Bicycle Touring the Pacific Rim 1999-2000

Our general approach to the trip was to link various cycling routes that we had heard about with National Parks and other areas of interest that we wanted to explore. We wanted to explore remote mountain areas and stay away from tourist traps as much as possible. Wild camping, lonely mountain roads, rough dirt trails, and challenging cycling is what we were after. Along the way we met other travellers, stayed with local people, and saw some of the greatest scenery in the world. We also got rained and snowed on, pulled over by Canadian Mounties, survived a bicycle crash on a slick and narrow mountain road, sweltered up hills in the tropical heat of Hawaii, and got chased by Park Rangers and security guards. All in all a great trip!

I describe this trip as a bicycle tour / mountain biking trip. As Jody and I are also keen mountain bikers as well as bicycle tourists, we allowed time to stop and ride the mountain bike trails in the areas we passed through. This made the trip take longer, but gave us more variety and allowed us to see these areas better than if we only rode trails or only rode the main roads and highways. For more information on combining bicycle touring and mountain biking, click here.