Day 3: Manning Park to Osoyoos

This day was always set to be a big day, and wow was it a big day!  As I write this looking back over the whole ride I cannot decide what was the highlight, there were so many.  In fact there were some days that just left me with that top of the world feeling and this was one of them.

The day started very early.  Previously David had told me this would be a 9 hour day, which sounded about right to me.  Aware that there was some climbing to be done today, but mostly a vast distance, we all got up before 6am and were headed out of the cottage after a brief breakfast – including the ever essential coffee for me.

Fortunately the early riding was downhill so this was an easy start.  The big climb of the day proved again that the approach to hill climbing was to get comfortable and maintain a reasonable pace.  At this point although we were heading towards the desert of Osoyoos we were still in park country and it was early in the morning too and so fairly cold.  The firs rest stop was going to be at the top of the first climb, but it was so cold that upon arrival with David, Zach, Jan, Hilda and Peter we decided immediate decent was the best option.

Cold at the top (left to right: David, Jan, Zach, Peter and Hilda):

So following this there was some long downhill section, good reward for the early climbing.  Here I also experienced Zach’s individual style of riding (see David’s reports) and was also amused at David’s desicion to have a try at sensitivity training for truck drivers by giving them all a quick wave as they headed toward us.

I then seemed to separate from the group and upon arrival in Princeton met up with Jon and Heather who had set out early and were well ahead of everyone – or at least far enough to have a breakfast wrap from Subway, sounded like a good idea to me!  They were ready to go and Kate and Brenda riding in the support van told us lunch would be an hour down the road.  So I headed off with them towards lunch and for the first time road in an organised train (peloton) with John and Heather each of us swapping the lead every 5km.  Riding like this can considerably reduce the effort you have to put in, the person in the front cuts through the wind providing a sort of pull effect behind.  Believe you me it does save a lot of effort – riding in three was fantastic as we each had 10km in the slipstream and just 5km in the wind.  We were lucky with the wind too it was slightly in our faces (vent de face as the French more aptly name it – headwind is something of a misnomer really, if you read David’s posts you can see why).  Doing this we arrived at lunch in what seemed like no time and with relatively little effort.

Lunch:

After a fairly lengthy lunch John, Heather and I set off for the final 90km of the day.  This took us through some great scenery, including the vineyards of the Oakanagan.  We had been warned that the valley we were going to pass through was shaped such that one either had a ‘vent de face’ or a ‘vent arriere’.  Guess what?  We got lucky, ‘vent arriere’ it was and we were away through the rolling valleys at speed stoping briefly in Keremeos at a service station for some welcome refeshment. 

Heather and Jon pushing on down the Oakanagan valley:

Just before Osoyoos we really started to enter the desert.  Here I discovered yet another cycling phenomena – stalling rollers.  These are rolling hills where the upward climbs are so long and steep that they stall your momentum and cause you to have to put in a lot more effort.  So there was a final climb of the day to be had followed by a fantastic high speed run down into Osoyoos, which we could see in the valley.  We could also see from our vantage point the hill we would have to climb the following day, but who really cared at this stage the end of the longest day was already in sight – and for the many of us who had simply never done such a distance in one this was a great acheivement.  For me it was a real thrill, not only had I done it, but with Heather and John had arrived first – note this was not the same as the fastest time, I believe Simon and Jen were a full 45 mins faster!!   Nonetheless this was an amazing day for me, 113miles completed in 6.5 hours of cycling time, an average speed of over 17 mph and I had been able to keep up with two very strong cyclists.  To date the best days cycling I’d done, thanks Jon and Heather!

Arrived in Osoyoos:

The amazing lake at Osoyoos:

Day 2: Harrison to Manning Park

The day dawned wet but drying and after a substantial breakfast, where there was a bit too much discussion of the first long climb of the ride that was ahead of us, attentions turned to getting the bikes out for the day.  I discovered today the marvels of the floor standing pump, used to easily get the high pressure into the tyres that road bikes use. 

Upon doing this I discovered that my tyres were running all day yesterday at a pathetic 60 psi and promptly inflated them to healthier 110 psi.  A floor mounted pump was one of the first things to go on my new must have list for when I get back.  I was one of the later riders leaving this morning – having discovered that many had taken off already to tackle the approaching day before I even realised it.  In fact just as I was about ready to go I saw John cycling back with a a wheel from Heather’s bike, who had just picked up the first flat of the day at something like only a single km from the start, beating Rebecca’s first day record.  This was also the first time my new tire spanners from BBB were to come in handy.  BBB had provided us all with a goodie bag of a spare tire, tire leavers, a saddle bag, a nice vest and a great drinks bottle (great because it does not leave a horrible rubber taste in the drink once it has been in there five minutes).

The first part of the day was a dream of flat running through to a town called Hope (for me this still evokes memories of “I still believe in a place called Hope” spoken during an election campaign by the greatest American President of my lifetime, how times have changed – but anyway I digress!!!).  This consequently meant we had to go past the sign melodramatically announcing “you are now leaving Hope”, right before the much hyped first climb.   I start the big hill climb with Simon and Jen who quickly left me in their dust, something that would become a recurring theme!  My own pace up the hill was not too shoddy though and I used the tried and tested technique of settling into the lowest gear, sitting back and just going at a comfortable pace.   

I reached the top alone and thought as it had been not too bad I couldn’t be there yet and kept going.  Lunch was scheduled to be at the top of the first climb so when it quickly dawned on me that something was wrong.  I stopped and waited and waited but no one turned up, stupidly I’d overshot lunch!  So I had to go back up hill I had just descended and added about another 5km onto my day.

Following a quick bite to eat the next part of the ride was fantastic, I rode with David and Zach for the most part here, thick Pine trees and past streams glowing with that rich emerald glow that many places in BC have from mineral deposits.  Truly magnificent.

This was sadly a the calm before the storm.  Having heard so much about the first climb I had not taken on board the significance of the rest of the climbing that day.  This was made worse by my first experience of something that I believe is called a false flat.  This seems to happen after a steep bit of climbing, the road appears to drop off and yet your speed does not pick up.  It took me a LONG time to realise that was because I was still climbing.  Several people on the ride had GPS devices that reported height – this way they knew when this was happening – there is a much cheaper way to figure this out which is just to look behind you!  If you’re pushing and still only going 11mph you are either on a hill or have a brutal headwind, I must remember this!!!

The extent of the days work was revealed when reachig the above summit sign – 1/3 higher than Cypress and also later by GPS.  After this there was a rapid descent to the Manning Park Lodge, only just getting wiped out by a corner blinded massive pot-hole on their entrance drive (thanks guys!!!).  I arrived just in time – it was getting very cold – Simon, Jen, John and Heather had arrived ahead of me and had gotten the heating going, which was most welcome.  

Today we were staying in a huge house with a seemingly infinite number of bedrooms and a giant living room which was great for getting to know everyone a bit more.  Soon the talk turned to the next day, which had been looming large in most people’s minds – 180km to Osoyoos.  Simon had also discovered why that day was intially under-reported – Google Maps just got it wrong and put our stay that night 15km further down the road than we actually were.

Simon, Tom and Jen discussing the impending 180km day ahead of us: