Midway!

After a rough night past Chute lake (I had bad stomach problems,  hot and flushed but shivering), we cruised past Hydraulic lake and down into beaverdell.  Looking at trackleaders, we saw that Monica and Trish were just up the road at the pizza place so I rode up to say hi, but they were gone. Checking again, I saw that their track was from an hour ago, so we missed them. Off we rode down to Taurus canyon for a quick dip in the river. I hiked back up to the bikes and was packing stuff up when Trish rode up - they had made a wrong turn (due to some bad directions from drunk locals) and lost an hour.

We rode with them to Rock Creek,  where we stopped for food while they continued on to Midway.  After eating and a bit of rest,  Ciel figured she could make it to Midway too, so we showed up in time for a shower and to watch the Canada day fireworks. Now we get breakfast before heading up through Greenwood. 

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Penticton pizza

Time to refuel at the Bad Tattoo Brewing Company,  conveniently close to the route. We'll have to load up for the push up the hill - I don't know if we'll get past Chute lake, but Ciel has ambitions for Myra Canyon. 

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Made it through the night

We did a few extra km as Ciel met some people in Princeton who said we could camp at their place up the Princeton-Summerland road. We followed their directions carefully,  but ended up way too far up and didn't want to backtrack, so we got back on the rail grade and found a spot to camp. Ciel was cold in the morning, but I was fine, so we may have to make some adjustments to our sleeping arrangements. 

Going down from Osprey lake,  we ran out of water,  but we cruised to Crump campground where we filled up and got ready.

Now we're heading down into Penticton,  where we'll have to load up with food and water - the next section has nothing until Chute lake, and I'm not sure if Ciel can make it all the way up there today.

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Day 1

Well, we got to Princeton after a rough start - the pace on the hills out of Merritt had me hurting.  I was feeling a bit out of sorts after all the excitement of meeting riders last night, but after a stop in the bushes and an easy roll down to the rail trail, I started to get into a groove and rode pretty comfortably after that.

We rode with a couple of women who were riding at about our pace, and we leapfrogged all the way here. Now it's time for some good food at Thomasina's and a bit of rest before heading up the hill to Erris, where we are planning to camp this evening. 

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It starts tomorrow

But we got together for the rider's meeting and barbecue this evening. Drooling over all the bikes was optional!

People paid lots of attention to Richard's setup, with the front loading, but he likes the feel after riding it halfway here. 

Now we just need to get some sleep before an early morning!

-mark.