Day5 - Surprise!

Today started out much like the others - I awoke tired but ready to move on.  Andy had given me a recommendation for a great diner just outside of town but I didn't feel like going all the way back there - plus if it really was a great diner, I'd eat way too much and then be useless for a few hours.  Instead I had breakfast at a little bakery/cafe in town and was rolling by ~09:40. 

As I rolled along I came upon Neil- he's that other tourer I met on the way to Manning.  Apparently that night he had made a bad decision to push on past his planned campsite to Princeton, but had forgotten about Sunday Summit.  Given that he's on a hybrid bike and that he keeps stopping in bars to watch thre World Cup, he's making amazing time.  I wonder what I'm doing wrong...  He told me to keep an eye out for another guy from Portland - also riding solo. 

The road from Greenwood climbs up for the first while, then up some more.  No passes or "true" climbs, but it slowly but surely gains elevation before a great descent into Grand Forks.  I stopped at the local bike shop looking for brake shoe retainer bolts, as apparently I was missing a couple.  The guy didn't have the correct bolts but was able to find two that fit well enough.  I'll have to get that sorted properly in a bigger town.  I cruised around looking for somewhere to eat that had wifi and came up with nothing - so I settled for the Dairy Queen that was next to a hotel, hoping to borrow their signal.  So much for "small town security"... it was locked down.  Oh well.  I had a chicken sandwich and was ready to move on.  It was there that I met Tom, the guy from Portland.  He's on his way to Winnipeg for the Folk Festival and is unsure about making it on time - so he suggested that he might bus part of the way.  He took off as I was eating, and I figure I'll probably see him again too.

On to the start of the day's real climbing.  First a long gradual climb into Christina Lake, and then the main pass of the day.  I stopped one last time to grab some salt and sugar, and then hit it.  I really wasn't feeling it on the climb to Christina Lake.  My legs were tired.  My butt was sore.  Even when the road got flatter (or descended for a bit) it felt like a lot of work.  Nothing to do but keep going, so on I went.

Christina Lake is really beautiful.  The climb that follows also has some amazing scenery.  Scenery that I feel is best taken in from the passenger seat of a car.  That climb was a SLOG.  At least it wasn't hot like it was back in the desert...

I had been climbing for well over 2 hours - maybe 3 (including the climb to Christina Lake) when I came to the highway gates and a sign that read "Bonanza Pass - Elev. 1535m  Extreme Weather Warning"  Well ain't that just dandy...  Onward and upward, I suppose...  At some point in there my butt and my legs decided to have a contest to see which could hurt the most.  I don't know which one won, but I know who lost.  :p  Slogging away, slogging away.  There was a road crew doing a repaving project, which is cool because parts of that road are pretty badly beaten.  I guess mountain passes get that way...  Once again, I was running out of water.  I had filled all three bottles before starting the climb to Christina Lake, but hadn't stopped AT Christina Lake to re-fill.  That was a bad decision.  Now I was running low on water with no idea how much longer I still had to climb.  It got cool, then cold.  The clouds darkened.  Hmmmm...  Thunder pealed LOUD overhead.  That's comforting...  I thought I felt a solitary drop of rain.  It didn't seem to be raining, and I couldn't smell the rain in the air.  I did my best to quicken the pace.  One sip of water left in the bottle.  That's all there is.  Then I'm dry.  I could hear the creek running below me, and was not pleased about it.  Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.  At this time I also decided that Robert Frost was a jerk.  And miles to go before I sleep my ass.  BOOM - more thunder.  And yes, those are definitely drops of rain.  I stopped to pull on my rain gear.  Climbing in rain gear kind of sucks, but so does being soaked and cold.  The rains came, but only gently.  The violent storm I had been expecting had still not yet arrived.  Again, I quickened the pace in an effort to outrun the storm.  More climbing, more climbing and more climbing.  FINALLY I crested the summit.  I stopped for a quick picture and then got moving.  It's mostly downhill to Castlegar, but with the wet road I didn't want to be pushing it.  It was still pretty cold out and now my feet were getting quite a chill from the combination of wind and rain.  My neck (c4/5) started to tighten up.  Not great signs...  This would be an absolutely AMAZING descent in good weather.  Today I was just trying to survive.  The pitch decreased and suddenly I had to work to do 22kph.  Whaaa?  Oh - I'm climbing again.  Beauty...  That didn't last entirely too long and I was soon descending again.  Then the road leveled out and I figured the descent was over.  Back to having to work to maintain speed, and neither my butt nor my legs were cooperating.  I passed a sign that read Castlegar 26km and wasn't too thrilled about it.  An hour still?  At this rate I wouldn't make it there until 20:00.  And I'm still out of water.  Oh well - nothing to do but keep rolling.  Soon after the road dropped away again and it really is almost all downhill to Castlegar.  Even standing up I was cruising at ~35kph.  My feet were frozen and my neck was getting to the point where it could sieze fully, so I knew I was hotel bound.  I needed to get some hot water running over my body.  Finally made town @ ~20:00 and pulled into a gas station for some fuel and to ask about hotel options.  You know, if Marriott had better coverage throughout Canada I could have done this trip packing a LOT less gear!  I settled for the Sandman Inn and talked the gal into giving me the government discount rate.  Hot shower, food, hot/cold therapy in the pool (well - more like warm/cool) and some sink laundry.  That kept me up later than I'd have liked, but I needed to get it done.  My Day4 update went up and I went to bed - legs thrashed, butt sore, and contemplating me next move. 


Breakfast:

I didn't know horses laid down...

A cool canoe store in Grand Forks

Guess why I chose these?

Christina Lake

The sign...

The reaction...

Climbin'

Summit!

Relief...