Albert Canyon to Golden was quite the day, but the next day
was a day of rest, something I was definitely looking forward too :)
I was not having the greatest of mornings. When I awoke it
was raining, which was unfortunate. And so I put on all my rain gear only to
find out that right when I stepped out of my tent, the rain decided to stop and
the sun decided to shine through. It was great the sun showed up, but I had to
take off all the rain gear which was slightly annoying. Before I left camp my
bungee cord, which held my rain gear on my back rack of my bicycle, got caught
in my free wheel, so I had to pull that out which got my hands all nice and
greasy. Bob helped me get it out though, which was really nice. Louise and
Erik were also patiently waiting while I was trying to get my butt out of camp which was
great of them. However, my frustrating start to the morning did not end there. Right
when we finally got out of camp we were met with a climb. Before I even started
the climb, however, my back tire went flat. At that point I was fed up. But I
was lucky as a knight in shining armor came to my aid :D Just a few seconds after
I discovered my back tire was flat, Danny cycled up. He stopped, asked what the
problem was, and after I told him he set down his bike and fixed the flat. He
did everything without me asking him to and I was really grateful he did that.
Louise also came back to figure out why I suddenly was not cycling behind her,
which I greatly appreciated. Once the flat was fixed Danny went off because he
had galley duty that evening. Louise and I cycled up the climb together where
we met Erik who had been patiently waiting for us. All those little acts of kindness that
occurred that morning made me feel fortunate to be with a group of people who
were generous and caring. It made me realize no one was to be left behind and
that thought was comforting.
The remainder of the day went by smoothly with no rain,
bungee cord issues or flats. Members of the group had suggested before we left
camp to bring some extra layers because the top of Roger’s Pass and the descent
could be chilly. We were lucky though because it actually turned out to be
quite a warm day. Cycling up Roger’s Pass was a challenge but it was worthwhile
because the view at the top was incredible. Accomplishing these climbs is
exhilarating because of the knowledge that I just cycled up a mountain with my
own two legs. We took a break at the summit, which was 1330m by the way, but
only for a short while because we still had 83km to cycle.
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| Louise preparing to go up Roger's Pass |
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| Preparing to go up Roger's Pass |
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| We made it to the summit! :D |
At kilometer 61 I cycled through time as we changed our
clocks to “Mountain Time” which required moving our clocks one hour ahead.
Throughout the remainder of the day since the summit there
were several awesome descents. There was one downhill at 6% that lasted for at
least a kilometer which was super fun. I was a slow poke going down the hill
however so everyone was whizzing by. But I felt safe with my turtle pace :)
By the end of the day Louise, Erik and I were getting pretty
tired and the sun was quite warm. But the town of Golden was on the horizon.
Before we entered the town there was a line of mountains along the Colombia River which was neat to see.
And then finally we were in Golden. What made the arrival even better was the
following day was a rest day. And so when it was finally time to hit the bunk I
ignored my alarm clock as tomorrow I could sleep in :)
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