远离城市的喧嚣，融入自然的静谧，以自己双腿的力量见证大地的起起伏伏，以惬意的心情去感受自然奏出的乐章，在空旷的原野露营，在点点繁星下入梦，看日升日落，品世情冷暖，这就是单车旅行带来的美好时光。
Why ride hundreds of miles on a bicycle when you can drive in a car, or better yet fly in a plane? Why camp in the insect-infested forest when you can sleep tight in a luxurious hotel? Why cook rice over a camping stove in the cold and rain when you can eat exotic and gratifying foods from fancy restaurants? Is a bicycle tourist just a loner driven by masochism1) to undertake anachronistic2) pilgrimages?
当你完全可以驾车旅行，或者更好一点—坐飞机旅行时，为什么偏偏要蹬着自行车骑过几百英里的旅程呢？当你可以在豪华宾馆中美美地睡上一觉时，为什么偏偏要在虫蚁肆虐的丛林中露营呢？当你可以在华丽的餐厅里品尝充满异域风情的美味佳肴时，为什么偏偏要在寒风凄雨中用野营炊具自己煮饭呢？难道单车旅行者不过是有受虐倾向的孤僻者，偏偏要进行这样不合时宜的旅行吗？
Far from it. With just a few quixotic3) tendencies between us, we, Ian and Geoff, rode from Waterloo to Vancouver together last summer. It was the best time of our lives. A trip in a plane, or even in a car, will certainly get you to your destination. You can even sleep the whole way there. Or you might try to pay attention as the world goes streaming by, but it’s all a blur. You don’t see the moose in the forest, and you don’t see the mountain as a humble and impregnable4) expression of antiquity. 
事实远非如此。去年夏天，怀揣着一点堂吉诃德式的幻想，我们俩，也就是伊恩和杰夫，结伴从沃特卢一路骑车到了温哥华。那真是我们生命中最美好的时光。当然，坐飞机或是驾车肯定能把你带到目的地，你甚至可以在整个旅途都闭目养神，或者，你也许会试图欣赏一下外面一掠而过的风景，但你看到的，只能是一片影影绰绰的模糊景象。你不会看到森林中的驼鹿，也欣赏不到古老的山峦展现出来的谦逊朴实和坚定不移。
It is difficult to relate the profound pleasure of bicycle touring; it’s a pleasure that takes root deeply in the soul. To feel the land rising and falling under the power of your own legs, to take immense joy in every bit of food that you consume, to understand the way in which the sun rises and sets on the farms of Saskatchewan. I profess it is not possible to understand the majesty of the Rockies without having ridden across the Prairies to witness them rise out of the ground.
要描述单车旅行带来的极致快乐并非易事；这是一种根植于灵魂深处的快乐。你可以靠自己双腿的力量去感受大地的起起伏伏，从自己吃的每一口食物中去获取巨大的喜悦，或者在萨斯喀彻温省的农场上体会日升日落的奥秘。我敢说，如果不曾穿过北美大草原亲眼见证落基山脉平地拔起的盛景，你绝不能真切感受到它们的巍峨壮观。
Camping! Sleeping nightly under the simple stars, I have never slept better. In northern Ontario I would wake myself in the middle of the night to look at the mysterious blanket of stars above, to see the secrets of their ascent5). We wake shortly after sunrise and pack our sleeping bags and tent, our lives, into our panniers and clip them onto our bicycles. We take off down the road, pushed along by a tailwind so we are hurtling6) at 32 kilometers per hour.
去露营吧！在繁星下露宿的每夜都是我睡得最甜美的夜晚。在安大略省北部露营时，我总让自己在午夜醒来，仰望那挂在头顶天幕上神秘而数不清的星星，想要洞察它们爬上天幕的奥秘之处。我们会在日出后不久起床，把睡袋、帐篷和生活用品装进挂包里，然后把挂包绑在单车上。我们沿着公路出发，顺风而行，以每小时32公里的速度骑车飞驰。
We have no obligations, no deadlines—ultimate freedom. We soar with this wind for a few hours, and I barely notice the time going by for I am lost in pleasant thought, in the dramas unfolding in the clouds above. Around midday we stop at a grocery store and get some food; find a shady grove7) in which to lunch, and take a little nap if you want.
没有义务的牵绊，没有期限的束缚——我们享受着绝对的自由。我们随着风的脚步疾驰几个小时，几乎没有注意到时间的流逝，因为我已陷入快乐的思绪中，沉浸于云端间上演的一幕幕戏剧里。中午时分，我们在一家杂货店停下来，买一些吃的；之后，找一个树阴处吃午餐，如果想休息的话，还可以小睡一会儿。
In the afternoon we ride a little slower, soaking in the sunshine, and by late afternoon we start looking for a place to spend the night. We find a small clearing in the woods and Ian goes to work setting up the tent while I cut some vegetables for my famous spaghetti. After dinner I go for my novel; and when the sun goes down, so do we.
下午的时候，我们会骑得慢一些，尽情享受阳光的沐浴。将近傍晚时分，我们开始寻找可以住宿的地方。在林中我们发现了一小块空地，伊恩忙着去支帐篷，我切了一些蔬菜，准备做自己拿手的意大利面。晚饭后，我开始看自己带的小说；太阳沉下地平线的时候，我们也沉沉睡去。
We may sleep at 10:30 and smell a bit funny, but we are not loners. About once a week, generally when we hit the big cities, we would find some generous soul to stay with. We would find these people through CouchSurfing or WarmShowers8), send them a message a few days before arriving, asking, “Can we please sleep on your beds and maybe use your laundry machine, have dinner with you and you can show us around the city?” And they respond, “Yes, yes, yes, yes!”
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