Day 16
August 7, 2014Day 16 - Rock Creek to Christina Lake - 100km
Lets just start off with I’m sorry for the delay! I’m in Nelson and having an absolute blast but I’ll get to that all later on. I hope you can enjoy catching up on my last week out here and the memories I’ve made!
(had another flat before last night…also my wheel needs to be trued, great)
After waking up from a wonderful sleep on the coffee shops patio I thought it would be a great idea to wait until noon to ride out. Being in prime time heat is the way I like to travel, don’t you agree?
Grabbed a sub and hit the road.
Todays ride wasn’t too difficult, not many large hills except for one small section. The challenging part was going to be the 100km.
When I hit the section of hills I noticed my back tire was looking a little low on air, I pulled over and filled it up. I had to do this every 10km, I didn’t want to patch the leak because I was going to hit up a bike shop in Grand Forks, they closed at 5pm. Now I was in a race against time! I got to the top of the 500m climb and started to push myself hard to make it. Flying downward I kept an eye on my tire, made another stop before hitting a real steep decent. I was almost there, I could see the town and all I had to do was grip it and rip it for another 4 minutes. (it was 4:30pm)
Of course that would have been too easy…Bam, tire was completely flat and not taking any air. I couldn’t believe it! Four hours of riding just to get held up at the finish line. I started to make my way down the hill, pushing my bike, when a van pulled over about 50m ahead of me. When I got to it a man named Ken greeted me asking if I’d like a ride. YES! Was my reaction, I popped my bike into the back and off we went the remaining 2km to the bike shop. We pulled up just as they were locking up shop, I thanked Ken and he went on his merry way.
The gentleman from the bike shop said sorry he couldn’t help me and that they were closed but he did give me a 2 minute tutorial on how to “true” my wheel. After that I was on my own! Another adventure starts haha
After figuring out my wheel and getting rid of the wobble it had I replaced my tube.
Grabbed my gear after stuffing some food into me and started my ride to Christina Lake.
I decided to ride the Trans Canada Trail until someone warned me about a cougar siting. I would have felt comfortable if it wasn’t for the 4 foot tall grass that was growing on the trail. It made me feel like I was in the jungle being chased by a lion or a tiger! So I got off the beaten path and back onto the highway, thats not the type of cougar I want to be attacked by…By the time I made it to Christina Lake I had my rear lights flashing and a headlamp on to see the road. Nice to ride in the cool temperatures of the night.
Did I ever mention how much of a beauty Willy was? I was on my way to a street called Johnson Rd. This is where Aaron and Peter were waiting for me. They were at a man named Steve’s place, one of Willy’s good friends. Willy had told us to just show up at his place and say that he had sent us. When I finally showed up Peter had gone to bed but Steve and Aaron were having a nice cold Corona, I was more than happy to join them. After a quick chat and a beer we hit the sheets.
I dreamt of the tough climb I had to do in the morning, almost as tough as the ride to Manning Park, maybe tougher…
Thanks for letting us stay at your place Steve! Your a kind and generous man.
Let’s breath easy tonight, tomorrow will be panting…
