Day 1 in the books...

After surviving several of my dear friends' attempt to leave me in a meat coma come this morning with a going away dinner at Samba, I made it up (albeit a touch late) and finished packing.  There was just no way that was going to happen last night...  :p  Julian picked me up and after dumping my car off at my folks' place, we headed to Kits Beach to meet up with Linda.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day - sunny but not hot, with a light breeze. 

My route out of the city took me past both Tartine (kickass bakery) and Chinatown ('nuff said) and I'm proud to say that I didn't stop for a snack at either!  I actually rolled pretty well, making Haney in 2hrs and Mission in ~2:30 - where I stopped to fill a bottle and had a Coke and a Snickers bar.  It got a little tougher after that as the first 2:30 felt really smooth and easy, but the road got a little lumpy and I had to deal with more of a headwind once past Mission.  I also hadn't done that many rides longer than 3hrs...  :p  I stopped again in Deroche for a slice of pizza as I knew my stores were low when after the 387th motorcyle went by I wondered why I hadn't opted to ride one of those instead.  There's a bit of a "warmup hil" just outside Agassiz, and I rolled slowly up that in my 32x32.  On the way down I hit 70kph and the bike was rock solid.  That yellow burrito bag across the back does change the handling a bit, making it not quite as super-awesome as without - but it's still very stable and tracks incredibly well.  One last stop on Seabird Island for fuel and the last push into Hope - my goal for Day 1.  About 40min before I made it into Hope the weather changed dramatically - it snapped and got quite cool, the sky darkened and the wind picked up A LOT.  That made the final approach much slower than I had been expecting.  A massive motorcade came by in the other direction and the cops made me pull over to let it pass.  It was some fundraising ride and they had a TONNE of support.  At least six police vehicles, over a dozen trucks, and maybe 60 or 80 riders all rolling along in (mostly) matching kit.  I don't know what ride they were doing but they were doing it in style!  After they went by it was just a short hop into town - but still more difficult than I was expecting.  Going over the highway overpass just outside of town the gusts were so strong that I had a really tough time making forward progress!  I was in my 32 (middle) front ring, high in the back, and barely moving forward.  If the wind had been like that in Vancouver as I was starting out I'd have called it and started tomorrow.  :p

I finally made it to Hope and the weather looked like it was going to get very ugly in a hurry.  After a quick stop for recovery fuel I made the tactical decision to be a wuss and checked into a motel.  :D  There will be plenty of opportunities for me to sufer through crappy weather, but I didn't feel pressed to start tonight. 

Stats for Day 1:

Total Distance: 157km
Total Elapsed Time: 8hrs
Total Ride Time: 6hrs 40min
Maximum Speed: 70kph
Average Speed: 23.5kph (that's going to go down tomorrow!  :p)

Ride Pics:

The view from some bridge between Haney and Agassiz

Professional style ride fueling...

It wasn't that big of a hill, but it came late enough in the day and I had been battling headwinds long enough that it made me ornery. :p

That's pretty much what I rode today

Tomorrow I face the infamous "Hope Slide" - arguably the toughest climb I'll face; though one of the guys I met earlier today seemed to like talking about how hilly Hwy3 is, and how the passes just keep coming.  :p  I guess I'll be able to tell you all in about a week.