Introduction

Allo, hello, tere,

Some old lines/puns: Pierre qui roule, rock and roll, the rolling stone (gathers no dust).

Who: Pierre, Ottawa (ON)

What: Cross Canada travel.

When: After a few days rest in Tofino, British Columbia at the beginning of May, 2008, hit the road around the 4th. The 1st time-based goal is to arrive in Ottawa in mid June, race in a 24-hour mountain bike competition, and head back on the road a few days later. Finish the trip in St. John's, Newfoundland, at the end of July, 2008, before returning home to Ottawa to start being an adult again.

Where: Canada, West to East, via Toronto, Ontario. Detours: Val Gagné and Manitoulin Island (ON), Gaspé region (QC), and Cape Breton (NS).

Why: Visit this beautiful (and fairly big) nation of ours. See family and friends. Taste the cuisine of different parts of the country and enjoy the various beers and wine along the way. Experience anything the villages and cities along the way have to showcase. Lose 50 pounds and be buff.

How: By bicycle (her nickname: Dzie, pronounced D-Zie).

Extras: According to mapquest, a drive from tip to tip (via Toronto) would be 7710 km (85 hours of driving, 2 ferries). A flight would only be 5400 km (9 hours flight time, with switching planes 2 times).

* I do occasionally feel I am following the footsteps of a few great ones (whom I've also had the honour of riding with), who have done this trip in the past - Al, and especially Tanya. I do hope that I can bring in some new pics, new stories, and not rehash stuff that those amazing folks have done before me.

** I imagine I'll be a bit lonely at times throughout the trip, where I highly request and encourage comments from you guys. It'll be my way of having some conversations with you. I'll try to update the blog every few days.

Disclaimer: Most of you guys know me. In my posts, there will probably be a mixture of bizarre stories, silly jokes (like the weight-losing bit a few instances before), some references to music lyrics and movie lines. I will do my best to entertain, but sometimes, I might miss the mark on being funny or entertaining (hopefully not though).

Posting messages: Readers with a gmail/blogger account - you know what to do. Readers who do not: post a comment as anonymous (but put your name at the bottom of the comment please). The occasional personal messages can be sent to pierre.l.perron@gmail.com

Ciao,
p2

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Tofino, first day


Bonjour,

Fun day. I miss biking though. Tomorrow will be the first bike day – ahead of previously planned. After thinking ahead, I've decided to change things around a bit. I hope things work.

Fun day today. I walked around town quite a bit, got to know some spots around here. I even found a chiropractor, where I checked to see their availability so I can get a few cracks. (I can hear a few physios cringing at the moment). They were not in town today, so no pops. The burning question of the day is - How many degrees rotation is possible at the OA joint (pure and/or with side bending). Oddly enough, that is bugging me a bit.

I did some hiking near a beach just outside of town. The big event today was the kayak trip I did. I lucked out, as the ocean was fairly wavey (is that a word?), that they would not allow anyone out in a single-seater kayak. So, the instructor, Andy, went out together. Nice work-out. Saw many sea starts (star fishes) of all kind, crabs, porpose (spelled correctly?), many different birds (including a soaring eagle over the kayak). Pictures will be added as soon as I can figure out how to upload a folder (instead of tons of pics). If anyone can forward me that info on how to upload them in one folder in Picasa (so it's divided in folders, not just a bunch of unorganized pictures), that would be great – send me an email.

I had a great supper – a full report on places to eat in Tofino will be written at the end of the day tomorrow. For those who are wondering – yes, I have been keeping up my minimum 1-2 beers/day since the 18th. I could be classified as an alcoholic, oops. But, I can stop anytime I want...

During supper, I was staring at some of the mountain tops of some islands nearby. The clouds were right above one of the peaks, and at one point, just “impose” themselves on the peak, and form a ring around it. That ring would revolve around the peak, seperate from the cloud above. Weird. It would be at a different speed than the cloud above. I have no idea how long that lasted, as I went to a presentation at 8pm.

Andy was presenting of his trip to Nunavut. He lived there for a few years, and had a power point presentation of his experiences. It's quite breath taking – 2000 feet waterfalls, 1500 feet cliffs that are used for base jumping, freaky ice formation, noon moons, etc.

Tomorrow – surfing, some trail hiking, starting to bike, and camping at night. I should have access to Internet at night – it might be the last day that I have Internet access for a few days. So, mom, dont worry if you dont hear from me for a few days. I dont think there's going to be any phone reception either. Just a heads-up.

Oh, who's MT? Is that you Dawg?

Chady (aka Chad) – there can only be one purple fast beast with flames on the side. You're a flamer.

Alright. Time for bed. I'm almost chillin' in am/pm. (At this point, I can picture seeing Dave starting to rap. Makes me think of when I was part of his broomball team, he's getting dressed before a game, he was only wearing his full-body long johns. Dave is probably weighing at 220 lbs and standing 6'2”. He then proceeds to ballroom dance by himself in the dressing room. Fun site to see.) I miss that guy.

I like this B.C. time, as I feel I have regular hours – I go to bed at 11 pm (so 2 am Ottawa time), and feel it's time to get up at 7-8 am.

Ciao, and I get to hit the road tomorrow!

p2

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice to be on a trip with porpoise...db

Boo said...

Have fun tomorrow!!!!
Can't wait to see the pictures!

Carole

Anonymous said...

Have fun Pierre!!! Kick ass trip.
syndrome de tourette en? lol,

en passant, le nom du gars est Colin Angus et son livre s'appelle Beyond Horizon. pick it up quand tu peux, it's one hell of a book and té probablement dans une excellente position to relate to his stories.

MJ xoxo

Anonymous said...

Have Fun
<< comme si yavait pas de lendemain>> hahaha

Cant wait to see your pics

Like promised... bed and warm meal in Monkytown... 506-204-2915

La vieille

Unknown said...

You mean to tell me you haven't figured out how to upload pics yet. Camonnnnn...we beleive in you...lol

Anonymous said...

You're very smart (... and special) Pierre :)

Before you leave B.C., could you do me a favour and ask the waitress for a Kilkenny? I bet I know what happens next and if so, it's quite amusing!

MT
(a.k.a. Dawg)