BIKE RACING & TRAVEL UPDATES from Adrian Retief: May 2014

With the van finally in our ownership we made our way to Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. The 700km drive took us some time as we battled our way through torrential rain and thunderstorm. But this gave me time to finally remember the main reason for this trip and start to mentally prepare for the bike race in two days.

We arrived the afternoon before the race and I managed to get a few laps on course in the rain. Though it was my first time off road in a few weeks I felt comfortable and was enjoying riding the amazing trails the race track was set on. Supprisingly the track was very grippy in the wet and I didn't need to change to mud tyres for the race. The rain didn't let up for the rest of the day and night, but thankfully had cleared by the time we got up in the morning.

A back row start postion in the 70+ rider field meant for a hard start but good passing opportunities allowed me to slowly worked my way up the field throughout the race. With the severely deteriorated course making for lots of running with the bike and with the stress of the previous week, meant I really battled out there. I ended up finishing 36^th which is a little way off where I was hoping but not getting too hung up on the result. Was good to get that hard work out into the legs.

The next race was in Baie St-Paul, also in Quebec. Thankfully I could get some better preparation before the next Canada Cup as we arrived a week before the race and were able to stay at a campground that backed right onto the race course. Though very cold the weather was otherwise good to us and made for an enjoyable stay. Will and I were enjoying sitting around for most of the day after the hectic week before. Getting in some solid Breaking Bad marathons on my laptop and strolling around the town checking out some of the impressive art work.

By the time the race rolled around, I was starting to get into the right shape and was ready to make up for the result the weekend before. The course was very technical and hard to ride while fresh, so riding in the race in a fatigued state was going to be hard but I felt ready. Had a better start position here too, but after a riding a little too conservative at the start I made up some places halfway through the first lap and was sat in 16^th. I rode the rest of the race in this position, not able to pass anyone and not being passed by others behind me. Overall pretty happy with the improvement from the last race, but know I have some work to do before the next race in Colorado Springs in 3 weeks.

Travelling like a king

One of many Wal-mart parking lot sleeps

Cooking in the rain the night before the first event.

Post race

Dont worry Mum, I'm eating well

Camp grounds at Baie st-Paul

Baie st-Paul Course

Checking out lines

One of our daily fires. Very cold

Lunch

More food

Baie st-Paul Canada Cup race

Happy with an improvement from last race.

Firstly, if you are planning a trip to Ontario and are thinking about buying a van or any other vehicle, change your plans now. Any other Canadian state than Ontario and you will have no issues but as Will and I found out (the hard way), Ontario car insurance companies have confounding self imposed regulations against insuring non Canada licensed drivers. Though we were completely within the law driving on our New Zealand licences, these big corporations feel us foreigners are much too big a risk for them and will flat out refuse to cover you. This left us a little stuck as proof of insurance is required in transferring the ownership of the vehicle into your name. Anyway before I get into too much of a rant, I will go back to the beginning...

After a long trip and much time spent in airports I made it to Toronto. Will, my travel companion for the next 4 months, was to arrive 2 days later. So I spent those first days cycling all over Toronto in the search of a van for us to buy with the plan to live, sleep, eat and travel in it until September. This was quite a task as Toronto is a big city and my only means of transport was my humble bicycle. After clocking close to 200km and visiting 50+ vans, I discovered this was going to be quite a task. Due to the snow in winter and the necessary icing of the roads, all cars suffer from terrible rust damage after just a few years of use. With all unrusted vans just out of reach of our budget, it became obvious that we would have to choose the least rusty of the rust buckets available. After making this discovery, Will arrived and we made out to visit some more vans on the list. A big 12hour day later and we were no closer to finding the right van. That night a van in seeming great condition and just as attractive price, popped up on Canada's version of Trademe, Kijiji. We made plans to see it first thing the next morning. This ended up being our choice and though some of the rust had been covered up, it was the best we had seen so far by quite a way. We payed for the van after a good test drive.

Now this leads us back to the quest to find insurance.

Our first stop, after some hooting and hollering in joy, was an insurance broker. We were quite bluntly told that we were uninsurable by the first place and then again and again we received the same cold information. By the end of the day, with our heads hung down, we made our way back to the accommodation. After a repeat of this day and sleepless nights in between. We were close to making one of two dicisions. Either attempting to get our money back for the van that we had already paid in full and trying again in Vancouver, where the insurance companies policies aren't the same as Ontario. Or otherwise go through the process of becoming an Ontario licenced driver, involving lots of money and study of the road rules for a theory test.

Once again a sleepless night led me to the internet in the thoroughly repeated circular search of a solution. At 3am on that Monday morning, after reading through a 100 page document on vehicle insurance law in the state of Ontario, I came across a clause that stated as long as we are legally able to drive (which we are), then an insurance company was legally obligated to provide us with insurance. I felt such intense relief after reading and then rereading that sentence. The next morning was time to see if we could get these insurance companies to give us some coverage. Once arguing the law with a few insurance companies and brokers we had some quotes. It was going to cost us a massive $4000 fee for just 4 months of insurance and this price was consistent with all the places we tried. With all risk assessment stacked against us we were being charged the absolute most despite our clean driving records. This victory felt very bitter sweet, as the insurance company still won out in the end by taking so much money from us. Something I am very bitter about, as I was in a similar situation in London last year. There I was forced to drive uninsured for 3 months because I was unable to pay the fee that was over $2500NZ per month.

Anyway to anyone that finds themselves in this situation in Ontario and have found this blog post on a google search. We used the Co-operators insurance, so you can know for certain that they will provide you with insurance. Just make sure you mention the Facility association.

Now we could finally take ownership of the van, we have since christened Candy, and start getting her kitted out with beds and everything else necessary for us to be self sufficient for the next three months. Its amazing how much you appreciate something if you have to really work hard to own it.