Day 1: Oh yeah - I remember this...

Tuesday July 26th - Vancouver to Hope

I had been up until just shy of 03:00 looking for stuff and prepping my gear.  Not ideal, but about what anyone who knows me would expect.  Up at 07:00, I rolled over and figured there was no reason to start the tour more tired than necessary so I flopped back down and slept 'till 08:45 or so.  Mom called at 09:00 to wish me a safe trip, and I got to finishing up packing, getting the apartment ready for me to be gone for a month, and had a little breakfast.  I finally got rolling just before 11:00.  A quick stop at BCAA for a map (I wasn't able to find my map of BC from last year) and I noticed that I was cruising along at 35-40kph.  Hmmmm...  I had reset my computer last night at ~02:30 and lost my wheel size - so I did a rollout but apparently something went sideways.  I rolled down to Ed's to borrow a tape so I could do a new rollout and figured I'd pick up some extra brake pads just in case.  As much as I'd love to think I can move that fast fully loaded, I'm no Thomas Voeckler.

It was a cool, overcast day.  Pretty dark skies (but not black or terribly threatening) and variable wind.  Maybe 18deg, if that.  So not perfect weather, but warm enough that riding in just shorts and a jersey was fine as long as I was "riding".  There's probably a "nice" way to get out of Dodge, but I stuck with the simplest route - which was Hastings/Barnett Hwy/Hwy7.  That stretch of Hwy7 through Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and Maple Ridge is pure and unadulterated suburban hell.  I'd put it up against Surrey, Mississauga, Kelowna, or any other example of "what not to do".  The drivers aren't that bad, it's the complete lack of town planning.  Anyway, I got through there and out into the countryside within a couple of hours.

With the additional weight, the bike handles more or less the same as it did before - only it sort of feels like I have a going-flat rear at low speed.  That's a bit of a weird sensation but I'm getting used to it.  I never did get around to changing that rear tyre so I'm slightly paranoid about it...

I'd put some different insoles in my shoes after coming back last year, which should take care of the achilles issue I had - but the extra height might cause some issues over the top of my arch.  We'll have to monitor that.  I also swapped pedals as I really didn't like those Shimano SPDs I had last year.  My mid-range Times hadn't arrived, so I'm rocking the Carbon ATACs for this trip.  :p  The combo puts my shoe platform a little higher than before, so I was sitting a little low.  I had bumped the saddle height a touch, but it needed some further tweaking - so I bumped it up a little more as well as forward during my 2nd food stop of the day.  Naturally I put all my tools away after that so when I realized it was now a little to high I had to dig everything out all over again.  :p

There's no interesting food on this leg with the exception of right in Vancouver - when I'm just getting going - so it was a "gas station special" kind of day.  I did find a neat little tea shop/used bookstore in Haney, so I picked up some Irish Breakfast Tea (which came in handy later on in the day).  I also learned why Seb never puts anything in his handlebar bag with his SLR.  Even if one lays bananas very gently on top, the road vibrations cause the bananas to bounce enough to mash themselves into the camera.  Yuk.

The riding was pretty solid.  I was just kicking over the pedals at a moderate effort and making decent time.  It was still a little chilly, but not cold enough to stop to put on something warmer.  One thing about the wet "Summer" that we've had is that there are TONNES of mosquitoes everywhere!  Far worse than last year - at least on this leg.  I'm looking forward to the desert climate of the Okanagan where there aren't any mosquitoes, or flying bugs of any significance.  :)

I started to get a little tired at around Harrison Hot Springs and my legs were feeling the effect of the longest and hardest ride I've done all year.  I thought about stopping at Harrison for a soak but knew that would knock me out for the evening and I didn't want to add ~45k to tomorrow - so I pressed on.  It started to get colder, windier, and my legs were really feeling it.  Energy wise I was starting to fade as well - and it wasn't a simple fueling issue.  Nothing to do but press on - I was only ~1:30 out anyway.  Once I hit town I rolled by the campgrounds on my way to a grocery store - I needed to pick up a few things as tomorrow has only one place to get food or water at Manning Park, which is a bit past the halfway point to Princeton.  At this point I was still thinking of camping but in the span of the next 20min or so I got really cold.  I have lovely warm fleece clothing and nice down quilts - but for those to work one has to be able to produce body heat.  I was chilled right to the core.  So I kicked off this tour the same way I did last year (only in a different hotel).  I checked in, turned up the heat, took a LONG, HOT shower and had 5 or so cups of hot tea.  Feeling much better now, I just hope my legs come 'round tomorrow!


Stats:

Total Duration: 8:20
Actual Ride Time: 7hrs
Distance: 163km
avg speed: 23.2kph
max speed: 73.5