- Day 1 -1 Week
- Day 1 -12 Hours
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
- Day 5
- Day 6
- Day 7
- Day 8
- Day 9
- Day 10
- Day 11
- Day 12
- Day 13
- Day 14
- Day 15
- Day 16
- Day 17
- Day 18
- Day 19
- Day 20
- Day 21
- Day 22
- Day 23
- Day 24
- Day 25
- Day 26
- Day 27
- Day 28
- Day 29
- Day 30
- Day 31
- Day 32
- Day 33
- Day 34
- Day 35
- Day 36
- Day 37
- Day 38
- Day 39
- Day 40
- Day 41
- Day 42
- Day 43
- Day 44
- Day 45
- Day 46
- Day 47
- Day 48
- Day 49
- Day 50
- Day 51
- Day 52
- Day 53
- Day 54
- Day 55
- The End
- Retrospective
We woke up and went to the connected dinner for some breakfast. I was excited for an early morning start… for the last 400, maybe 500 miles everyone has warned us that Osoyoos is the hottest place in Canada. Everyone warned us to make sure we have enough water, and are properly dressed. One one hand I felt like we should heed these warning, on the other I questioned… I mean how hot could it really be? After breakfast we got ready and went to the shed we had to store our bikes in. As we packing our bikes on the front steps we were confronted with the cold morning air. This does not feel like the hottest place in Canada.
As we rode down the road the air picked up in speed and coolness. Not long after leaving I gave in and put on my jumper. I was so hopeful that a few miles down the road would make the difference, or maybe the working the peddles… but no, this might have been the coldest morning we’ve had as of yet. This is the day we go to the hottest place in Canada and here I am freezing.
On the left side of the rode was was green and lush, while on the right was brown and dead. It was quite a contrast, but it looks as if nature does what ever nature wants. We passed a small town fairly quickly and headed toward the first climb of the day. We could see the climb coming from a mile away. HA! First there was a curve to a gentile climb. As we made our way up this climb it started to get warmer, and warmer. By the top of this first climb I was ready to loose my jumper. At the top there was a scenic overlook… perfect place for a gear adjustment.
We continued up the hill it was a nice easy start to the climbs. At first there wasn’t much just a nice easy grade, but then there was a switch back and a steeper climb. And another and another. It was getting hotter and hotter as we climbed and climbed. Still nothing too crazy but it was starting to be noticeable.
This mountain was almost completely brown and dead, there were signs and warnings of fire everywhere. The few cattle fields were not pretty and the cattle looked like they didn’t appreciate their situation. There was a small field with a few ostriches that were walking in circles in the dirt. It was warm but I wonder if this is really the right environment for ostriches? It certainly did not look like their happy place.
There were a few downs with no roll… It feels like the mountain tops like to play this game, where there is a small down that doesn’t actually take you anywhere. You have to work for every inch across the top. A dip, a turn and a climb or two till we could finally see a summit sign. That always gives hope… if this is the summit the drop must be soon.
We rode a bit more across the ridge, working for every inch to get to the drop. Finally we saw the signs for check breaks… always a good sign when you’re looking for the drop. Then there is a the guide for tucks of how many % each drop is…. I love that sign. It would be nice, if not a bit sadistic to see the sign on the way the up.
The drop started and it fell! The drop on two days ago was great and long but this was next level. … Actually I just checked, it was next level! The first few turns, switch backs and drops were big but nothing too crazy yet. Soon, there were a few switch backs that had only a small retaining wall between us and the cliff, with nothing there except the smoke. I wonder what would be scarier, having a clear view of what would probably be certain death, or the ominous wall of white smoke.
We passed a sign “Welcome to Osoyoos / Canada’s warmest welcome”. With that there was a increase of temperature. Was this in my head? It had gotten warmer since the first climb, but this was more like the opening of the oven. A hot wind came blowing over the valley to meet us half way up the mountain.
I could see up ahead the next switch back was I tight 180 around a strong peak. It was intimidating. Or at least I was intimidated. As we approached we swung out as far as traffic would allow to turn back tight to wall of rock on the inside. The turn was do-able but it was tight, fast and right back into the down. And down, and down.
Toward the bottom there was a fruit stand. We stopped to see what we could get. While Jerry was inside, I looked at the map for where we’re going… cause again I did not keep the name of the hotel were headed to handy. While I looked through the maps a man from the fruit stand approached and asked me about our trip. We had a nice little chat. At the end he asked me if I was on Instagram. I told him about the blog. When he said he would grab a pen I backed my bike up so he could see the sign on the side of bike. He said he would take a pic… I wonder if I will will now be on his Instagram. When he saw my name he asked if I was Portuguese. The previous owners of the fruit stand were Portuguese. We had a nice rest of the chat until he said well I’ll let you get back to your maps. It was interesting, he had no ill will, he really did not want to bother me. We said a good by and we went about our days. I had no problems pausing with what I had been doing to have a monet, and he was gracious to know when not to take too much of my time. It was a very civil interaction.
Back to the road. The mountain continued down into town. As soon as we got into town we could see this was a tourist town, full of resorts, motels and lake side attractions. We rode past all the towns offerings and headed for our towns hotel. Between we rode past miles of vineyards and fruit fields. It was a nice end to the day. Almost felt like a jaunt through the European country side.
We went 70 miles and now the lush green was on the right and the brown death was on the left. These fields were groomed to be green so nature hasn’t had the opportunity to do what she wants. We passed a large carved wood sign saying ‘log homes for sale’… covered in a plastic, store bought sign, ‘fire wood for sale’. I guess the log homes didn’t sell as well as hoped. A few more turns and suddenly we were in a rocky canon. I had to double check the map a time or three… this looks very different on the map. But sure enough we made our way into town, found our hotel and were one more night closer to our goal.
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