miles) to Radium hot springs. There were some really nice Belgium girls who let me pitch my tent on their camp spot, and I got the low down on what route to take to Banff. Yesterday after eating a whole box of fig newtons, I did a 85 mile climb into Banff, strong head winds and pretty much cold rain the whole entire time. Upon arriving in Banff, quickly noticed that there were not very many locals, castles with moats, and huge cobble stone streets with horse drawn carriages. I can’t complain it is really beautiful here, but there are just so many travelers and expensive hotels that you really have to get out of town to enjoy the land. My first and last stop in town last night was the Banff brewery where I met lots of Australians who are working in town this summer, after they found out that I was bike touring I couldnt get them to stop buying me rounds, at about 1am I stumbled out of the pub and cold rain was failing from the sky. I peddled about 4 km up the street and crashed at the samesun hostel. The sun is shining today and some friendly folks shared their pancakes with me, I am off to explore what Banff has to offer, and if the weather doesnt hold up I will bike faster into Jasper and on to the warm Pacific in Vancouver. Till I can find a computer again,

Bodhitree

Canada!! I have made it. After a 30 minute inspection and rather a lot of questions the border patrol let me into the country. Upon inspection, I asked the patrol if bike tourers are considered suspicious, and they responded that they are not, but that they usually see a large group, so they needed to make sure that I wasnt crazy before they let me into the country. Within ten miles of entering the country I met a photographer who gave me fruit, water and maps, then another 5 miles down the road a family that was picnicing made me a sandwich and beer. The northern scenery over here reminds me of the foothills of norther Yunnan province in china, lots of grassy fields with small yurts and cattle. After climbing the first mountain pass in Alberta Canada, the view of North Glacier N.P reminded me a lot of the Nepali coast in Kauai. I am now in Waterton National Park, in Alberta Canada, staying at a trail interpreters house, last night upon arriving I was greeted with a mexican fiesta, with Quinoa salad, veggie enchilladas, and vegan chip dips, probably some of the healthiest food I have eaten while on tour. So the last couple of days. I left off in Missoula where I went to the Adventure cycling Association and eat as much ice cream as humanly possible, I then traveled north to Seeley lake where I stayed with a host bear claw. Bear claw was really cool and told me some stories about the northern woods of montana as well as biking into a bear on a downhill mountain bike ride. He had traveled to the hot spring that I was at in Idaho, and he told me that one time he went there in the middle of winter, and was relaxing looking up at the stars when the whole sky went black. He quickly noticed that a moose was standing directly above him and was drinking water out of the spring between his legs. He didnt move but quickly found out that there were two other baby moose drinking water by his toes. Moose are very large in these parts and can be extremely unpredictable, so he didnt move for a while, when the moose left he quickly got out the the spring and tried to get dressed when he noticed that his clothes had frozen to the rock. Such a character, and a great guy. From Seeley, I biked to Flathead lake, near Kalispell and Bigfork. Flathead is the largest lake west of the mississippi and even shows up Tahoe. When I arrived and stopped by the Flathead brewery for the famous double IPA, the weather conditions were so extreme that the lake looked like the pacific, there were 4 foot waves and white caps through out the lake. I stayed the night in bigfork and met some bay area zen buddhists. Wednesday, I rode up to Glacier national park and made some really cool friends, Sam and Henry, who were riding coast to coast raising money for the 4 walls non-profit foundation, which is dedicated to building sustainable homes for the impoverished in third world countries. We hung out in west glacier for a while and went swimming in Lake Macdonald, the view from the lake looks exactly like the label on the Trader Joes New zealand spring water bottle, absolutely gorgeous! We camped out in Apgar and made friends with an extreme backpacker who taught us how to kill a lamb and smoke the meat. Thursday we woke up at 4 am and bike the rode to the sun, a 3,000 ft climb to the top of glacier national park. So far the ride up and down the backside of the mountain has been my most favorite ride of the tour thus far. There was construction on the ride down, which gave us a few mile of dirt/gravel roads, and it was not hard to imagine that we were biking the himalayan mountains. Lots of great views, and a beautiful emerald green lake near St. Mary to camp at. Yesterday I bid my new friends farewell as they continued their tour to seattle and I continue north into Banff and Jasper. The mosquitos here are worse than ever, and will even bite you if you are going too slow on your bike. My new plan is to bike to jasper national park, then take a bus to vancouver, once in vancouver I can take a ferry to the san juan islands and then bike back to seattle, completing the trip. My folks are going to france on the 7th of august so I am hoping to bid them farewell in person in los angeles before they leave. Unfortunately I have to start moving a bit faster, today I am planning on doing a 112 mile ride to Fernie, BC which will give me more time to explore the national parks as well as travel to vancouver.

Farewell from Waterton lakes national park, Alberta Canada

Bodhitree

I think one of the major bummers of this tour is that this blog is not very user friendly, these guys have my email address so they may try and bribe me with nachos so that way I will say that the blog is great, if I do however say that the blog is great later just know that I had some really good nachos with tillamok cheese and jalapenos, and just a little bit of the alberta enchillada sauce. Missoula is a fun city with a lot of trucks and sunburnt macho gentleman, today was the city marathon with several folks running over 26 miles, I enjoyed watching them cross the finish line with a pint of bayen brew and a burrito. the accent is alot stronger over here and I think that they can tell that I am not a local, I think that there might be only one photo to this blog but it def sums up my attitude for the tour so far, hello big sky country I welcome you with open arms!

best

bodhitree