Huddling in the shade of Veterans Memorial Park on a day the mercury was tipping 38 celsius, the cyclists behind the cross-Canada ConnecTour looked up at the ribbon of road wending its way up and over Anarchist Mountain.
Their faces flushed from the sun and weary from the ride from Keremeos, they surveyed the next day’s challenge. “That’s two hours and four litres of water!” Doug Firby, one of the core team of the cycling adventure, laughed wryly about the next day’s uphill ride.
The group of cycling adventurers led by long-time cycle tour leader Rick McFerrin, who has a lifetime of cycle touring all over the globe, aimed to travel more than 8,000 km from Victoria, B.C. to St. Johns, Newfoundland in a bid to “reconnect, restore and rebuild” a sense of community that has been deeply wounded in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group highlights the fact the pandemic has left Canadians reeling from this once-in-a-lifetime event, causing many to question assumptions “about what community is and what we want from ourselves and our society.”
A year-and-half in the planning, the tour’s impetus was simply this: “We started talking about how hard it’s been on everyone in the country. It’s really affected how we interact with each other as neighbours, lots of good things but people are stressed out and there is a sense of disconnectedness,” Firby said.
“So we thought let’s do a ride that will meet people in small communities, like this one, and talk to them about what’s important to them and really get a sense of where we are as a nation as we come out of this pandemic.”
It will in essence provide a snapshot of where we are as a country right now, not through the eyes of politicians or health authorities, but rather through the eyes of regular people. Along the way, the group will be joined here-and-there by people riding for just an hour or two, to weeks.
One of the challenges, he adds, is that 15 months ago when they were planning this, they thought things might be under control at this point. And while things are looking brighter, Canada is clearly not out of the woods yet.
With strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols, including daily temperature checks, the group had to abandon its original plan to begin in Victoria because of regional travel restrictions.
Riders make their way through Osoyoos in preparation for tackling the mighty Anarchist Mountain during their cross-Canada trek. Despite the pandemic, this group is determined to find high adventure. Don Urquhart photo.
“One of the things we know is that it’s possible we will get to a provincial border and they’ll say ‘it’s closed’ and that will be the end of the tour,” Firby said. The one thing they do have on their side is time.
As Firby’s partner Lisa Monforton noted, Manitoba is having difficulty now, “but we’re not going to be there until the beginning of August and that’s still a full two months away. A lot can change in that time.”
Last Wednesday they arrived in Osoyoos, their journey having brought them from Keremeos and before that Princeton,
Summerland, Penticton, and the starting point on May 28 – Myra
Canyon near Kelowna.
The ride down the famous KVR Trail brought much consternation due to the poor quality of the trail, which is part of Canada’s Great Trail network.
While they try as much as possible to stay off the main highways, they often have no choice. Taking the old Hedley Road, for instance, it eventually petered out forcing them onto the Crowsnest Highway.
“I’ve driven up and down No. 3 more times than I can count,” said Firby, “but when you go by that landscape on a bicycle and you’re going 10 or 15 km/h you see things you’ve never noticed before.”
Averaging around 75 km a day, they’ve had days as low as only 35 km, like on poorly maintained sections of the KVR Trail. The prairies are the shining light at the end of the literal and figurative tunnels, where seemingly endless flat land will enable 100 to 120 km a day.
Although only in the very early stages of a journey that will theoretically end in early October, already the group has been inspired by the kindness and conversations of people they’ve met along the way.
From Ian who brought out a big pitcher of water and another of ice as the group rested on the hot trek from Princeton to Keremeos, or the gifting of excess equipment by cyclist Andrew Hawes to a young guy named Scott who is living minimally in a campsite, having been homeless for 10 years and is now struggling towards a new life free of drug addiction.
The group also had a frank conversation about the poor state of the KVR Trail with Princeton Mayor Spencer Coyne.
“That’s the kind of thing we’re discovering already on this ride. That people are excited to see us doing this little trip, I think some of them get what we’re all about and they want to do little things that will support us along the way,” Firby added.
One of the biggest challenges the group faces is not the physical obstacles, although that’s nothing to sniff at, it’s the mental aspect.
“There will be days when you face a strong headwind or climbing up a very long hill and you actually have the physical stamina to do it, but it’s a bit of a psychological issue,” Firby said.
“On the plus side we are really drawing a lot of inspiration from people that we are meeting along the way,” he added. This includes people honking, waving, and shouting out encouragement out their car windows.
“I’m used to drivers yelling at me for being on the road,” said another member of the group, Jennifer Herring. “But this one guy rolls down his window and yells ‘good for you!’ and another, ‘you’re doing great!’.”
Along the way, the group is holding roughly 13 or 14 events typically revolving around cycling education and promotion such as bike tuning and rallies, with the next one scheduled for Calgary.
Putting the tour in context McFerrin urges Canadian’s to truly appreciate and experience the country when of course it’s safe to do so.
“I’ve had great experiences abroad, and now I’m really looking forward to having those experiences right here at home. I think it speaks a lot to the idea that we often think we’ve got to go to Europe or Southeast Asia to have those experiences, but you know what, let’s look at what we have here in this great big country and explore it and share those stories.
“Why not just do it here, by car, by bike, by whatever, and really celebrate this country and acknowledge that we live in a great place.”
