August 2, 2024 to August 4, 2024
Shakedown Trip #2 Pender Island
The purpose of this trip was to enjoy my first and only adventure of the summer with the kids. This summer has been very busy with university preparations and traveling to meets. We haven't had our normal time for backpacking and bikepacking trips. I wanted to test my gear again, specifically a new saddle that I bought (Selle Scientia).
The first saddle I tried for this trip was a Brooks C17. My mistake that I didn't really understand how to measure my sit bone dimensions. And their website isn't really that helpful on sizing. I ordered a saddle that was too wide and my sit bones were screaming at me after a few longer rides. Peter loves this saddle though so it was a win for the team.
The next saddle I tried was a WTB Volt from my friend Chris. He'd pulled it off another bike. This saddle actually fits me well and I will use it likely for mountain biking. For touring I was looking for something a bit softer in the sit bones. For the Selle saddle I measured my sit bones using a piece of cardboard for indentation and chalk. I learned that I have narrow sit bones so generally narrow saddles fit me. WTB have a different test where you measure your wrist width; there is a correlation between your wrist width and sit bone width. It's a much faster measurement but seemingly both tests work.
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Back to the trip. This trip was easy to plan. We rode from home to the ferry terminal leaving at 6:30 AM. We made great time getting to the ferry because the wind was down along the ocean section; typically you ride into a headwind. The ferry ride was beautiful stopping once at Mayne Island and then on to Pender Island (2 hours). We saw about 12 riders on the ferry so we were anticipating fierce competition for the spots at the campground. We weren't worried though because we knew the campground had overflow spots.
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When we arrived we weren't surprised to find every spot taken by reservations so we just set the tent up in the overflow area under the apple trees. My daughter planned to sleep in a hammock but that plan was foiled for the first night because they don't allow attachments to the trees for fear of damage. She ended up cowboy camping on night 1 and then moving into the woods to set up her hammock for night 2.
We had the entire rest of the first day to eat lunch, play disc golf, and then return to the grocery store to grab things for our dinner. I really enjoy these types of trips. You don't need any refrigeration. You can buy perishable things because you eat them every day. We ended up on a big salad kick eating a bag every day, either on sandwiches or in the empty containers we created.
On the second day we focused on exploring the island. It's very hilly. And the hills are not long sustained hills. There are many that are super punchy meaning you have to work hard for a shorter period of time. My son's fitness is super high. He was crushing it up every hill. I tried not to keep up for fear of blowing all my energy stores early. Instead I just got into a low gear and slowly made my way to the top. I'll use this same strategy on our trip. I've learned that when I push my heartrate too high I blow through sugar and I sometimes get lightheaded. It's better to keep my heart rate where I feel alive but not on the edge.
We had a great day on day 2. Once you get off the main road with the grocery store there is a lot less traffic and it's scenic. The bonus was that the majority of the ride was in the shade so it felt about 19 C, although it was closer to 24 C in the sun. Awesome weather! We had lunch on a really nice beach and then hit the disc golf course for another 18 holes. The disc golf course is really fun. They have spare discs to borrow so we didn't even need to bring the 3 we carried over.
The next day the kids went for a run and I hiked, then we biked to the store for lunch, and then back to the campground to pack up. We caught the 3 pm ferry and started our ride home from Tsawassen at 5:30 pm. My son's bike was grinding gears the entire trip. It's an older bike that's not seen much love so this was not surprising. About 7 km from home he had a major mechanical where the chain completely twisted and broke in a section. We could not fix it right there so my daughter and I headed home, and I doubled back with the car. This was a stroke of good fortune. We rode 193 km where this could have happened but we were able to enjoy that part without the mechanical. It's another good lesson to be proactive with your bike because major mechanicals suck.
This was a great trip. My saddle felt great. I still need to tweak the position slightly front to back and possibly on the tilt but no sit bone pain whatsoever. I hope I've found nirvana!
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1 month ago