I’m looking forward to exploring the northern half of Vancouver Island by bike.
Sometime.
I’ll do some variation of the Tree to Sea Loop, 1000-kilometres on gravel around the lesser-known areas on the north end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It’s 90% unpaved.
Highlights include massive valleys, oceanside villages, towering coastal mountains, and deep fjords via an impressive patchwork of forest service roads.
Right now the route requires a water taxi from Tahsis to Zeballos, which will be replaced by the Unity Trail that will eventually connect the two communities.
I’ll be celebrating in Lisbon, Portugal. You know — the most vaccinated nation in the world? 😇
No quarantine. No covid test. BLAST. Connecting in Montreal, I was one of about 10 connecting passengers informed that we did need a Covid test before getting on the plane. I got a 20 minute test at the airport for $150. Very confusing as Portugal allows vaccinated passengers to arrive without a test on TAP airlines and others. I blame Air Transat for poor communication.
I’ve booked a number of flights lately. #PandemicOver 😀
I ALWAYS start with Matrix Airfare Search by ITA Software A few companies — e.g. Southwest — opted not to be included.
Even if my date of flight is fixed, I always start with “See calendar of lowest fares”.
Clicking around, once I have the price, date, details (usually AC or WJ), I go directly to the airline website to book the flight. One. Less. Middleman.
I try to avoid booking on a series of airlines as — when something goes wrong — each blames you and the other airline for your woes.
Google Matrix originally let you book flights. But the airlines complained so they dropped that feature.
If I can’t get the price promised on Matrix, I try Expedia or one of the other aggregators. Once in a while they have a block of cheaper tickets no longer available directly from the airline.
I was looking for something more rugged and with more carrying capacity than my otherwise excellent Ghost.
I ended up with the Checkpoint ALR 4 … mainly because I lucked into finding one in stock at West Point Cycles in Vancouver. Still — it took over 4 months to get the accessories I wanted.
This bike is Aluminum, not steel, so it’s relatively light at 10.26 kg / 22.62 lbs. Carbon fork.
It’s got a ton of attachments. I special ordered the deluxe BONTRAGER racks front and back. I’ll load up with 4 full size panniers for longer trips.
… a formula that demonstrates replacing about 430 driving miles with 430 riding miles can offset the carbon cost of your new bike. Anything above 430 miles, and your bike is now carbon-negative.
Future BIG bikepacking trips I’m considering include:
Iceland, Norway and Scandinavia (possibly summer 2022)
Sister and brother Sage and Cole hosted me in Olympia WA while I organized my Covid test within the 72 hour limit required for my international flight home to Canada.
THANKS.
Did you own a huge house, big lot and a 3-car garage when YOU were Cole’s age?
Rick McCharles 