I thought I had the best plan. Wake up at 4:30am, make salad, pack nuts, fill all water carrying containers, have a glass of soy milk. And really, it wasn't a bad plan, I even added stopping at Winfield to buy Gatorade (just for you Belva) and some protein bars and three extra waters. I was rocking up the free world! (okay, 'free' is used rather loosely here, since there is no such thing)
I was nervous about the stretch between Winfield and Oyama, the shoulder is narrow and as I found out at 6am the semi's really ZOOM by all willy nilly! I wish someone could have taken a picture everytime one flew by me on that stretch, my face went wide and I let out a *whoop* of exhilaration and excitement that the driver saw me and didn't hit me!!
Note to anyone who wants to do this, early morning is great because it is much cooler and there are fewer cars on the highway...however what is out in abudance is little fricking gnats (may be some other kind of bug, but I am not a bug person) SWARMS of them and you do not see them until they are splatting on your face and one bugger got in my throat! While I appreciated the protien boost, I did not appreciate the next five kilometres of choking!! And there was nowhere to stop cause the buggers were EVERYWHERE!!
On the way to Vernon I reached Klub Kalmalka, a campground, and I felt then I had gone too far and needed to turn back, but I could see the hill that meant Vernon was just on the other side and I kept pushing! I barely made it to the lookout, but it certainly was worth it, sadly I was too dazed to really appreciate the view. A serving of salad and a energy bar and two bottles of water later and the life was back into my brain and my body! I turned back and went to Kelowna! Six hours later, three stops, and five butt breaks (the butt needed them, trust me!) and I returned safely home and slightly sunburned, but nothing too serious! The picture of me below does NOT show how red faced I am, or how wobbly my legs are...but I am beaming and ready for whatever else this day wants to bring me!
2 comments:
oh my gawd! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! I'm totally jumping for joy...or rather wriggling in my seat for you! WOW!!!
Good on ya girl! Keep doing it! Keep making those hard stretches work! Keep your eyes on the prize! ohmygawsh your amazing!
The pictures are making me homesick like crazy! The Okanagan may be stifling but dagnabit it's bootiful! My heart yearns for the rolling hills and lakes this time of year!
Keep on riding sista!
YOU ROCK!!!
Oh I will keep riding! I am trying to figure out if I should do Penticton or Kamloops as my next goal? Not sure which direction to go...I like the idea of an Okanagan tour, but Kamloops trek I think has less hills...and I don't know what the distance is...I know Kamloops is somewhere around a 130km from Kelowna, but I can't remember how far Penticton is from Kelowna...if they're equidistant then it may be a coin toss decision.
I will keep snapping up those Okanagan pics for you when I can, that way you can look, but you don't have to touch *smile*
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