Day 19 – Tuesday August 24, 2010
Kilometres: 385.7
Time: six hours (including one 10 minutes rest stop and stops for gas)
Weather:
Vancouver: Sunny (it never rains here. I’m sure it’s just bad PR) and 16 C at 9 AM
Merritt: Sunny with a few clouds, 32 C at 3 PM
I could not sleep last night (that hardly ever happens) and was woken up by the sound of a text message coming in on my cell phone. Diane, my riding buddy, was wondering why I hadn’t posted anything on the blog. I really didn’t want to type out the full explanation or reason for still being in bed, so I told her I was having breakfast and then getting ready to go, which was about 20 minutes later.
I discovered that I was a bit out practice packing up the bike. It took much longer than usual, considering I had done most of the work the night before. I finally got on the road at 9, filled up the tank and headed towards the Trans Canada, East bound.
The ride out of town was punctuated with road construction, but not enough for me to ride below 60 kph, so I guess I can’t complain when I compare that to Toronto. I had not been over the Second Narrows (or Iron Workers) Bridge before, and as Ian had told me, it was much quicker than Lion’s Gate.
I was soon zooming through Burnaby, Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and then into Hope, where I topped up the tank before leaving the Trans Canada for the ride up the Fraser Canyon.
I’d heard so much about this road that I was a bit let down. I can only compare it to riding along side the Niagara Gorge … but a much longer ride. The rapids looked really cool and I’d love to get in a raft and go down them. They look much more vicious than the Ottawa River rapids. I shot the Ottawa three times, but the water of the Fraser River, is much wider, so there is more room to manoeuvre the raft. I wonder what the river is like in the spring. Cold, yes I know, but the water level would change and so would the speed. This sounds like a ride I’ll have to try.
The canyon road tunnels were not like those I’d gone through near Roger’s Pass. These weren’t there to protect motorists from avalanches, but because there is no way to get to the other side of the mountain except blast a hole in it. There were maybe half a dozen tunnels, all individually named but all looking exactly the same. All were arched concrete.
I’ve only had a couple of encounters with animals on the road – and two near misses. Both the near misses were with birds of prey. The first near miss was as I rode through the clouds between Rocky Mountain House and the border to Banff National Park. The one of the Fraser Canyon was a near disaster for the bird. I thought these things had exceptional eyesight. I’d like to know what possessed the bird, who was at the side of the road about 200 metres ahead of me, to fly towards me. It had something in its talons – it looked like straw. I was doing about 100 kph and I managed to slow down to about 50. I don’t know why the bird couldn’t get any lift, but it was sure trying to. I was so sure of a collision that I ducked behind my windshield and braced for impact. The bird released the straw right in front of me and then the bird managed to veer up in time. My bike ran over the straw about two seconds later. It was a close one.
The road was a bit challenging, especially after not riding anything but city streets (and that was minimal) for the last four days. I turned off the T’Can at Spences Bridge and deviated from my original plan. Freddie, the innkeeper in Kamloops, didn’t understand why I would want to return to Hope after riding the Fraser Canyon. The problem was that I originally though it was one road up on west side and another road on the east of the canyon. I wanted to ride both roads. I had read the map wrong. “Why ride the same road twice?” he asked. Instead, he suggested I carry on to Merritt and then go into the Okanagan Valley. I talked to Ian about the route change and he concurred with Freddie the innkeeper.
I’m so glad I changed the route. I was soon back into the desert and from Spences Bridge all the way Merritt, which is about 70 kilometres, was full of lovely twisty roads with switchbacks. Now that was a load of fun. Here's a quick pic I took from the side of the road.
I rode into Merritt a little bit before 3 PM. I felt refreshed to be back riding and really could have comfortably gone another hour or two.
I was really disappointed with Merritt. I listen to classic rock, classical, symphonic goth, punk (old and new), and progressive European metal. How is it possible that I’m in the self-proclaimed country music capital of Canada? There are murals of famous country artists on the sides of buildings here. They have a country walk of fame (I guess these artist are the one that visited here). Residents of the town actually wear cowboy hats and cowboy boots. I feel like I’m back in Alberta. Oh my! Maybe I should have made my hotel reservation in Princeton.
After a quick visit to 7-11 for gas I also picked up a sandwich for late lunch/early dinner and some fruit for breakfast. I hope that I will have an opportunity to get more fresh fruit in the Okanagan tomorrow and also refill my wine. Here’s to another day of adventure on the road. Cheers!
