Day 10 Mara to Albert Canyon, BC

 76.5 miles and 3,670 ft ascent

I was up early and snapped these photos of the sleeping camp.

Breakfast!  Everyone is always hungry!  Riders burn 5000 calories a day!

Great day to ride!  This photo was taken looking back toward campsite.You can see by the water, there was no wind, and today it was not raining, a pleasant relief from conditions yesterday!  Thankfully, my brakes were working well, despite yesterday's weather and road condition challenges.

 

           

Here we joined the Trans Canada Highway (Canada 1) for the first time.

 

 

The Trans Canada is the principal highway across the country.  Amazingly, it is a TWO LANE road with traffic in both directions, as you can see in the photo below.  There are passing lanes in the mountains. Cyclists have to be wary of passing trucks.  Heavy trucks create great disturbances in the airflow when they pass a cyclist, and riders have to be careful not to be thrown off balance.  One truck passing created a disturbance that made me wobble today.  Further down the road from this location, the shoulder degraded considerably, and it required us to drop speed while descending.

We knew we were approaching the mountains when we saw this sign requiring winter tires or chains for vehicles October 1 through April 30 each year.

And finally the mountains came into view!  It was our first glimpse of snow cover and land above timberline.  The guy in this photo looked like he could use a chocolate milk, but he wasn't anywhere near done with the day's ride, so no recovery drink yet!

Lush fern along the roadside.

 

A view of the abundant spring runoff.  Reminded me of the old Coors advertisement and its accompanying logo picture which bragged that Coors Beer was made from "pure Rocky Mountain spring water".  When I rode past a roadside river with fast water, the temperature dropped about 20F.  A bit chilling.  Soaking in cold water is good for the riding legs though.  I have been on rides where we were happy to do just that.

The road curved to show us this gorgeous view of what's ahead.  Roll on crew, roll on! 

 

We were still chasing this mountain.  Yet another breathtaking view....

Captured these shots in a lake reflection.  The camera was NOT upside down.

We were seeing these signs all day along the road.  This far down the road the thought of relaxing in those hot springs surely was tempting! 

 

Then this sign came up to remind us where we were.

 

No worries though.  We arrived at the Albert Canyon campsite with lots of sunshine.  At last we could lay our wet camping gear out to dry before evening.  By the way, that's my Tennessee orange tent.  Bet you would never have guessed that it belonged a fellow from Tennessee!  I'm on cooking crew tonight, so better get busy.  Another episode in the adventure tomorrow....

Day 9 Fintry to Mara, BC

 54.9 miles and 2,550 ft ascent

Last night's campsite on the shore of Lake Okanagan presented a number of challenges, among them the entrance/exit road, over 1 km long with a 7 to 10% grade.  I didn't expect to be able to ride the entire distance and was prepared to dismount and walk my bike to the summit.  I was surprised to find, however,  that after several days' ride conditioning, a night's rest, and a good breakfast, I did manage to ride the entire distance without suffering the indignity of a dismount and walk!

Presenting our typical breakfast:  porridge, French toast or pancakes, and scrambled eggs, all cooked by kitchen crew teams.  I was on teams Days 1 and 2, so get a few days off now to enjoy the labor of fellow cyclists.

 

Another campsite feature:  a modern outhouse.  Exterior and interior views follow.

We continued our journey down the west side of Lake Okanagan despite questionable weather conditions.   We have now ridden for two partial days and one full day down the 135 km (81 mile) long lake.  I packed a rain jacket in a pack strapped to the front my handlebars, and mounted a route cue sheet in a plastic bag behind them.  With rain in the forecast, I carried my rain jacket/vest in case it got cold.  It did rain, but not hard enough for me to don the vest.  I find it more pleasant to ride on the cool side, because  I perspire profusely with a non breathable jacket.

 

 

  Below is a view of the lake's headwaters.

 

There are  cannabis shops everywhere.  Evidently it is legal, at least here in the province of British Columbia. Some of the shops are even "drive by" arrangements where one can just drive through for weed.  

 

 

The moist environment makes  beautiful golf courses.  Gorgeous example shown below.  Probably not a good idea to visit cannabis drive through before golfing.

 

Stopped for lunch at A&W Drive-In, the premier fast food burger chain in Canada.  Consumed a burger, fries, and coffee to ward off the chill of the weather.  The food was excellent.  Canadian A&Ws use 100% grass fed beef raised in Canada.

Riding on, we passed British Colombian corn.  Growing up in Minnesota, I often heard it said that corn should be knee high by the 4th of July.  Perhaps, since Canada is a bit further north and has longer summer days, Canadian corn should be knee high by July 1st, their Independence Day.  Bring out the Maple Leaf flags!

 

 

 

Next stop for refreshment was a "mom and pop" convenience store.  Patrons had the choice of various beverages, among them those seen here, including local wine and my favorite recovery drink, chocolate milk! 

 

 

 

 

The liter of chocolate milk was excellent! The ideal recovery meal!  However, it was very cold, and since I was wet from riding in the rain and perspiring, I soon started to cool off too much.  As a result, I purchased a coffee  to warm up.

Another interesting item for sale at the convenience store:   Haskap Berries.  The Haskap is an edible blue honeysuckle, native to  northern hemisphere countries including Canada, Japan, and Russia.  They resemble elongated blueberries.

Ride soon ending for today.  More Canadian adventures tomorrow.

Day 8 Kaleden to Fintry Delta in the Okanagan Valley, BC

68.1 miles  4,860 ft ascent.

Awoke to rain falling on the roof of my tent.  No heavy rain at that time, but the sky was a cause for concern.

An hour later!  Hallelujah!  Looked like a good riding day ahead!

May have spoken too soon.  The sky appeared a bit ominous to the west.

Today's highlight was seeing Bighorn Sheep beside the road.  We stopped to take pictures, and the sheep held their ground.  One demonstrated how they lie down by going down on their two front knees before lowering their back ends.  They were not disturbed by our presence in the slightest.  There is a "baby" in one of the following photos.

 

 

All day today we rode beside Lake Okanagan.  It is 135 km long and primarily less than 5 km wide.  Okanagan is a rich farming district with sales of three billion dollars a year.  More than a third of that is from wine.  Canadians tell me that this valley produces the best wine in Canada and is their Napa Valley.  There are both large and small vineyards. This photo was taken on the major highway where we rode.  The small patch of land beside the highway is full of thriving grape vines.  That is Lake Okanagan behind the grapes.

 Another view of Lake Okanagan

This morning we followed the cue sheet provided by the tour and rode on a rail trail.  That was a big mistake.  The trail was covered with loose gravel and sand, and it was raining by then.  Thankfully, no one went down.  After riding 3.5 miles on the trail, we decided that riding there was a poor idea and diverted to a road nearby.  When we applied our brakes, there was a frightening grinding sound from bikes with both rim and disk brakes.  I was concerned that the heavy grit that we had picked up on the trail was ruining our bikes.  I stopped and used a handkerchief soaked in road puddle water to clean my bike's rims and brake pads, asking the group of riders with me to move on, since they didn't wish to use time to clean their brakes.  Most of them have disk brakes, which many people assume to be indestructible, but I was  wary, based on the sounds they were producing.  Miraculously, I did meet my group down the road, and we rode together the rest of the day.  

Unexpectedly, there were many difficult climbs, maybe 10 to 12, along the route.  Even thought we rode beside the lake all day, there were huge ridges to cross.  Kilometer long climbs of about 7% grade were surprisingly the norm.

 

It was quite a day!

Day 7 Princeton to Kaleden, BC

 64.7 miles  2, 760 ft ascent

 

Finally got a good night's sleep, and ready to ride early this morning.  Left camp at 07:00 and arrived destination camp at 12:30.  As we all carry our lunches with us, I prepared peanut butter and jam sandwiches, as well as gorp for lunch.

 

 

 

 

Today was hot, so I decided not to wait for other riders to mass up and rode off alone.  I was the third rider out and the fifth to finish.  Riding solo provides infinite opportunities to stop and take photos.  

The morning ride followed the Tulameen River.  No cars passed me in twenty miles.  Great place for a peaceful morning ride.

 

Looking across this meadow to see the Tulameen River.  There are two horses in the foreground. Some of my Canadian companions speculated that these were wild mustangs in the open range valley.

 

The highlight of today's ride was seeing an adult brown bear run across the road 100 yards in front of me as I rode toward it.  I peered into the trees where it entered as I rode past, but, sadly, it had gone to far to be seen again, and there was no opportunity for a photo.

Canadian cattle guards are mean ones.  I stopped and walked across this guard.  Two British riders rode across the first one, then decided to walk the second.  Riding across these babies is dangerous!

 

 

After getting knocked off of my bike when a dog ran out in front of me early in June, I definitely had no wish to crash into a North American Big Horn Sheep.  Locals say though shy, they are seen often, however, they evaded us today.  

 

 

MMMMMM!  Large fruit growing operation along today's route.  These are either peaches or apricots.  Fruit stands are frequent sites along the roadside, although it is too early for ripe fruit.

 

 

Vineyards along the route too, surprisingly!

 

 

Lake photographed from our campsite.

 

 

Our last riders arrived in camp 4 hours after I finished.  Riding in the heat must have been exhausting.  They may have stopped for respite and a long lunch.

At night in the campgrounds, all of our bikes are parked together with a heavy steel cable running through all the frames to secure the bicycles. Canadian cyclists tell me that bike thievery is rampant here.  Everyone carries a lock on their bike to lock it up while unattended.  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have higher priorities than dealing with bicycle crime.  Thankfully, I have not experienced rampant bicycle theft in the USA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

Day 6 Rest Day on the Bank of the Similkameen River

Finally a REST DAY!  Needed after yesterday's brutal assault on the mountains!  Our campsite is on the bank of the Similkameen River. There is a logging operation on the opposite bank, as noted in the photo below.

 

 

Below you see the truck Connor drives and the trailer carrying clothes and bike gear for the 19 remaining riders.

 

 

On the road into the campsite, I shot this photo showing riders dwarfed by the sheer bluff in the background.  This is big country!

 

My feet in the down sleeping bag I have been using thus far.  Night temperatures in the 40s require a warm bag.  As we enter the higher mountains the temperatures will drop even lower.  Already evidenced by the 95F temperature in which we rode yesterday, there are huge daily temperature swings here, from the 40Fs at night to 90F+ in the afternoon.

 

 

Most of us had planned to do laundry on our rest day, but there are no laundry facilities at this campground.  As a result, on "rest" day, I walked two miles to a laundromat in Princeton to wash my clothes, as well as do some banking.  During the "rest" day, I accumulated 18,700 steps.  Walking uses different muscles than biking, so I should be ready to spin on Monday morning.