Elevation profiles, quaint regional bike trails, warrmshowers hosts, cheap campsites, tacky hotels, wide shouldered roads... and avoiding terrifying bridges. Route planning has dominated my evenings lately.
This goes entirely against how I do things. Previous trips of this nature had begun with little to no plan, merely a (flexible) destination and some desirable pitstops along the way. I think it is just the intense anticipation actually getting out and doing the trip, combined with the ability to preview every last stretch of terrain second-hand from the all-knowing camera of the Googlemobile.
No matter the amount of planning, things will happen beyond our control, be it animal attacks, floods, garbage weather, or intriguing side trips. Routes will change, and knowing me, we will get lost up to 4 times.
Anyhow, day one is basically set in stone now! We'll leave Canada Day at about 8am, from Kitsilano Beach, take the Ontario Street bike route to Richmond, risk life, limb, and cycle traversing the least awesome city to bike in. If we happen to make it to the Massey Tunnel alive, we will then catch this nifty shuttle bus that transports cyclists to the other side, i.e. Delta. This is only about 25km and should be a breeze. From there, we'll zip through some country roads for 4 more hours, cross a border, and wind up at our first host's place in the early evening.
If all goes according to plan.