Advertisement
After a three month preview of the summer weather forecast to continue in Victoria, we awoke at 5 this morning to rain and clouds and a much cooler temperature. What gives! By the time we rode the short distance to the ferry, my jeans were waterlogged (bad decision #1 - not making the effort to remove my rainpants from my drybag that was already tied down to my bike in a manner worthy of Fort Knox approval). Other bikers we met in the ferry lineup complained similarly, even the guy on the BMW dualsport who pulled a docile pint-sized Lasa Apso out of his textile jacket. Whose keeping who warm here! The rain stayed with us until the east side of Hope, and you'll be happy to know that I made the effort to remove my rainpants from my drybag ....... but not until we were off the ferry and into Tsawassen for fuel..... My rhythm and routine can only improve.
I will try not to compare this year's adventure with last year's too much, but I wanted to start our first blog talking about what a difference a year makes. Last year, Day One was horrendous with both of
us nervous about riding the I-5 in heavy traffic and rain on grooved concrete, only putting in what we considered then to be an exhausting 300 kms and doubting why we were undertaking such an enormous challenge so early in our biking days.
Today, this first day of our first Boaterbikers sequel (if Bruce Willis can Die Hard 5 times, we can Ride Hard too), we had plans to get as far as Vernon 510 kms away. While we realize, even without GPS, that this is not in a southerly direction as our blog header describes, we are popping to the interior for a couple of days to visit with our long time boating friends Ron and Bev. Then we will turn right.
Whereas last year my thoughts two hours into that first ride were of whether we would live to tell our story, today's thoughts were of whether I would be able to write another interesting 2 month long blog and whether I had enough vocabulary (even without my thesaurus again, Bev) to keep it interesting, worried about how I would go about describing this mundane stretch of highway from the Tsawassen ferry what would I say
about the lack of visual stimulation. I wasn't worried about how I was riding, and I didn't particularly wonder in much detail as to when the speed limit between Langley and Hope had increased to 120, or how long the rain would last on this stretch, although for a fleeting moment I was thankful that I changed into my heavy waterproof boots out of my hiking boots 30 seconds before leaving the house for the ferry. Surprisingly, in what seemed like only half an hour's riding, the signs for downtown Hope were popping up along the highway which meant our first (oh dear, and likely our last) stop into Tim's for coffee and a reassessment of the route we would take from there to Vernon.
A couple of weeks ago, I took Emma and Sally for a girls retreat away to Whistler for a few days. Part of our getaway included an afternoon at the Whistler Treetop Adventure Course, where one has to traverse between approximately 50 trees via rope bridges, ropes, logs, swings, monkey bars, railless planks and so on, all of which are ridiculously located up to 85 feet in the air. Those of you that know
me well know I am terribly afraid of both heights and getting my toes wet, and this was an opportunity to conquer one of those fears with the support and encouragement of my daughters who were harnessed to the course in front of me. With adrenaline still pumping wildly through my veins, I had called Ian when we completed the course, all without falling, to tell him I had just had the best and worst three hours of my life! Today's ride could be likened to this experience and sentiment in several ways.
From Princeton to Summerland is a road called Princeton-Summerland Road. The Province pays our provincial municipal transportation staff well. It is 100 kms in length and is a shorter alternative (as the crow flies) to taking Highway 3A. It runs along the old Kettle Valley Railway. Believe it or not, we knew that 50 kms of this back road was gravel and we opted to face the challenge head on (figuratively speaking) on Day One. What a difference a year makes. Now, nowhere does it describe on the web that ALL of the hairpins and switchbacks and 10% grades occur on the thickest gravel section. Nowhere
does it advise that there are no protective barriers to prevent a sidesliding bike and its rider from dropping 200 feet over the road's edge to their demise. Nowhere does it warn you that there is no civilization on this stretch other than bears (that clearly didn't harass the aforementioned municipal workers who have installed one too many warning signs along the route). What then is the real problem? Perhaps it's that our gravel riding experience, other than pulling into the occasional parking lot, is NIL. ZIP. ZERO. NON-EXISTENT. Sadly, our top speed was 35 km/hour, and even then we were fishtailing, wobbling, fighting with an uncontrollable front wheel that developed a mind of its own the slower we rode, and therein lies the dilemma: more speed, easier control. More speed, more fear. Less speed, more fear. Less speed, smaller bruise when falling off. Less speed, greater chance of falling off. More speed, longer projectile over that edge. More speed, get off this road quicker. More speed, bear can't catch us. So when we actually arrived in Vernon, having reached Summerland without any spills or drops, and having finished the remainder of the trip on Highway 97 to Kelowna and
through Lake Country, that offer of a cold beer on the deck of a magnificent home on the edge of Lake Okanagan didn't meet any resistance whatsoever!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.051s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0241s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Carmen Ransford
non-member comment
Safe travels!
Helen and Ian, We hope the weather co-operates as you travel south. Though it rained this morning, the sun shined its face by late morning and became warm this afternoon. We look forward to reading and seeing your photos through your blog! Have a wonderful trip and try to keep dry (would ya?).