Trip Report | Pedal Powered Family

Heading Into the Wind

Posted by Reuben on September 4th, 2010 3 Comments

This is the first of three posts documenting our September, 2010 Labour Day long-weekend family bike camping trip between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Eden lets Pooh Bear test out her bikeseat the morning of our depature

With our plans for an 18-day tour in Michigan later this month, we figured we should squeeze in another weekend adventure yet this summer to get our legs, our minds, and our kids ready for a longer trip. Instead of sorting out all the details beforehand, we decided to theme this outing with spontaneity and frugality. This meant no pre-booking campsites — we would free camp instead! No route planning — we would decide where to go next after each rest stop! And finally — limiting our budget to $20 a day to get a feel for what living on the road may be like without ‘spoiling’ ourselves as if on vacation. …continue reading this post »

Testing the waters: an S24O in Southern Ontario

Posted by Reuben on July 19th, 2010 7 Comments

Departure! Getting out the door is easy when riding an S24O.

A week ago we headed out on our first bicycle tour as a family of four. It was a short one – a simple S24O to Chippewa Creek Conservation Area, about 50km from our house. The weather was beautiful: clear skies and comfortable cycling temperatures — a welcome break from the sweltering heat we have been experiencing for most of July.

An S24O was an obvious choice for our first tour with the four of us. Two days of cycling with only one overnight allowed us to pack relatively light and not worry too much about forgetting anything important. We were able to prep quickly and get out the door easily with little anxiety. I took both of the kids on my bike: Eden rode in her normal spot on the back, and Harper up front where I could keep a good eye on him. We didn’t use a trailer for this trip since we were not worried about inclement weather. Heidi rode light with two panniers full of our food and cooking gear. …continue reading this post »

A Daddy/Daughter Mini-Tour: Byng Conservation Area

Posted by Reuben on September 19th, 2009 3 Comments

We took delivery of our new Surly Big Dummy cargo bike in July, and I was itching to do some loaded touring with it this summer. This proved a little difficult to do, seeing as due to pregnancy-related pain, Heidi was unable to comfortably ride her bike. What’s the solution? Take Eden out on a daddy/daughter overnight trip, allowing Heidi to relax while we were away! Well, as long as the baby didn’t come while we were gone (the due date was less than two months away).

Heidi and I have always toured together. In fact, it had been more than five years since I was out on my bike for a significant distance on my own, so I was a little apprehensive about going out on this ‘solo’ ride, especially since this was also Eden’s first long ride on the Big Dummy, and she hadn’t ridden with us much since our Sudbury trip the year before. This would be my first S24O-type trip (PDF Link), even though it would end up being more than 24 hours long. I chose to avoid free-camping for this trip, thinking having a set destination would take some of the stress out of the ride, and instead chose to ride to Byng Conservation Area, a campground on Lake Erie, about an 80km ride from our house.
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Food and Fishing

Posted by Heidi on July 18th, 2009 0 Comments

This is the last in a series of 5 posts about our family vacation to the wilderness of Algonquin from July 4-11, 2009.

One of my favourite things about camping is eating ‘camping food’ – getting those special treats and items for your time away from home. I remember as kid, my favourite camping treat was sugary cereal in those tiny boxes. We only got them when we were camping. Wilderness camping is a little different as you are lifting and carrying your food through each portage so you have to think a bit about the weight of your weekly food supply. There’s also no cooler with ice in it so you can’t take very many perishables. The other thing about wilderness camping is that you have to hang your food high in a tree so as not to attract bears and you don’t leave any food out of that food pack!

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New Friends & the Wildlife We Saw

Posted by Heidi on July 17th, 2009 0 Comments

This is the fourth in a series of 5 posts about our family vacation to the wilderness of Algonquin from July 4-11, 2009.

DSC 4899 150x150 New Friends & the Wildlife We Saw

In Algonquin, I was surprised by how peaceful and quiet it was. We rarely heard or saw anyone else around. We met a few youth camping groups and a Tim Horton’s camp at portages but, for the most part, were completely alone. We had set up camp on Misty Lake and it was a very windy day. We were playing by the entrance to our campsite when we saw quite a sight – a canoe with 2 large umbrellas swiftly cruising down the lake.

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