Best summer ever, biked from Canada to Mexico with my 13 year old son.

Tron · 09-03-2006, 03:17 AM

This summer my 13 year old son and I began an unsupported bike trip beginning in Victoria BC. At the time we had no official ending date or location. Just that we would ride untill it stopped being fun. Early on my son started telling people we were riding to Mexico. And as we were then some 1600 plus miles away it seemed well quite impossible.

But mile by mile, challenge by challenge we ended having the summer of our lives.And indeed we ended up in Mexico. For me it was not only a great adventure but hanging out all summer with my son was so incredible. Mark was at the perfect age, where he could physically handle the trip but he is still young enough to think it was cool to hang out with dad.

He rode in the drafting position most of the way, and I loved to hear him just talk, all day. Stuff like hey dad did you know that....... sometimes he would just ride up along side me look over and say I love you dad. For the last 10 days of the trip we stopped putting up the tents. We slept under redwoods, under palm trees, under star filled skys, and we could hear the ocean as we would drift off to sleep.

We had no near misses or accidents, not a day of rain, no illness or injury. What we did have was 45 days of days I wish I could relive again and again. We biked all kinds of conditions, from nice highways with ample shoulders, to much of highway 1 with little or no shoulder, we biked some off road and even was routed onto the Ventura Freeway.

Along the way we met many awesome people and cyclist all the down the coast were willing to go the extra mile literaly to lead us thru some of the more challenging sections of the major cities. Such as San Fransisco and LA. We started to refer to them as our guardian angels.

Anyway I have posted our pictures in some albums at this address http://bikethewestcoast.spaces.live.com/ click on photos and then there are 6 or 7 groups of photos. If you are in a hurry one of my favorites is the folder titled Central California the lost coast. I'm still working on it so check back from time to time as we add things.

BIG Z · 09-03-2006, 03:32 AM

That is awesome. I hope to do something similar with my son. I got a ways to go he is only 4.

AYung · 09-03-2006, 03:34 AM

It sounds like the perfect summer for a father and son. I'm very impressed you two bikee all the way to Mexico. Time sure flies by when your having fun!

**DarkFalcon** · 09-03-2006, 03:35 AM

Hey bro great to see you back!

Looks and sounds like an incredible journey. You guy's will have memories for a lifetime to be sure. Glad you made it safe and sound and had such good fortune. Your looking pretty damn fit to top it off. All that cardio got you ripped!

Welcome back!

Tron · 09-03-2006, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkFalcon

Hey bro great to see you back!

Looks and sounds like an incredible journey. You guy's will have memories for a lifetime to be sure. Glad you made it safe and sound and had such good fortune. Your looking pretty damn fit to top it off. All that cardio got you ripped!

Welcome back!

Hahaha thanks, yeah it was nice to pretty much eat what you wanted since you would burn it off. It was funny about mid way thru the trip my wife started noticing in the pictures asking what I was doing because I looked more defined. I just said it was there all the time it was just covered under a layer of fat.

Speaking of working out. I did try to make it into a real gym once a week just for upper body but alot of times I had to use what I could. I ended up using my bike in a variety of ways and adding weight to the panniers. Some of the things I would try. One I would kneel on top of a picnic table. Grab my bike low and do one armed rows.

Then I would use it to do curls. But my favorite was behind the neck working the triceps. I thought damn I could do a whole workout just using a bike.

**DarkFalcon** · 09-03-2006, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tron

Hahaha thanks, yeah it was nice to pretty much eat what you wanted since you would burn it off. It was funny about mid way thru the trip my wife started noticing in the pictures asking what I was doing because I looked more defined. I just said it was there all the time it was just covered under a layer of fat.

Speaking of working out. I did try to make it into a real gym once a week just for upper body but alot of times I had to use what I could. I ended up using my bike in a variety of ways and adding weight to the panniers. Some of the things I would try. One I would kneel on top of a picnic table. Grab my bike low and do one armed rows.

Then I would use it to do curls. But my favorite was behind the neck working the triceps. I thought damn I could do a whole workout just using a bike.

LOL! Hey sometimes us hardcore lifters need to get creative! You could write a book, How to get ripped on the road!

Tron · 09-03-2006, 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG Z

That is awesome. I hope to do something similar with my son. I got a ways to go he is only 4.

It goes by so fast bro before you know it he will be asking for the car keys.

4 is not to young to start building memories. I have a daughter that is 18. It seems like it was just yesterday that I put her little snoopy helmet on and put her in the kid seat on my bike. We went on our own little picnic at the park. We both still remember that day. Being a dad rocks.

Tron · 09-03-2006, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkFalcon

LOL! Hey sometimes us hardcore lifters need to get creative! You could write a book, How to get ripped on the road!

Yeah that would be easy the book could be in two sentences. Eat whatever the hell you want, eat alot then eat a whole lot more. Then bike 70 miles each day with a loaded bike.

The book I need is how to stay ripped....... oh shit where are my abs going ......

OMT Falcon we met alot of really nice people but by far the nicest people were the Canadians in Victoria BC. Wow everyone was just so cool. The minute you pulled out your camera someone ALWAYS stopped and asked if we wanted them to take the picture so we could both be in it. My son kept saying Ay. And trying to pull off this Canadian accent. I kept saying your not Canadian damn it.

Richo · 09-03-2006, 06:53 AM

that sounds really awesome!

one day i want to do something similar. sounds near perfect to me.

Ihateeveryone · 09-03-2006, 07:02 AM

My perfect summer involved calling in sick for a few days at work, then hanging about wherever there was booze and chicks, trying to make a son for myself.

**bubba g** · 09-03-2006, 07:31 AM

That must have been great.... I ride a lot myself...

great pics too....

**bubba g** · 09-03-2006, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ihateeveryone

My perfect summer involved calling in sick for a few days at work, then hanging about wherever there was booze and chicks, trying to make a son for myself.

Any luck????

Ihateeveryone · 09-03-2006, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubba g

Any luck????

No son. So yeah, I was lucky

**Grunt76** · 09-03-2006, 01:47 PM

Whoa dude that sounds like incredible fun. And you know what? I had been considering a similar trip - albeit a bit longer, being from Montréal. 45 days isn't hugely long. I just might do this. Wait, now would be a good time to leave and spend the winter in Mexico... :no1:

:no1:

Tron · 09-04-2006, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grunt76

Whoa dude that sounds like incredible fun. And you know what? I had been considering a similar trip - albeit a bit longer, being from Montréal. 45 days isn't hugely long. I just might do this. Wait, now would be a good time to leave and spend the winter in Mexico... :no1:

:no1:

Canada rocks, and yeah now is the time to do it. If you really decide to do it let me know and I can give you alot of tips I wish I had known before I went.

**bubba g** · 09-04-2006, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tron

Canada rocks, and yeah now is the time to do it. If you really decide to do it let me know and I can give you alot of tips I wish I had known before I went.

What are a few of the tips???

I am sure there were a few things that caught you off guard...

Also I wanted to ask.. You said you camped without tents... Didn't you get eaten alive by misquitoes, or are there none out in that dry desert area???

Tron · 09-04-2006, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubba g

What are a few of the tips???

I am sure there were a few things that caught you off guard...

Also I wanted to ask.. You said you camped without tents... Didn't you get eaten alive by misquitoes, or are there none out in that dry desert area???

We stopped using tents just before San Fransisco. All of the campsite were right on the coast so far from the desert. But we really didn't have problems with mosquitos.

There is alot of things that would be helpfull to know before doing a bike tour. We were quite well prepared because I had done two other trips. One down the oregon coast and the other from Canada to the California border.

The only thing I would have done different on this trip was to have alot more detailed maps of the major cities and have drawn the route out clearly ahead of time. We had a guilde book that was very helpfull and some of the adventure cycling maps. But even those were not detailed enough for some of the more complicated stretches.

I would order like a detailed map of LA and then highlight an exact route. It's also helpful to know first hand what the route is like. For example I was worried that we would get into some dangerous sections of the cities. And if fact there is one section of LA that I didn't feel to safe. But that was pretty short.

Biking Washington and Oregon are cake however and the book Biking the Pacific Coast is all you need.

If anyone is planning on doing a bike trip I am happy to share what I've learned.

**bubba g** · 09-04-2006, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tron

We stopped using tents just before San Fransisco. All of the campsite were right on the coast so far from the desert. But we really didn't have problems with mosquitos.

There is alot of things that would be helpfull to know before doing a bike tour. We were quite well prepared because I had done two other trips. One down the oregon coast and the other from Canada to the California border.

The only thing I would have done different on this trip was to have alot more detailed maps of the major cities and have drawn the route out clearly ahead of time. We had a guilde book that was very helpfull and some of the adventure cycling maps. But even those were not detailed enough for some of the more complicated stretches.

I would order like a detailed map of LA and then highlight an exact route. It's also helpful to know first hand what the route is like. For example I was worried that we would get into some dangerous s

09-03-2006, 03:17 AM	#1
Tron Pro Stature Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 102 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 5	Best summer ever, biked from Canada to Mexico with my 13 year old son. This summer my 13 year old son and I began an unsupported bike trip beginning in Victoria BC. At the time we had no official ending date or location. Just that we would ride untill it stopped being fun. Early on my son started telling people we were riding to Mexico. And as we were then some 1600 plus miles away it seemed well quite impossible. But mile by mile, challenge by challenge we ended having the summer of our lives.And indeed we ended up in Mexico. For me it was not only a great adventure but hanging out all summer with my son was so incredible. Mark was at the perfect age, where he could physically handle the trip but he is still young enough to think it was cool to hang out with dad. He rode in the drafting position most of the way, and I loved to hear him just talk, all day. Stuff like hey dad did you know that....... sometimes he would just ride up along side me look over and say I love you dad. For the last 10 days of the trip we stopped putting up the tents. We slept under redwoods, under palm trees, under star filled skys, and we could hear the ocean as we would drift off to sleep. We had no near misses or accidents, not a day of rain, no illness or injury. What we did have was 45 days of days I wish I could relive again and again. We biked all kinds of conditions, from nice highways with ample shoulders, to much of highway 1 with little or no shoulder, we biked some off road and even was routed onto the Ventura Freeway. Along the way we met many awesome people and cyclist all the down the coast were willing to go the extra mile literaly to lead us thru some of the more challenging sections of the major cities. Such as San Fransisco and LA. We started to refer to them as our guardian angels. Anyway I have posted our pictures in some albums at this address http://bikethewestcoast.spaces.live.com/ click on photos and then there are 6 or 7 groups of photos. If you are in a hurry one of my favorites is the folder titled Central California the lost coast. I'm still working on it so check back from time to time as we add things. __________________ known as mntbikedude on other forums

09-03-2006, 03:34 AM	#3
AYung IMPC Contestant Join Date: May 2005 Location: Edmonton, Alberta Canada Posts: 2,282 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 41	It sounds like the perfect summer for a father and son. I'm very impressed you two bikee all the way to Mexico. Time sure flies by when your having fun! __________________ Clean Bulking Journal http://www.ironmass.com/showthread.php?t=9546 Max Lifts Bench: 155 x 6 Deadlift: 315 x 6 Squat: 245 x 6 1 Rep Max Lifts Bench: 180 - Tested Deadlift: 365 - Tested Squat: 285 - Estimated TOTAL: 831 @ 156lbs Eddie Guerrero (1967-2005, R.I.P.) You'll always be loved and remembered.

09-03-2006, 06:53 AM	#9
Richo IMPC Contestant Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 491 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 12	that sounds really awesome! one day i want to do something similar. sounds near perfect to me. __________________ Richo's Road to Track & Field Journal Thread http://www.ironmass.com/forums/worko...ack-field.html ----------------------------------------------------- Stats Age - 18 Weight - 50kg 1RM Benchpress - 42.25kg 1RM Barbell Row - 45kg 50m Time - 8secs Standing Long Jump - 2.20m -----------------------------------------------------

09-03-2006, 07:02 AM	#10
Ihateeveryone Pro Stature Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: The Castle of Blakkheim Posts: 752 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 11	My perfect summer involved calling in sick for a few days at work, then hanging about wherever there was booze and chicks, trying to make a son for myself. __________________ Bullshit things: Hippies Astrology Rap music Nu metal Leg presses Communism Nitric Oxide Left wing politics Decaf coffee Fortune cookies Cutting Prudes Wine coolers Non materialism F**k marijuana - legalise steroids!! Bart: Ohhh, this place smells, and somethings dripping on me! Willie: The smell's manure, and the drippin's manure!

09-03-2006, 03:32 AM	#2
BIG Z Amateur Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 59 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 12	That is awesome. I hope to do something similar with my son. I got a ways to go he is only 4.

09-03-2006, 03:35 AM	#4
DarkFalcon I've got a RAGING clue! Join Date: May 2005 Location: dnyc99's cleaning staff Posts: 11,511 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 299	Hey bro great to see you back! Looks and sounds like an incredible journey. You guy's will have memories for a lifetime to be sure. Glad you made it safe and sound and had such good fortune. Your looking pretty damn fit to top it off. All that cardio got you ripped! Welcome back!

09-03-2006, 07:31 AM	#11
bubba g Moderator Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 2,939 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 176	That must have been great.... I ride a lot myself... great pics too....