Wine, Hills and Cheers

Wine, fruit and highway.

Stage 9, Osoyoos to Princeton, 116km is done. Sorry about the late blog post, but I had to find internet to steel. Today had its ups and downs, literally and figuratively. It was a really hilly day, not huge hills, but lots of 500m up and then 500m down kind of stuff. The last 20km was tough, really tough. It was very hot, and I had a headwind. I did get to smell fruit trees and vineyards for pretty much the whole day though!

Going down from the Richter Summit, 2295ft.

I think what got me through today was all the cheering, waving and honking. Yesterday was the Penticton Ironman, so today the 2000 something racers had to go home. I cheered them on yesterday and today, they cheered me on! I got waves, honks, cheers and $20. This one car passed me honking and waving, then next thing you know he is pulled off the road 1km. He got out of his car and was cheering me on, then he stopped my mom when she went by and donated $20, and gave me a bag that said "Marathon Swim" on it, apparently he swam 26.2 miles for a charity and was impressed by what I was doing. I also got honked at by my first motorhome today...but I think that they were in the Ironman. Only 317km left to vancouver!!!! Yeah!

WOOO!

Ironman

Penticton Ironman, and some crazy people!

Stage 8 = a rest, for me at least! Today is a rest day in beautiful, hot Osoyoos. All I have done so far today is eat, sleep, swim and chill. But, I did watch my first Ironman. The Penticton Ironman rolled through Osoyoos this morning. It was a pretty cool thing to watch, and I did not know that there were so many insane people out there! Who wants to swim 3.4km, cycle 180km then run a marathon (42.2km)? Well... I do someday...but I will save that for a later date, like when I am legally old enough to do it!

Go man go!

Other than that, I have just been hanging out with my grandma Dar, and great aunts Joyce and Ellie today who came down from Kelowna to spend sometime with us. Tomorrow I have my last pass to go over, but is a small one, only 11km up. Only 5 more days of riding left and about 430km!! Almost there!

Dar, Ellie, Joyce and my right leg


My mom and I enjoying some sun.

What Goes Up...Must Come Down

Finally

Stage 7, Grandforks - Osoyoos, 126km, and lots of ascending and descending. Today I suffered, a lot. I got a bit of heat exhaustion yesterday, so I paid for it today. I did not know that I had to climb so much today, and it rained, then it got really hot, and then I got to go down, and I mean down!

I started off today with a 10km hill going up, which I did not really enjoy, and I seemed to go up pretty much for 100km (99.96km). Not always steep up, but definitely up with the occasional tease going down which always resulted in an even bigger hill going up. I will from now on refer to uphill as "the enemy." I had many enemies today, so many. But, coming down into Osoyoos almost made up for the many enemies I conquered on the way up. Down was so fun, on the 180 degree corner that was marked 20km/h, I went 42km/h...so fun.

Today I definitely rode solely on will power, I was so done at 60km and I was only half way there and had a lot more up to go. I am glad I have a rest day again tomorrow, I need it. My knees hurt, I am sunburnt, and I am so tired. So I think I will go take a nap.

Looking at the "Enemy," it was big and I did not want to go up it at all and it was raining.

Conquering the "Enemy"

Sasquatch

The Blueberry

Paulson Summit, summit #2, I made it! 5036ft

Stage 6, Castlegar-Grandforks is done. Today I had to climb up to the top of the Blueberry-Paulson pass, and it was not nearly as bad as I though it would be or as everybody told me it would be. It was much easier than the Samlo-Creston pass. Coming down today was wicked awesome!!! So fast and so long, I actually drafted a motor home for about 10km, but he wasn't going as fast as I would of liked. The last 21km into to Grandforks from Christina Lake was so hot, so very, very hot. Then I got a wasp in my jersey...that was fun. I managed to trap it in the fabric, but after I did that, I had to figure out away to get it out with out it stinging me. That took about 10 min.

Todays shout outs go out to Wally Bursey and the Doyle family. Wally rode up with me to the first summit, by rode I mean I sucked his wheel the whole way up. The Doyle family, Donna, Jeff and Thomas from Victoria who are fellow Aviawest team members stopped to give me a very generous donation, and say hello. Nice surprise, I haven't seen them for a while, and very unexpected! Also a shout out to Emily Brydon who sent me an encouraging, and awesome message on Facebook, that for sure just made my day so much better!

Wally and I on top of summit #1 and in the park named after the legendary Nancy Greene

Riding off the edge of the world, or down the other side... which ever

Grandforks, 33 degrees Celsius

Rest Day

We found the Canadian Cancer Society in Trail, BC

Rest day today!!! Yay! I still rode, but only 15km. It is hot in Castlegar!!! Really, really hot. We played tourist and went to go check out the shops in near by Trail and Rossland and had lunch at BP with the Burseys.

Its is good because I got to see some old friends that I haven't seen since I was 11, and I have a riding partner for the Blueberry Paulson tomorrow...well half of it anyway. I am hoping that he will pull me up and I can just wheel suck for 26km.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see if I made it over the Blueberry Paulson...only time or my legs will tell.

Bike sale in Trail!

Rest time

hello Castlegar

Stage 4, I was done by 10:30 today, and I started at 8:50. Salmo - Castlegar is actually 0nly 40km, not 80km...bit of a miss calculation, but in a good way. The hill was kinda, well more than a hill and after yesterdays summit ride, it hurt a bit...quite a bit. As always, the downhill was really fun, and there was about 25km of it at an average speed of 56km.

My new best friend

Tomorrow is a rest day, a rest day before the big Blueberry Paulson climb...its really big I'm told. I hope what I have been told is an overestimate... well at least I don't have to ride tomorrow! I was really stoked that Castlegar had a pool, it is closed for maintenance until September 18th. That was not great news.

"1, 2, 3" and jump in the freezing cold Kootenay River...sure

The Climb

Stage 3!

"Good morning Baltimore," no wait, this is Creston...

I had a 'mooing' competition with the cows, pretty safe to say that I won.

Stage 3 is complete, Creston - Salmo, 86km. Yes, that may seem like it is much shorter than the past two days, but really it felt much further. Creston to Salmo is a mountain pass, meaning I rode 41km up, and I mean up. I have never ridden up a hill, or mountain that big before. The last kilometer before the summit, I was only going 9.5km/hr. I had to stop about half a kilometer from the summit because the white line on the side of the road was moving...it wasn't actually moving. Today was a hard day, really hard, but I rode the whole thing.

I made it to the top, and some how managed to do this to.

Going down, well that is a different story. That was so much fun, I have never gone down a hill that long before, it was fast. I had to switch to my mountain bike because the shoulders on the way down are not always so road bike friendly, but I still went about 55-65km/hr the whole way down.

Today's shout-outs go out to: the guy who stopped me on the way up to the summit to donate $10, the semis and cars that gave me encouraging honks, the other cyclist I shared the shoulder with that I managed to pass twice on the way up (he was slow, but carrying about 50lbs of gear on his bike) and obviously my mom!

Yay!

The rolling hills

Just pulled my hamstring before this picture...

Stage 2, 106km, Cranbrook - Creston is done. Today felt a lot harder than yesterday, it may have been 34km shorter, but it felt 30km further. It was a day of gradual ups, and then gradual downs. My legs were tired at the start, and are definitely tired now.

Snack time

I did learn somethings today though:
1. Stretching is important
2. Stretching is really important
3. Everybody is affected by cancer.

Thank you today to everybody who supported me with encouraging honks, that was great. And thank you to everybody who also moved over and did not hit me, that was also great! And one last thank you to the very nice woman at the General Store in Moyie.

Done!

Stage 1

6:45 am, my house and the beginning

Stage 1, complete. Today I rode 140km from Sparwood to Cranbrook, (Ft. Steal actually). It was a pretty fun day, not too bad at all. The last 6 km almost killed me, but I survived the last climb.

Cruising

A big thanks today to everybody who rode through the "Rock Cuts" with me. That made 32km of today much more fun and safer. So a big thank you Jen, Dwight, Heather, Neil, Debby, Drew and of course my mom and dad. (Sorry if I misspelled your names, I am way better at cycling than I am at spelling.)My crew for the "rock cuts"

Stage 1, is done.

Let it Begin

Tomorrow is big. Tomorrow is the first day. Tomorrow I will ride. Tomorrow it Begins. Cadence 4 A Cure starts tomorrow morning at 6:30 am, Mt. time. This is it. This is my ride. This is the ride.

My legs are really sore already, and I am totally exhausted. Why? Because I raced in the Alberta Provincial Time Trail Championships today. I think I came 1st or 2nd. I don't really know, I left as soon as I finished. Its not really that important to me, and I had other things to do. Hopefully if I win, they will mail the medal to me...that would be nice.

Today I may have won a medal for my efforts, but tomorrow's challenge doesn't come with bling, or a title. It comes with a much more important and fulfilling reward, but this one I can not display on a wall. In my heart it will be the greatest award that I could ever achieve.

Tomorrow I begin.

http://tiny.cc/C4AC

Almost time

It is almost time to begin. 3 days and 17.5 hours until I join the race. The race to end cancer, the race to find a cure.

I think my legs, lungs and heart are ready. To date this may be one of the hardest things I will have attempted, but it is nothing at all compared to those who face, and battle and conquer cancer. I am a bit scared, I am nervous, and I hope I make it because I am the type of person who will go until I literally fall of my bike. But that is what life about right, "Never, never, never give up," so I won't, if I give up just riding my bike, I could never look somebody with cancer in the eyes.

So far I have raised $3, 943.01 which is more money than I have ever had, let alone raised in my life. My goal is $5,000, I think that I will make it, I hope that I will. To donate please click here or here.

Cheers,
KP