Dr. Nolove

(or, how I learned to stop worrying and love my 22t chainring)

Day 1 was awesome.  Can I just reiterate how well Day 1 went?  Even with the gale force gusts at the end, it was simply an amazing day out on the road.  I'd have been hard pressed to ask for a better day riding. 

Not so much for Day 2...  I woke up tired.  Really tired.  I had crashed at 21:30 pretty much exhausted, and dreamt alternately of being thirsty and having to pee.  Not the best of signs, in retropspect.  The day broke cool and overcast, with heavy cloud cover and moderate winds.  Perfect, I said to myself.  A nice cool day to climb Hope Slide.  I wouldn't have wanted a hot and sunny day for that as I don't do all that well in the heat.  After a free "continental" breakfast at the motel I got a bit of a late start - rolling out at 09:15.  As I made my way with heavy legs and a somewhat sore butt, I noted that it's all uphill to the Hwy3 turnoff.  Not a "significant" climb - just uphill enough to be annoying when you're starting the day tired.  It was nice and cool however, and I got several friendly honks from other (assumed) cyclists as they drove by. 

Once I made the turn onto Hwy3 I got a brief descent, and then a bit of a headwind to the base of Hope Slide.  I've driven this road before, though not that recently, and remember it being long - but not all that steep.  It was steep enough to have me spinning my 22t chainring, alternating between the top 3 cogs in the back depending on the pitch.  It was then that I noticed that apparently it's somewhat difficult to grab a bottle when you're climbing at 7kph on a loaded touring bike.  That necessitated stops when I wanted water, so I took a few opportunities to take pictures as well.  Not long after the road turned up in earnest I had my vest wide open and my arm warmers rolled down to my wrists.  The climb continued, and it got foggy.  Very foggy.  I stopped to turn on my rear flasher just in case.  At some point in the top 3rd of the climb I got really cold.  This is odd for me - normally I run pretty warm.  I was close to freezing by the time I reached the summit, and pulled into the rest stop to pull on a jacket.  As I was rummaging around for food, a minivan with an empty bike rack pulled in beside me.  The guy dragged out a large sandwich board and as if on cue, a roadie appeared to fill his bottles and grab a rain cape.  I chatted with the driver for a while as I ate a panini, and learned that this was a fundraising ride from Vancouver to Banff.  Within 5 or 10min another roadie pulled up and the two took off like they were on a mission.  The SAG driver offerred me some water, which I was only too happy to accept, and I shared some beef jerky with him.  He mentioned that they had ridden from Vancouver to Agassiz yesterday, and that their goal was Manning Park today.  He asked where I was headed and I told him that my goal was Princeton today, and hopefully St John's Nfld in 8n weeks.  He asked where I spent last night and I told him Hope, which he thought was funny as the unsupported guy was out distancing the supported guys.  (make note of that)  I thanked him for the water and took off, enjoying the brief descent/descending false flats into the Sunshine Valley (which I have to say, has almost never been sunny when I've gone through).  Maybe 1/2 an hr to 40min of easy cruising later I saw a sign that said "Manning Park 40km". 

About 5km after that, the wheels came off.  Completely.  I'm not really certain what happened there but I had no legs, no power, no energy, and I was quite unhappy.  Assuming that I'd bonked (though odd, as I'd eaten not long ago) I force fed myself another panini and some peanut butter M&Ms.  Things started to go downhill from there, and it was a steady cycle of: ride.  stop.  rest.  drink.  "motivational speech unfit for the ears of children".  ride.  Question the brilliance of planning more daily mileage than pretty much anyone I'd met thus far on the trip, read about while planning the trip, or heard about as "normal" for a tour.  stop.  rest.  Wonder about what the people watching the GPS tracker were thinking.  contemplate turning off said GPS tracker.  Decide that too many people would freak out if it suddenly stopped broadcasting, so best to just endure the public suckage.  ride.  stop.  rest.  drink.  etc

At some point in there I lost the ability to efficiently thermoregulate.  Normally I run a little warm, but I was alternating between freezing and boiling (and all points in between) without any apparent rhyme or reason.  I noted it, and kept plodding along in my misery.  It was at about this time that I got a brief reprieve in the form of Andrea.  Andrea's a gal who works with Julian at West Point Cycles, and remembered me from when I went in there with a cleat that had pulled out of my shoe and was stuck in the pedal.  Julian rides with her sometimes and this was initially confusing to me because she totally reminds me of a good friend of mine - also named Andrea (Andy).  She also describes pretty much exactly the same, only maybe 15 years younger.  She's cute and has a very bubbly personality so naturally I was quite happy to see her.  Andrea is also doing that Vancouver to Banff fundraising ride and was floating along solo in about 3rd position, happy as ever.  We chatted for the 30s it took for her to drop me (and it only took that long because she slowed down) and she carried on her merry way.  My spirits remained uplifted for maybe 5 or 10min.  Then it was back to the suck. 

An eternity later I passed a sign that read "Maning Park 20km".  I can't say I took seeing that sign particularly well. It did however, cement the reality that Princeton wasn't going to happen today.  Princeton's another ~70km past the Manning rest area, and a hilly 70km at that.  Back to suffering, with the stops becoming more and more frequent. 

I was running low on water.  There was a river beside the highway, but it was down a very steep embankment and looked to be about a class II rapid.  With my luck I'd fall in and get swept away.  Nope.  Not gonna do it.  Just keep on sucking. 

I force-fed myself the last of my sandwiches and 2 handfulls of peanut butter M&M's.  Downed the last of my water, and figured I'd give it my best shot at a run for Manning (as opposed to the deathmarch I had been doing for the past millennia).  At this point I met a guy also on a touring bike (though significantly less laden than mine) who's on a six week trek - as far East as he can get. He stopped to fuel up and I told him that I'd see him @ Manning.  I carried on, and thought that I was pretty close - the road wasn't going up anymore.  Well - not really.  It started to dip down a bit and I almost jumped for joy when at last I saw the highway gate.  The highway gate is the point on the road where they close it if the weather is bad and they don't want people driving over the pass.  That means that it's downhill from the gate.  Soon after I came upon the Alison Pass Summit sign.  At 1342m it's not the highest pass that I'll traverse by far.  But it kicked my ass something fierce, so I stopped to take a picture.  As I was getting ready to leave Neil came by (the other touring guy) and suggested that he take my picture so that I'd get to be in one.  Then I took his picture with his camera, and rolled off. 

I bombed down the pass and was quite annoyed to see another rise, but it was just a little bugger to mock me before the final descent into Manning. 

With Antonella's voice in my head and knowing that things weren't going well with my thermoregulation issues, I checked into the lodge rather than camping.  A hot shower, some food and a Guiness (and watching a replay of the NZ/IT game) and here I sit - exhausted, thirsty, and with extremely dead legs.  They have a pool and a hot tub here, so I'm going to soak them and do a little hot/cold therapy.  Maybe that will restore them.  At least somewhat...

I think I can make Osoyoos tomorrow and then I'll take another look at the maps to see if I want to continue this Hwy3 route or if I might opt for a longer but less hilly option.  (I believe that Pat & Goran made a similar decision in Penticton)  If my legs come back I'd like to stay the course; but if they feel like they're going to take several days to come back online, perhaps discretion is the better half of valour.  My butt is really sore, too - but I don't think there's a whole lot I can do about that until I get to Princeton (forgot to pack chamois cream).

No internet @ Manning, so this will go up tomorrow or maybe the next day.  We'll see when I get internet access. 


Stats for Day 2: because you can't lie well without statistics!

Distance Travelled: 67km
Total Elapsed Time: 6:35
Total Ride Time: 4:42
Average Speed: 14.2kph
Max Speed: 65.3kph


Food for the day

At the base of Hope Slide - 6k to the top, and only 121 to Princeton.  Easy!

None of these do the climb justice, but anyway...

Well after the wheels came off.  Look at how happy I am!

I actually am happy here.  Thrilled, as a matter of fact.