I think I am starting to understand this whole bike-touring thing. Today I had both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It is funny you start each day as if it was day one. You try to clear your mind of the days that have gone past and start with fresh legs. Today was a perfect example of that. We pack up and leave from our hostel and encounter right away a 5km long 10% grade. In my mind I am going o crap this is going to be one long day.
The ride into Rodgers pass through Glacier Park sucked. It never levelled out you were constantly pushing for hours. When you go into glacier I saw the most demoralizing sign I have ever read “ steep uphill grade next 15km’s” in huge black font on a yellow background. After being depressed from reading that sing I then read “food 35km”. At the point 35k into today’s ride I was already starving so that 35k was my target. I had to consciously stop myself from eating all the nuts and snacks in my top bag before had. So at the top of every small hill I would reward myself with exactly 2 nuts. It may not sound like much but the cyclist that’s been climbing for 3 hours already it means the world.
Once out of the valley and glacier park you hit Rodgers pass. This was the low point of the day. My body and soul were broken. When I was riding up the seemingly endless hill all I could think to myself is “people think this is fun” or “man I wish I had a super six”. Then the hill got steeper. This is where I kicked my butt in gear. I clicked down 2 gears so that I could keep the same speed but lower my pedal rotations. I was cranking the bike up this hill at about 7km/h. I kept looking down at my computer to see how much longer till the food stop but it seemed as if the computer was broken it was telling me that I had only gone 200meters since I last checked. It was at that point that I cracked. My face looked like a man giving birth through his mouth and my body was telling me to stop. So what do I do I get my sore butt out of the saddle and stand up and sprint the rest of the climb.
Hitting that summit was a feeling of pure joy. Even more joyful was lunch. I ate enough for two people again but after was ready to go. We suited up and were off to complete the last 70k of what we though was our 140k ride. The 12k descent was amazing. The pain of the climb was worth it. You could not wipe the smile off my face. Hit a new max speed of close to 72km/h (which is super scary on a bike that weighs more then you). As well we passed through a series of tunnels one of which had no lights in it; so we go ripping through it at mach 1 and cannot see a thing because we have out sunglasses on.
The descent the lead into a wicked headwind and a nice little storm cloud. We got our daily dose of rain, which is always nice. After another 3 small climbs my legs started waking up. We had 50k to go Oliver and Charles were dead. They wanted to stop at an RV site way out of the way but we decided against it. This is where I come in. The last 50k I lead the pack ripping an average speed of no less then 23km/h all the way to golden. When I saw the 35k to golden sign I said to myself “how and I going to keep this up”. Somehow I did I kept pushing hard and harder. I knew that they needed me at this moment. I knew that we needed the moral boost of getting to golden.
17k to golden was the next sign I saw. This one was my cue to ignore my legs. They had stopped feeling good and started to hurt again but I had to keep going. 8k to go. Then bam we see the town. This feeling was one I cannot describe. I started to cry on the bike again. It was such an amazing day I experienced every emotion and every feeling that I know, we saw every weather condition, and we saw the best of what BC has to offer. It was a perfect day. So to my new friends Charles and Oliver thank you. I know you guys are not reading this now but I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you. Remember if life is worth living its worth recording.
Trip Distance: 155km
Ride Time: 9:03hr
Avg. Speed: 17.13km/h
(Impressive considering that for over 2 hours we were doing 10km/h or less)
Total Distance: 851km
Total Ride Time: 47:18hr
Destination: Golden, B.C.
Happy Canada Day
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Already in Golden! Wow that's amazing. It's hard to imagine anyone biking through Roger's pass, but you did it! Feel proud man, and remember that everything after the Rockies is gravy. :D
ReplyDeleteHi Ev,
ReplyDeleteTry to concentrate on just the pertinent signs and keep the kleenex box handy. Once you're done the Rockies your legs will be like kryptonite the rest will be a breeze.