Cycle Canada, Day 6, May 10/06

May 10/06 Day 6 612 Km

A closed picnic area about 25 Km east of Revelstoke 108 Kms ~ 6:45 Hrs

The second battery for the camera is now dead. I should have thought of charging one at the internet cafe in Sicamous. We were really in Sicamous last night though we didn't know it. We had already started down the hill when we stopped at the rest stop for the night; in the morning it was only about 8 Km's into town, 6 of them down hill. We got there in 20 minutes without even warming up. I was pretty cold by the time we got into the cafe. I got off a quick, bulk e-mail note but didn't spend a lot of time at it as I had food coming.

The ride today was mostly uphill, like yesterday. We had a few good swoops but over all was climb.

About 3 hours (40 Km's) out of Revelstoke we stopped at a gas station for a break. One guy asked me where we were headed. I said, "Revelstoke and points beyond." That got a good, spontaneous laugh from several people. We rode all the way to Revelstoke looking for "The Big Hill" but never found it. The worst part was climbing out of the east end of Revelstoke. The grade was 8% or better for a kilometre or so but once we joined the highway the slope became much more civilized.

It had been cold in the morning. We jumped on the bikes and started the coast down hill. My hands were really cold. I was tempted to slow down when they started to hurt. I wished that I'd put socks on them or something, even a nice hill to climb would be good.

Sicamous was closed, mostly. It was still before 7:00 and tourist season was a couple of weeks off yet. I started to think we might have to go without breakfast but, down a side street, we came across the internet cafe. A pleasant little spot, I don't think it had been in business very long, made in a converted old house, white picket fence and all.

The man and woman who were running the place were friendly. They told us about the crack-house that had been across the street and indicated a building that might have been built in the 30's of 40's. It was the size of a one-room cabin or single car garage.We took some film of their animatronic turtle as it crawled along the floor and sang, "You Got to Slow Down."

Whenever I drive through Revelstoke I think of it being in a valley (which it is) and the steep roads on both sides. Coming in to town I had expected a steeper drop. Leaving, the non-highway section was tough but once on the highway the road seemed to be mostly a gentle slope. Maybe it was just by comparison.

Sometime on the ride through the mountains (perhaps as early as the second day) Doug and I found that we were having trouble judging slopes. We started exchanging conversations like:

"Why are we working so hard? Isn't this down hill?"

"It looks down hill, but I can't tell by looking."

"Trust the pedals. The pedals know."

"The pedals say it's up hill."

Our camp site for the night was great. The only drawback was that the wash house was locked. I pitched the tent while Doug had a bath in the glacial runoff of the river. We had pasta and wine for supper in the covered cook house and got a small fire going in the wood stove. Sometime during the evening Doug had sized up the bear-proof garbage cans and figured that two people could fit into one if required. He rigged a string onto the latch of the one closest to the tent so that it could be openned from the inside. I hadn't given bears much thought up 'til that point but I know that if they had been around, at that time of year they'd be hungry and mean.

The Canadian Pacific Railway main line is on the opposite river bank from the picnic site. I never realized how much stuff gets moved by trains. A fully loaded one rolled passed every 8 to 10 minutes. When it came time to sleep, they didn't keep me awake.

Cycle Canada, Day 5, May 9/06

ay 9/06 Day 5 504 Km

Short of Samon Arm to Short of Sicamous 58 Kms ~ 3:45 Hrs

A late start & quick zoom down to Dave & Rebecca's place of business on the highway. Hung out for the rest of the morning & shot some tape while Doug did his cartoon for the week.

Stopped in Salmon Arm & did some shopping. Food, a knee brace @ Shopper's (It's a miracle! I'm cured!). Met a "Dull Normal" on a bike who led us to "the best bike shop in town," where I picked up some gloves to replace the lost ones and Doug got himself a tube - stupid Presta valves!

Not much day left & most of it was up hill.

At the rest stop where we camped we met the minister from Eganville Baptist Church. He said he grew up around Cobden but didn't recognize the Wallace name.

Also saw a big trucker out walking his poodle-y dog. It had a funny hair cut & a knitted sweater and looked very girly for a guy like that. Not quite natural.

I'd thought that Rebecca & Dave's was closer to Salmon Arm but it was a bit of a ride to get to that town. I don't remember just how far it was but the cheat wasn't as long as I had first thought. Dave took some film of us as we swooped down the hill between the house and the highway.

The fellow we met in Salmon Arm was the first of the "idiots on bikes" we encountered on our trip. Ourselves excepted.

Cycle Canada,Day 4, May 8/06

May 8/06 Day 4 446 Km

Cache Creek to Single Hwy E. of Kamloops ~120 KM ~ 8:00 Hrs.

Lots of up hill today. Very slow going until the final approach to Kamloops then - ZOOM -.

"Six Mile Hill" outside of Walhachin (or was it Savona) turned out to be 6 K's but what a view from the top. We took a few minutes of film & panicked when we thought Doug's bike had been stolen. It turned out it was just perfectly parked behind a trash can.

My computer deely packed it in. It had been working sporadically but the pick-up finally failed. Bought a whole new apparatus @ Canadian Tire in Kamloops. I half hate paying for the full deal when all I needed was a bit of wire some Chinese child assembled for 4c.

Dave picked us up at the end of the divided highway & we went for beer, corn & pork chops @ Dave & Rebecca's in Salmon Arm. I think we saved about 80 Km of cycling but I'll have to find out for sure later.

I remember being very tired this day. We had turned east and lost the tail wind that had been following us for the first 3 days of the trip. There were a couple moderately steep climbs, or so it seemed at the time, and a lot of long shallow climbs. Not really too wearing in and of themselves but there just wasn't that rest time every ten minutes like there had been earlier, going through the up & down of the Coastals.

A few kilometres short of the # 5 junction (Kamloops- Merrit Highway) we met 3 riders (2 girls & a guy) who had spent a week coming from Vancouver the long way; via Pemberton. They told of taking a half day to climb one hill that was 15 Km's long at 12% grade. Later in the trip I would have fantasies of climbs that easy.

When we hit Highway 5 we had had to get off - No Bicycles Allowed. So we got on the bike route and headed down the hill, stopping at a gas station for a snack and Canadian Tire then swooped down some more until I thought we must be at the bottom of the hill. I took us back out onto the highway only to find that we were less than half way down. Too late now. We had a good run with the traffic for about 2 miles before we got to the turn off. We took another quick break and Doug finally got in touch with Dave. We headed east along the divided highway and the tail wind that had been missing all day finally caught up with us. We pedelled hard for about an hour. I was really tired and would have stopped but Doug wanted to make it to the end of the divided highway so Dave could turn around as soon as he saw us instead of having to continue to an exit.

We got to the end of the divide and stopped and Dave & his son showed up within 5 minutes. They had the cube-van from work. Doug and I were loaded in the back along with our bikes and gear and a couple of lawn chairs and a couple of chilled mugs and a beer-ball and a big fistful of pepperoni. I couldn't have been happier if I had been sitting on a warm beach sipping rum drinks with little umbrellas in them.

I have still don't know how much distance we cheated that day but I didn't feel the least bit bad about it.

Cycle Canada, Day 3, May 7/06

May 7/06 Day 3 326 Km

Some Motel, Cache Creek, B.C. 120 Km ~ 5:45 Hrs

Good riding today. Oh....I hurt when I started out this morning. Our pace was slow for the first couple of hours but picked up quite a bit in the afternoon. We took a couple of really big breaks and that helped a lot.

Met Rob Adrieansen on the highway. He was on his way back from a fishing weekend. He gave us a couple of cold beers and that precipitated another stop for a while.

We had quite a strong tail-wind all day. The weather started out rather drab & drear this morning with very low clouds (only a couple of hundred feet above the campsite) but got better as the day went on.

Been taking some film but probably not enough. Have a room tonight & will check the quality of what we've got so far.

We'd half expected to see Rob somewhere along the road. While visiting in Vancouver he'd told us that he was going fishing and would be coming back along the road we were going out on. Doug & I were sweeping down a hill, me in front, and a small pick-up going the other way honked at me. I didn't give it much thought and kept going. About a mile later I noticed that Doug wasn't behind me anymore. I stopped. Waited. Decided to go back and see what had happened to him. I was just starting to climb back up the hill when he came sweeping down. That's when I started to think that it might have been Rob in the pick-up.

Doug and Rob had exchanged a quick greeting as Rob was in a hurry to get home. He passed Doug a couple of cold beers. When Doug and I reached the bottom of the hill we sat near a roadside pullout and drank a toast to Rob.

The owners of this motel are an odd couple. The wife seems ill suited to the hospitality industry. I think there was one other room rented when we pulled in and the wife didn't seem too keen to rent a room to us. She made it plain that she had no love for people on bicycles. Said she'd rather have Hell's Angels in her motel. Hell's Angels are lovely people. Bicyclists are trouble makers. Her husband stepped in and rather sheepishly took our money.

Cycle Canada, Day 2, May 6/06

May 6/06

A rest stop Just short of Lytton, B.C. 120 Km ~7:15 Hrs

Hills started today. Makes for harder riding but still do-able. Rode on the small ring quite a bit. My ass hurts. A lot. My left knee isn't giving me any hassle but the right one feels like it has something in it.

Fatigue is a big factor. Doug & I burnt off a lot of our energy reserves yesterday and today rode on half empty tanks. The average speed was down quite a bit.

The "9 Km Hill" outside of Boston Bar never materialized. There were a couple of good sized hills including one that was almost 3 Km long & woo wee what a down-grade on the other side. We did about 70 K's passed a couple of middle aged guys pouring gas into a car. They had huge grins on their faces. I think they were a bit jealous.

"9 Km Hill" struck a bit of fear into us when we stopped at Boston Bar for breakfast. The name wasn't fully explained and we assumed that it was a hill 9 Km long. I think it was in fact the 3 Km long hill that was about 9 Km north of town. Even at 3 Km it was a hard climb and I kept setting myself goals a couple of hundred yards at a time. Doug was doing better than me though he told me that he was setting goals along the way too. I finally stopped for a rest after more than 2.5 Km and with no top in sight.

When we got back on the bikes the top of the hill was around a slight curve and about 300 Yds. farther on. At the time I felt like I'd cheated myself. Like if I'd known that the top of the hill was so close I could have pushed on and made it without the rest break.

Cycle Canada, Day 1 Friday, May 5/06

Friday, May 5/06

Leaving mileage ~ 1855Km

Rest stop ~ 15Km from Hope/Yale turn off. 110 Km ~ 6 Hrs.

It was a good ride today. We climbed a few hills (2) that seemed long going up but seemed longer going down. Very strange. On the 11% grade down from the hill-top fountain I hit 73 K/Hr. I swept around a couple of curves, dragging the brakes on the off-camber one and headed down the straight away to the flats. By the time I thought to look at my speedo it was at seventy three point something and dropping. No hassles from the trailer.

When I first loaded the trailer it seemed a bit tippy & twitchy but I've gotten mostly used to it already.

My ass hurts. It's been hurting pretty good for the last 30 K or so. I got a case of numb dong a little before reaching Deroche too. My legs are achy but we'll see how they feel tomorrow. I didn't expect to make the trip without a few aches but, this being the first day, I didn't want to over-stress myself. The only thing I'm sure will hurt tomorrow is my neck.

We did a little filming today. A few roadway shots, some departing shots, and a few shots while riding.

We had a great campsite this night. Someone had taken down most of the "No Camping" signs at the rest stop. The wash house had electric lights and hot water. It was a nice easing into the camping that was to come later.

Cycle Canada: Prologue

In the Spring of 2005, Doug Bird phoned me from St. John's and said something like. "I'll be out in Port Coquitlam this fall. Why don't you come out and we can ride our bikes back to Calgary and visit Rob?"

He meant ride our Bicycles!

Doug and I had gone to high school together in Port Coquitlam, B. C., graduating in 1976. After high school we shared an apartment, drank together, rode motorcycles together, and shared many of the same friends.

Time and careers found Doug in St. John's, Newfoundland and me in Edmonton, Alberta, but we stayed in touch. I knew that Doug had bought a bike about 6 years earlier and had been riding hard ever since. I knew that I hadn't ridden a bicycle more than 5 times in the previous 12 years. I told him. "Let me think about it."

Pride wouldn't let me tell Doug that I couldn't make this insanely long trip with him "because I can't do it." I decided to haul the old ten-speed out of the basement and ride it until I could tell Doug, "I could do this trip, but I choose not to."

That became my goal, to say "No," from a position of strength.

I told myself that if I could ride 100 Km's in a day then riding 1,000 Km's in 9 or 10 days would just be a choice. A matter of scale. I hopped on the 10-speed and headed for the local Canadian Tire store. When I completed the 4 Km round trip my heart was pounding, my lungs burned and my legs shook so much that I almost couldn't climb the stairs (three) to my front door. How much worse could it get? After 4 Km's I hadn't ridden enough to know about bicycle seats.....

I set myself a schedule of rides and targets for distances and speeds each week. Six weeks later I did my first 100 Km ride.....well 96 really, but close enough. Good thing the next day was Sunday, I was toast.

More riding through the Summer and two more (honest) 100 Km rides had me feeling pretty confident. When Doug called to firm-up plans for his proposed ride I could say, "No" with pride.

When Doug called to firm-up plans for his proposed ride it didn't go according to script: He said that his plans had changed slightly and he would be in B.C. too late in the season to risk riding through the Rockies. Too much chance of snow and too cold in any case.

Woohoo! An open door to an exit. But I have to sound disappointed. "Too bad. I was really looking forward to it. You know I've been training. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to call it an unfulfilled dream.'

"Did you really want to go?"

"Yeah. Too Bad. I bought a new bike and everything. We should still get together though. Maybe go fishing."

"How about this then, why don't we ride across Canada next year?"

"............?"

"Well you really wanted to go right? You've been training. You bought a new bike and everything. And I know you can get the time off work."

"Let me think about it."

In early 2006 travel, work and cold, wet weather prevented me from doing as much training as I perhaps should have. By May 5th, when our journey started, my Spring training totalled 25 kilometres. I hooked the BOB trailer to the bike for the second time ever and packed for my very first over-night bike ride.