Chris and Simon - towards the end of day 1

Bike log: 160 km, 800 m of vertical, avg. speed 30.1 km/h

The lesson for today was that you gotta be prepared to go with whatever happens! We were trying to get the 9 AM ferry, but got a slightly late start and missed it. We were third in line to not make it! I could have ridden on (I did manage to get their just as they were loading), but Cheryl would have been stuck waiting. So we got stuck at the �Land�s end caf� for 2 hours.

It did give us the chance to organize the van a bit, which was good. Also, while we were waiting in line, a reporter from the new VI came up and interviewed both of us on camera. His first question was �How does this impact your travel plans� Good question!

The plan was to get to Hope, which is about 150 km from the other side of the ferry. Instead of getting over there at around 10:45, we got in at 1. I had planned on a good 3 hour push (with frequent 2-3 min stops for food), then a 1 hr rest, followed by another 2 hours, which would get us into Hope around 6 or so. But it was not to be.

First of all, getting through the lower mainland was slower and more unpleasant than I had imagined. Traffic was bad, too many stoplights, trucks passing within a few feet. Yuck! It was like riding through about 75 km of Colwood (or Kenmore). Cheryl was stopping every 20 km or so, and would feed me sandwiches or granola bars. I ate about 6 peanut butter sandwiches!

Finally, past Abbotsford, we got into some nice open farmland. Beautiful countryside, with the mountains as backdrop. The wind came up a bit from the east (bummer) but it sill beat riding through traffic. Probably a taste of what is to come in the prairies as it was very flat and there were farms all around.

We stopped at a little vegetable store to pick up some supplies for dinner, and when I came out, I was approached by another cyclist (Simon). I recognized him from the ferry, plus I had passed him at one point on the road. He was pulling a major load on a little trailer (probably about 50 pounds), but his trailer tire was flat. He had tried to repair it but it blew again. We were still about 10 km from Chilliwack, which put him in a pretty awkward spot! We got to chatting, turns out he is from Quebec, and is riding across Canada to raise money for Stroke and Heart Disease.

I suggested that we throw his trailer in the van and he & I could ride on to Chilliwack, where he could get his bike repaired. That worked out pretty well, the roads are really flat so we made good time. We got into Chilliwack around 7PM and drove/rode around a bit there looking for a place near the bike store (which was closed) that he could camp. We left him in a little park, gave him a bunch of water and swapped phone numbers. It was great to be able to help him out! I hope to get a link to his website sometime and will post it if I get a chance. He sure has a heavy lode to pull through the mountains!

From there, I was still hoping we could make it to Hope, so I hopped back on the bike and hit the road again. But, it started getting overcast, which in these parts mean it turns dark! By 8PM it was pretty much too dark to ride (without setting up lights, which I did not want to do) so we pulled off at Bridal Falls and camped. The campsite here is really nice and had awesome blasting hot showers which was a huge relief at the end of the day. We ended up making dinner in the dark (another lesson learned - get off the road with enough time to cook while it's light) and left the van in a state of disarray til the morning while we crawled into bed about 11PM!

We are about 35 km short of Hope, which means the next day is going to be really tough, plus the late night meant no early start. Oh well, it was still a great day, I am really glad we were able to meet Simon and help out his trip.

So...we will take it as it comes! It all worked out great in the end.