Carl was already gone (no surprise there) but Kerry was still kicking around in her pajamas just waiting for me to wake up. She (or Carl) had coffee made and breakfast stuff laid out. As she had been up since 07:30, she had already eaten. I made breakfast for myself while we chatted, and then she took me on a tour of the ranch. It's absolutely amazing what Ralph (Carl's dad) has done in the 35-odd years he's been there. She showed me the cattle squeezes, explained how various farm implements are used and I got to sit on the tractor. Ralph came out with a gift for me - some farm-fresh eggs that he'd just hard boiled, a wedge of cheese that a neighbour made, and some sausages. He figured I'd need to eat on the road... Such a warm and generous man.
I finally got rolling at ~13:20, setting perhaps a new record for a late start. As soon as I hit the highway I knew that I'd be in for a tough day. The wind was back, and stronger than the day before. It wasn't "pounding", but it was plenty strong - and it stayed that way (and in my face) all day.
My L ankle still hurt. My R knee was still feeling "weird". And my R chest/ribs were still bothering me. I contemplated just turning around and going back to the ranch. Several times. By the time I got out of Vernon the wind had picked up a bit and I was rolling, but not particularly well. It was just going to be one of those days...
No power, no spark, and not a whole lot of enjoyment, really. There were some amazing views but most of my day was spent managing the pain and just grinding it out.
A couple of fuel and rest stops here and there and I pulled the plug early in Sicamous - some 75km short of my goal for the day, but I knew I wouldn't be getting there... I wasn't feeling so horrible that I needed to get a hotel room but my brain wasn't functioning particularly well and I wasn't able to locate the campsite easily. The hotel was obvious, so I just went with it. Took advantage of the situation to do some laundry (I had planned to do that at Kerry's the night before but we were too busy talking and I forgot), and grab an early night.
Making it all the way to Golden tomorrow might be a "big ask" with Rogers Pass coming late in the day, but we'll see how the body holds up and what the weather brings.
Stats:
Total Elapsed Time: ~5:50
Total Ride Time: 4:44
Distance: 100.35km
Avg Speed: 21.1kph
Max Speed: 46.1kph
"Driving" the tractor
Kerry & Pivo
Vince told me about this place...
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