Wow, I can't believe its been 2 years since I've updated. Sorry, y'all.
I guess, sorry Stef, as she was the creator of this blog.
But I digress...
A little back story: the last 12 months have been a pretty terrible. My Nana passed away, who was my closest relative in my non-immediate family. I ruptured my ulnar collateral ligament in my right thumb, forcing me to quit half my jobs, stop playing polo for several months, miss tournament bought and paid for, and generally cause me to feel inept in all manual tasks. Then my mother passed away, we weren't close, but regardless, it was a shock and has caused some changes for better or for worse.
So in the words of my partner, even though the first half of 2014 was been terrible, I could "force the rest of the year to make up for all of the shit". Or something.
Since I had a ticket voucher for American and an open invitation from one of the mechanics from Our Community Bikes in Vancouver, B.C, Canada I decided that I should head north and follow my dream of biking down the west coast.
So here I am.
Stef had the brilliant idea that I should update the blog with adventures from my trip. This is a great idea because my poor father (Dad Steve aka Dad-o) is fretting about his daughter being in Canada and biking home and I can use this as a way to assuage fears.
I guess, sorry Stef, as she was the creator of this blog.
But I digress...
A little back story: the last 12 months have been a pretty terrible. My Nana passed away, who was my closest relative in my non-immediate family. I ruptured my ulnar collateral ligament in my right thumb, forcing me to quit half my jobs, stop playing polo for several months, miss tournament bought and paid for, and generally cause me to feel inept in all manual tasks. Then my mother passed away, we weren't close, but regardless, it was a shock and has caused some changes for better or for worse.
So in the words of my partner, even though the first half of 2014 was been terrible, I could "force the rest of the year to make up for all of the shit". Or something.
Since I had a ticket voucher for American and an open invitation from one of the mechanics from Our Community Bikes in Vancouver, B.C, Canada I decided that I should head north and follow my dream of biking down the west coast.
So here I am.
Stef had the brilliant idea that I should update the blog with adventures from my trip. This is a great idea because my poor father (Dad Steve aka Dad-o) is fretting about his daughter being in Canada and biking home and I can use this as a way to assuage fears.
So, one of the first things that I did was try to find some good places to hike, inspired by the awesome mountains to the north of Vancouver. I looked up one hike called Got Mountain that was accessible by public transit, and then I decided to bike there. As you do.
It was a pretty unremarkable bike ride through downtown then over a bridge through Stanley Park and then down into West Vancouver where it turned into a climb for 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). By the time I got to the time I was sweating profusely and thinking that I was going to be screwed for my tour down if I had to a climb like that with gear.
It turns out that the trailhead to the hike is at the top of this "trail" called the Grouse Grind. From what I was told it is basically takes an hour and a half and is basically a vertical stair climb.