Vancouver at last!

I arrived in Vancouver at 10 AM after a great flight and about 3 hours of sleep.  I managed to finally relax after witnessing my bike box being loaded into the luggage compartment of the plane in Newark.

The scenery on the flight itself was like playing a "Tour du Canada" movie backwards,  It was an odd sensation looking down out the window thinking that in a few weeks I'd be on my bike riding east  on some of those roads. (Click on the photo to get an enlarged view)

A couple of hours of flat as a pancake prairies and then we flew over the Canadian Rockies - I am glad I focused on hill work in New Jersey as part of my training regimen.

At Immigration at the Vancouver Airport, the immigration agent asked me where I would be going while in Canada.  Not one to miss an opportunity for a funny reply, I responded "St. John's".  He looked at me like I had three heads and I am sure was wondering "If you are going to St. John's, why on earth did you fly to Vancouver???"   After explaining to him that I was riding in the "Tour du Canada" he asked all sorts of biking related questions.  I think the agent beside him would have joined on the ride if he could.

Taxi service from the airport to the UBC residences where we are staying was very efficient.  I arrived shortly after 11:30 local time, only to find that check-in was at 3:00 P.M.  They were kind enough to let me, along with another rider from the group unpack and set up our bikes in the "lobby" of the dorms.

After about an hour of assembling the bike, I was ready to go out and explore Vancouver - my intent was to ride about 5 miles to make sure everything was working well on my bike.  The scenery here is spectacular, with the Strait of Georgia to the west, the coastal range to the north (still some snow on the peaks) and Vancouver to the east.  My 5 mile jaunt ended up being 30 miles.  The bike lanes are very well marked and I managed to ride along the shoreline to the north, over the bike lane on the Burrard Inlet Bridge, through Stanley Park amongst the towering Douglas Firs (Canadian equivalent of Redwoods, eh!) and finally over the Lions Gate suspension bridge (again a dedicated bike lane) to North Vancouver where I turned around and rode back to campus.

It was great to get out on the bike again, and breathing the sea air - well except for the return on the Lions Gate which happens to have a sewage treatment plant underneath it.

The lesson for the day is - even if you are only going out for 5 miles, bring your camera!!!  I will probably repeat the route tomorrow so I can take pictures then.

Four days until "Orientation", two days until the "Mile 0" equivalent of a "Prologue" to Victoria.

Off to dinner and a good night's sleep - The tent/camping starts on Sunday.

Bill