Day 19 June 1

Caught the bus back to Vancouver and luckily the driver dropped me off opposite the hostel that I am staying in. Saved me having to walk 3 blocks carrying my bike and luggage. The hostel advertised free secure bike parking on their web and yes it was free and it was secure because no one could navigate their way past all the stuff stacked up to get to it. I had to go through 2 storerooms to the bike room and there was just enough room to squeeze a bike in but I needed somewhere to put my bike together. I couldn't do it in the store room as they had all their supplies in there and a staff member had to be with me. I put it together in a dimly lit corridor with staff squeezing past, and it was done by feel more than sight. Got it all done in the end with no real problems. I'll find somewhere better to pack it before I leave.

I went for a ride around the bike track that goes right around the edge of Stanley Park. It wasn't a bad cruise and when I got to the end of the park I headed towards the middle section and found some half decent trails to ride on, even though they were really short. Headed back to the hostel after a couple of hours of sightseeing around the coast.

The hostel is quite close to Chinatown, so I decided to walk over there for dinner. WOW, what a disaster. There were no shops or restaurants open and every homeless person, dero, crazy and drug addict were cruising the sidewalks. I never really felt threatened, but it was only 7:15pm and still plenty of daylight left. I wouldn't like to walk the same path after dark. Back near the hostel I found a place with a good stir fry so I didn't go any further. I'll certainly stay away from Chinatown from now on.

DISTANCE TODAY 26km TOTAL DISTANCE 465 km

Day 20 June 2

Went to the tourist info centre to find out about the 2 big attractions in Vancouver - Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain. It was a reasonably easy ride over the bridge to get there as they were both on the same road. First stop was the Capilano and it was pretty spectacular. It is 450 ft long and is 230 ft above the floor of the canyon. It does sway a fair bit and there were lots of people who looked as though they were crapping their daks. They also had a treetop walk between about 6 trees which was also pretty cool.

It was back on to the bike for the climb up to the car park for Grouse Mountain. I hadn't bought a ticket previously for the gondola ride to the top as Brad & Kim had told me I should do the Grouse Grind which is a hike to the top. I really wasn't sure about doing it after having ridden there but the legs were feeling reasonable so I decided to give it a go. After the first 200 m I was wondering if it was a sensible decision but I wasn't going to turn back then. I just decided to take it slow and steady and try not to stop as getting going again was not going to be nice.

I eventually made it to the ¼ way there sign and I was almost ready to turn back then as My legs were really feeling the pinch. The thing that really kept me going I guess was that I had passed lots of people who were way out of condition and really suffering but were still going. By the ½ way mark I wasn't feeling any worse than the ¼ so I thought I could do this. After what seemed like ages, I thought I must have been really slowing and suffering because I hadn't even reached the ¾ mark. I was then wondering if they didn't have one and was still thinking this when presto, I popped out at the top. What a relief. I was absolutely drenched in sweat as I had my back pack on containing cycling shoes, tube, bike tools etc. Brad had told me that around an hour was a good time to get up and I managed it in 57 mins so I pleased with that, especially when it was 5 mins and I thought I hadn't reach the ¾ mark. Even though it was extra weight, I'm glad I took some normal hiking shoes as the cleats (riding shoes for you non riders out there) would have been really slippery on all the rocks. The track was 2.9 km with a vertical rise of 933m.

After a powerade and a quick look around it was back down and although it wasn't as tiring as going up, my knees were really sore with the constant pressure. I think I was more relieved to finish the trip down to give my knees a rest. Luckily the trip home on the bike was nearly all downhill.

DISTANCE TODAY 25km TOTAL DISTANCE 490 km

Day 21 June 3rd

The day started badly at 1:30am when my new room mate arrived. The first thing he said was he apologised for snoring and he snored loudly. Then he said he got up at 5:30 am and sure enough his alarm went off at 5:30 but he didn't turn it off, it stopped by itself and snoozed for a while before going off again. Luckily the snoring while loud when he did snore but it was not all the time.

The legs were feeling really sore from yesterday so I just went for a walk around the city. By lunch I thought that a ride was in order as I couldn't have a shower if I rode tomorrow as my checkout is 11am, even though I don't fly out till 10:30pm. That was going to be too difficult so it was today or never. I headed out around the coast to the University of BC where they have got a few trails. I found them and all those that were legal were wide gravel paths and the illegal ones didn't look much different from the stiles you had to walk thru with big no bikes signs. I did the right thing and kept to the paths and it was pretty cruisy. Back along the coast again for a pleasant afternoon and I was surprised how far I went. I think it helped the legs but they are still really sore walking up the stairs.

DISTANCE TODAY 53km TOTAL DISTANCE 543 km

Day 22 Jun 4th

A bit of a nothing day today as I had to check out by 11 so couldn't have a shower if I did too much. Basically walked around town and then had to get to a hotel a fair distance away and it was too far to carry the bike and luggage. I left the bike assembled and threw everything else in the bike bag and walked the lot to this swanky hotel.

I then disassembled the bike on the footpath and 2 separate guards came out to see if they could help. I'm sure they were just making sure I wasn't a homeless person setting up camp on their footpath. Sarah, that was when I got your SMS and it was only 6:15pm. Anyway, I got it all done and went to the airport for a 10:30pm flight to New York (which was 1:30am NY time).