Day 1

It had to happen eventually—this is the B.C. coast, after all—it rained. And so began the first official day of our journey home. Since our original plan to get to Nanaimo via the trail turned out to be nearly impossible, we headed for Swartz Bay. It was a forty-kilometre ride that made me feel every gram of the gear we were carrying; the weight really slows you down more than you expect.

I remember the day as a soggy one, physically exhausting but filled with the quiet beauty of Victoria’s outlying suburbs, with their 'English gardens' and peaceful back roads. About halfway to the ferry, we ran into a group of young cyclists—either a school group or scouts—and chatting with them for a few minutes as we pedaled along was a much-needed morale boost.

By the time we reached the ferry, we were all desperate to dry off and rest. Even the hot ferry cafeteria food felt like a gourmet meal in that state. After disembarking, we made a mad, frantic dash toward the George Massey Tunnel, having heard there was a shuttle for cyclists. We biked like maniacs only to discover that the person we spoke to on the phone was wrong; the shuttle only ran on weekends in the off-season.

Defeated and soaked to the bone, we checked into a hotel room nearby. The manager was incredibly sympathetic and let us store our bikes in a storage room. That first hot shower and a change into dry clothes felt like the absolute peak of luxury. We ended the night at Ricky’s for dinner with a wonderful crowd—Alyssa, Max, Brent, Matt, Michael, and Kevin. Seeing everyone again was the perfect way to wrap up a day that taught us our first hard lesson: the road doesn't care about your plans.

So it is our first real day of the trip. It is slightly disheartening to wake up and see it raining. But we are due. We all don our rain gear and manage to look very strange and alien. Our intended route is to take the Galloping Goose north out of Victoria to the ferry at Swartz Bay. The ferry will take us to Tsawwassen where we then cycle to the George Massey Tunnel.

We leave at 8:30a and make a quick trip over to the Mile Zero marker. Before long we get to a stretch of the trail that is not yet built and promptly get lost trying to find the detour. Despite the rain and getting lost, my spirit is high. I am managing to keep myself amused by talking to the local wildlife and singing songs to myself.

Eventually we arrive at the Swartz Bay ferry. It feels strangely satisfying, the group of us soaked and on loaded-down bicycles, pulling up to the toll booth while surrounded by dry car occupants. We nearly board the wrong ferry, but eventually we are on and soaking wet. Now that we are no longer in motion, we start to get very cold. Eventually, we find a bathroom with hand dryers to slightly warm ourselves up.

We arrive at Tsawwassen and take the highway toward the tunnel. Blue and a friend get out the cellular phone to check on the shuttle bus, and we realize we have twenty minutes to make the next one. We manage to make it to a motor inn on time, but the shuttle never comes. We hear a different story this time: during the off-season, the shuttle only operates on weekends. Just our luck.

The manager at the motor inn is very nice and lets us wash our gear with a garden hose and store our bikes in an unused conference room. As I take a warm shower, I realize we will not have the luxury of cleanliness to fall back on once we reach the interior. Friends drive down to our motel and take us out for dinner. At least it has stopped raining.