First actual week of the journey. No more tests, just go!

That's me before embarking on the ferry to Salt Spring!

Typical ferry view

The optional mountain that most people likely don't bike. It's STEEP.

Flat sad snek.

More typical West Coast view here. Ocean, forest, hills. Repeat.

There's many of these quays that people chill on.

Cool rocks. No one complains when the water does vandalism but you try poking holes in rocks.

Millions of these barnacles on every rock.

Most of the non touristy part of the Island are little farms.

Sheep yearning for freedom. Probably.

Tried to take a pic while moving as the deer were crossing. Almost..almost.

Was really just enjoying the not raining thing.

The view from Mount Tuam. Imagine you live there. ( You'd be rich)

Random Swan encounter on the way back.

The ferry coming to pick me up.

Boomer life. Adventure = Sit on /inside motorized thing and look.

This is a very rural / industrial area that runs along the Fraser river. It’s very windy and the roads reminded me of Montreal’s South shore. Flat, straight and smells like cows. If you’re a cyclist you probably don’t want to live here.

Starting out in Richmond, you can see the North Vancouver's 3 peaks in the distance.

BC has a huge Sikh community.

This is what they believe in.

Very rural/industrial area around the Fraser river, which they seem to use to transport wood.

Sometimes Strava calls this "paved roads" and you get flats.

More views of the brownish Fraser river.

Bridge crossing from Delta to Richmond. Quite sketchy.

Stopped at this farmer's market / petting zoo in Richmond.

He wanted food or was threatening me, I can't tell.

Random ducks.

They make white turkeys now, did you know?

More prisoners.

Here we are, the more "real" cool mainland of BC.

Kitsilano beach. Didn't know BC had so many real beaches. Nobody enjoying it though.

You can see the boats with my Amazon packages that I plan to return to China for free. I love pollution.

There's a nice long bike path along the water with lots of things to see.

The path is very busy and full of twists and turns, not good for training but great for recovery.

Has the usual "how rich are these people?" waterfront dwellings.

More views of the mountains and North Vancouver.

Stanley park has some legit huge trees. Suck it, Central Park.

This is Mechagodzilla's left testicle, turned into a science center.

The science you will learn is that humans are very bad and mean, except Native Americans.

There's so many of these pieces all along this path.

I found the Coca Leaf Cafe on a random Youtube video. Had to go.

They sell Coca Leaf tea ( it was gross ) and lots of drugs.

The owner makes these. I only bought 50 for my own personal use.

If you keep going west you'll enter the pretty charming area of Port Moody / Coquitlam

Marina in Port Moody. Nice and affordable area.... relatively.

There's other things than cycling? lol peasants.

Small dog owners love the Canada geese, they get to blame the poops on them.

Bridge going to New Westminster... I think

This is a nice touristy area that runs along the water.

Always.

Oh. It was Fruits. Well. That's... amazing...

Every town needs a "World's biggest X". You aren't a city if you don't have one, sorry.

View of the Fraser before it turns too brown....

Imagine you live here. Imagine your dog here.

This is a metaphor.

Back in Vancouver I stumbled randomly on Queen Elizabeth Park.

Has a little lookout with amazing views of the city.

Free to the public as well. Not free parking though. That's how they get you.

There's a vast network of paths that go through the garden but bikes are banned, as always. What if I killed someone?

What's up with this tree?

No trip to a large city is complete without passing through the 20 blocks of homeless people camping.

Next is the rather large agricultural region of Maple Ridge / Mission / Abbotsford. Overall pretty flat and windy but much more beautiful to visit than Richmond/ Delta. However you are getting pretty far from the city itself.

Start of the ride in Maple Ridge. This train angers the locals by blocking traffic a lot.

The farmland views are much more amazing here than in Richmond / Delta.

Yes.

As you cross from Maple Ridge to Mission you'll go over a damn.

Very nice.

There's a visitor center for the power station and some trails if you're into that.

You then climb from the damn up into some little hills with a great view of the area below.

We've moved from totems to random wood carvings now.

Mission seems like a nice and quiet somewhat remote mountain town.

Bridge connecting Langley to Maple Ridge area. Most dope.

Chiliwack has to be the most beautiful area as you meander through farmlands at the base of huge snowcapped mountains. There’s many rivers and lakes all about. However the entire area smelled like fresh manure. Might just be the time of year but damn it sure puts a damper of the natural beauty. I suppose you’d get used to it.

Start of the ride. I mean. Pretty awesome right?

pancake flat and windy but just beautiful.

Closer to crossing the river into Mission now. Very close to the mountains.

Yep.

Little hidden beach area.

Birdge crossing the Fraser into Mission

Doesn't get more BC than this.

Farming hopes and dreams.

Towards the end of the ride. Then entire road that borders the river is gorgeous and full of wildlife viewing areas.

Blackwall was still snowed up 1/3 the way up, sadly.

Still a nice view from there.

Really one of those "Am I getting eaten by a bear?" mountains.

Top of Pennask, which brings you to the Okanagan valley

Real sketchy descent with weird road surface and shoulder full of trash... Watch it.

The view of Lake Okanagan from the bottom of the pass. No more oceans here!

Amazing views everywhere in BC.

That does it for the very first week of mainland Canada. Summer is finally here after 8 months of rain on Vancouver Island, aka Canada’s wet coffin. At least the real estate is cheap. Oh wait. At this point still moderately struggling with finding sleeping spots and getting in a routine, but it’s manageable. Ain’t coming back until this is all over.

If you made it this far, feel free to join my Instagram and/or Strava!

Touring Canada Week 1- Mainland and Salt Spring Island