It was 1984 and Blaine and Dave were working summer jobs at Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta. They had a couple of days off and decided to hop on their bicycles. They headed across the border into Glacier National Park in Montana to tackle Logan Pass which runs along the Continental Divide. It was a fun trip which Dave says was great because it was doorstep to doorstep in three days.

Ever since then, the two bicycle buddies have been having fun making long-distance cycling trips together that have taken them in many different directions even though their jobs took them in different directions.

We met Blaine and Dave on our way out of Winnipeg on a rainy June 1. Brody had just joined Clive and I. Since Brody had arrived by train late the previous night, we got a late start while he slept in. But I held things up further by stopping at a Subway to pick up a sandwich for lunch later on. As we circled the store we saw a couple of cyclists loaded up with gear just like us, the first we’d come across in our marathon journey.

They were Blaine and Dave.

They’re both recently retired. Blaine remained a Parks Canada employee for 31 years working for its highways department and lives in Invermere, B.C. “Big Dave,” as Blaine likes to call his bearded buddy, became a mechanic working in tungsten mines in the Northwest Territories. He’s now living in his hometown, and my former stomping grounds, of Medicine Hat, Alta.

They’ve taken long trips without each other. (Blaine talks about the loneliness of biking Wyoming and the time he was spared hypothermia during a Montana snowstorm by finding a concrete outhouse where he bunkered down with his sleeping bag to avoid hypothermia.) But every year they always manage to get together for some sort of prolonged pedal. Usually it’s in western Canada or the United States, although they’ve taken trips in other parts of North America. They’ve even crossed Kyrgystan on bikes.

When we met them, they told us their plan this time was to ride to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., cross into Michigan and make their way to Chicago to catch an Amtrak train back to Whitefish, Mont. They figure it just might be the longest bike trip they’ve taken together.

That parking-lot meeting in the rain started a stretch of 10 days in which we played asphalt leapfrog. They arrived in Falcon Lake the next day just as we were pulling out. Later that day, they pulled up to the same craft brewery eatery in Kenora we were having dinner at and took a seat on the patio. After dinner they pitched their tent on the shore of Lake of the Woods just a few metres from us.

Later we ran into each other at a couple of rest stops, rode in the rain together (again) between Ignace and Upsala, and warmed our bodies over soup at a roadside store in Shabaqua. At the store, gear geeks Clive and Blaine bonded over all things mechanical before we braved the wet and Ontario’s notoriously narrow shoulders again.

Since we started our trip so early in the season, we really hadn’t run into any other riders so it was nice to connect with Blaine and Dave. After Thunder Bay, we waved and shouted to them as we saw them ride by in Nipigon while we were setting up our tent. Then on Friday we ran into them in Marathon, Ont. They had already checked into a site at the city’s Penn Lake Campground. They said they’d been told three tents and six people were allowed to occupy one site, so they invited us to join them. Nice guys.

Even before we finished putting up our tents, a predicted thunderstorm started to bring us rain, so they set up a tarp overhang over the picnic table so we could all enjoy dinner. Like I said, nice guys.

They’re a font of knowledge when it comes to long-distance cycling so we picked their brains about stuff. They also picked Clive’s too because he has some experience with it too. My brain’s not worth picking. Not about bikes. I just like to ride. Don’t really want to talk cranks and derailleurs.

Although we were off to White River on Saturday, Blaine and Dave decided to make a side trip to Pukaskwa National Park, just south of Marathon, before resuming their journey. That means no more leapfrog for us. Too bad. But for the pedalling partners it’s just another adventure that’s likely to last at least another couple of decades.

Ride on guys!

Brody update

After a few days spent in Falcon Lake and Kenora, Brody plans to hop another train and catch up to us in Sudbury. That’s about a week away for us, and he has to actually go off the grid to Sioux Lookout, which is north of Dryden, to catch the Transcontinental.

Kilometre count

Day 41: Nipigon to Rossport Campground  85 km; Total: 3,626 km

Day 42: Rossporm to Marathon 111 km; Total: 3,737 km

Day 43: Marathon to White River 99 km; Total: 3,836 km