touring travel questions

[shootingstar]

Gee Nadia, just reading what you had to do to have your own bike elsewhere for vacation, was like reading a delivery marathon.

How many days did you vacation in total in Canada? Hope you saw some beautiful scenery on your bike rides while vacationing.

I have rented bikes in various cities/areas of North America just to avoid such hassles. However over the years, I've become abit more wedded to cycling one of my own bikes.

Here's what actually happened with transport of my bike for last weekend since I had no vacation days left to cycle from Vancouver to Kelowna and back which would be a 800 kms. round trip.

So my bike was transported for free by a biz partner of my sweetie where the trio of guys was going to this same area..3 days in advance of me getting there by bus.

Unfortunately during their car ride, my bike was not strapped tightly onto the carrier rack. It fell partially on a high speed major highway where a large back chunks of my saddle were gouged out. I now have duct tape rounded out the holes ...until I get a new saddle.

And then upon returning to Vancouver, it was discovered that Greyhound bus in Kelowna didn't offer any bike boxes for sale. (other city locations do offer). So my bike was transported on the pure generosity of a conference attendee from Vancouver who was a reporter/journalist that my sweetie met this guy in Kelowna. By this time, I had already returned to Vancouver by bus, to return to work so I wasn't around to solve problems about my bike transport. The journalist probably did it with knowing abit about my sweetie, because this same journalist interviewed him for a story a year ago (related to cycling and urban design).

It was sheer luck...my bike is back now and. to have a partner who understands the value of transporting a bike in order to enjoy a cycling vacation at its best.

By the way, he bought and uses his folding bike (a 3rd bike of his now) to avoid the delivery charges. He has been lobbying me to get a folding bike....