Photo courtesy of Dustin Quasar, Flickr
Before arriving in Vancouver, an abundance of googled images of the city flooded my mind. As much as I liked the idea of allowing myself to be carried away by imagination and come into contact with my new home in a naïve and spontaneous way, removing myself from the virtual reality of experiencing the world through the internet first was difficult to do. Compelled to see my new city even before I arrived, I looked through photos of whales in English Bay, sailboats pulling away from the urban horizon, snowcapped peaks and unobstructed Skytrain views over downtown.
Seen from the sky just before landing, the little islands that spread across the ocean and the abundance of greenery that surrounds the city created a feeling of serenity in me. No, Google Images was not wrong and Vancouver was even better in person. But I had missed one element of what would make it special for me. What the search engine had tried to tell me – through the photo of a jogger, slid surreptitiously between images of a seal and the Olympic rings of the 2010 Games – is that sports are very important in the lives of Vancouverites.
First of all, for a cycling enthusiast like me, Vancouver is a champion of two-wheelers. Kilometers of cycling paths have been created throughout the city and along the waterfront. There is no fear that drivers will mistake you for a UFO, which is sadly still the case in a number of metropolitan cities where bicycles remain the pariahs of the roadway. The clearest example of this is the device placed at each intersection allowing cyclists to stop street traffic and to continue on without breaking speed.
This freedom, however, has a price and I realized in the course of my outings that some strict rules do exist. Anyone not wearing a helmet is fined $29, a penalty which has gone so far as to trigger the anger of some and the creation of a protest page on Facebook. I was taken aback by how seriously this is taken when a little girl on Main Street denounced me to her mother while pointing her finger at me.
“Look mummy! No helmet, no helmet,” she said.
Cyclists also make up the rules amongst themselves. On our way to Third Beach for the first time at night, we became somewhat lost. Though we were in a bike lane, a cyclist came hurtling towards us at full speed and narrowly avoided hitting us.
“Wrong way, that’s the wrong way guys!” the man said in a blunt and authoritarian tone.
Thus, it is necessary to respect the direction of the bicycle lanes and woe betide the unfortunate pedestrian who happens to find himself or herself in a marked cycling lane.
The abundance of water all around has made an equally big impression on me. From relaxing canoe rides to frantic rowing competitions, there is no shortage of aquatic activities. Additionally, Kitsilano Pool offers up a good challenge. At the edge of the bay, a silvery-blue, 127-meter pool awaits you. When I first got in, I could not even see where it ended and I wondered if I would be able to cross this great sea in one go. I could not help congratulating myself when I saw the floor markings at 50 meters for having, without stopping, already crossed the standard length of an Olympic-sized pool.
“Almost halfway,” I struggled to tell myself.
But I made it across and, likewise, in the course of my (no less glorious) swim back, I did not have to call on the lifeguards to save me. For a Vancouverite, the size of this pool seems perfectly normal and swimmers do several laps without even raising an eyebrow. They set the bar high.
The same goes for running. Not once have I been able to leave home, even to go to the coffee shop down the block, without running into joggers. At any time, you will find a Vancouverite running. If a sensation of guilt can sometimes be felt in the face of this general obsession, it is even more motivation. The plethora of parks and footpaths certainly help one in getting started.
Vancouver does not skimp on its outdoor infrastructure and the residents cherish it. In most other cities – I’m thinking notably of those in France – major degradations occur and the free services do not often last long. The surroundings certainly prompt respect for this environment in Vancouver and it is through collaborative effort that each person ensures the maintenance of these services.
These are simply my first impressions as far as seasonal sporting activities go, and I am looking forward to the promise of Vancouver’s winter sporting pleasures. More than a breath of fresh air conveyed by the images on the web, Vancouver has been a veritable spa. My rejuvenation is just beginning.
Translation Debo Odegbile
