Merritt to Knutsford, 89km

Today was the beginning of Part 2 of the Tour du Canada, which would take place over 4 days. The ride today was short, only 89km according to Bud Miles. I have yet to explain the concept of Bud Miles. Basically, each day we are given a map which shows the distance (in kilometres and miles) which we are to cycle that day. The organizer of Tour du Canada, Bud Jorgensen, creates the maps and thus determines the distances each day. However, in some cases riders may not have the same mileage as indicated by Bud. The term “Bud Miles” was coined to represent that these distances were determined by Bud and there may be discrepancies between his mileage and the mileage of a rider undertaking the tour.

Today I rode with Dan, Joyce and Jacquie which was quite fun :) They had a nice pace which allowed us to take our time and enjoy the scenery. I saw some wildlife today which included two deer, a fawn feeding from its mother which was adorable, and a bald eagle which was super awesome. I also saw a massive black bull in a farm field and he was an intimidating fellow. He was sitting all mighty looking along the fence, watching the road and I felt I did not want to cross him because he would seriously take me down.

The landscape today was interesting. There were some trees along the hill slopes but for the most part it looked barren and desolate as if the hills were missing something. It was quite the change from the coastal mountains covered in evergreens. 

We stopped at the Hotel in Quilchena which contained a collection of old west photographs and an old style bar which was neat to check out. 

The overall ride today was quite easy. The most challenging segment was the kilometre and a half hill right before camp. To get up the hill I went on my granny gear and got a steady rhythm going and up I went. I stopped once at which point Bob passed me. Bob loves hills because of the challenge. What was fantastic was once he got to the top he turned around and went back down to meet Irene and help her get up the hill. It was the greatest thing ever :) I got to camp at around 2:30pm and had a super relaxing afternoon full of laughs. The cycling group is awesome, full of great spirits.

My bottom was unfortunately sore that day. I was anxious about the next day because we had to cycle 134km. I had never ridden 134km before as the most I had cycled prior to the tour was 117km. But everyone was supporting me which was fantastic. All I could do was try which is exactly what I did.