Across the Island

We have made it to the west coast of the island! Took a little bit longer than anticipated with the varying levels of fitness amongst the three of us, but we did it. Highway 4 is a pretty intense highway to travel and we weren't anticipating how sketchy it would be. No shoulder, tons of blind corners and hills...lots of them. It was a pretty intense training ground. Anyways, we caught a ride with a friend to Courteny, because we didn't see a point in cycling the route twice.

Anyways thanks to our friend we have some steady wifi so we could make a post. Just need to figure out why we can't map our route. but, that is a problem for another day.

We will be leaving here in the morning to cycle to Victoria. Malahat here we come.

It's JCB,Joe, bobby, Cody...pervs

More pics here

Holy cow! Lots has happened so I will keep it short and very sweet. Stopped in kelowna on the way to Van to see my grandparents. My grandpa isn't doing very well, so it was great to have a little visit before this epic journey. Van was a great experience with friends and our bikes officially way A MILLION POUNDS!!!!!!! Unofficially very [expletive deleted] heavy. All in all we are in good health and spirits and the bikes are performing thus far, stay tuned for our next wacky adventure ,please.

Vancouver

Posing with our bikes after a day at the track. Man, we're classy. More pics here

It Begins!

It was a whirlwind 48 hours to get to Vancouver. Packing for the first time, then repacking a couple more times to make everything fit. A hellish sleep deprived road trip to Van city, yet still better then the Grey Hound, and a lovely visit with the elder Parks. We have arrived! A few meet and greets with friends, friends of friends, and strangers to get out of the way before we head to the Island. We have a couple of items to sort out today and tomorrow. Minor things like: What we are going to eat, a general plan for traversing the Island, and some adjustments to the bikes to make them perfect for riding a few thousand kilometers. All and all we are better set then expected, though tensions are increasing.

Next stop the race track to see if we can fund this adventure.

A huge THANK YOU!

The amount of support we have received so far has been amazing. At first we started off thinking that it would be cool to get a few donations but, we have already gone beyond anything we expected and we haven't even left yet. You guys are amazing. We honestly have to spend quite a bit of time updating our donation list. Something we didn't anticipate having to do. Our friends, family and coworkers(friends :P) are amazing people and it is a huge privilege to know you.

On a side note, we are almost completely set for the trip. There are a few odds and ends to grab and 3 days to get them. Shouldn't be too difficult, right?

Less than a week away. Freaking out starts now! All questions and second guessing are swirling around in my mind. Do i have everything? did i forget this? that? Am i prepared? The answer is i don't know. But it's exciting and terrifying and it is going to be an amazing journey and experience. The preverbial clock is ticking. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

My Very First Post

I guess I should start with something simple like hi, my name is Bobby. Now it's taken me a little longer to grasp the concept of this thing called a "blog", perhaps you have heard of it? I know I had heard of them but i didn't ever really see myself as the blogging type. I just wanted to ride bikes! Now I'm not very tech savvy, but I realize that there may be some people out there who are genuinely interested and sympathetic towards our cause and our goal to "ride bikes" all the way across our great land. It's thrilling, terrifying, and absolutely the craziest thing I have ever done! I cant wait, look forward to more posts from me much more frequently now that I have found the "on" button to this new fangled machine.

Each day is a new revolution

The bike ride to work each day keeps getting shorter. Or so it seems. When I get to my destination I want to keep going. I'm taking this as a good sign. Luckily there is a small cycling group that I team up with each morning. Some are leisurely and some are speed demons. A great mix. Today we cooked it. I got a good taste of how out of shape I am in. As we get closer to the end of work and closer to our leave date I find it harder and harder to stay focused on anything other than this trip.

A big thanks to Cody for covering the technical part of this website and getting us linked up with the Canadian Cancer Society. The site looks sweet and running smooooooth. Thank you to everyone who has given us donations and we look forward to seeing more come in. This adventure is getting more steam then I ever thought it could. If anyone would like more information please contact us at lifeonarim@gmail.com.


Joe

Reach For a Cure

We just changed our main method of gathering donations from CanadaHelps.org to Reach For a Cure. A program run by the Canadian Cancer Society. We also went ahead and got ourselves endorsed. This should add a lot more legitimacy to our fundraising efforts. If you wish to donate please click the Donate link at the top of the page.

14 days and counting!

We are 14 days out from our leave date for the west coast. Very exciting. Lots of support has been coming in and we are very appreciative for it. I just wanted to mention that we are also on Twitter. You can find us at lifeonarim. Also, I have signed up at warmshowers.org. I think this would be an amazing way to experience Canada, by learning from the locals, and cutting costs, especially in the bigger cities. So if there are any interested parties please drop us a line!

~Joe~~