Pre-departure: 10 days to go

The countdown on our website now says 10 days remaining until departure. I just can't believe that this summer has flown by so quickly. We've been planning this trip for almost 4 years now, and it's amazing how much there still can be left to do in the last 10 days.

To be honest, I feel like we're not quite prepared in almost all areas of the trip. We've been so busy this summer, that we haven't been able to put a full effort into any part of the preparation process. Our fundraising has begun, but we are nowhere near our goal of $50,000 for HOPE International - hopefully with time over our trip we can continue to fundraise, and have friends and family at home continue to carry the workload. Our physical fitness is not where we'd like it to be either - while we have been able to ride our new touring bikes quite a bit this summer, we haven't had the chance to do very many extended trips; the effect of consecutive 100 km days will likely be quite a shock to our bodies. We have most of our equipment, but some things still require a bit of work - our front racks, for example, still don't quite fit our bikes, and we're hoping to do a bit of modifications by welding on an extension... sometime before we leave.

One thing that we have done a lot of this summer is shopping. Oh yes, we have shopped. And spent more money than in any other 4 month period of our lives. If you're interested to see what we've bought, take a look at the "equipment" link under our "trip" page at rideforhope.ca. Looking at the pile of electronics, clothing, gear, and food spread out on our living room floor, I have no idea how we are going to manage to carry it all on our bicycles. It's kind of funny for us - we don't really know what we're getting ourselves into.

Are we physically ready to ride? Not really.
Do we know where we're going? Not exactly.
Do we know how to use all of the equipment we've bought? Not yet.
Do we have any idea what we're getting ourselves into? Probably not.
Are we still excited and can't wait to go? Absolutely. We can't wait to get on our bicycles and start pedalling west, through the mountains, to the coast, and down this continent!

We are not so naive to think that it will be easy; but I think that we're stubborn enough to just keep going. While this hasn't been the easiest of summers (I've also been taking 2 university courses, one Spanish course which I still need to finish(/begin!) before we leave), it has been eye-opening in a lot of respects. If any of you out there are planning a similar trip, we have some advice. Don't do it the way we've done it. Save your money starting a little earlier, and give yourself some time off from work for the last 2 months of the summer. If you really want to fundraise, you need to invest a lot of time and effort into it. And if you really want to train, it takes the same. But really, what better way to train for us than to just start our trip? Sure, the first few weeks won't be easy, but biking across the Rocky Mountains is sure a great way to get in shape!

With 10 days to go, we are very excited. Very nervous, a little stressed - but overall, the main feeling is excitement. I know that all the little things will work themselves out, and that no matter what, September 1st we will take our bicycles out of our shed like we do every morning, but this day instead of biking to work, we will get on Highway 11, head west, and start pedalling on the trip of a lifetime. We're excited that you'll be along for the ride, and hope you enjoy hearing our tales as we ride our bikes, from Canada to Argentina.