6 Days to Departure

May 2015

• Just to give you an idea of how much gear we have, take a look at the the fully loaded trunk of a Mazda 3. Everything packed in the bags is what we consider to be 'essential' equipment and that includes folding chairs!

  

  Trunk of Mazda 3

• On our ride to Champlain Lookout on Sunday May 10th, we were stopped by a Belgian living in Ottawa for pictures and an interview. This individual told us that he hosted a cycle touring website encouraging Belgians to travel to Canada and pedal. We gave him a business card and he promised to send us a link to his website by the end of the day. To this day, we have not heard from him and figure that it is because he is almost done (90% complete).  

  

  Champlain Lookout - Gatineau Park

• On the same ride, on the way home as we meandered through Gatineau we were yelled at and chased by an individual on a bike. When yelled at, it is usually by someone in a pick up truck with a set of balls hanging from the trailer hitch - you know the type. We stopped. Turns out that our yell'er was an older gentleman who wanted to help us find accommodations for the night. We thanked him for his concern and got on our way. 

• During our training rides, we were amazed to discover just how warm and friendly people are to cyclists on fully loaded touring bikes. We got many a wave, thumbs up and smiles from folks in cars and trucks and with most, also giving us a wide berth when passing. It would be nice if that was the reaction to all cyclists that share the road with them. 

• In the kitchen, we built an aluminium foil wind screen for the stove. Version 1 was made of aluminium only and had difficulty staying up. It was quickly poo-pooed by the trip leader. On the second attempt, four cardboard panels were inserted making it significantly more rigid and able to support a heavier pan. We are just hoping the cardboard in Version 2 doesn't catch on fire. Just in case, we are bringing both versions. BTW, we also got a deeper frying seen below on the left. We broke the 'don't bring untested gear on a major trip' rule.       

  

  Version II on the right!

• The bikes are clean, packed in their boxes and ready to travel to the airport. 

• In the next post we will introduce two new members of the team...'GO TEAM GO!'