Miles: 67
Elevation gain: 3082 feet
Average speed: 15mph
Once my legs finally warmed up, about
10 miles into the ride, today went pretty well.
We left our motel and backtracked on 37
a mile or 2 until we got to Airport Road. This was a fun way to start
the day. The road was mostly empty, mostly flat and through farm
land. It was beautiful. We took this road to the border, road right
across, and ended up in Canada!
Our first bit in Canada was on highway
93. The traffic was light and the shoulder smooth. We were in biking
heaven. My legs had finally woken up as well, and the Sudafed we
flagged Jim down for started to kill my headache, so we were flying.
We continued flying right down an 8% grade, hitting speeds (don't
read the rest of this sentence Mom) over 38 mph. Of course the 8%
down led immediately into an 8% upgrade. That was a fun kilometer.
Not long after the steep hill we left
highway 93 for chip sealed Jaffray – Baynes Lake Road. Dad and I
were thinking that we would have preferred to stay on 93 and done a
few extra miles, and we continued to think that up until we rejoined
93 for a truly miserable 6 miles. Luckily we had stopped in Jaffray
for a second breakfast (I had a brekkie sandwich) at a great spot.
Mostly we've just been snacking throughout the rides as there really
hasn't been good places to stop. We realize now that we've been
missing out. The meal helped a lot. An added plus was the actual Washroom we got to use, rather than the camping outhouses we've been encountering. The restaurant owner is also a
biker, and he told us that 3 days from now, after our rest day, we'll
be regretting life as we ride up a truly enormous hill. We needed the
extra energy. In the 6 miles we spent on 93 the shoulder transitioned
between really rough chip seal, gravel and dirt. There were lots of
trucks, and it was up and down hills. The road was newly paved, which
made the condition of the shoulder especially maddening. Fortunately
it was just 6 miles, and we turned off and spent the final 20 on a
really wonderful road. It again was smooth (mostly), unpopulated
(mostly) and ran through farms and the woods. We even saw a 4 point
deer.
I started to flag about 10 miles from
the end, so we took a quick break. Once we got going again, we
discovered a tail wind had come up and just the perfect time!
Overall it was a good day with some
beautiful views. Tomorrow is day 6 on the bike, and Dad and I are
definitely looking forward to the rest day which comes after.
Deciding to take our rest day at the hot springs is looking more and
more like a really excellent decision.
We're camping tonight. We decided we
needed to use all the gear we drug along at least once. However, the
mosquitoes and sprinkles are making us long for a hotel room. I
always think I should like camping, but I really don't.
I'll post some pictures of today
tomorrow when I hopefully have a better internet signal.
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