Day 1 — Friday, June 20

Victoria to Surrey — Approx 55 km
We drove through the night from Lethbridge and ended up at the Tsawwassen Ferry at about 8 a.m. local time – roughly 15 hours since we left University Drive. My driving shift was from about 12:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. Not very easy considering what had to be put up with (mountains, turns, dips, wildlife, hot chocolate spilling on my lap) and the fact I only had about 60 minutes of sleep up to that point. Over the course of the entire drive, I probably had about 3 hours of sleep. It’s now 1 a.m. Saturday morning and I’ve had about 7 hours of sleep since I woke up Wednesday morning.

Once we arrived in Victoria we met with various alumni at a luncheon at Chateau Victoria. It was nice to see some new faces and old friends. One alumnus is actually riding across Canada starting next week! We took photos at the Mile 0 marker, dipped our wheels and feet in the Pacific Ocean, and headed out on our trip. We had a local U of L alumni navigate us out of the city and point us in the right direction for the ferry.

The ride (approx. 35 km) to the ferry was difficulty as it was the first time Vanessa and I really rode the tandem together. It was tricky and only towards the end of the day were we getting more efficient at it. But don’t get me wrong, we both hate the bike now. I rigged it so I could rest my left leg in a comfortable spot while I peddled with the right leg. Man, I hope my left leg improves soon because I’m not sure how much more of the tandem we can take. It’s pretty slow going.

We got on the ferry and after realizing Kelly wasn’t on the same on, we began to worry a bit. He didn’t have his wallet or cell phone. Turned out he was rushed onto the one before us because he offered to take the tandem bike on the ferry. There was plenty of space for him on the one that was minutes away from leaving. Meanwhile, Allan, Vanessa, and myself were in the van waiting for about 45 minutes to board the next one. After docking at Tsawwassen Ferry again, and locating Kelly, we covered another 20 km or so before stopping where we are now – in a small Surrey hotel room that has had at least 1 billion cigarettes smoked in it before.