The Test Run

On the long weekend in May we headed out on a test run with the bikes fully loaded and long days in mind. We more or less did a 250 km triangle in the interior that was highly recommended by Dave and Mary - and it was stellar - so thanks you two for the suggestion.

The ride started Saturday morning in Lytton as we headed 65 km upriver to Lillooet. And for those of you who have a) never been there before or b) aren't from around these parts, yes it was very hilly as you can see from the pictures. But traffic was light to non existent, winds were behind us and we were keen!

The weekend actually started Friday night in Lytton when Paul and I arrived and were greeted to a street dance, complete with the crowning of Miss May Queen. Small towns are really pretty much the same everywhere aren't they?

Back to the ride. The ride Saturday had a few hiccups - Susan's water source sprang a leak leading to many discussions of where to ask for water compared to the risk of drinking straight from whatever source we could find, to both of us having minor falls mere minutes apart at opposite ends of the bridge going into Lillooet (what Susan does, I must do). But all in all a fantastic first day. One of the highlights was Paul's amazing coordination at throwing his camera up in the air several times and bouncing it off his handlebars a couple times for additional crowd pleasing entertainment before catching it. Unfortunately there are no pictures of Paul doing this as he is only one who takes pictures while still riding, often looking back over his shoulder to get that 'best shot'. I think we have a new photographer buddy for Dave B.

Sunday was my favourite day as we rode out of Lilloeet to Cache Creek. The morning was a long gradual climb with many beautiful photo ops and hardly any traffic. Again we were able to ride shoulder to shoulder almost the whole day. Well actually let me clarify....there was so little traffic it would have been possible, but I ride much slower than Paul so he had to keep circling back in order to let me catch up. So we rode shoulder to shoulder for the flats but he lost me on pretty much every hill. Especially the hill with the bear on it! I did try to keep up best I could since it's only the slowest one who really needs to worry about bears, but by the time I actually arrived at the top, the bear was long gone anyway.

A big part of what made Sunday my favourite day, was that after our morning climb we had a luxurious lunch in the shade at a real picnic table (no, that's not the highlight..wait for it) then we rode through Marble Canyon with great views of a cattle drive, an osprey chick in a nest squawking for it's mom, the azure blue lake (but that wasn't it...wait for it) then we had 15km of pure downhill! (Yes that's it!!!) If you don't ride you might not appreciate how significant this is. But surely you can imagine how after riding about 130km over the past 2 days, pretty much all uphill, in almost 30 degree heat, how awesome a 15km downhill would be. Then at the bottom of the hill we found civilization once again and enjoyed ice cream, beer, gatorade and sitting on real chairs! Another highlight.

Monday was an early start - breakfast at 7.30 riding at 8.00. Okay, I can hear the moans already. For all you morning people - that is an early start for those of us who are NOT morning people nor ever will be nor aspire to be ;-)

Our ride was quite pleasant all the way to Spence's Bridge where we stopped at the local pub and were 'reassured' by the pub owner's wife that our bikes and gear would be absolutely fine outside since everyone was so afraid of her husband that no one would dare touch them. It was an early lunch but we managed to enjoy a smokie and a pint in this rather dark pub before heading back outside. The next few hours were really a hit and miss when we hit Highway #1. A bit of rain, sometimes way too much holiday traffic for comfort, shoulders disappearing so that at times we crossed the road and rode against traffic because there was a shoulder on that side and, just as Mary warned us - really, really strong headwinds that meant we had to pedal downhill. But there were some highlights even then - like seeing a mountain sheep perched atop a ridge surveying his kingdom, almost running over the largest rattle snake I have ever seen and of course Paul drafting us up, and down, all the hills. Thanks again, Paul! You rock!

Finally we arrived back at the cars in Lytton for one more look at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson rivers (my new favourite word) and some Miss Vickie's chips that were well earned and warm beer (not my favourite). The traffic back to Vancouver was a bit dubious so we headed back across the river to hwy 7 and stopped in Mission for dinner.

The weekend was a great success to get some real touring miles in, do a gear check, try out front panniers and the BOB (a bike trailer) and see a beautiful part of the province and experience some small town hospitality.

I have to admit though that there were several times on the weekend, usually as I was climbing another hill, that I questioned what Susan and I have gotten ourselves into. But I reminded myself that it's all downhill from Calgary to Ontario (yeah, right) and by then we'll be fit. Only time will tell :-)