Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Today I finally just realized that the tour I wait all year for was finally here.

The first few days until a break are always a blur, and one single day feels like several because of the distance we cover. That’s the wierd thing about British Columbia…there are so many little geographic zones that in a single day you can go from mountain to grassland to desert to coast. Nevermind the stark contrast in congestion, population, and general attitude that exists between small, rural centres and large, urban ones. Each day really is a new adventure because of this wondrous variety.

Today I would be traveling from this little town in the Desert to the city that hosted the world for the Olymics just over a year ago…one of the biggest cities in the country, and arguably the most beautiful…Vancouver.

The day started early. I was up and at ’em around 8am, giving me early 3 hours to relax, have a coffee, go for a walk, and pack up. Packing is tricky. It takes time to do properly on the bike. By 11:00 I was packed, mounted and heading south into the town of Oliver to fuel up and head into the back country desert.

The White Lake Road leads due east of Oliver and heads north. Arugably my favourite road to ride in the south Okanagan, it cuts through a low lying area and meets up with the 3a highway in between Penticton and Keremeos. I pulled over to enjoy the view, and then quickly sped to Keremeos. I was interrupted by construction on the road. Seems they are planning to twin that 3a.

In Keremeos I hit two more wineries:

Orofino: First time here. Owned and managed by Saskatchewanians. I let them know where I was from. Nice fella there, and they boast a ‘straw bale’ building in which they store all of their wine. Wines were not bad. Service: 8/10, Wines 7/10.

Seven Stones: 2nd time here. Came in 2009. They have a Syrah that is amazing, but they were sold out. I even told a sob story to try to generate some sympathy so they’d ‘find’ a bottle in the back. They didn’t. The story was BS anyway. The wines are all still great and I got a first tasting of their Cabernet Franc, which is the bottle I ended up buying. Service: 7/10, Wines 7/10 (could’ve been 8 if I got to taste that Syrah)

After my wine tour break and a quick lunch in Keremeos I headed west on the Crownest through the blistering 30+ heat to Princeton, south from Princeton through the cool and lush Manning Park, and eventually descended into Hope.

I fueled up and stretched the legs for a bit before heading out on the road. In moments the mountains were behind me and I had the wide open spaces of the Fraser Valley all around me. This was the same scenario last year where I came close to losing my life (or at least my head). That incident still haunts me the same way a rollover I was in back in 1996 does. You just can’t get rid of those images. Fortunately there was no such drama this year, although I did stop at the infamous rest stop where I had to stop after the ordeal last year.

I rolled into my friends Scott and Gill’s place in Port Moody around 7 or so. They had prepared a dish I’ve never had before for dinner: Paella. It was amazing, and had all kinds of seafood in it. Love that seafood. Can’t get enough of it when I’m by the sea.

We visited until the late evening and eventually went to bed around midnight. I was exhausted, mostly because of the sun and the heat. I could feel my lips blistering and my arms and face were red. I needed a good sleep.