“Fail” could almost be Kate’s last name… there is not a trip where things went perfectly well or where nothing crazy happened: from getting her SUV stuck between snow and rocks in the middle of nowhere in Iceland to getting surrounded by wild hungry dingo’s on an island of Australia, ‘’fail travel moments’’ are part of her daily basis. (It makes stories of her travels more interesting and she always takes it with a laugh).
Here are her top 3 fail travel moments while crossing part of Canada by bike.
#3 Bike expert fail
The fact that Kate never really did a bike trip before (not even a small one) could have been a fail in itself, or the fact that she never really practice peddling on a road bike AT ALL before adventuring herself on this 1700 km hardcore trip…
Well, a part from this little detail, she’s the kind of girl that’s easy going and doesn’t really plan ahead. She thought doing about 120 km per day would be realistic.
On her first day in Ontario, she arrived at 2:30 pm to her destination. Thinking it was too early to stop, she kept going : she wanted to sleep in the next town instead. What she didn’t know was that the next town was almost another 100 km away, through big hills.
Like if that wasn’t bad enough, she had a flat tire when the sun began its decent. Changing a tire at dusk with the help of your cellphone’s light isn’t an easy task. Oh, and it also began to rain! At 10 pm, she could finally see the blur of lights from the town ahead.
Tears of relief came strolling down her cheek as soon as she had confirmation from the men in his sleeping robe holding is hunting rifle that she could have a room in his Auberge for the night.
#2 Weather fail
The day after her unexpected 210 km, Kate wasn’t in top shape. Not only because she wasn’t used to that many kilometers by bike, but also because she had almost no sleep at all.
There was a train passing through the village every hour or so during the night and it made so much noise that every inch of the village would rumble like if there was a major earthquake. Even if it was rainy and cold, she was psyched to get back on the road knowing that the worse day was behind her… or was it?
« On her first day in Ontario, she arrived at 2:30 pm to her destination. Thinking it was too early to stop, she kept going : she wanted to sleep in the next town instead. »
« During a bike trip on the West Coast… fake bear in a café of North California (which reminded Kate of the angry mama bear encounter in north Ontario) »
At 11 am, she was trying to get warm in a small souvenir shop where she ate her luxurious lunch (plain sandwich). When she got back on the road, the temperature had dropped below 10 degrees and the rain was still poring.
And then down to 5 degrees… she was happier going uphill as her thighs could get a little warmer but her hands and feet were drenched (packing fail). Going downhill felt like the rain drops turned into ice and were cutting her cheeks.
At 2 pm, 25 km away from her destination (2 hours of biking in these conditions) she had to give up and hitch hike the rest of the way because the hyperthermia was irreversible at this point.
Damn you, Canadian June weather!
#1 Bear encounter fail
Ok, so the first two days were hell… the others were better…
Except that time Kate saw two little furry black animals on the side of the road while she was peddling. They were so cute that she couldn’t help it but get closer. ‘’Oh looook cute little baby bears aahwww…. Oh fuck wait…’’ and there she was, a little further, the big Mama bear, standing on her back paws, ragging and growling to protect her little ones… I swear, you have never seen a girl peddle as fast as she did when she realized how angry a mom can be when you approach her children…
Lesson learned!
