Since I couldn’t make up my mind where to travel on Vancouver Island – and most of the hostels were already fully booked but with a very urgent surge to leave, I decided on Monday, 10 o’clock in the morning that I would be leaving on the bus at 12:50 PM right back to Vancouver and surprise a few people there.
The trip to the ferry in Nanaimo took forever and the ferry crossing almost the same. And after that the drive to the bus terminal….I couldn’t wait to come ‚home‘ again. At least, this time I knew where to go and what bus to take.
Finally a bit after 9 PM I was back to check in. Unfortunately, this time I didn’t get a bed at the very end of the dorm where it is quiet and relaxed (especially at night) but a bed almost at the entrance door…but anyways…I was back and ready to raise some smiles. This time I didn’t try to go grocery shopping late in the evening but decided to give the hostel café a try.
And surprise, surprise, there was Steffi just about to order her garden salad (like almost every day). I said ‚Hi‘ and saw a prize-winning expression on her face. Yeah, this surprise was a real one 🙂
She was with two fascinating guys from England, Tim and Tom, who (together with their friends Phil and Barry, their landcruiser) had just made their way from the very, very South of Argentina on the Transamericana and were about to head further North to the arctic circle – all along the west coast of whole America in their car -crazy stuff (you can find their story here).
We had lasagna and spaghetti with meatballs and a pretty good time – not only because I was convinced to knew Tom from somewhere 😉
Some time in-between I asked Steffi if she happened to meet Marloes yet from whom I knew she would be staying at Jericho Beach as well. And this time the surprise was mine when Steffi told me that Marlous had the lower part of her bunk bed. So we went up and woke her up…..boooooooooooooooy, that was a nice evening.
Marlous just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that I turned up just like that. I really had a pretty good evening.
We went all down again and when they closed the cafe, we went upstairs and talked some more.
Steffi and the guys had just returned from Whistler and since Tom had had a downhill class there, he showed me how to reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally jump with a bike in a dry run. The girls were almost lying on the floor laughing.
Well, it looked a bit…..special but at least I know now :-)) Thanks again 🙂
The next days were pretty easy going, involved meeting up with a lot people, who were still staying at the hostel or coming back themselves, and a lot lying on the beach in the sun and relaxing. And trying to figure out what to do next.
The only bigger event was my one-day trip to Whistler to watch the crazy guys at the Crankworx Festival, apparently one of the biggest mountainbike events in the world which I can hardly believe but yeah….whatever 😉
Crankworx Festival in Whistler
When I arrived at Whistler it was about 11 AM and except for the vendors there was not so much stuff going on, so I took a short walk around ‚town‘ and apart from being a tourist place I liked it much better than in Banff, Jasper or Tofino. It seemed to be a real grown village with no cars downtown, nice little shops and most importantly: atmosphere. Bikes everywhere….perfect. Luckily they almost only sold downhill bikes, so I was not really tempted to buy one 🙂
I spent some time watching the guys at the Skatepark (which was almost exclusivly used by BMX bikers) and the BMX bike park right next to it. Although I had been to the BMX worlds in Cologne last year it never ceases to impress me what these guys are actually doing on these hills….just C-O-O-L!
Finally at 2 PM the qualifying runs for the slopestyle competition began….impressing again. These guys seem to fear nothing. After the qualifying runs were completed there was a little break until the final runs for the VW best trick began. I treated myself to a nice little burger and watched Ryan Leech’s trial bike show (you can find a short video on YouTube – this is my first own video EVER, so I’m pretty proud on this one 😉 ) before going back to the scene.
Some pictures of those crazy guys
Unfortunately, a lot of people had taken their places in the meantime, so that I had to climb up a jump to see anything but not a chance for any good pictures :-(. For the second part of the finals I was standing directly behind my professional colleagues and shot at least two cool pictures:
The competition was won by Greg Watts and after a long, exciting day in mountain bike country I returned happily and only slightly sun-burned to Vancouver.
Over the next few days I finally made the decision to fly into Halifax after all. I booked a flight for Wednesday, the 25th, and decided to follow the English guys northwards in the meantime whatever they may be. Which seemed to be a much better idea than sitting on the beach for another 10 days….
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