(with several excerpts by Luisa Giles.)
Leg 7 was slated to be a 45-km cross country mountain bike ride from Squamish to the head of Indian Arm. We anticipated crossing through snow for a for just a few of those kilometers... (cue foreshadow music clip).
leaving Squamish, in the shadow of the Chief (leg 6)
and then began the snow at 450m, somewhat lower than expected on the north side of the pass...
and then continued the snow until way lower than expected on the south side of the pass.
riding wasn't on
Luisa's take on this:
We began the very gradual 25km descent to Indian arm, everyone was still full of beans and finding the whole experience a generally joyous one. We passed 500m elevation, then 400m still snow everywhere and all around us. At this point although the group was still extremely positive I could sense the "when the f#&k will this be over?" feeling. I must say it was the most mentally challenging thing i have done in some time. The monotony really got to me.
more from Luisa:
The killer was at 350m (and 18km rd marker; as seen above) when we got to road so removed our snow gear got all excited only to ride around the corner for more snow :(. Luckily the forest service people had conveniently placed km markers at this point so we were able to see exactly how slow we were going.
finally, at 200m above sea level, we reached dry road.
It was tough, it was fun and the group really made it, and lets face it its nothing compared to what people in Darfur are going through.
After 25km of dragging our bikes through the snow, we cycled for 45 minutes to the ocean.
Jason and Melvin, who had cycled the Sea-to-Sky Highway prior to the "snow adventure" then hopped into a canoe and paddled home in the dark---SPOC (Self-Propelled Outdoor Club) style.
Its funny how the type II fun [fun only in retrospect] creeps up on you because by the time we were on the boat and I was looking at the pictures I already had forgotten the mental torture of slushy snow with a bike. Well I am sure by the time the next one comes around I will have all together forgotten any kind of pain or misery and be ready to do it all again.
Leg 7 was slated to be a 45-km cross country mountain bike ride from Squamish to the head of Indian Arm. We anticipated crossing through snow for a for just a few of those kilometers... (cue foreshadow music clip).
leaving Squamish, in the shadow of the Chief (leg 6)
and then began the snow at 450m, somewhat lower than expected on the north side of the pass...
and then continued the snow until way lower than expected on the south side of the pass.
riding wasn't on
Luisa's take on this:We began the very gradual 25km descent to Indian arm, everyone was still full of beans and finding the whole experience a generally joyous one. We passed 500m elevation, then 400m still snow everywhere and all around us. At this point although the group was still extremely positive I could sense the "when the f#&k will this be over?" feeling. I must say it was the most mentally challenging thing i have done in some time. The monotony really got to me.
more from Luisa:The killer was at 350m (and 18km rd marker; as seen above) when we got to road so removed our snow gear got all excited only to ride around the corner for more snow :(. Luckily the forest service people had conveniently placed km markers at this point so we were able to see exactly how slow we were going.
finally, at 200m above sea level, we reached dry road.
It was tough, it was fun and the group really made it, and lets face it its nothing compared to what people in Darfur are going through. 
After 25km of dragging our bikes through the snow, we cycled for 45 minutes to the ocean.
Jason and Melvin, who had cycled the Sea-to-Sky Highway prior to the "snow adventure" then hopped into a canoe and paddled home in the dark---SPOC (Self-Propelled Outdoor Club) style.
Its funny how the type II fun [fun only in retrospect] creeps up on you because by the time we were on the boat and I was looking at the pictures I already had forgotten the mental torture of slushy snow with a bike. Well I am sure by the time the next one comes around I will have all together forgotten any kind of pain or misery and be ready to do it all again.
No comments:
Post a Comment