ZOIC Ambassador Emily Shields puts a fresh spin on Honeymooning

Kerry and I got married on June 16th. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather in the mountains of North Carolina. A week later we headed off on our honeymoon.

We flew to Bellingham, WA to hang out for a week before traveling to Canada to do BC Bike Race. After an exhausting day of traveling and arriving in Bellingham, we promptly went to a brewery for dinner. We spent over a week in Bellingham and during that time we went on some awesome mountain bike rides...

...and went stand up paddle boarding (Kerry fell in 2 times, me- 0, but who's counting?! ;)

After over a week of hanging out in Bellingham, it was finally time to head up to Canada for BC Bike Race. This race is a 7 day mountain bike stage race and each day  you race on different single track all over British Columbia. You go all over the west coast mountains and through lush rainforests. I expected a dwarf or an elf to appear at any moment.

For the first and last stages of the race, Kerry and I raced in custom wedding kits!

The race was amazing. It is advertised as the “best week on a bike” and it really was! The trails were so much fun and  the volunteers and race organizers did everything they could to make the week go as smoothly as possible. If you ever get the opportunity to do this race, you definitely should take it! Kerry ended up 3rd overall and I finished 5th in the  elite women’s race. I already want to go back next year!

After the race was over Kerry and I hiked the Sea to Summit Trail in Squamish. We took the Gondola down because I don’t think our legs could have handled the hike downhill!

The last day of our honeymoon was probably one of my favorites. We drove two hours to Ross Lake and spent the  day there. It was absolutely beautiful. We canoed, picnicked, swam, and lay in the hammocks until we had to head back to the hotel to pack up. 

The honeymoon was a great adventure and just perfect for Kerry and I. We never would have wanted to lie around on a beach for our honeymoon! Bikes were bound to be involved somehow, and the BC Bike Race was the perfect way to do it!

Words and images by ZOIC Ambassador Emily Shields.

Follow her on Instagram and check out her Ambassador bio here.