On July 5, Sam Bowerman decided to pull the trigger.
He got on to his tour bicycle, waved goodbye to Squamish and started pedalling down the Sea to Sky Highway. By Aug. 30, he would be on the other side of the country.
“It is just something that I have always really wanted to do,” Bowerman says. “Because it is such a big thing, it is also easy to put off. I decided to just go for it.”
The fourth year University of British Columbia student is no stranger to adventure. Straight out of high school, he headed to Europe on a three-month trip. The journey helped peak his curiosity to see more of what his own country had to offer.
“It is such a huge country that we live in,” Bowerman says. “Even on this trip, I only saw a small fraction.”
The ride to Halifax meant 55 days on a bike, travelling in 120 to 130-kilometre segments. Along the way, Bowerman met other cycle tourists, many on the Prairies. South of Greenwood, B.C., a cycling enthusiast invited Bowerman to pitch his tent on her property.
Some of the unexpected pleasures in the trip lay in what Bowerman had been dreading.
“I guess everyone was really warning me about North Ontario,” he says. “They’d say, ‘It’s long and a whole lot of nothing.’ But it turned out to be really beautiful country, with small towns scattered all over it.”
Bowerman enjoyed the freedom of riding as long as he wanted each day, starting when he wanted and stopping where he wanted. He had no expectations. It wasn’t all sunny days and golden fields, though. Near Thunder Bay, Bowerman hit three days of drenching wet weather.
“It rained nearly every day. You kind of were never dry and the sun kind of never truly came out. I just wanted to get it over with.”
Bowerman’s father, Rick, joined his son in Ottawa for the last stretch of the journey. Rick had bicycle-toured for four months in Europe and has at least 10 Test of Metals under his belt, Bowerman said, admitting his father was part of his inspiration for undertaking the cross-country ride. As he continued, there was a bit of father-son competition once the wheels hit the road.
“He had this very nice carbon bike…. It was mildly frustrating to watch him fly by on a skinny bike,” Bowerman said, before quickly adding that on some days, he took the lead.
One of Bowerman’s favourite days of the journey was one he shared with his father. With a bluebird sky, the duo cycled a road that hugged the coastline of New Brunswick and to Prince Edward Island. They cycled though rolling hills and pastures. It was like being in a postcard, Bowerman says.
“We found this little general store and stopped to have lunch. We drank a whole litre of chocolate milk each,” he says, noting that eating and drinking what you want is an upside to riding 120 kilometres a day.
Bowerman hopes to go on more cycle tours in the future. His eyes are set on the other side of the pond. “I also hope to spend some time backpacking in South America,” he adds.
But right now, he’s burying his head in the books as he completes a natural resource conservation course.
