An amazing adventure.
Mick Turnbull and Danielle O’Hara. Four weeks in July.
Personal stories like this is what I love about YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Their trip report is posted on Bikepacking.com
Category: cycling
Where to TRAVEL in 2025?
Of course I have a half dozen different itineraries drafted. 😀
BUT which will end up happening?
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Highest priority destinations 2025:
- Indonesia for World Gymnastics Championships October
- Northern Australia
- Nepal in November (Everest Base Camp)
Medium priority destinations 2025:
- USA hiking part of the Pacific Crest Trail
- Denmark for cycling
- Germany for cycling
Low priority 2025:
- Iceland and the Faroe Islands (again)
- Madeira – Portuguese Islands
- Canary Islands – Spain
- East Africa
- northern Vancouver Island cycling
- Pakistan for hiking
- India for hiking
- Jordan for cycling
- Oman for cycling
- Taiwan for hiking
- Mongolia
- Greece
- Scotland
- Corsica
- Montenegro & Balkans
Any other recommendations for me?
Expedition Oregon Adventure Race
Perhaps we should put together an Adventure Racing team for Expedition Oregon. 😀
Only 250 miles of mtn bike, trekking, climbing, packrafting, rafting, navigation.
America’s toughest A.R. race.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
North to Alaska by Trevor Lund
North To Alaska: The True Story of An epic, 16,000-mile cycle journey the length of the Americas
I downloaded this book to read while cycling in Iceland’s wind and rain.
I had it easy compared to Trevor. 😀
At age-21, Trevor cycled 1800 miles down the west coast of Canada and the USA on a second-hand bike he had bought for around £20.
10 years later — in 1999 — he wanted more. Patagonia to Alaska .
His companion crapped out after the first few days. Trevor was alone.
His bicycle was terrible. No mobile phone. Very little money.
What’s different about this book compared with other similar adventures, is how honest and vulnerable the author is about all the many, many things that go wrong. You really feel the highs and lows.
Independently published Jan. 7, 2020.
Cycling Denmark
My biggest surprise cycling Europe in 2024 was Denmark.
It’s fantastic.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I needed to cross Denmark south to north, coming from the Rhine river in Germany.
I had low expectations, basically planning to spend as few days in Denmark as possible while getting to the ferry to Faroe Islands.
NOW I want to go back to Denmark — the 2nd happiest nation in the world!
Highest priority is National Cycle Route 1, the West Coast Route. 560 kilometers from the German border.
National Cycle Route 12 ➙ Limfjord Route looks interesting, as well. I rode part of that from Aalborg summer 2024.
Third priority would be National Cycle Route 9 ➙ en route from Berlin to Copenhagen.
As I post, Denmark is my #1 cycling destination for the future. It would get me back to Germany, as well, which is fantastic with the Deutschland Rail ticket making public transit almost free.
Part of the attraction are the fantastic free campsites in an otherwise very expensive tourist nation.
I’m still brainstorming future cycling destinations.
Penticton – Adventure Racing Worlds 2025
Adventure Racing World Championships
Sept. 22 – Oct. 6, 2025
Penticton, BC, Canada
I’d love to attend my first A.R. Worlds — but will probably be in Asia at that time.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
By coincidence, I was 1st to watch this VIDEO. Just happened to be online when it popped up.
Cycling Mt. Washington to Horne Lake
From 2020 I had some great memories of cycling a logging road called Comox Main.
At the time it was my favourite gravel road on the island, so far.
And I did spot a bear cub.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
As the weather was fantastic for Labour Day 2024, I was keen to cycle in the opposite direction …
Mt Washington to Horne Lake
Actually, my original plan was Mt Washington all the way back to home in Parksville.
It only took 40 minutes to roll down the mountain from the ski resort to highway.
I detoured into Cumberland to pick up some refreshing Fresca. 😀
Then it was on to pretty and surprisingly undeveloped Comox Lake.
On a sunny long weekend Saturday the gates were open and hundreds of people were out enjoying the water.
I’d forgotten that the road along the lake is a brutal series of steep up and downs. Pushing the bike more than riding.
Still — I was psyched for the Comox Line logging road to come.
I saw only 1 vehicle. That road is always deserted.
Just back from 6 weeks cycling in Europe I was feeling fit. The bike tuned up, new tires installed.
But — from Comox Lake it was all uphill, uphill.
Yeesh. I should have checked the elevation before starting.
A very tough afternoon.
I did find a good campsite on a logging road spur around 8pm. Cooked corn beef dinner in the dark.
Seems they are eating berries exclusively of late.
Sunday morning was fun. Mostly downhill to Port Alberni for lunch.
Another perfect day.
The route Port Alberni to Horne Lake is a slog. I’d done it a number of times in the past.
Up and over the island.
This time it seemed worse than usual, being so hot and windless.
The only highlight was the lookout over Port Alberni.
Worried about making it back before dark, I’d called my brother at lunch to suggest I might need pick-up at Horne Lake.
The afternoon was bad enough. And the route even worse as there had been much new logging since the last time I was there. New logging roads are impossible to cycle.
When I finally could see the lake and had 2 bars of mobile phone service, I called again to see if my brother could pick up at the Horne Lakes Caves parking lot. I was exhausted from too much hike-a-bike.
No problem … we thought.
I’d unloaded the bike and was waiting when he rang me back.
Dad’s truck had quit at the start of the Horne Lake road.
I had to reload the bike and continue another 12km or so to get to the truck. Dead.
It was a long weekend holiday Sunday night, yet Stacey was able to still get a tow truck with her CAA membership.
We had it towed to the dealership in Parksville.
On the upside, I did get a good tan.
… or is that dirt? 😀
I’m not keen on Vancouver Island logging roads at this moment in time.
Spoiled, perhaps, from all that easy cycling in Europe.
Visiting Cumberland, Vancouver Island
Cumberland, near the east coast of central Vancouver Island, British Columbia, reminds me of Canmore, Alberta about 30 years ago.
A mountain biker’s mecca full of funky coffee shops, bike shops, and restaurants.
Plenty of live music.
- Irreligion (3,555 persons or 81.2%)
- Christianity (725 persons or 16.6%)
Average age-38.
Average in nearby Parksville is about age-70. A retirement town.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
My NEW DJI Mini 4 Pro Drone
I’ve been really enjoying flying drones.
Mine was the dumbest — and least expensive — in the DJI line-up, the original Mini S.E.
Getting ready for hiking / cycling 2024, I bought a DJI Mini 4 Pro drone. (My old drone broke in Idaho.)
Click PLAY or watch samples on YouTube.
Now have the DJI RC-N2 controller with the built-in screen. No longer need to hook up my phone.
I got the full Fly More Kit which includes 3 batteries, charging hub, carrying case, and extras.
Not inexpensive at CAD $1500 including tax.
Of course buying a warranty is essential. I paid CAD $170 (USD $125) / 2 years. I can replace the drone carcass up to 3 times. But IF I lose the drone, no warranty coverage.
I bought some accessories, as well:
- BRDRC Mini 4 Pro ND64 Lens Filter CAD $25 (probably won’t use it)
- Lanyard Neck Strap for DJI Mini 4 Pro CAD $18
- STARTRC Propeller Holder CAD $16
I could have gone for the less expensive Mini 2, or Mini 3, but decided on the 4 for these features:
- 360 degree obstacle avoidance
- better low light video
- it has a built-in light, so I can see the drone in the sky at dusk or dawn
- vertical video in 4K
- more Quickshot options
Most importantly, super powerful Activetrack options. The drone will follow-me wherever I go, avoiding obstacles so I need not manually watch it every second.
Due to obstacle avoidance, I’ve not crashed the Mini 4 even once … aside from day 1 when I tried to catch it by hand incorrectly. Oops.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’ll shoot video in 2024 with drone, iPhone, and Ace Pro Action Camera:
- 4K HDR / HDR, 60 or 30 fps automatic setting
Add-on
- SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO® microSD™ UHS-I Card
- replacement rubber prop holder
- controller bracket for my bike
- normally shoot in 4K 60 fps (unless only 30 fps available)
- slow motion mode is 4K 100 fps
- also possible is 1080p 200 fps
- normally shoot in HLG mode
- shoots vertical video in 4K (better than cropping)
- normally photos in JPEG and RAW both
- Quickshots are great
- Mastershots even better. About 2 minutes of different shots around a target.
- Hyperlapse is easy. Generate a few seconds of Timelapse footage.
- Activetrack will follow the target. 360 allows you to rotate around while moving.
- POI circles the target, while following
My guru is DC Rainmaker.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
NOTES:
I didn’t go for the Plus battery because the added weight takes it over the sub-250g weight
I was convinced to buy the more expensive Mini 4 by DC Rainmaker’s 2022 review.
If you are keeping track — I bought the DJI Spark at the beginning. Couldn’t get it off the ground. Traded to Kraig for a fantastic jacket.
During the pandemic, I bought 2 DJI Mini SE drones. Now discontinued. Less than CAD $1000 total for both including the Fly More kit.
Surprisingly durable. I crashed them dozens of times.
BIG Cycling Adventures in Iceland
I’d researched the adventures below before taking my bike to Iceland August 2024.
Once there, I realized they were ALL too challenging. I was solo. Unprepared to fix my bike in the wilderness if I broke down.
HERE is what I ended up doing in 2024 ➙ Cycling Iceland … 🙄
One possible route is the Iceland Divide RBC.
There are variations, but one popular option is starting on the coast at Akureyri. Cycling south, then west to the outskirts of Reykjavik.
I can follow the route via GPS using Komoot. There are times in Iceland when visibility is zero.
The river crossings don’t look too bad on this route. They were riding in June.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
A tougher variation of the Iceland Divide is more north ➙ south. Also starting in Akureyri.
For example, Francesco and Giorgio’s route.
I once watched some cyclists from Alaska suffering on the famous hike Landmannalaugar ➙ Skógar.
It did not look fun. WALK, don’t ride the Laugavegur trail.
Richard Sidey did this variation.
About 777km. Solo.
Worst moment was near the end (north), getting blown completely across the highway into the path of oncoming traffic, narrowly avoiding an accident.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Wild camping is the norm in Iceland. But it’s difficult to find shelter. Cyclists stay indoors in huts every chance they get.
The only one I’m considering now is Westfjords.
Tom Hall did one of the easier routes.
Click PLAY or watch a 3 day adventure on YouTube. (late May – terrible weather)
My cycling idol, Lael Wilcox, joined Chris Burkhard for his 575-mile Westfjords Way. That would be the ultimate.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 