Traveling Companions

Our trip consists of 20 bicyclists and two staff: Bud (the owner of Cycle Canada) and his trusty helper, Jason.

Bud is conscientious, organized, thorough, and unflappable. However, we are all grateful that he hired Jason because Jason is cheerful, personable, and has social skills.

Of the bicyclists in the group, there are more men than women (14-6). Most people on the trip are middle-aged (40's and 50's). A few are in their 60's and one amazing woman, Barbara, is 74. Here she is, clowning around while wearing Barb's arm warmers.


Mark is 27
(do you see a resemblance to a movie star? no Dean, not Woody Allen) and the youngest rider in the group.

Surprisingly, the majority of people on the trip are married and traveling without their spouses. Barbara plus 10 of the men on the trip left partners at home.

There are 2 married couples on the trip, Dean and I



and Vince and Lynda.

Most people on the trip are camping every night, but 4 people are paying extra for the "hotel option", Vince and Lynda, Dave and Jim.

A few words about Dave and Jim. When they showed up in Fort Langley at the start of the trip, fresh from their night at a local B&B, many of us assumed they were a couple. They look like a couple (notice their matching shirts in this photo).

But a few days into the trip, we realized that they are actually in separate rooms, and that Jim is married and Dave twice divorced. We then decided that they are not really gay after all. Unless they are, in a sort of Brokeback Mountain sort of way: "Honey! Time for my annual bicycle trip with Dave."

Most of the people in the trip are Canadians. Exceptions: me and Dean (from Oakland CA),

Clement (practically our neighbor, from San Jose)



Phil (from Bellingham, WA), who actually rides with a British Columbia bicycling club

Barb, who lives in Wenatchee, WA. Except that Barb is really a Canadian who just lives in the U.S.

Here is Barb with some sort of random Biker Dude, at our lunch stop in Lower Nicola.








and Karl, from Cologne, Germany.

Barbara lives in Kingston, Ontario, but she was born in East Germany and managed to get out when she was 18. Barbara is friendly, extroverted, and talkative. She is also really glad to have Karl on the trip to speak German with.

Barbara and Karl

22 is a hard number for group cohesion. Of course, it's easier than even larger groups, but I am used to traveling in bike groups of 10 people. When you have double that number, it is hard to keep track of everybody. I have noticed that our group tends to naturally split into 2 fairly easily.


Here we are at dinner at the Columbia Icefields, divided nicely into 2 groups to fit at the 2 tables.








I tend to hang with Dean (of course),

Vince and Lynda,

and the 2 Barbs.



The 3 cops (did I mention that there are 3 police officers on the trip? George and Paul are from Ottawa, (half of Pat, Paul, Jane, George)

while Mark is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police --RCMP)


They hang out a lot with the 2 Victoria girls (Pat and Jane), while the rest of the men on the trip go with one group or the other.Pat, Jane, Paul

We do a pretty good job of mixing it up, too. For example, one guy I would never meet on the road is Mike, because he rides with the "Fast Five" every morning.



But he and I have discovered our mutual love of adventure books. I was so excited to meet somebody else who loves THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD, and Mike and I have talked a lot about our favorite books.

When you go on a trip like this, you are thrown together with a group of strangers. The one thing you all have in common is a love of bicycling. By the end, if you're lucky, you have a group of new friends. If there were people you don't like, you never have to see them again anyway.