Fool Of A Toque!!!

27 November - Woke up convinced it was a Monday, realised it was a Sunday so slept in but not as late as Mark, who came for a run with me out to Trout Lake again. Got him to do two laps this time, still not very far, but it's better than nowt and he's committed to doing it regularly, which is very good.
Decided to head out to the Museum of Anthroplogy that, according to the Internet, was located at 6393 Marine Drive. I used Google Maps to get directions and it gave a 25k route (rather circuitous though) over to Horseshoe Bay, where one would get the ferry to Vancouver Island. So, rather than wasting time and money on public transport I got on my bike and made my way over. It was a little bit further than I anticipattd and despite riding around all day I still found myself rather puffed and sore at going non stop for well over an hour. It was very beautiful though, riding along the shoreline for most of the way and the sky was pretty clear. It didn't help that Marine Drive seemed to stop at 6300. I rolled down into Horseshoe Bay and asked one or two people who had no idea the museum was located. Then I heard someone call out my name, Jason, my apprentice from work, had just returned from the Island where he'd been visiting his parents. He asked me why I was there and I told him and he said, oh, there's a museum down at UBC (the local uni), that's on NORTH WEST Marine Drive though. I told him I was pretty certain my directions told me it was in Horseshoe Bay, but that was because i'd just looked up the street name. It turns out i'd gone about 30ks out of my way. In any event, I had a bit of a chat with him before his ride arrived and so I decided to head back towards home (it wouldn't have been worth it or maybe even possible to make it out to the museum and home before dark). I decided to go via the highway, which was a very sillything to do in retrospect. It was covered in glass and crap and I was just riding alonside another cyclist when my rear tyre went, victim of a metal staple in the road. The other cyclist kindly stopped to give me a had, which was very lucky because i'd left my spare and all my tools in my courier bag and I was completely stranded. We eventually got it fixed (couldn't find the f**king hole to patch) but no sooner had we parted ways but it went again and I was completely lost. I wandered down towards Marine Drive, debatingwhether I should hitch or not. Another cyclist past me and I hailed him for directions to the nearest bike shop. He happily obliged although his directions were rather confusing. It didn't really matter because he rode off and within five minutes had returned in his van to give me a lift all the way there! There are some very good people in this city. Not only helping out but going out of their way to help out. It's happened on a few occasions on this trip and i'm grateful for it. Fixed up my bike and headed back home - where I almost collapsed on the couch and watched jurassic Park iii (well, at least it wasn't a speilburgo) aand then me and thete a wild boar burger for dinner (very good, it made me feel like a gaul). The lesson learned today is make sure you know you where you're going before undertaking any long trips and ALWAYS CARRY YOU'RE BIKE TOOLS WHEN YOU GO OUT!!!