Departure
Date:
June 12, 199705h00: My gear is neatly laid out on the couch, my bike is propped up against the nearby wall. Nic should be arriving in an hour and then we’ll leave for the airport. The only problem is that I’ve been up all night preparing that gear and getting the apartment ready for my 2+ month absence. And I’m not even sure if all that stuff will fit on my bike, because I’ve never tried it yet. So much for advance planning.
06h00: Nic finds me still wrestling to get everything loaded onto my bike. To my horror, the smaller panniers — which I bought years ago — don’t fit on my new front rack. I’ve had to load the larger pair in front and it’s a pretty ugly solution. They barely clear the ground and really unbalance the front wheel. We quickly get everything sorted out and hit the road.
06h30: The adventure has begun. We’re cycling along the Lachine canal, headed for the Dorval airport. Our late start has put us slightly behind schedule, but we’re still okay to catch our one-way flight to Vancouver. To be honest, I’m not concerned about the time at all. I’m used to travelling by bus so I really don’t understand why we have to get to the airport so far in advance.
07h05: About halfway there, we spot a cyclist with a flat tire by the side of the cycling path. Figuring we would want someone to help us if the roles were reversed, Nic stops to give him a hand. The poor guy doesn’t have a pump or the first clue about fixing a flat, but Nic gets hime sorted out. Now we’re really running late.
07h55: The race against the clock takes another turn for the worse as we near the airport: there doesn’t seem to be a bike-friendly access road. Every option we see requires getting onto minor highways and negotiating a series of twisting access ramps, cars whizzing by at break-neck speeds. We brave the traffic and have to haul our bikes over at least one median. Not fun, but we make it to the departures level in one piece.
08h10: Less than an hour left before our flight takes off. As we stand in line to check in, it finally sinks in why we had to arrive so early . The wait gives us an opportunity to start disassembling the bikes and getting our panniers together for the baggage check. With a bit of packing tape and plastic bags, my four panniers transform into two pieces of checked luggage. The bikes get packed into boxes graciously supplied by Air Canada (most airlines don’t do this, and I’m not even sure that AC still does), taped and padded as much as possible to survive the baggage handlers.
08h47: By the time we clear security, we have less than ten minutes to make it to the last gate in the terminal. At a full sprint, we reach the gate just before they close the door. This is my first ride in an airplane since the age of 5, but I don’t remember anything but being woken up to eat breakfast. The lack of sleep and this morning’s rush sends a wave of fatigue crashing over me and I sleep my way across all those kilometers which we must inevitably retrace by bicycle.