Made it to Alberta!

After 1300km, we made it across BC! We've cycled through Kootenay, Banff and Jasper National Parks (including the big climb up the Icefields Parkway!). That puts us up to around 1500km so far.

We're in Jasper for two nights. Nice to have another rest day. It'll be our last one until Dan & I get to Edmonton. I've got some great pictures, but don't have the camera with me right now. I'll try to add some later on. Until then, check out my brother's blog - he's been putting up pictures and notes for each day: http://2008canadacycletrip.blogspot.com/.

Sunshine!

After lots of crappy weather and some not-so-crappy weather, we've finally got some sun! It's not super hot, but I won't complain about that! Probably better to ride if it's not sweltering out any way.

I got a new wheel for my bike. No broken spokes since then! But, I've had three flats... Oh well, flats are easier to deal with. The first flat was about 8km out of Creston. We'd stopped to look at the view of the valley (very beautiful!) and when I started up again, Dan noticed that I'd lost some air. As we changed the tube, the nice weather disappeared and we ended up riding into Creston in a downpour! All the others were in a motel, so we hid out in their rooms waiting for the rain to let up. It didn't. The weather report was calling for rain all night and possibly lightening. We agreed that a hotel room was a good idea.

The Creston Valley Motel is very bike friendly! They gave us drop-sheets to put on the floor so we could bring the bikes into our room. And they gave us rags to wipe down the bikes! Plus, the bed was the best I've slept in for a long time!! If you're ever in Creston and need a place to stay, I recommend them! It doesn't look very fancy, but it's comfy.

We spent the next night (Thursday, 12 June) in Cranbrook. This is where my parents met. Greg (my favourite brother) and I found the old building that we think our mom was teaching in when she was there. It's used for something else now, but definitely has that school look to it.

The ride from Cranbrook to Radium Hot Springs is amazing!!! Cranbrook to just past Wasa is a great ride! Fast and fun! And a tail wind most of the way! The shoulders are a bit ugly - slightly rough, so you end up vibrating as you ride, but if they ever cleaned that up it'd be awesome. That was our longest ride so far - 147km. The whole route is fairly flat - long, rolling hills that are great for riding. Long straight stretches. Great scenery. Unfortunately, there are a lot of big trucks on the route and it is a bit busy.

We left the others in Fairmont and continued on to Radium. As soon as we got through Fairmont, we hit a head wind. The long, rolling hills became a bit of a slog. About 3km out of Radium is 1 mile hill. About half way down that, I got a flat! How frustrating! I wanted to just coast into town on my rim, but knew that would wreck my nice new wheel. Luckily, we were beside a great view point, so we had lots of space to change the tube and a view to look at while we did it.

We're staying with our friends Grant and Claudia and their girls while we are in Radium. We're having a great time here (not just because I don't have to sit on a bike for 2 days...). Grant and Claudia have opened up their home to us and have shown us around Radium. I really like it here. The mountains are beautiful! It's very tempting to stay... But, I know on Monday I'll put my poor butt back on that bike seat and head off for Kootenay Lodge in Kootenay National Park. I hear it's a bit of a climb...

Oh yeah... Our driver, Gord, is heading home today and we have three new people joining us! We still have vehicle support - Linda, Daphne and Richard drove out in Laura's truck.

I was asked about Joe. He's doing great! He's not fond of the rain though - I need to get him some rain gear. Here's a picture of him with Greg in an old train in Cranbrook.

More rain...

Just a quick note while I still have computer access... Woke up to more rain. Ick!! I'm heading into Nelson today to get a new wheel!! Hope they are able to help me out. I really like Nelson and am looking forward to hanging out there for a bit before heading to Balfour and catching the ferry to Kootney Bay & Crawford. I like the ride from Nelson to Balfour, but I might not like it so much today...

10 Days of Riding

Tonight is a luxury - we're staying in the hotel at Ainsworth Hot Springs! No wet tent for us tonight!! We've had so much rain on this trip - thought that was a Vancouver thing, but I've discovered that it rains all over BC. Since the last post, we've been to Westbank, Lumby, Fauquier (try to pronounce that...), and New Denver. This picture is Lumby. We dragged all of our gear under cover in the morning so we could pack up without getting any wetter than we already were.
I'm up to 3 broken spokes now. Greg (my favourite big brother) is getting really fast at replacing them. I'm going to do a side trip into Nelson tomorrow to try to get a new wheel.

This is the latest in wet weather cycling fashion - shower caps to keep your head dry...

Still peddlin'

We made it up Alison Pass and into Manning Park. We went from Manning to Keremeos and then to Penticton. Lots of rain on our way into Keremeos. We were soooo soaked!! We totally lucked out with our campsite though!! Check out the accommodation we got! Tons of room for our bikes and two tents. And, only $5 a person!

We're in Westbank (Kelowna) tonight. Heading to Lumby tomorrow. We had more rain today - luckily it was near the end of the ride. Hopefully we get some sun tomorrow.

My quads are screaming! They even scream when I sleep. (Not to mention the cramps I had one night. Ouch!) Each day is like back to back spinning classes without any breaks, great music, or "wooo hoooos" to keep us going. But, we do have amazing scenery!

My bike isn't having the best time... I've broken two spokes so far. I've finally come to the conclusion that my bike was not built for touring... Oh well, I'm trying to track down a new wheel. Until then, I keep getting shops along the way to do what they can for me.

And we're off...

Dan & I left Burnaby yesterday and rode our bikes into Mission - about 70km. We stayed at the Matsqui Regional Park. It was a wee bit flooded (pictures will follow). It rained all night and we woke up in a puddle.

This morning we met up with Greg, Laura, Leddy, Gerry, Ashley & Gord (our support driver) at the Mission McDonald's for an 85km ride to Hope. We didn't have the beautiful sun we had yesterday, but there wasn't any rain. Always a good thing!

Tomorrow we're riding to Manning - a wee bit of a climb...