CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

Bikepacking really hasnt been on my radar until I recently. Ive been doing some road rides the past few weeks, and combined with the few pieces of camping gear Ive been investing in it really just made sense. Also Ive been getting these daym emails about cheap flights to Abbotsford, and its given me this idea of flying in to Abbotsford, than bikepacking to Seattle or Portland. Ideally Id like to do the trip during reading week in the spring, but really depends how much time and money I have then.

Anyways to first see how bikepacking feels like Ive decided to try a short trip to Elk Island National Park. Since it was a pretty last minute trip, like any other trip of mine I ordered the frame bag for my bike a little late. It showed up a little later then I wanted but I made it work. I would leave Wednesday Aug 23, then ride back into town Thursday morning straight to work by 10Am.

It took me a little planning to see what I exactly needed and didnt need, I wanted to try and travel as minimalist as possible, even with the absolute bare minimum I thought I needed it was barely fitting into my small backpack and frame bag. Everything was surprisingly a tight fit. The sleeping bag fit pretty well onto my handlebars, but the tent was quite a nuisance, even when tightly wound with bungee cord it was still swinging around quite a bit. It was pretty much impossible to stand up and ride. My plan was to ride through St Albert up north and go through Fort Saskatchewan to Elk Island National Park. I got through St Albert safely, but once I got onto highway 37 it was absolutely terrible. The road was a lot busier then I expected for such a small highway, and lots of massive trucks were whizzing by less than 1 meters from me; it was absolutely terrifying. Some of the truckers would actually slow down and give me plenty of space but others aren't as friendly. After about 20min it was too much and I decided to head back south towards highway 15 which was the other route to Fort Saskatchewan directly from Edmonton. Highway 15 was much better with a massive shoulder giving me plenty of space to ride. Once I got into Fort Saskatchewan it was time for Starbucks (I know, so white girl) the last time I would have access to unlimited wifi for the day.

After stretching out my back I headed off again. From here it was all back roads until Elk Island, it was really nice and quiet, but at this point my legs were feeling quite heavy and it was a constant headwind all the way the 20km straight stretch of road to the campsite. It was a bit of a struggle but about an hour later I finally made it to the entrance of the park. When I got there I didnt realized but the road was gravel! I really expected it to be paved as it was a national park but I was wrong. About a km down the gravel road they were doing some major construction! The next 2 km was quite the ride with my bike bouncing around everywhere. At least everything was dry, as when I was within 100m till the end of the construction there was a water truck laying some water down for the dust and the packed down dirt pretty much as well have been ice as I started slipping and sliding all over the place! Thankfully afterwards it was a bunch of beautifully paved roads within the park.

It was quite the relief once I got to the campsite, I quickly set up my tent unloaded everything, unexpectedly I found a little so called cafe beside the golf course there, inside was more like a canteen but I was super happy to find a fridge full of pop. I took my findings to the lake side and chilled out and snacked on some food. I cooked some instant ramen back at camp for dinner, took a quick shower then watched the sunset by the lake. It was absolutely beautiful, nice and calming away from the city.

The next morning was an early start getting up at 5Am and packing up camp. After a quick breakfast warming up with a bowl of oatmeal I quickly made my way out of camp. On the way back I would be taking a more direct route travelling down south within the Elk Island National Park towards highway 2 then taking that towards Sherwood park, then going into Edmonton through Baseline road. It was absolutely incredible riding through Elk Island National Park, the sun was just rising over the clouds as the soft light flooded through the trees, the roads were super smooth as well. Riding through Elk Island it was a common sight to see Bison along the road, and since it was early in the morning there were still quite a few out near the road, most of them were fine off to the side of the road, there were a few times they were in the middle of the road. It was quite nerve wracking heading towards them, not wanting to spook them nor wanting them to be aggressive towards me. And they are friggin massive animals! With little traffic around I made sure to be careful every time I was approaching one. Once I hit the highway it was all smooth sailing from there. I had a tail wind coming in and the road had a very wide shoulder for me to ride on.

Coming into Edmonton on Baseline road, the shoulder was littered with lots of debris, and going over one of the bridges my front wheel hit something quite hard, and a few seconds later I heard and unwelcome familiar sound of air hissing out of my tire. A quick swap of the tube and sitting there with a crappy little hand pump for a few minutes and I was back on the road. I ended my trip at Sugarbowl where I had a nice breakfast and was at work by 10 Am. It was an interesting commute to say the least.

It was a quick fun trip, and definitly learnt a lot on this short excursion. I am definitly going to want to work an trying to get a more compact sleep system so I dont have to have the big tent strapped behind my seatpost. But this is something that I am looking forward to experiencing more of in my future!