Day 16: Day Off

A real day off. No biking whatsoever. Slept in, didn't have to pack, very nice. Today simply involved touring Nelson with our fabulous tour guide Lindsay. Nelson is gorgeous with immaculately manacured lakeside parks and a vibrant "downtown" area that could easily cater to a population far greater than the current 10,000. Also nice, is the strong family oriented vibe. There's a pretty nice waterfall too that inspires a lot of impromptu Yoga sessions.

We can easily see why Reid and Lindsay fell in love with it. Not only is it all the above, but feels close to home, as it is complete with a strong hippy scene. We've just come home from our first summer "Soulstice" party. Pageanism at its best. Drumming, patchouli, incence, home made clothes, tons of naked children and the fragrant Marijauna completed the scene.
Not to mentiona a pretty damn good band. We had a lot of fun. Everyone treated each other as though they were old friends. Hugs are as customary as handshakes. Reid and Lindsay live a pretty welcoming neighbourhood.
Disco Ball teepee.

B&K

Day 15: Castlegar to Winlaw

km today: 50.3 km
total km: 886.6

We are now typing from the comfort of Reid and Linday's house in Winlaw. For those of you who don't know, Reid is Brandon's brother. It is a very nice vacation from camping, let me tell you.

Today was a beautiful ride. The Kootenay mountains are really spectacular. We took our time with many a stop for iced mochas, coffe and tea, ice cream and changing Brandon's 4th flat tire of the trip. Yes, we had another flat tire. This time due to the shoddy patch job we did yesterday. I must say, we're getting pretty good at changing tires.

Some of you may be wondering why still no pictures, but the connection here is too slow. We're going to the library tomorrow to do it.


The hydrodam just past Castlegar.

B&K

Day 14: Christina Lake to Castlegar

km today: 77.85
total km: 836.2

Today marked the day of our entire journey's most difficult pass. Blueberry-Paulson pass is over 1500 m in elevation - 200 m higher than the Crowsnest Pass over the rockies. It is about 34 km to the summit, going straight up the entire time, save for a bridge, and a 100 m downhill break that occurs at approximately kilometer 32. Pretty damn tough. Not too tough for a 72 year old woman though! She was travelling with 7 ironmen who passed us on a training run. 72! Can you imagine it. She was just out on a joy ride.

In lieu of this, we got up nice and early to avoid the hot weather. We only made it 10 feet down the campsite driveway before Brandon rolled over a staple and puntured his back tire.........again. Flat number three.

It took us 4 h to summit! We are very proud of ourselves. When we finally saw the summit and elevation sign we both started hooting and hollaring and pumping our fists into the air. Very cheesy, but so exciting. We then collapsed on the side of the road for a much needed break.

Our descent would have been really fun, but it was extremely cold! We both had our fleeces and jackets on, and we were still freezing. We had to take breaks coming down just to warm up.

Neither of us liked Castlegar very much. Nice scenery, just a bit hickish. Our campground was nice though! Also run by a couple of hicks, but they were very nice hicks. We randomly camped in the same place as another guy heading across Canada, a Kiwi named Reuben. He, we like the company of very much. For the record, he also finds Sam odd, and ditched out of riding with him as soon as he could. See, it's not just us.

Halfway up the pass.


Happy as clams.

B&K

Day 13: Midway to Christina Lake

km today: 80
total km: 750.3

Right out of Midway we hit Greenwood. It was an adorable little town with a 19th century western vibe, complete with a bonified saloon (not a pub) and a Deadwood Ave.
We apparently followed Greenwood with a climb. But it was so mellow and low grade that neither of realized that we were going up a pass until we saw the summit and elevation sign.

Somehow, our conquered speedbump was followed with a brilliant downhill that didn't break for a single flat stretch for 20 km. When we got to the bottom we were both beaming and giddy with glee. Nothing like averaging 50 km/h for a quarter of you day's ride.

Grand Forks was just after the downhill.

Onto Christina Lake, where we found a beautiful little campground (Schulli campground) where she only charged us $5 a head (cyclist's discount). There was many an RV-er, which would normally make a negative first impression, but seeing as how they provided us with complimentary wine to accompany our dinner, the entertainment of their mangy, mooching mutt Louis, and their good company, it certainly turned out to be a positive experience.

B&K

Day 12: Osoyoos to Midway

km today: 80
total km: 678.3

Before climbing the Anarchist pass we cruised into town for a hearty no-frills breakfast at Smittys (hey, it was our only option!). I (Katie) know that I'm a cyclist, because even after 3 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 pieces of back bacon and a big slab of ham I wasn't full! We also checked out the farmers market, which has nothing on Quadra's. Our final stop was at Nk'Mip winery, the first native run winery. We thought it was very beautiful and well run, with actually pretty good wine to boot.

Then the climb. It is 30 km of pretty steep grade switch backs, 15 of which allow you a beautiful view of the valley.
It was difficult, but not as bad as Allison Pass (that could be due to our increased fitness though).
The randon hail storm made things a little difficult. It is amazing how localized and furious the weather can be here. If we looked to our right we saw beautiful sunny farmlands, while to our left there was solid rain, streaks of lightning, and clouds so dark that it looked like midnight. Luckily the storm only flirted with us, and we managed to stay fairly dry all the way to the Mile Zero Motel in Midway.

B&K

Day 11: Penticton to Osoyoos

km today: 62
total km: 598

We were advised to take the East side, aka the lakeshore route around Skaha lake. The views were nice, as was the lack of traffic. However, the clouds of bugs that got stuck in our hair and teeth were not so nice.
We ran into Sam, another cross Canada cyclist whom we want nothing to do with (he's pretty odd). We've been trying to avoid him since we met. Luckily he only tagged along for a few km before just stopping. We think he was playing with his GPS but we're not sure. Anyway, lucky for us. We just kept going!
After getting drenched by a tiny, but furious thunder cloud, (It was so weird. We rode into, put all of our rain gear on, and then two minutes later we were out and boiling hot from our rain gear) we stopped for coffee in Oliver where we dined on leftover pasta with hotdogs (Katie thought that she was buying sausages) and a nice waterbottle of Thornhaven Rose (courtesy of Sam - we know, we're assholes).

Then it was a quick ride to the Nk'Mip (in-kah-meep) campground which was unfortunately overcrowed with everyone from screaming little girls, to teenage drunks to elderly RV-ers. To boot, it was $30.75 for the cheapest spot! Luckily we found, and used the staff shower, complete with luxury shampoo and soap.

B&K

Day 10: Wine Tour!!!!!!

biking km today: 0 km
driving km today: 202 km


We went to 12 wineries! I drove and Brandon was allowed to get drunk.
Before Brandon started drinking.

After Brandon had started drinking.

I would take take tiny sips of things I thought were pretty good, and drink the whole glass of things I really liked. Elephant Island fruit wines, I really liked. They don't use grapes but somehow they manage to really pack a lot of flavour into their wines purely from apples, apricots, pears, currants, cherries, etc.
Cherries used to make Elephant Island Wine.

We both loved Elephant Island, La Frenz and Gehringer Brothers. I especially loved Gehringher Bros. Every wine I tasted I loved. Brandon too.
The funniest winery was Antelope Ridge where a French couple were running the show. They bickered away in broken English. "Synpathetic" was not the right word, or maybe it was. They took off to go check the dictionary.
Another highlight of the day was when we discovered that 202 km in our Toyota Yaris cost us only $17.49! And that was with gas prices at $115.03. How brilliant is that?

A downside to the day was when we followed directions from a very purely drawn out map. We thought that we could get to Kelowna straight from Naramata. Apparently you can't, and it's a 40 km, and an 1.5 h detour to figure out your mistake. Oh well. Another tasting got us into pretty good spirits. Like I said, it was the maps fault!

The end of the day at Antelope Ridge..........

........and Brandon has had his share.

B&K

Day 9: Summerland to Penticton

Well, due to Brandon's blown rear wheel, we were in desperate need of a bike shop. We left our cute campground in Summerland and headed the 20 km to the nearest bike shop in Penticton. Definitely our shortest day yet.

We rolled into Bike Barn, and proceeded to learn a lot about bike mechanics and upkeep from the wise, young bike guru, Matt. He was awesome. He pointed out all of the easy-fix flaws, and instructed us on how to fix them. We still needed a full tune up though, and so left our bikes at the shop and took off to the Hostel.

Today really just ended up being a day of errands. Which was really relaxing. Even shopping at Safeway, where we randomly ran into Les and Darlene, of Jellicoe Stn B&B! A very nice surprise.

Our day ended with some excitement. Doug, an ex-ironman, from Best Choice rentals was willing to bend the under age rule, and rent Brandon ( a fellow cyclist who's only 24.5) a car for the next day. We went to bed eagerly awaiting our wine tour the next day!

B&K

Day 8 - Jellicoe Stn. - Summerland

km today: 61.02
total km: 510.3


We decided to make things easy on ourselves today by taking the road. The trail was not tempting at all. The road was hardpacked, smooth dirt. We flew on it. At one point Brandon even got going 40 km/h UPHILL thanks to the road and a nice tail wind. We expected to be in Summerland in no time.

We were wrong. This turned out to be the day from hell for us. First, about 20 km in Brandon's rear wheel just blew!
We checked the road and saw no glass, no nothing. We were so confused. After patching the tube, and reinflating, we realized the problem was the tire itself. There was a 2 inch gape in the tire bead leading to a bulging tube, and another blow out. Seeing as how we were advised not to bother carrying an extra tire, our only option was to walk.

Brandon sent me off to find help of any kind. And I found it at Trout Creek Ranch about 2 km down the road. The farmer's son in law was a bike guy, and he knew an old army trick involving duct tape (not duck tape as Katie has always thought! Another Katie-ism). It worked!!! And we were happily on our way..........................for 10 minutes. As Brandon was heading down a steepish hill at approximately 25 km/h his left trailer wheel decided to take off and scream deep into the bush.
The ripped, damaged and wheeless trailer.
It took us about 20 min to find it...finally. We rode very hesitantly the rest of the way to Summerland. In the end, our day turned out to be a full tiring day. Oh well.

Pretty view from Hwy 40.
B&K

Day 7: Princeton - Jellicoe Station

km today: 44.75
total km: 449.3

The first half of the trail was fantastic.
What your really supposed to notice are the dear in the background, not Brandon's dorkiness.

Doing the "whiskey jack."

We had prepared ourselves for nasty conditions after hearing the tales from our neighbours at the campsite, but were pleasantly surprised to ride up a hardpacked and mellow winding trail full of wildlife (both animals and plants). We got a glimpse of the youngest pair of fauns either of us have ever seen - they were still slick from birth and tipsy on their hooves.

After enjoying twenty km of beautiful scenery the trail dissolved into virtual sand. Katie was not happy. Even though it was literally all downhill and only twenty km we were pushing hard to maintain 8 km/hour! Not the most enjoyable few hours of riding but it was all worthwhile once Les met us near the long and steep driveway leading up to Jellicoe Stn. Inn B&B. After riding 7 hours through the wild we were blown away to find ourselves enjoying mountain views from the comforts of the exotic B&B. A pool table, satellite tvs, a hot tub and sauna, many a comfy lazyboy, all topped off with a whimsically eccentric decor made for a more than welcome break. Darlene's fantastic cooking only added to the experience (the breakfast in particular was fantastic).
The presence of Darlene's son Sid added unexpected festivity to our stay. Not only did he take us out fly fishing after dinner, but after donating a few beers and his warm company he even gave us our very own SET of fly fishing rods! Thanks to the whole family at Jellicoe for making our stay so memorable.


One of the Kettle Valley Rail (KVR) tunnels.

A tressle along the KVR
B&K

Day 6: Manning Park - Princeton

km today: 68.8
total km: 404.5

Today's ride was a joy. It was downhill all the way except for Sunday Pass, which is only a mole hill compared to Allison Pass.There were cops all along the way catching speeders in every direction. Apparently it is a very dangerous highway, and they have upped the security in the past few years.

The final descent into princeton is STEEP!!! Even the cars only go like 30 km/h. We had to take breaks every 2 km or so so that our rims and tires wouldn't overheat from the constant applications of the brakes.

Princeton is pretty cute, and was a nice pitstop. We camped at pretty little campground where we set up right on the Similkameen river. It was also sunny all day! The wind rips through the valley pretty hard though, so we were by no means hot.

At the campground we met 3 other young guys who were also less than bike savy. They had been travelling slowy, because 2 of the last 3 days they had spent walking their defeated bikes along the Kettle Valley trail. They walked for 6 hours on the second day!!!! We felt pretty fortunate to have not met that same fate.They told us that so far, the trail had been pretty rough. Seeing as how we were planning on taking the trail the next morning we were hoping, and were told (not by the most reliable source) that the next segment of trail would finally be paved, or at least hardpack gravel.

Our first of many glimpses of an alpine marmot

B & K

Day 5: HH - Manning Park

km today: 111.4!!!!!!
total km: 335.7

Our first centurian!!! This was a doozy of a day. A fast forty km got us to Hope by 11:00 am, which we were very proud of. But it left us no excuse to delay tackling Allison Pass. At 1343 m it is daunting. We left hope at 12:30 and did not reach the summit until about 7:45. It is 59 km to the summit, 40 of which involve climbing. The other 19 are downhill or flat and, therefore, theoretically a welcome break between passes. However, factor in a nasty headwind, and we ended up biking slower going downhill than up in some places.


We were planning on staying at Lightning lake campground but there was a lot of heavy snow and debris still in the campground. Our options were either stay at the warm resort with hot showers, or bike another cold 10 km downhill to the next shower free campground. We chose the resort.

We are getting very good at microwave cooking. After a gourmet dinner of microwaved tortellini we went to bed.



Weathered hut on the outskirts of Harrison.

Looking cool.

Exhausted.

B & K

Day 4: Mission - Harrison Hot Springs

km today: 55
Total km: 224.3


Today Brandon discovered the power of momentum. A heavy trailer combined with a steep hill equals flying down at 63.9 km/h!!! Perhaps not break neck speed until you factor in that for him, it takes a full two city blocks to come to a complete stop. He will probably be going through a lot of break pads.

Other than that, it was lovely ride. We passed through beautiful farm lands, Katie saw her first bear cub, and we spotted our first pair of coyotes.
The Fraser is definitely high and stunning. We followed along for a number of kilometers.



Upon a fairly early arrival we checked in to a beautiful campground (Sasquatch),

toured the tiny town of Harrison, treated ourselves to a meal at a (in our minds) better than average local pub and healed in the therepeutic waters of the hotspring.

All together a nice day,

B & K

Day 3: Van - Mission

km today: 91.3
Total km: 169.6

We woke up at 6:45: just in time to say good bye to Joan and Granny who were heading out for a whale watching cruise complete with a crab lunch. They were pretty excited. About an hour later we left in the rain (again) and slogged over Lion's Gate Bridge. It is much harder on a bike. In Kitsilano Ace cycle was unable to give us a full tune up, but they did sent us off with a complementary lock! Thanks guys!

After a fabulous all you can eat sushi feast
we were ready to take on the Lougheed highway. It turned out to be really great. There was a really nice wide bike lane for almost the entire way. Our first flat tire on the side of the road slowed us down for about 40 minutes (hey, it was our first) but we managed to read through the instructions albeit the rain and constant traffic on our sides. Thank you to Reid and Lindsay for providing us with our necessary bike book.

We eventually arrived at our designated campground, took one look at it and headed into town for a comfy night at a motel. Somehow, soggy campsites with no amenities, food and a fishy smell are not so apppealing, especially after 90 km.

We only set the smoke alarms off once with the testing of our two faulty campstoves before heading to Subway for a champion's dinner.


Adieu,

B & K

Back in Action!!

This is a quick update just to let everyone know that we are alive and well! We have not had access to internet until now, and we are in Penticton now. When we last left you we were only in West Van. That was a long time ago! And hundreds of kilometers.

After various Bear sightings, flat tires, lost trailer wheels and encounters with very nice and helpful locals we have made it to wine country! And we plan to take advantage of it.

We are on a computer now at the library and we only have a 15 min. window, hence the brevity of the update. We plan to spend more time either tonight or tomorrow morning fully updating the blog. So don't worry, there will be pictures and stories!

Till then, adieu

B & K

Day Two: June 6, 2007

These are pictures that we forgot to load yesterday. The two of me are on the Quadra ferry from Quadra to Campbell River, and the one of Brandon is from our ride on the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay yesterday. From now on we promise more pictures! Cause they are really the best part.







Comox to West Vancouver
Total km: 190
Biking km: 20.1


So today we had a ride from Comox to Nanaimo. Kinda cheating, we know. But we really wanted to get to west Van early enough so that we could do some errands. Brandon's mom Mary gave us a ride because she was conveniently heading down to Victoria yesterday morning. Not too shabby we though. Especially when we got into Horseshoe bay and had to bike and amazingly hilly 18 km to my Granny's. Warm up for what's to come.

Before any of this happened though, right as we were leaving my Grandparents in Comox, Brandon realized that he had lost a bolt to his cleat, making it impossible for his cleat to clip into the pedal. This setback was already in addition to fixing the quick release on the right side tire, which had been ground down to the pin after flipping yesterday. So we headed down to Simon's Cycles. A bike shop that my granparents had highly reccommened to us. And man they were amazing! They not only gave Brandon and old bolt for his cleat, but two extras as well. And they had an old quick release kicking around that they used to replaced the weathered one. We were just in awe! Despite the rain, and the repairs, we were in a good mood. Simon's is definintely the coolest bike shop we have been to!

We then met Mary in Courtenay and got a ride to Nanaimo. She had had to take all of the back seats out of the van though, so Brandon and I rode for a while sitting up against the side of the car, until we realized that with a little shuffling of baggage, we could lie down very comfortably side by side, with our heads resting on Mary's duffle that conveniently had a pillow in the top. It was great! And allowed us a much needed power nap.

Nothing exciting happened again until about 5 blocks from my Granny's place when this time my bolts came loose. I managed to get my entire cleat stuck in my pedal. Fixing this required a lot of man power from Brandon. Our shoes are now both fixed, and we now know to check them everyday to make sure that the bolts are secure. We just keep learning new little things every day.

Anyway, enough for now, Brandon thinks that I wrote too much!!

Talk to you soon, Katie (and Brandon)

Blunderous day One!!!

Hello again, Katie here. So today was our official start. We did not get off to a very fast one. Originally intending to head off to comox on an early morning ferry, we did not leave until the 3:05 pm, and we barely made that.

The trip was actually fairly eventful. First off Brandon went off roading, as in riding over a curb at a funny angle, and flipped the trailer, causing a bit of damage. Hopefully we can repair it in Vancouver tomorrow! And I fell off of my bike on the side of the road!!!! It was one of those slow motion teetering falls that left both of us in stitches. I'm sure the drivers passing by had a good laugh as well. How embarassing! To boot, we got caught in a torrential downpour leaving us soaked and cold.

We still managed to make really good time and arrived safely at Gramma's at 6:45 pm, pretty good we think. We had numb feet, but after a hot shower we were ready to eat a fantastic dinner. Nothing like home cooking. Especially at Gramma's, it always seems to be great!

Anyway, that is all for now! We are off to bed now for a good sleep!

Katie (and Brandon)

June 4, 2007

Hello,

This is Katie writing. We are one day away from our trip start. Originally we were going to bike from Vancouver. We have changed our minds however, and are choosing instead to start from Quadra, and do a sort of tour of my grandparents. Tomorrow we will bike to Comox, where we will spend the night and bid farewell to my Grandma Lea and my Grandpa George. Wednesday the 6th we will bike to West Vancouver where we will stay the night and bid farewell to my Granny Joyce. From there we will head off, and out of Vancouver!

As can be imagined, today is a busy day full of packing, organizing and planning. Some of you may be aware that Brandon and I are both pretty good procrastinators. Thus, much has been left until today. Oh well! Leaving in a flury makes it all the more adventurous.

That's really it for now. We will write from my grandparents tomorrow just to inform you that we are alive and safe.

Katie