Flying day..

I had hoped to fly from St. John's directly to London, but Air Canada discontinued that flight a few years ago. Instead, I have to fly west all the way to Toronto and then board a British Airways plane and go east across the Atlantic.

It's not the backtracking I mind. What I really regret is that I missed the chance to take off from Newfoundland and head out over the ocean with the lights of St. John's fading behind me, like Alcock and Brown did when they made the first non-stop Transatlantic flight in 1919. Oh well, another day I guess.

Today my mother will drop me at the airport and I will officially begin my trip. I'd really like to acknowledge her bravery in all of this. She doesn't have a say in whether I go on these sorts of trips, but I know she worries whenever I do.

Finally, I'd like to note that St. John's cyclists held a Critical Mass last Friday. Some of you recall I wrote a fictional account of a St. John's mass that appears in the "Under the Helmet" section of http://www.edmontonbikes.ca/, but this ride really happened! Eight cyclists showed up, and despite a warning from a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer, the ride continued. (Apparently, the cop was the former basketball coach of one of the riders and agreed to let them keep going.)

One week to go..

This is a picture of Darling taken back in February while she was locked outside my apartment building in Edmonton. Darling was bought for $60 in Calgary in 1997 and is the bike I used for my first tour from Calgary to Los Angeles in 1998. Since then she's been my winter commuter, pickup truck, and even been ridden in a cyclocross race.

With so much history, I could hardly leave her home for what will be my most ambitious bicycle trip to date. Over the last two months her rust has been sanded and painted, she has new wheels and racks, and for the first time in her life she has fenders. Just wait until you see her!

There's only a week to go until I leave St. John's and fly to London.