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Friday, June 22

Distance: 72 km
Riding Time: 3:28 hours
Average Speed: 20.7 kph
Top Speed: 62.9 kph
Location: Lamplighter Campground, Revelstoke

What an easy day. I’m actually a little disappointed. Here I was, anticipating some nasty hills as a prelude to the pass tomorrow, and I really had nothing. Sure, it was a gradual uphill that I was dealing with for a good portion of the day, but it was so slight as to be almost flat.

Breakfast was quite simple, just bread, cheese and sausage that I munched on while packing up. Pretty boring, and I was sick of it by the time I was done, but nourishing nonetheless. Headed out from the KOA at about 9:30, which was a decent hour. I was expecting some hills, but since I knew I wasn’t really going all that far, I didn’t expect more than about 5 hours on the road. No rushing today!

Next stop was a suspension bridge that I had always noticed when driving this route, but never stopped at. It was actually gloriously refreshing, because it was a pretty hot day and as I drew near the falls on the highway, a wonderful draft of cool, moist air blew over me and felt sooooo good. Locked up the bike and made my way up. Turned out to be not that much of a rest, since it’s an uphill climb to get to the bridge, but I took my time. It’s actually very extensively constructed, with solid stairs all the way up to a museum of sorts. Turns out there used to be a small town there that they’re trying to gradually restore. Nice break.

View from the bridge.

From that point on I was really expecting to see more uphill. I’d known that the day was going to start easy, then get tough. Found a bit of one coming up to 3-Valley Lake, which is quite a nice, scenic spot.

View from a rest stop.

But that was really just a buildup to the downhill that I enjoyed on my way down to the lake proper. It was lunchtime at this point, so I decided to ride into the 3-Valley Gap resort to snack. Again, this is a place that I always thought looked impressive, but hadn’t ever stopped at. And it still looks impressive, but I don’t think I’d ever use it as a resort. Near as I can tell, there really isn’t that much to do. You can look at the scenery, go for a chopper ride, and wander through the manufactured ghost town they’ve built, and that’s about it. All in all, looks bloody boring in a pretty way.

Lovely, but unexciting 3-Valley Gap Resort

So here it was: the hill. Etopo showed a brutal hill showing up just after the resort, so I made sure I was well fed and watered, then rode out, grim and determined. About an hour later, I was still looking for the hill when I rode into Revelstoke. After all the anticipation, it had really been quite an easy day. I was feeling very strong, despite riding 70k, and an idea began to percolate in my noggin. My ankle was a bit sore, so it was a decision I needed to think about a bit.

Set up camp and took a shower. The Lamplighter is in town, but it’s a couple km from the downtown area. Not a problem, since I was still feeling pretty good, so I dumped most of my gear, leaving just a single pannier on board for buying groceries, and headed into town. Nice little town, quite scenic. I saw a restaurant that looked excellent, called the Woolsey Creek Café, but with the plans that I was considering, I wasn’t sure I’d get enough nourishment from that place.

I swung by the grocery store, and was quite pissed off to realize that I’d forgotten my bike lock. Considered leaving the bike in a location where it would likely not get stolen, then thought about the consequences if it were. Rode all the way back to the campground to get the lock. This may not seem like much, but I was a bit uncomfortable because I wasn’t wearing my biking shorts, but I really didn’t see any way around it. Strangely enough, being grouchy about all this was enough to make up my mind.

Went back into town, bought the groceries, and asked around for the location of an Italian restaurant. I needed pasta. I found a passable place, and after truly loading up my belly with a massive order of carbs, I headed back “home” for the night. It’s still early, so I should get a lot of reading in before settling in for the night. But I’ll be in bed early. I need my rest, because I’m going to try to ride over Roger’s Pass to Golden, 150 kilometers away.

I wonder how you even find a lawyer who can defend a guy for supporting Hitler in Israel? I’ll bet there are plenty of lawyers volunteering to do the job, but I’m guessing they don’t plan to mount the most rigorous defense.

Lawyer: “Here, you might want to use this to practice being in jail.”

Neo-Nazi: “A broomstick?”

Lawyer: “Try eating chili peppers and spitting on it first.”

Its funny because its true.  (Scott’s original post)

Sorry for the dirth of posts, but it’s been a bit crazy lately. We’ve moved house to a place just around the corner, and have had Tom and Carol here to visit. So we’ve been showing them Belfast, and have spent the last 5 days in France (photos to come). But all this moving means that we’re without internet at home for 15 business days, so you’ll have to wait, with bated breath I’m sure.

In the meantime, amuse yourself with this Top Gear collage of them trying to destroy a Toyota Hilux:

Part 3.

Part 4.

You make the call.

Thursday, June 21

Distance: 96 km
Riding Time: 4:20 hours
Average Speed: 22.2 kph
Top Speed: 49.4 kph
Location: KOA Campground, Malakwa

This was the most uneventful day of the trip so far. Great weather, no hills, a tailwind, and a nice campsite. All good.

I headed out from Peter and Andrea’s at about 9:00; they were already gone to work. I knew it was going to be a hot day, but wasn’t too worried because I wasn’t expecting to have to work too hard, wind-dependent, of course. Still, better an early start to deal with the heat. Yes, for this trip, with all the packing and eating that’s required before setting out, 9:00 is an early start.
And that was about it. No, I’m kidding, but not by much. The tailwind that I had for most of the day was quite refreshing, and the only problem with it was that I was often going about the same speed as the wind and had no breeze to dry the sweat. Got a bit sticky. Over the course of the day I stopped four times. First at a fruit stand just at the end of Swan lake, then at another fruit stand just after Armstrong cuz the first one sucked. The one by Armstrong was the big Barn one, and I bought a few things for dinner for the evening.


Next stop was in Enderby for lunch, where I stretched out nicely and felt quite refreshed before moving on for the next leg, which took me to Sicamous. Along the way I enjoyed the ride along Mara Lake, which was the only part of the day where the shoulder got sporadically small, but that never lasted long enough to worry about. Once I got to Sicamous, I wandered around for a bit looking for a tourist booth. I had initially planned to stop at Yard Creek Provincial Park, about 10 further down Hwy 1, but there weren’t showers there and I was simply not going to consider that. Eventually I found the booth and was directed to the KOA campground, which I hadn’t found during my initial research, even though it was right beside Yard Creek. I stopped by a local café for a snack, then swung by Askew Foods for some groceries before heading out.

Lovely Mara Lake, coming into Sicamous.

Though the rest of the ride wasn’t long, I’d been sweating pretty hard and everything was chafey, if that’s a word. Basically I was pretty uncomfortable and looking forward to hitting the POOL! Only campsite I’ve ever seen with its own pool. I certainly paid for it, though. $28 bucks for a single night, which is a far cry from the $10 at Tukwala in Faukier. But they had showers so I wasn’t too worried. Actually, once I was showered up, I had no real interest in the pool. Why didn’t I jump in when I was really hot? Because I was all slicked up with sweat and sunblock, and wouldn’t want to inflict that upon anyone.

Clean and groomed KOA campsite.

It was truly an uneventful day, but quite a nice change from the massive efforts required previously. I’m anticipating a tough ride tomorrow, though. Heading to Revelstoke, Etopo shows quite a bit of uphill slogging, so I should be well worn out by the end of the day.

Well, not me personally, but…here’s a great article about making a difference.

Rather than purchasing goods made by overseas laborers—who are often forced to work in unsafe conditions for low wages—I have kidnapped and enslaved a group of neighborhood children and chained them to a bench in my garage, where they make my clothes and build my gadgets

more

I look towards the start of the fall, so I can worship at your altar again, my bright and luminous god. In particular, I give thanks for Heroes, Corner Gas, House and Battlestar Galactica — in addition to any Canucks games that pass our way. (SportsNet and CBC please, we don’t get TSN)

Like last year, the blessing of high-speed cable internet coupled with cable TV means that I can look forward to hours of mostly commercial free entertainment (unless, of course, we deign to watch something live). Oh lord, I know that last statement is a bit like hypocrisy, like choosing to worship on Monday while waiting for the bus rather than every Sunday at the church. But there it is, and I beg your forgiveness Hopefully the fact that I’m creating a new being who will no doubt also worship you, watching thinly veiled advertisements that I cannot understand will be enough penance (that and the expected long hours of enforced wakefulness, praying for your soothing powers to tame the savage beast)

I sing praises to your influence increasing over the digital sphere, where I can see the truth of your visions brought forth to me. What were Primatech Paper, the Yamagato Fellowship and Nathan Petrelli without you?

In short, bless me oh god, I wish to visit the kingdom of your glories

http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/

any volunteers for a commisioner? commissioner? however you spell it?