The Setback

Things were going so well ...

"Umm, I've had a small accident". "I fell over skating ... backwards"
It's March 6th, and we leave for Canada on May 11th ... (does the numbers) ... Hmm.

"How bad?". "Broke the left wrist and severely sprained the right one". O .... K .....?
"So that means 6 weeks in cast and then 6 weeks of rehab physio, right?" 

"I think so ... I hope not! The Physio at the hospital said I would be crazy to even get on a bike in less than 12 weeks." 

Hmm [Not really sure what their point was ...]

So Plan B looks like Rob cycling through the Rockies while Helen drives from Vancouver with Cousin Rachel for the first week, and convalesces with Cousin Richard, Nephews Simon and Mark, and gets in some shorter rides to build up strength for the long haul East.

OK. That sounds like a reasonable Plan B, and it means Rob can reasonably take a little longer through the Rockies, if necessary.

On Another Note

The whole 'Ride Across Canada' thing creates a great opportunity to also let lots of people know about something that we are really passionate about - Hands At Work in Africa.

Accordingly, we thought it might be an idea to get some riding shirts made up to let people know about the work, and maybe even create a GiveNow page (for Australia - CanadaHelps for Canada) to raise funds to get more kids into Hands At Work programs. 

We hope to meet up with a whole lot of people as we work our way across Canada, and perhaps even create a bit more awareness of the people doing some totally inspiring work in some of the most vulnerable communities across southern Africa. 

Go to their web site and check it out.

The Count Down

...

Oh dear! Where did the time go?

Life has been pretty crazy with preparations for a rather long bike ride, plus the Annual Equine Insight Bush Dance (which was an absolute hoot - as usual) and generally just working and looking after stuff on the home front, and horses, and visitors, and building, and did I mention riding the bike ... a lot. It's all a blur! 

We've starting laying out our gear to see just how little we think we can get away with. This is one of the seriously cool aspects of bike touring. It needs to be so minimalist because every extra thing you take means more weight for a very long time. Helen has had this thing about my bike being over the 23kg single piece baggage limit for the flight to Vancouver, so we finally got around to weighing it today (we get 2x 23kg each, so we can actually take some other stuff too). One Salsa Marakech with front and back pannier racks and a Jones handle bar apparently weighs around 17kg ... plus the box ... so we should be able to shove a little more in there too. Helen's bike is smaller, so should weigh about 14kg or less.

We are in our last week before heading off - that crept up pretty fast. We've been trying to map out the route and make some intelligent estimates about where we are going to be and when (you're right, that was always going to be fraught ... the 'intelligent' bit, I mean).

The biggest challenge is not knowing how hard the riding is likely to be through the Rocky Mountains for the first few weeks of the trip. I had the silly idea that I could blast through 140km on the first day from Burnaby to Hope - because it is SO FLAT. [Seriously, the net elevation difference is apparently 43 metres ... in 140km! I do more climbing than that in the 2.5km to the top of our gravel road here in the Macedon Ranges] But more rational heads have prevailed and it looks like we will ride a little over 80 km to Chilliwack on the first day, and then have a bit of a look around. 

The next day we will probably head up to Yale and check out the Historic Village there. Apparently, Yale, B.C. was once the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Chicago. Originally established in 1848 as a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, Yale grew with the influx of an estimated 30,000 gold miners during the gold rush of 1858.

We have also decided that we will add a couple of hundred kilometres to the trip by heading up towards Jasper from Kamploops and then coming down through the Icefields Parkway, because everyone says it is the most stunning ride. 

The strange thing is that all of this seems so distant, even now. In four days we will actually be half way to Hong Kong, but it all seems totally surreal. 

It's mid Autumn in Romsey. The days are glorious and sunny, but the air temperature has a bit of a foreboding bite to it. Our days are full, as are our hearts. We are blessed with two amazing sons and a love that seems to just grow and grow. We are also blessed with some truly amazing friends that have been so willing to support and encourage us in this adventure.

And soon we'll be on our way to the other side of the planet to do something a little different.