EP #1 (Take Two) Nelson - Grant Bay | TCAT 2026

Episode 1 of the Trans Canada Adventure Trail remap, and I destroyed my luggage even before I reached the official start! From Home in Nelson to Grant Bay. Days 1 to 11 · May 2 to 12, 2026 ** This episode leans on photos more than video. After the tablet burned I stopped seeing the point of shooting footage I could not edit. That changes from here. ** Watch the full BAG FIRE Video here:    • My Luggage Caught Fire! | BC Adventure Rid...   The ride from my front door in Nelson BC out to Grant Bay on the northwest tip of Vancouver Island, where the TCAT actually begins. Eleven days west just to reach the start line. People assume there was a plan. There wasn't. One day of bike maintenance on the Thursday, packed the Friday, gone Saturday morning. Nakusp, the Fauquier ferry, then the back way into Vernon to stay with Tina and Daario. Day two turned into a rescue when Daario's boss went down at the mountain with broken ribs and a collarbone. We still got a ride in after the hospital run. The Kove 450 Rally is a different bike with the luggage off. Then out to Lorry at Outback Motortek for Rackless supports, because the 20 litre Turkana bags needed more structure than the 15's ever did. Those bars are excellent. What I did with them was not. Northwest of Vernon I rode the Grasslands, rocky sandy ridges above town. Then I crossed a cattle guard, stood up, and the bag came off. It dragged, it sat on hot metal and it burned. The editing tablet is gone, about $1,000. Starlink, another $200. One hundred percent user error. I wrapped the strap around the new bars instead of around the duffel the way I always have, and it chafed through on metal that was never there before. Not the racks, not the straps, not the luggage. Me. I camped between two rail lines with a train every twenty minutes, rebuilt the luggage out of what was left and kept going. Cache Creek, Lillooet, Duffey Lake at just under 4,000 feet, then the Sea to Sky to Horseshoe Bay. May 8 was day seven. Tough City in Nanaimo had my first set of Motoz in from Australia, a Desert HT rear and a Rallz front, and I fitted them myself in the campground. Then Port Alberni, where I hunted the original TCAT line northeast of town and found locked gate after locked gate. That whole loop is coming out of the route, direct out of Nanaimo instead. Discovery Passage paid it back. 280 km out of Port Alberni, a stealth camp on a rocky beach and a pod of six orca breaching past. Then Sayward, Port McNeill, and one last night before Grant Bay. CHAPTERS 00:00 Leaving Nelson, riding west to the start 01:34 A crash rescue outside Vernon 02:21 Rackless bars at Outback Motortek 03:21 The Grasslands and the cattle guard 04:02 What the bag fire cost 08:33 Cache Creek, Lillooet and Duffey Lake 09:41 Whistler and the Horseshoe Bay ferry 11:37 Tough City Kove and the Motoz swap 14:23 Locked gates out of Port Alberni 15:44 Discovery Passage and six orca 17:42 Port McNeill, last night before Grant Bay New Here? Here is the short version. I'm Craig. I set out to solo ride and remap the Trans Canada Adventure Trail coast to coast, around 40,000 km by the time I get home, on a Kove 450 Rally, on $50 a day. If you love off-road motorcycle adventure, TCAT route updates, and extreme ADV riding, make sure to like, comment and share. Love the sound of a moto, the smell of a campfire, and the feeling of being slightly lost? Hit that Subscribe button and get ready for the next chapter! SUPPORT THE TCAT PROJECT If you'd like to show your support financially you can do so via Patreon (  / about  ) or you can simply e-transfer me on craig@ithinkwemissedaturn.com. Either way, thank you for your support! GEAR ON THIS TRIP Click here for a list of all the gear I am field testing on this trip with links! https://ithinkwemissedaturn.com/gear-... SOCIAL LINKS @ithinkwemissedaturn Photos and shorts go up on the other channels too. Every link is here. https://ithinkwemissedaturn.com/pages... CANADA'S ONLY (& NEWEST!) MOTO CAMPING STORE! Check out our new Moto Camping specific store. We are just starting out so new products are coming almost every week! Don't see your favourite gear, reach out to us and let us know what you'd like to see! https://ithinkwemissedaturn.com/colle... #TCAT2026 #ExploreBC #VancouverIsland #HelloBC #VancouverIslandNorth #Nanaimo #PortAlberni #CampbellRiver #DuffeyLake #SeaToSky #Whistler #AdventureMotorcycle #DualSport #MotoCamping