In the last blog Jen touched upon the bike tour but I thought I'd do a little more of a write-up for those interested. I think Jen was more excited than I was to tell people about it. At one point when I was asked how it was, Jen's response was " Oh it was great and wasn't as hard as we expected. Lots of nice scenery, weather was ok and the roads were pretty good". I was wondering why at times I felt like I was peddling for two people - now I know!! hehe...
The entire tour is just over 300 km. Generally we were on the bike for 4-6 hours per day. The tour was very well organized with something like 400 riders. All meals were taken care of and your luggage is loaded onto a van and brought to the destination for the day. So all you have to do is worry about pedaling!!
Day 1 began with an early morning breakfast with Nonnie. Sue and Jen and Josh (who was super pumped) drove us out to Castle Mountain for the start. Below is an outline of Day 1 with elevations, distances as well as the all important quotations and my own conversations with myself during the ride!!!
Coming into Radium is quite the ride as the mountains are looming up all around you. At the end of Day 1 we stopped in at the radium hot springs for a little relaxation to rest those muscles I didn't know I had. Turns out big Al is a pretty good climber - who would have thought? But he didn't stand a chance when it came to the downhills and my superior aerodynamics!! (It had nothing to do with my being much heavier!!!)
Day 2 got underway bright (well I guess more like overcast) and early. We hit the road but within just a couple of km's the rain started. And it didn't let up all day. Not the more enjoyable day to say the least.... But the entire day we're biking alongside the Columbia river which makes for absolutely fantastic scenery.. At least for the times when I could see through the rain!
Day 3 started off looking good weather wise. And after a good night's sleep I was feeling pretty close to normal again. Although I wasn't looking forward to the elevation climbs, I was pretty excited to get out in the better weather... And it didn't hurt that at 8am, Aldo was 'gently' nudging me to get on our bikes already!!! hehe...
What a great three days... And although it wasn't a race - it was just a tour - I still beat my dad!!
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