Hi Observer readers, Chris and Heather Hartridge here, keeping you up to date on our latest cycle tour. We wish to thank everyone for their comments and support in past tours and we appreciate the opportunity to do this again. Thanks Annie!
In the past, our journeys have been inspired by people we’ve known, loved and admired. This ride is no different. We’re dubbing it our “Good Neighbour Tour.” Since our last general election, we’ve been inspired to tour in our own country to meet as many of our fellow human beings north of the 49th parallel as we can. The motivational vision of meeting as many of our Canadian neighbours as we can came from a good friend Murray Boal who sadly passed away in 2015 – far too soon. We miss him a lot and like many folks who have lost loved ones, we’d like to dedicate our tour to Murray. I was very fortunate to have played a small role in helping him craft his music as a percussionist with his band, Murray Boal and the Cultivators. In his most recent collaboration the Wingdamramblers, Murray and another good friend Bob Campbell recorded a song called “Good Neighbours”. The song embodies neighbourly love and the comfortable simplicity of having someone nearby to share life’s ups and downs. During this tour we’re going to meet as many neighbours as we can but wouldn’t it be great if everyone on this planet was considered your neighbour?
Our bike tour will start with a Via Rail train ride from Prince George to Prince Rupert – how Canadian is that? We hop a ferry to Haida Gwaii which is the official start of the cycling part of the tour. After a week or so touring Graham Island we’ll head back to the mainland to start cycling east.
Arriving in Prince George the route takes us south to Jasper and then into the northern section of the Icefields Parkway. After that we’re heading into the hinterlands of Alberta via the Saskatchewan River Crossing. We’ll see how far we get and how many neighbours we can meet in a few months.
Our last tour from Quesnel to the southern tip of Baja, Mexico was unforgettable. Since then we’ve been enjoying time with family and friends and a little part time work in town. Now, it’s back to our passion. Essentially, we’re addicted to cycle touring. We love the continually changing landscape wherever it may be and we always feel the many positive effects of exercising and being outdoors. Let’s go meet some neighbours!
We’re very proud of our fair city and as such, we’ve chosen the handle Quesnel Bikers.
If you’d like to follow our blog, please visit: www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/quesnelbikers2016.
Chris and Heather Hartridge are long-time Quesnel residents with a passion for cycling the North American continent.