The inaugural Vancouver Island Tsunami Brevets

July 16, 2005

Catch the Wave After a month or more of preparation and a pre-ride the previous Saturday, the July 16th Vancouver Island Summer Brevets rolled out of Cook Street Village, Victoria. Seven riders turned out for the inaugural Tsunami 300: Islanders Jim Fidler, Robert Frankham and Michael Fibiger-Crossman were joined by Mainlanders Michel Richard, David Lach, […]

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Pre-riding the “Tsunami” 300km bicycle marathon

July 10, 2005

Besides the slug “problem” what else can a randonneur say about the West Coast Highway?” Hollow of the Deep-Sea Wave off Kanagawa, circa 1831, by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) When I signed on to organize the 2005 Vancouver Island Summer 200/300 events for BC Randonneurs Cycling Club, I had little idea how much work was involved […]

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Tour de Gall

April 2, 2005

Scandal erupts around allegations of drug use by Phil Leggit   To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain….at cycling’s core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn’t matter if you’re sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop […]

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Bicycling the wilds of British Columbia: Chapter 6

January 20, 2005

Valley of Dreams May 24: I greeted the dawn, threading the neon-lit Cranbrook strip, then watched the sun creep up 2,845 metre (9336 ft.) Mount Fisher, as I ascended the Rocky Mountain Trench. I set a fast pace up Highway 95/93, powering over the only real lump in the landscape, at Skookumchuk. A half-hour before noon, […]

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Bicycling the wilds of British Columbia: Chapter 5

January 20, 2005

Mining for Meaning After a peaceful night under the stars, followed by a quick breakfast, I broke camp and loaded my bicycle—a procedure now so familiar as to be almost automatic. I was soon pushing pedals along the undulating edge of Highway #3A, bordered by Kootenay Lake’s Prussian blue waters, nestled between the green ramparts of […]

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Bicycling the wilds of British Columbia: Chapter 4

January 20, 2005

Hermits and Ghosts May 22, 1981 From Burton (446m), where some of my deepest insights into the powers of the wind gods occured, it is just 35 kilometres to Nakusp (457m). With the discovery of silver, lead and zinc in 1891, Vancouver speculators rushed to buy property here and, as the metals boom expanded, Nakusp […]

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