我们可能十点半就睡觉，身上闻起来还有点怪味，但我们绝不是不合群的孤僻者。我们也会寻找慷慨宽厚人士，在他们那儿借宿几天，相伴数日。这种事大约每周都会有一次，通常发生在我们抵达大城市的时候。我们一般会通过Couchsurfing网或Warmshower网搜索这样的人，然后在出发前给对方发邮件询问：“我们能在您那借宿几日吗？我们可能还要用您的洗衣机，和您一起用餐，并希望您能领着我们在这个城市转转，您愿意吗？”他们都会回复说：“愿意，愿意，愿意，当然愿意！”
Our first hosts were in Sault Sainte Marie, and I was blown away9) by their generosity. They knew exactly what we wanted and offered it, plus more. When we woke the next day and it was snowing (in May!), we didn’t even have to ask to stay another day.
第一位招待我们的主人住在苏圣玛丽。他们的慷慨大方给我留下了深刻的印象。他们对于我们需要什么了如指掌，并悉数提供，甚至还给予我们很多额外的帮助。第二天醒来时，外面正在下雪(那可是五月啊!)，我们甚至都不用请求，主人便主动提出留我们多待一天。
A week later, approaching Thunder Bay, our host responded to our email with, “Hey Ian, No problem staying at my place. I might not be home but that does not matter. You are welcome to take a shower. Use my towels that are in the bathroom upstairs behind the bathroom door. You may also use my washer/dryer downstairs ... You are welcome to a couple of beer each.”
一周后，在快到达桑德贝的时候，我们收到了另一位主人回复的邮件，“嗨！伊恩，没问题，住在我家吧。我可能会不在家，但这没有关系。你们想冲澡便冲澡。毛巾在楼上浴室的门后挂着，可以拿去用。楼下的洗衣机和干衣机也尽管使……另外，每人拿两瓶啤酒喝吧。”
In Jasper we stayed at the five-star Fairmont Park Lodge, but we CouchSurfed on the floor of a dorm room with Garth, a server at the hotel. He introduced us to his friends at the hotel, people from all around the world, and we all had a barbecue10) by a pristine11) lake and a party with our new friends that night. Tell me, which rich man who flies in his private plane and pays for his hotel room will have such a glorious experience?
在贾斯铂时，我们住在五星级的费尔蒙特公园酒店。不过，我们是住在酒店员工宿舍的地板上，宿舍的主人叫加思，是这家酒店的服务员，我们是通过CouchSurfing网认识他的。加思把我们介绍给他在这家酒店的其他朋友们，他们来自世界各地。当天晚上，我们所有人在一个清澈的湖边举办了一个烧烤野餐聚会，和新结识的朋友联欢了一番。谁能告诉我，哪一位驾着自己的私人飞机出游、为自己的酒店住宿付账的富人能拥有如此愉快的经历呢？
The beauty of being in the moment is perhaps best illustrated by quoting from my journal, after first sighting the mountains: “Their majestic beauty rose and sweltered from the land. A little later on I put on Beethoven’s Fifth. As much as I have known anything to be true, the music was not in my ears, but emanated12) from the land. The hills were alive. The sounds were not external or foreign, they have been eternally embedded in the trees and clouds and mountains.”
在第一眼看到那片山脉时，我陡然感受到“活在此刻，体会此刻”的美好与禅意，这种感觉或许用我旅行日志里的一段话来描述最为恰当：“雄伟壮丽的群山拔地而起，逶迤延绵。稍后，我播放了贝多芬的《第五交响曲》。音乐响起，但那旋律仿佛不是回荡在我的耳中，而是震颤自脚下的大地。这感觉无比真切。群山充满着生命力。音乐的声音并非来自外界，也非格格不入的异类，而是和周围的森林、天上的云朵及远处的山脉永恒地融为一体。”
But not every day is sunny and not every wind is at your back. There is an element of13) suffering to bicycle touring. In the Rockies we climbed Sunwapta Pass early in the morning before getting warmed up; I sort of pulled my hamstring14) on that climb, and the rest of the day was pretty rough. At the end of the day it was raining and cold, and we were climbing the Bow Pass. I was miserable and had to give up before we reached the top. We camped near the top of this mountain pass, in a thunderstorm.
然而，并不是每一天都是晴天，也不是每阵风都是顺风。单车旅行也要经历少许的磨难。在落基山脉时，有一天清晨，我们没有经过热身就开始攀登圣沃普塔山口。在登山的过程中我的大腿筋被轻微地拉伤，于是接下来的行程就变得非常艰难。这一天的旅程快结束时，天下起了雨，十分寒冷，当时我们正在攀登博峰。我痛苦极了，不得不在到达山顶前放弃攀登。我们冒着雷雨在山顶附近扎营住宿。
A thunderstorm in the mountains is terrifying and beautiful. In the morning it was still raining. We got out on the road, cycled until the wind and rain froze our hands. We’d stop, eat a snack and try to warm up, change our gloves and go again. No use, hands frozen again. And so pain begets15) invention, and Ian wraps our hands in socks, then we dunk these inside big blue zip-lock bags to block the wind.
山上的雷雨景观美仑美奂，令人叹为观止。第二天早晨，雨还在下。我们来到公路上，骑车前行，直到寒风和大雨冻僵了我们的双手。我们把车子停下，吃了点东西，尝试着热了热身，换了副手套，接着继续上路。但这样并不管用，手再次被冻僵了。正所谓痛苦催生发明，伊恩想了一个新招：先用袜子包住双手，然后把手放入有拉链封口的蓝色大袋子里，以抵御寒风侵袭。
The personal challenge bicycle touring puts to us, and that little bit of misery it offers, it makes us stronger and more confident. Later that day, my hamstring started bothering me again, so at the BC border I hitchhiked. When I met Ian in the next town he told me what a fantastic time he had cycling the Kicking Horse Pass, and I knew that I had missed out on something great. This day proved to me the superiority of touring by bicycle.
单车旅行带来的个人挑战，以及它所造成的那点痛苦，反而使我们变得更加坚强和自信。那天晚一些的时候，我的腿筋又开始疼痛，于是只好在大不列颠与哥伦比亚省的交界处搭了便车。当我与伊恩在接下来的镇子上碰面的时候，他告诉我，他在踢马隘口骑车那段经历简直奇妙至极。这时，我意识到自己错过了一些美好的事物。而这一天的经历也让我认识到，单车旅行的妙处无其他方式能敌。
1. masochism [5mAzE7kIzEm] n. 受虐倾向
2. anachronistic [E7nAkrE5nIstIk] adj. 过时的；与时代不符的
3. quixotic [kwIk5sCtIk] adj. 堂吉诃德式的，浪漫而不切实际的
4. impregnable [Im5pre^nEbl] adj. 无法攻取的，坚固的
5. ascent [E5sent] n. 上升
6. hurtle [5hE:tl] vi. 飞速行进
7. grove [^rEuv] n. 小树林
8. CouchSurfing和Warmshowers是两个供世界范围内的旅行者免费交换住宿的网站，其中前者的用户以背包客居多，后者的用户以骑行者居多。
9. blow sb. away：给某人以深刻的印象
10. barbecue [5bB:bI7kju:] n. 吃烤烧肉的野餐
11. pristine [5prIstaIn] adj. 纯洁的；一尘不染的
12. emanate [5emEneIt] vi. 发出，发源，散发
13. an element of：一点点，少许
14. hamstring [5hAm7strIN] n. 腿筋，后腿腱
15. beget [bI5^et] vt. 招致，引起