On the Road Again 2013 #18

I am now back in my apartment. I am obviously somewhat behind in my blog postings..... I will continue to discuss my trip in sequential order.

It was a bright hot day. There were a lot of cars on the road. However, most of them were clearly only going a short distance and neither I nor the drivers gave each other much of a look. I am sure than in the space of 30 minutes literally hundreds of cars went by me. There were also a lot of high tech road racing bikes on the road - some which had those fancy solid wheels that one sees at the Olympics - designed, I assume, to be more aerodynamic. The bikes were ridden by guys wearing really weird equally as aerodynamic bike helmets. In the past around Whistler I had noticed a lot of mountain bikes ridden by mainly guys wearing a lot of protective body armour designed, I assumed to protect them from spills as they bounced/sped down the mountain. While both groups rode machines with two wheels there was a considerable difference between the two types of participants. The road racers looked dead serious, they were minimally dressed and were working very hard. The down hill guys were frequently covered in mud and they looked quite relaxed as they biked around town before going up the mountain in the chair lift again.

Neither sport appeals to me. In one the rider is exhausted by the countless miles of uphill climbs done at maximum speed and effort,  all the while being aware of and afraid of idiot drivers speeding along the mainly two lane highway; in the other one must always be scared of the steep downhill course with all of the twists and turns of the mountain trails as well as the hidden rocks and roots just waiting to flip you.

My first ride, after almost an hour of standing there was a brief one but it got me out of the commuter traffic around Whistler. The driver and his other passenger worked in the area and were just on their way home. We did not get the chance to talk much but clearly they were just two nice guys who had hitched before and knew that where I was, was not a great spot. They drove a few miles down the road to where traffic was less chaotic and where there was a chance that people going by might be going a fair distance. I noticed some signs along the highway informing the public that the road was going to be closed for a large part of Sunday as there was a triathlon happening in Whistler on the weekend. Which explained all of the road racers practicing. I was so glad that I had left a few days earlier than planned. If I had gotten to Whistler on Saturday, I might have had a very hard time getting out of town before Monday.

My next ride, which happened within 20 or so minutes of standing there was from a dad with his two daughters. In the last year or so I have noticed a slight change in who picks me up. There was a time when if I saw that there was a child in the car, I just assumed that I would not be getting a ride. That has started to change. Not that I get a lot of rides from parents with children in the car but I am getting more now than ever before. I am not too sure why but I am grateful. Anything that expands my potential audience is a good thing. Unfortunately these folks too were just going down the road a short ride but my driver kindly decided to go just a bit further and take me down to the corner where one either goes straight to Duffy Provincial Park or turns and continues east down highway 99. The most exciting thing of this short trip was that one of the young girls in the back had a tooth come out. It was a big deal - and so it should be. Their dad and I talked about dad stuff - raising kids and trying to figure out the balance between rules and structure and how to give enough freedom so that they grow up strong. It is a fascinating discussion - one that I will, I suspect, have with every dad I travel with. We all want to know the answer.


I had been at this spot a few times before and I knew three things about it. One was that I was in the middle of a First Nation community and that there would be lots of hitchhikers who would all get rides fairly quickly; two, that there were no shoulders on the road. The only place to stand was where every one else did; and three that there were bears in the area. Last year I had seen one cross the road within ten or fifteen feet of me. I settled in for what I knew could be a long wait.