We made it to revelstoke today, from Coldstream. 150 km ride. Tomorrow we will do rogers pass and aim for golden. After golden we do kicking horse pass to banff.
We ate at nomads food Co just now and they paid for our meal because they were impressed by our trip. I was impressed by their veggie burger (best I've had)
Monday, 27 April 2015
Sunday, 26 April 2015
In Vernon
From Mission we biked to Hope.
Saw this near a train track, on our way from Mission to Hope. Was nice to be encouraged by this little guy.
Stream off highway where we used my pump to clean water and fill our bottles
same stream
Pat at edge of that stream enjoying the water:)
The coquihalla pass, highway 5, is the rout we took from hope to Merrit. That highway has a small shoulder and very rarely can you pull off of it. It's also all up hill to the pass after the first little bit. The weather started out so hot I was down to my last layer, then there was rain, then sleet, then hail, then snow, and some mixture. Because we couldn't easily stop to put rain gear on we were pretty cold. There is one rest stop with heated bathrooms, so we set up our tent behind there and camped. If we kept going to Merrit, it would be dark before we got there, and there is no way to pull off of the road to fix anything. In the morning, I cut my hair really really short with my pocket knife so I wouldn't have to deal with tucking it in to keep it dry. That was fun.
The morning after tenting at the rest stop in the blizzard. The snow banked around our tent, which probably helped insulate it. Yay...
The ride to Merrit was very nice. From Merrit we took highway 5a and turned onto douglas lake road. This was the rout that saved us the time we lost having to stop on highway 5. Again there was a mixture of weather including hail, but the day ended with warm sun and we camped next to a cow heard. That was funny to listen too.
The next morning, continuing on douglas lake road, the road turned into dirt and gravel. It was not a pleasant on the bikes, because of little traction and we were so nervous of the rocks giving us flats. We stopped at Salmon lake, at an RV campsite. A woman invited us to have hot chotoclate and deserts, to warm up. We sat in their RV for a while discussing possible routes and ate desert for lunch:) She told us we had 26 more km of gravel road on top of the 1.5 hours we'd already rode on it, before it became paved. It was mostly downhill which was nice, and TERRIFYING. It was basically like downhill mountain biking, but on bikes with thin tires and lots of weight on them. It was kind of like when I white water paddle, and have to find the right line of current, except finding the right line on the road with the least sharp rocks. That view was again beautiful, and terrifying things like that are fun until something goes wrong, and nothing did, so it stayed fun. This part of the ride is why I need to clean and tune my bike.
From the cow field on douglas road until this place just past Vernon was about 144km. It was mostly downhill, with some headwind.
We stayed in Coldstream, just eat of Vernon last night and again tonight. Today is treat my bike to a clean up and play with it's gears day, as well as rest.
The woman we're staying with right now is so lovely. She cooked us some Ethiopian food for when we arrived. And I am using her Kayak today to go paddle on Kalamaka lake. There is a railway which is no longer in use, that goes from Vernon to Kelowna. The communities that own the land along it are voting now on turning it into a bike path. Today I want to go write and play harmonica on it:)
I'll try to post some pictures now, but as I said earlier, I'm not very good with that kind of thing, so I might have to wait until Pat wakes up or our host comes home.
love,
Menasheh
Saw this near a train track, on our way from Mission to Hope. Was nice to be encouraged by this little guy.Stream off highway where we used my pump to clean water and fill our bottlessame streamPat at edge of that stream enjoying the water:)The coquihalla pass, highway 5, is the rout we took from hope to Merrit. That highway has a small shoulder and very rarely can you pull off of it. It's also all up hill to the pass after the first little bit. The weather started out so hot I was down to my last layer, then there was rain, then sleet, then hail, then snow, and some mixture. Because we couldn't easily stop to put rain gear on we were pretty cold. There is one rest stop with heated bathrooms, so we set up our tent behind there and camped. If we kept going to Merrit, it would be dark before we got there, and there is no way to pull off of the road to fix anything. In the morning, I cut my hair really really short with my pocket knife so I wouldn't have to deal with tucking it in to keep it dry. That was fun.
The morning after tenting at the rest stop in the blizzard. The snow banked around our tent, which probably helped insulate it. Yay...The ride to Merrit was very nice. From Merrit we took highway 5a and turned onto douglas lake road. This was the rout that saved us the time we lost having to stop on highway 5. Again there was a mixture of weather including hail, but the day ended with warm sun and we camped next to a cow heard. That was funny to listen too.
The next morning, continuing on douglas lake road, the road turned into dirt and gravel. It was not a pleasant on the bikes, because of little traction and we were so nervous of the rocks giving us flats. We stopped at Salmon lake, at an RV campsite. A woman invited us to have hot chotoclate and deserts, to warm up. We sat in their RV for a while discussing possible routes and ate desert for lunch:) She told us we had 26 more km of gravel road on top of the 1.5 hours we'd already rode on it, before it became paved. It was mostly downhill which was nice, and TERRIFYING. It was basically like downhill mountain biking, but on bikes with thin tires and lots of weight on them. It was kind of like when I white water paddle, and have to find the right line of current, except finding the right line on the road with the least sharp rocks. That view was again beautiful, and terrifying things like that are fun until something goes wrong, and nothing did, so it stayed fun. This part of the ride is why I need to clean and tune my bike.
From the cow field on douglas road until this place just past Vernon was about 144km. It was mostly downhill, with some headwind.
We stayed in Coldstream, just eat of Vernon last night and again tonight. Today is treat my bike to a clean up and play with it's gears day, as well as rest.
The woman we're staying with right now is so lovely. She cooked us some Ethiopian food for when we arrived. And I am using her Kayak today to go paddle on Kalamaka lake. There is a railway which is no longer in use, that goes from Vernon to Kelowna. The communities that own the land along it are voting now on turning it into a bike path. Today I want to go write and play harmonica on it:)
I'll try to post some pictures now, but as I said earlier, I'm not very good with that kind of thing, so I might have to wait until Pat wakes up or our host comes home.
love,
Menasheh
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Sunday 19th I met pat at Horseshoe Bay. We dipped our back tires in the water, and will eventually dip our front tires in the water on the east coast, whenever we do Ottawa-St. John's.
We slept in Vancouver at my friend's house. We realized Pat's bike didn't really hold much gear or weight, so on Monday we loaded my bike up, and left for Mission.
Played Soccer for a half hour after lunch at a park, with these guys. This was day one, leaving Vancouver.We stayed at a couple's house on a mountain. We camped outside his junk yard. He had a lot of neat things gs to look at and potential tally get hurt on. He was extremely nice. Weayed at Cascade falls then left on the 22 d towards hope. On our way out we biked in rain and hail. After that there was beautiful weather! On the 23rd we stayed with a bike touring couple in hope. Very very warm a d welcoming. Now we're heading to Merritt on Highway 3. From there well go to kelowna or somewhere around there.
I hope everyone is having a good start to summer. I have pictures and can try to post them soon
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