August 19, 2015
Who Did We Meet Today?
Today we met a young man cycling from Vancouver. His name was Martin and he needed to return to Vancouver by September 1, 2015. Originally from the Czech Republic he was currently in Canada completing his Phd. It was nice to chat with Martin, so full of energy as he enthusiastically climbed up hill to the Continental Divide.
Cycling Stats
Start point: Marble Canyon Campground, British Columbia, Canada
Destination: Mcleod Meadows Campground, British Columbia, Canada
61.55 km trip, 18.0 km/h average speed, 44.8 km/h maximum speed, 3:25 time on bike
What happened…
Andrew writes: Well, it was bound to happen eventually. As we pulled in to the McLeod Meadows Campground with the goal of playing cards and setting up camp on our minds, I noticed Amanda had a flat tire. I can’t remember the last time we had a flat tire because, honestly, this is the first. The culprit appears to be part of a staple that managed to embed itself deeply enough in Amanda’s rear Schwalbe Marathon tire that it caused a small puncture. I just hope that this doesn’t mean that we need to replace our tires. The plan is to order new ones when we get to the US-Mexico border, as they are supposed to have a 10,000km or so life.
Amanda writes:
Today started out so nicely. We were snuggled in our tent and not too eager to leave as it was cold; 2 degrees to be precise. So instead we snuggled up and listened to a podcast. Podcasts are Andrew’s latest hobby. He listens to them all day and he seems to enjoy it. After a leisurely breakfast we packed up and were headed out at around 11 am. I wasn’t in the best of moods after our tear down and for no reason other than one of those ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’ items.
On we went. We stopped at a couple of the sightseeing spots and they were neat. The terrain was unremarkable yet still unique. There were some devastating fires in Kootenay National Park in 2001 and 2003. The mountains look like it happened far more recently than that. I’m curious why some forests rejuvenate themselves quicker than others. I’ll have to look that up when I’m back in internet range.
As we rode Andrew recalled how last year he had ridden this section of the highway in the opposite direction of us (uphill). He covered over 130 kilometres in 1 day; the same distance has taken us 4 days. As I’ve ridden the same road I’m so impressed with his stamina, strength and focus to tackle the ride with snow in one day. Let’s hope he doesn’t get bored at the speed we’re going!
We decided to pull the plug after 60 kilometres which was just shy of Radium by about 30 kilometres. We could have ridden onward but I’m glad we didn’t as again I just didn’t feel like I had energy. When we arrived at camp I was looking forward to some quiet down time, maybe practice some meditation techniques as I still wasn’t in the best of moods. Instead Andrew and I played cards listening to a podcast that didn’t much interest me. Then he practiced guitar, followed by his tin whistle. Andrew was in such a sociable and jovial mood and I simply wasn’t. It’s hard when that happens and anyone that has spent anytime with Andrew knows that his jovial moods are incredibly … energetic. While they put a smile on your face, when you’re in the mood for quiet time; they’re exhausting. And I must remind myself that is one of the many reasons I love him, he has so much energy. Unfortunately his energy was diminished by him noticing our first flat tire since we began a year ago. I’m so grateful he saw it tonight and we had ample time to fix it; guess we were meant to stop tonight.
All in all a good day where I’m thankful I’ve married such a joyful and patient man for days when I’m a bit blah.