EXHALE

Remember how I mentioned yesterday that many people thought yesterday was the hardest day? I stand corrected. I and many others will say that today was the hardest day of the ride thus far—for a number of reasons: the headwind, the climbs, the mileage, the heat, and of course the fatigue from yesterday. Who would have guessed that we’d be biking through the desert conditions (in the valley) in Canada? In many ways, today’s ride was very surreal to me. My body was sore from yesterday’s ride and we woke up at 4 am this morning leaving most of us with only 5-6 hours of good sleep.

The first forty miles started out quite alright with Max, Rich, and Me… we were sore and tired, but rested enough to keep going. One big occurrence though was as Rich was going downhill into this sharp turn, he wiped out onto the shoulder where there was gravel—luckily he was wearing his helmet, which cracked, and he left scratch free with only a few sore spots. But he did need to be picked up and taken in. At some point, while still climbing out of Lillooet, Max & I bumped into three horses just hanging out by the side of the road. We decided to take a break and feed em (they were actually really receptive)!

Max & Rich

Max fighting through the climb

Beautiful morning – roughly 6 a.m.

Horses

The next twenty miles were what really got to most of us… By this time, the sun had risen and was shining through the clear day (in the upper 90s). The climbs were consistently long and rolling, and the headwind began picking up BIG time. Max, Jenna, and I all ran out of water at about 12 miles, with 8 miles left to go, and we all persevered to get to that next rest stop. Pulling in, it seemed everyone was fatigued from everything: heat, headwind, dehydration, climbs, and yesterday’s ride. A few of my teammates had to sag the rest of the day mainly because their bodies were dehydrated and they were getting nauseous and lightheaded on the bike.

To cool off, some of us got into the nearby lake…

Max and I continued to ride. We decided to one-two punch the day, doing 1 minute pulls to get in to the next stop faster, and we were going quite fast considering the conditions. However, I could tell that this was taking a toll on Max’s body as he was slowing down a lot more than normal, so we pulled off to the side to take a quick break. Good thing we did, because he later shared with me that if I hadn’t pulled over his body may have shut down completely. We took off when he was ready, and I had taken my bathroom break, and he was doing a lot better (I could tell). The rest of the ride was a bit hazy in my mind. We cut our stops to every 15 miles, and I just tried to focus on those 15 miles at a time, and chug a lot of water.

One of the toughest climbs of the day

Random lake

Dusk

When we finally pulled in at 110 miles (after 13 hours on the road), nearly everyone’s spirits were shot. We were hungry, tired, and irritable. So after we showered and pitched our tents, we snacked on some food our teammates got donated for us and headed out to 100 mile house for some more grub. With full bellies, we definitely loosened up and were back to the good ol Sierra squad I’ve grown so fond of. Tomorrow we have a much shorter day (58 miles). Also, tonight, we’re expecting to get at least 8 hours of sleep which is definitely a plus. Until then, enjoy some more pics from today’s ride. However trying, today was a gorgeous ride. Canada never ceases to amaze me.