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Lately, I’ve noticed some interesting comments on the Treadmill Bike in some video blogs. I think Karina from MobuzzTV is in denial. She totally wants a Treadmill Bike. For anyone not as skilled as myself at interpreting German from tone of voice and facial expressions, here’s a rough translation of the second clip:“The Treadmill Bike is without a doubt the single most fantastic invention of the twenty first century. It will not be long before the world’s economy revolves around this revolutionary development in personal transportation.”

The KW Santa Claus parade started today near King St. and University Ave. Susan Koswan mobilized several environmental groups from the area to enter a float consisting of bikes from the Bicycle Forest and a bunch of festive costumes. The day was a smashing success and we’re all looking forward to doing it again next year.

My friend Trevor was in town for the Oktoberfest Ultimate tournament. He suggested I come around on the Couchbike and cheer them on. It was fun to meet his team. I couldn’t believe they played with those costumes on!

Today was the third annual Car Free Day Festival in Victoria Park. Once again, the streets were closed to car traffic for a fun-filled afternoon. The Bicycle Forest donated a collection of unique bikes and the Millennium Kids were there to keep things from getting too out of hand.

When I’d agreed to join Scott on his epic Ironman training ride across BC, I had understood we’d be looking to average about 250km per day. That’s longer than I’d ever biked in a single day before, but I thought I might be up to the challenge.

After I booked my tickets, Scott called to say he’d been talking to his friend Darren who has always wanted to try biking from Vancouver to Penticton in one day.

“Hmm…” I thought. That seemed like more than I bargained for. But far be it for me to stand in the way of anyone’s dreams. It was resolved that our first day would be in the neighbourhood of 400km. We’d have three mountain passes to cross, so the plan was to start at about 3:30am.

We met Darren on 152nd St near 16th Ave in South Surrey. Scott had the route all worked out, so Darren and I just drafted him most of the way out of town.

Scott lead almost the whole way to Hope. We made it there by around 8:30am. We stopped for a short break. Scott had taken charge of our food for the day and provisioned a big bag of spinach and other dark greens mixed with tuna fish. I was a bit surprised at the healthy menu. I figured given the distance we were riding we’d be looking to eat anything and everything. But then I remembered that for Scott this was a training ride. Unlike myself, he wasn’t merely looking to survive it, but was actually looking to build his fitness along the way.

From Hope, the road started climbing into Manning Park. Drafting off Scott was no longer the free ride that it had been on route to Hope. On the uphills we all pretty much had to do the same work. However, I was still thankful that my backpack wasn’t loaded with heavy steel Graston instruments like Scott’s was.

For most of the morning we passed large groups of riders from the Christian Reform Church on their Sea to Sea bike ride. Marc Bomhof was one of them. He rode with us for a while and took this photo.

Scott was incredibly strong all day. He definitely did the lion’s share of the pulling as we cruised towards Penticton. But by the time we got to Keremeos, he was starting to bonk. We got some fruit from one of the roadside stands. That helped us all, but it was clear that the final 50km into Penticton was going to be a lot slower than our previous pace.

Befitting our epic ride, Darren’s in-laws lived on a steep hill on the far side of Penticton. But we managed the climb and were welcomed by Darren’s sister-in-law with a big jug of chocolate milk. “Finish it off”, she said.

“Thank you very much! I don’t mind if I do.”

The next day, Scott and I carried on for a comparatively easy 140km to Midway, B.C. From there, we rode 190km to the Sawada’s home in Nelson, B.C.

From Nelson, we rode 250km to Kimberley. Scott continued to do the bulk of the work, including the grocery shopping along the way. I’d just flake out in the parking lot watching the bikes. By this time, I was feeling like I was in the groove with that routine. Unfortunately, Scott was starting to have some issues with his knee. On the fifth day, we were on our way to Radium, when Scott suggested hitchhiking back to Calgary. His knee was getting worse and it didn’t seem wise to push it. When somebody as stubbornly determined as Scott suggests quitting something, there’s no point in even questioning the idea. You just know that any reasonable person would have quit long ago.

Before long, we were riding in the back of a camper van. And not a moment too soon either. Just as we pulled away, hail the size of hazelnuts started pounding the landscape. Any regrets I had about the sudden end of our trip were washed away in the summer storm.

The WLU bike to work week team invited me to bring the Couchbike around for their bike to work week promotion. CTV news was out to cover all the action. There were free hot dogs all around. Good times indeed!

We almost didn’t make it to the Ottawa Toy Parade. I arrived at Steve’s place in Ottawa last night. This morning, we assembled the Couchbike and mounted Steve’s spare couch in time for an easy cruise downtown to meet up with Mike Watson and the rest of his crew from the HPVOoO. As we were about half way there, Steve looked down at the wheel on his side of the couch and reported that things were looking pretty wobbly down there. Before either of us could fully assess the seriousness of the situation, several spokes gave out and entwined themselves in the disk brake rotor. We pulled over and set out to fix the wheel. Unfortunately, I hadn’t bothered to bring any spare spokes. Thank goodness that a kind stranger with nearby access to some bike tools happened upon our wreck. However, he didn’t have any spare spokes either, so Steve had to race back to his house to raid his own supply.

As luck would have it, we got the wheel repaired and were back on the road in time to join the HPVOoO group a just a few blocks from the start of the parade.

The parade was a good time. We switched up our spots on the bikes and got to try a lot of the wacky creations built by the Ottawa group.

After the parade we went to the Royal Oak for a late lunch. I got to take our waitress out for a quick ride in the parking lot.

After lunch, Mike let Steve and I try his tall bike and tall tandem out on the Ottawa bike paths. Wow! Was that ever fun. Thanks Mike!