Distance: 125 km
Time: 5 hr 20min
It was a cold, wet ride to Revelstoke. Heather and Juliet stopped at Craigellachie and saw the historic "last spike" (picture to come...)
The best part about the day was getting to stay at the Comfort Inn. They graciously gave us 3 complimentary rooms and we thoroughly enjoyed the large king sized beds, hot tub and tv. It is a really nice place to stay! We order pizza and had a very relaxing evening.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Our Evening in Salmon Arm
Our friend, Graeme Horton works for Twin Anchor Houseboats and he took us out on Shuswap Lake in the most luxurious houseboat we'd ever seen! It had a gorgeous kitchen and 2 bathrooms and on the upper deck there was a hot tub and tv! It was a beautiful evening and the Hortons bbq'd a great dinner for us. Thank you Twin Anchors!
After we docked, we had the opportunity to meet the Kiy's and we went to their house for dessert. This was very meaningful for us all because Dirk (the dad) is currently living with ALS. We had a great visit with them and it was inspiring to see how graciously they are all coping with the disease. Although it is getting difficult to understand some of Dirk's speech, he has a great sense of humor and made us all laugh numerous times. Thank you Kiy's for reminding us why we are doing this!
The Reward
Distance: 130 km
Time: 5 hours
A lot has happened since our last post. For those of you who do not know, both Adam and AJ have had a collapsed lung before (happens sometimes to tall skinny guys for no real reason). With that in mind, Adam had felt some discomfort in his lungs during the ride from Merritt to Kelowna but decided not to tell anyone and just hoped that it would go away. It hadn't by 10:30 pm and after Adam revealed that he had felt something similar before (wink wink), Heather made him go to the hospital. Juliet drove and so the adventure began. Luckily the hospital wasn't too busy and Adam had the respect of the doctors as they all appreciated the cause of the bike trip. He was rushed right through, had three different X-Ray shots and even an ultrasound; all within an hour. The doctor was pleased to tell me that it wasn't a collapsed lung and even gave a donation to the cause. So it all turned out and we were home by 12:00.
The next day he was feeling a little better and so we started our trek from Kelowna to Salmon Arm. It was a beautiful day and we made excellent time until Adam got two flats at one time and since we only had one spare tube on us, we had to call the girls to come back for some roadside assistance. The whole pit stop took us over an hour and so we were eager to get back on the road to reach Salmon Arm.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Up, Up & Up Some More!
Distance: 115km
Time: 6hr
So, I originally thought that climbing out of Merritt this morning was going to be the toughest part of our day. Upon further discovery it seems that there are a lot more hills between Merritt and Kelowna then I remember. Other then the occasional brief decline the rest of the day was spent going up! In the end today was a harder day then yesterday but we were rewarded by the end as we cruised down from the Penaske summit. On the way down we met up with a news reporter who interviewed us for the Kelowna news that night. In all it was a good day for awareness as we did an interview for a Merritt paper in the morning, the Kelowna CHBC news interview as well as two more interviews for local Kelowna papers once we arrived. Juliet has been doing a superb job of setting up interviews as us boys are tired enough with the rides. Tonight we are staying at Juliet's parents and they have rolled out the red carpet feeding us lots of great food (including steaks cooked by yours truly:). It is really great to see some familiar faces along the way and we'll look forward to seeing more in the days and weeks ahead.
Time: 6hr
So, I originally thought that climbing out of Merritt this morning was going to be the toughest part of our day. Upon further discovery it seems that there are a lot more hills between Merritt and Kelowna then I remember. Other then the occasional brief decline the rest of the day was spent going up! In the end today was a harder day then yesterday but we were rewarded by the end as we cruised down from the Penaske summit. On the way down we met up with a news reporter who interviewed us for the Kelowna news that night. In all it was a good day for awareness as we did an interview for a Merritt paper in the morning, the Kelowna CHBC news interview as well as two more interviews for local Kelowna papers once we arrived. Juliet has been doing a superb job of setting up interviews as us boys are tired enough with the rides. Tonight we are staying at Juliet's parents and they have rolled out the red carpet feeding us lots of great food (including steaks cooked by yours truly:). It is really great to see some familiar faces along the way and we'll look forward to seeing more in the days and weeks ahead.
Monday, June 2, 2008
First Day in the Mountains
Distance: 114km
Time: 5hr
We woke up this morning to the sound of rain outside the tent trailer. Because we were all warm inside sleeping bags the thought of getting up to start our first day in the Mountains was less than appealing. Stepping outside the tent-trailer though the rain was not as bad as it sounded and by late morning we were through the light rain and fog having risen above it. With all three boys not having trained together this was the first real test to see how we would do. As it turns out AJ is the King of the Hill when it comes to hill climbs! Adam and I are not sure how, but AJ seemed to be able to put the pedal down (literally:) when it came to climbing the hills. AJ seems to think it was all of his spinner workouts. We met up with some other cyclists who had just started their journey from Surrey, BC to St. John's. They were doing the trek unassisted with all of their gear on their bikes. Going up those mountains has given us boys a new found respect for anyone doing this on their own with all of their gear. We made it to Merritt in record time so we went for some Starbucks and Tim Hortons before heading over to the van Hemmen's for the night. The van Hemmens treated us like Kings and Queens as they not only fed us a great meal but ice cream sundaes too and to top it all off let us use their hot tube to rest our weary bones.
Time: 5hr
We woke up this morning to the sound of rain outside the tent trailer. Because we were all warm inside sleeping bags the thought of getting up to start our first day in the Mountains was less than appealing. Stepping outside the tent-trailer though the rain was not as bad as it sounded and by late morning we were through the light rain and fog having risen above it. With all three boys not having trained together this was the first real test to see how we would do. As it turns out AJ is the King of the Hill when it comes to hill climbs! Adam and I are not sure how, but AJ seemed to be able to put the pedal down (literally:) when it came to climbing the hills. AJ seems to think it was all of his spinner workouts. We met up with some other cyclists who had just started their journey from Surrey, BC to St. John's. They were doing the trek unassisted with all of their gear on their bikes. Going up those mountains has given us boys a new found respect for anyone doing this on their own with all of their gear. We made it to Merritt in record time so we went for some Starbucks and Tim Hortons before heading over to the van Hemmen's for the night. The van Hemmens treated us like Kings and Queens as they not only fed us a great meal but ice cream sundaes too and to top it all off let us use their hot tube to rest our weary bones.
Here's for Hope (ing:)
Distance: 110km
Time: 4.5 hr
After having a great kick-off event and short ride we were a little slow leaving our Langley apartment. Juliet's parents were an amazing help throughout the weekend and ensured we left Langley on the right track. Today's ride started with a ferry ride, taking all of a couple of minutes to cross the Fraser river. We biked through Mission to Aggassi enjoying the farmland and countryside before heading into the foothills towards Hope. When we arrived in Hope, Juliet and Heather had our tent trailer all set-up and were ready to start one of Heather's gourmet meals. It was our first night of camping and the Wild Rose camp ground was gracious enough to provide us with a spot free of charge. Us boys showered up, ate, ate and ate some more:)
Time: 4.5 hr
After having a great kick-off event and short ride we were a little slow leaving our Langley apartment. Juliet's parents were an amazing help throughout the weekend and ensured we left Langley on the right track. Today's ride started with a ferry ride, taking all of a couple of minutes to cross the Fraser river. We biked through Mission to Aggassi enjoying the farmland and countryside before heading into the foothills towards Hope. When we arrived in Hope, Juliet and Heather had our tent trailer all set-up and were ready to start one of Heather's gourmet meals. It was our first night of camping and the Wild Rose camp ground was gracious enough to provide us with a spot free of charge. Us boys showered up, ate, ate and ate some more:)
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Vancouver - Langley
Distance: 65 km
Time: 3.5 hours
The big day finally arrived and we were all eager to get things started at the kick-off event in Stanley Park. We had confirmed that 30 people would show up for our start but we were blown away to see 70 smiling faces encouraging us on our way. But it didn't stop there, both Global and CTV showed up for interviews and Global ran a 3 minute story in their evening news. Sandra Booker lead the group in an energizing aerobic warm up and Wendy McGee, the executive director of ALS BC was there and shared a few words. So the day started off well and with a beautiful day for a ride we were off to a good start. Good first day!
Time: 3.5 hours
The big day finally arrived and we were all eager to get things started at the kick-off event in Stanley Park. We had confirmed that 30 people would show up for our start but we were blown away to see 70 smiling faces encouraging us on our way. But it didn't stop there, both Global and CTV showed up for interviews and Global ran a 3 minute story in their evening news. Sandra Booker lead the group in an energizing aerobic warm up and Wendy McGee, the executive director of ALS BC was there and shared a few words. So the day started off well and with a beautiful day for a ride we were off to a good start. Good first day!
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