The Long Way Around | Part 4

Rocks, Roads, and Rewards 

Englishman River to Nanaimo 

Dave woke up and reached for the painkillers. 

The shoulder was still angry from the crash the day before. 

The ego had mostly recovered. 

Mostly. 

But the body was sending reminders. 

Still, there was no real question. 

The Bam Bam route was going to be finished. 

One more day. 

One more push. 

One more chance to carry the bikes, the bags, the bruises, and the stories back to where we started. 

We rolled out of Englishman River for the final day of riding. 

There is a strange feeling on the last morning of a trip. 

Part relief. 

Part urgency. 

Part disbelief that the thing you had been planning, packing for, and riding through was almost over. 

The legs were tired. 

The bikes were dirty. 

The gear had earned its dust. 

The prototype chain wax was holding on for dear life; Thx Jari! 

And none of us really wanted to stop. 

The route gave us more logging roads first. 

Cut blocks. 

Open views. 

The kind of landscape that had become familiar by then. 

Beautiful in places. 

Raw in others. 

Vancouver Island kept showing us both sides of itself. 

Somewhere in those final kilometres, Kim and I found a new source of entertainment. 

Jonny had his MSR titanium cup clipped to his saddlebag with a carabiner. 

A perfectly useful place for it. 

Also, as it turned out, a perfectly useful target. 

Jonny was riding an e-bike. 

Which meant, by group logic, he could carry a little extra weight. 

So Kim and I started adding some. 

Small rocks. 

One at a time. 

Quietly. 

As discreetly as possible. 

We would sneak up alongside him, wait for the right moment, and drop one into the cup. 

Clink. 

Then ride away like nothing had happened. 

The cup became cargo. 

Then percussion. 

Then, eventually, a very effective bear bell. 

Jonny kept riding. 

The rocks kept accumulating. 

And somehow, it took him far too long to realize what was happening. 

By the time he figured it out, Kim and I were much too pleased with ourselves. 

Then came the mountain bike trails. 

Proper trails. 

Swooping. 

Bermed. 

Fast. 

Fun. 

The kind that make tired riders suddenly sound like kids again. 

Jonny, Monica, and Lisa dropped in and came alive. 

Hooting. 

Hollering. 

Letting the bikes run. 

After days of gravel, mud, rain, climbs, and questionable route choices, the trails gave them a final bit of play. 

Dave and Kim made a different choice. 

An intentional one. 

The paved road ran parallel to the trail network. 

And sometimes wisdom looks a lot like pavement. 

Especially with a sore shoulder. 

Especially after a week of loaded riding. 

Especially when finishing the route matters more than proving anything on the last descent. 

So Dave and Kim zipped down the road. 

Smooth. 

Simple. 

No berms. 

No heroics. 

No spontaneous dismounts. 

A good decision. 

Maybe even growth. 

Eventually, the route brought everyone back together. 

And then, suddenly, Nanaimo. 

The city returned around us in pieces. 

More pavement. 

More traffic. 

More signs that the wild part of the trip was ending. 

After days of forest roads and campsites and ferry decks and wet gear, being back in town felt almost strange. 

Too loud. 

Too easy. 

Too close to normal life. 

We finished at Longwood Brewery. 

Because some finish lines have banners. 

Some have timing mats. 

Some have medals. 

This one had pints. 

And that felt right. 

Bikes leaned outside. 

Helmets came off. 

Stories started getting retold before they had even had time to become memories. 

The locked gate. 

The goat trail. 

The sketchy bridge. 

Lisa’s tire. 

The pub in Port Renfrew. 

The bedsheets in Nitinat. 

The beach at Pacheena Bay. 

The missed Strava segment. 

The whales. 

The bushwhack. 

Jonny in the river. 

The Finnish mustard crash. 

All of it. 

The ride was over. 

But none of us were quite ready to admit it. 

After the brewery, we rode back to Lisa’s friend’s home for one final dinner together. 

Not camp food. 

Not emergency snacks. 

Not whatever could be found at the bottom of a frame bag. 

A real meal. 

At a real table. 

With everyone still carrying the quiet glow that comes from finishing something hard together. 

No one wanted to quit. 

Not really. 

We were tired. 

Sore. 

Dirty. 

Ready for showers. 

Ready for beds. 

But not ready to go back. 

Not to work. 

Not to email. 

Not to the normal rhythm of day jobs and calendars and responsibilities. 

For a week, life had been simple. 

Ride. 

Eat. 

Fix what needed fixing. 

Find camp. 

Sleep. 

Do it again. 

That simplicity is hard to leave. 

The next morning, we woke up to catch the ferry back to the mainland. 

And the strangest thing happened. 

We all felt like we should be riding. 

Packing bags. 

Checking tires. 

Filling bottles. 

Rolling out. 

Someone even suggested riding to the ferry terminal. 

Of course they did. 

But the bikes were done. 

For now. 

The Alberni Bam Bam was finished. 

We had gone the long way around. 

Through rain. 

Mud. 

Locked gates. 

Logging roads. 

Bear country. 

Coastal villages. 

Cold lakes. 

Hot coffee. 

Boat decks. 

Old forests. 

Cut blocks. 

Mountain trails. 

And one very necessary brewery stop. 

We came back with sore bodies. 

Dirty bikes. 

Better stories. 

And the feeling that the route had given us exactly what we came for. 

Not ease. 

Not comfort. 

Something better. 

A reminder. 

That adventure is still close. 

That good people make hard days easier. 

That the best gear is the gear you stop thinking about because it just works. 

And that even after 450-plus kilometres, after the final pint and the final dinner, some part of you still wants to wake up and ride. 

Our time on the bikes was done. 

For now. 

Featured Gear: Swagman bikepacking bags, including the Dusty Feedbag and Stowaway Saddle Bag, Outrigger Fork Bags, Bison Bar Bags, Mistral, and Sirocco Frame Bags helped keep essential gear accessible and protected through rain, mud, rough roads, hike-a-bike sections, beach camps, and everything in between. Swagman vehicle racks, Sentry locking chain, Pressure Preset CO₂ inflators, Tire Plugger, and prototype multi-tools helped carry the bikes, secure the setup, and keep the trip moving from ferry terminal to forest road and back again. 

Special Thanks: MSR / Cascade Designs supplied camping gear for the trip, helping make long days on the bike easier to recover from once camp was set. Huge thanks as well to Brent for driving SAG support, cooking like a legend, solving problems before we even reached them, and keeping five riders rolling through the Alberni Bam Bam. 

And to Myles: thank you for designing this epic course. We apologize for anything we absolutely said about you during the ride. We can’t wait to ride more of your routes!