Day 1 | Working out the kinks

Nanaimo, British Columbia

Distance

57 miles

Elevation Climbed

3,359 ft

Landscape

Tree-lined roads with peeking mountainous coastline

Weather

Sunny, 50 F

Lars’ Notes: 

Up early, had our coffee, packed our things and headed to start Day 1 of our adventure. The weather was great…sunny and about 50 degrees. Lise drove us to our starting point, we took all the obligatory pics, started the pre-programmed (and carefully thought out) route and headed down the road. About one minute into the ride, the GPS is beeping incessantly and telling me to turn around. Now I may not always be the sharpest tool in the shed, but heading south on the eastern side of an island is pretty easy…water on the left. GPS continues to beep. After several attempts to right the situation, I turn it off…Kirsten and I can navigate our way…no problem! 

We continued south (with the water on the left) and it was awesome! Snow capped mountains of Vancouver Island to the west, gorgeous bays with the mountains north of Vancouver to the east, we were cruising at a good clip, with no wind and only modest climbs. All was great until we headed south on Canada Route 1. We were a bit concerned to start, but it was OK, a decent shoulder and traffic not too bad. We were happy to avoid what seemed like a busier highway HW 19. These were two lane routes…highways…but bicycles were OK. (the guide books also noted we would need to ride these) All was good until CAN 1 and HW 19 merged and we found ourselves in the middle, two high speed lanes on our left and two on our right! Think I-95 and I-91 merging with us in the middle. (for our Danish friend…Ikke sa godt) NOT GOOD. We screeched our brakes and headed to the grass, avoiding disaster in the process. Help us Google Maps!

We made it out of the potential disaster and found an alternate route.  We called Lise, uh we might be a little late. “I hope you didn’t get on that highway” she offers. Nah, we turned off. We arranged another pick up spot and discovered a simply gorgeous road through rolling hills and meadows full of wildflowers and spectacular views of the mountains as the backdrop. At the end of the road was the Honda CRV with Lise ready to celebrate our first successful day. 

Sample View
CAN 1 / HW 19 intersection
Let the journey begin!
Day 1 Complete