Day One to Five

I've made it through the first five days of my trip: 512km from Stanley Park, Vancouver to Sicamous, and I am now sitting very comfortably in the air-conditioned living room of my parents' place in my hometown, Armstrong.

On the morning of May 31st I met up with a group of friends and family in Stanley Park for my kick-off. We had coffee, courtesy of Laughing Bean, and muffins, homemade by Kasey and Hannah. We even had a short yoga session led by Penny. Thank you to everyone who showed up that day, it was great to see you all before heading off on this adventure:) The weather this day was perfect; clear blue sky. My dad rode with me for the first 100km, then soon traded off with my brother who rode the last 50km with me. My mom drove the truck and trailer, and made sure we were all well fed and hydrated (Thank you Mom) Earlier in the day was the second time in total that I had forgotten about my shoes being clipped into my pedals and fell over (the first was a few days earlier before the trip started.) It happened at a rest stop right in front of a parked car full of people. I'm sure I looked like a complete clutz, toppling over when my bike is hardly moving:P haha
Anyways, total for the day was 160km which brought us all the way out to the Coquihalla campground in Hope. I was actually a bit surprised I covered that much distances and didn't feel all that bad. Thanks to the generosity of the campground owner we even got free camping :) And I was quite happy for the showers there.

Day 2 (June 1) The big climb...up the Coquihalla...!!! I actually fell over again, almost first thing in the morning; maybe I wasn't quite awake yet. I'm hoping that was that last one :) But yes, up the Coquihalla we went, my Dad and I climbed all the way up! We even found a nice wide shoulder that went around the snowshed so we wouldn't have to be crammed in with the traffic. Right around the top Dad jumped in the truck, and I pushed on for about another 20km make the day's total 70km. That night we found a road that took us off the highway a bit so that we could sleep without the noise of traffic. I can't say I was awake for long after my head hit the pillow.

Day 3 (June 2) Did you know there are actually some hills after the summit??? It doesn't make sense does it? Well actually I guess we did get to go down quite a bit too. Coasting down into Merritt was fantastic! At this point we stopped for ice cream (turns out not such a great idea when I still had to bike another half day). We also parted ways here. My dad and brother headed toward Kelowna in my brother's car in order to return the rented bike rack, (The rental was actuallly donated by Road Racks, so thank you very much to them!) and my mom and I continued on from Merritt up to Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park. This day was actually a bit tougher than yesterday. I wasn't as mentally prepared for hills, and I was probably just a bit more tired. There seemed to be a lot of wind that day, but I still managed 100km. The campgrounds were beautiful, and the dock was peaceful for a morning coffee.

Day 4 (June 3) From Lac le Jeune down to Kamloops was a breeze, almost all downhill! Although as I dropped further down off the mountains the temperature seemed to be rising. By 4pm when I was riding through Chase it was a summery 33C, but we still managed to get into Sorrento by 5:30. We covered 115km that day. Not that I'm complaining about the sunny weather (I much prefer it to rain) but the air conditioning of the restaurant at dinner felt pretty amazing.

Day 5 (June 4) Last day before a break, and it was a nice short one. We got up early and were on the road by 7:45am. It wasn't too hot out yet, and there weren't any big hills to climb. Riding along the shoreline of Shuswap lake was beautiful; the horizon was hazy from summer forest fire smoke. We got into Salmon Arm by 9:30am where we stopped for a break and met up with my Auntie Karen. After visiting for a bit we headed off again and my Auntie rode with me for about 10km out of town. We parted ways and I continued on to Sicamous. I hit a bit of construction where the traffic was backed up, but it was probably the safest part of my trip so far; I was waved through before all the other vehicles. Once I reached Sicamous around noon I jumped into the truck with my mom and we drove down to Armstrong. No more biking for almost 3 days! Sunday morning I will be driven back up to that same point in Sicamous on the Transcanada highway where I'll continue on my way.

These past few days have actually been easier than I was anticipating, although I believe a large part of that is due to having my family, and a truck and trailer along with me. My mom made me delicious food the whole way, catering to my vegetarian ways, Thanks Mom :) She also mapped out large parts of the highway calculating where there were rest points and campsites. It was nice having my dad ride with my for much of it, and him and my brother have been busy with small projects connecting mirrors, flags, and computers to my bike. Thanks to you guys too :)

The rest of the way I'm basically on my own. As for that, we'll see...:)

For any readers in the Armstrong area, I'll be down at the Farmer's market Saturday morning with a booth, so please come by and say hello.