101.51 km

Biking time: 4 hours 9 minutes

101 km total

We were up at 7am, downstairs eating airport hotel buffet breakfast nutrition and on the road by 8:05am. On Saturday night, we made sure everything was packed the way we thought we’d want it and that we had left nothing missing (it was a bit late at this point, but it was probably the 5th time we double checked). It was cool, gray and kind of damp. It wasn’t raining, drizzling or misty but that possibility was lurking all morning. As of 8:05am, the plan was to take Highway 1 (TCH) to Abottsford and camp there, but this morning we decided to go Highway 7 – apparently a more scenic route and we tacked another 20km onto the day’s ride. We all felt good after an easy, somewhat relaxed, yet exciting day.

We managed a good, quick pace during a remarkably flat ride and finished cycling at 3:10pm. Using the trusty CAA map which noted campgrounds along the route, we could see that the next place for us to crash would be about an extra 70km and we thought that was too far. We didn’t want to be too tired for the mountains which would be the next day. We plan on riding to Hope tomorrow and from there it’s up the Coquahala Highway and into the mountains. The campground is like something off a postcard; a smallish lake and a snow capped mountain in the not-too-far distance standing between the slopes of two tree-filled hills that guard the far shore. Gogi was the first to take a spill, but unfortunately, it was my turn at the front so I missed it. It doesn’t seem like meeting people or getting help and advice will be much of a problem. At the airport yesterday, some guy offered us a place to crash in Calgary and when I came out of the supermarket at lunch, Gogi and Kinger were talking to somebody who gave us some good advice and some invaluable information about the road ahead – it gets hilly. Luckily, the scene of mountains in the distance had already tipped us off to this gem of information. Short ride tomorrow and no doubt a pain-inducing ride the next day, but that’s why we decided to do this whole trip.

At the Lake Errock campground.

LOOKING BACK, 10 YEARS LATER: In only a few weeks, the extra 70km would seem like an leisurely ride through the park. We were naive rookies at this point and honestly, probably couldn’t handle it. I was surely more tired than my journal lets on. At this point I was still excited about the idea of the trip and foolishly eager to ride up the mountains.