4 girls and 4 bikes all pack into a car and drive 3 hours north, across the border into British Columbia.
“What’s the purpose of your visit?” the border patrol agent asks.
“We’re doing a 3 day bike trip” I reply.
125 miles of gravel and single track, and almost 13,000 feet of climbing over 3 days.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48831516?via=MJ4woOVtfA_WS4ix3dNIZQ
We arrived in town on Thursday night. Our first day of biking commenced on Friday morning after one of the shittier hotel continental breakfasts I’ve had.
5 hours of riding on rail trails and gravel roads.
Pedal pedal pedal. Uphill for 25 miles.
Pedal pedal pedal. Downhill for 25 miles.
We stayed in the ‘Barefoot Villas’ only a few blocks from the beach. Jumping into the lake after sweating all day is a feeling that will carry you into day 2, but not until you get a crappy nights sleep on a squeaky pull out couch, listening to mice in the walls.
Day two, the big day. Coffee at the villa, and more coffee in town.
First climb, almost 15 miles. By the end I am sweating more than I thought I would, and I don’t have enough salt in my system. My legs are trying their best to stop biking and start cramping.
My heart is racing from multiple cups of coffee and climbing.
I ask the girls if anyone has electrolytes that don’t have caffeine, because for some reason all my gels and tablets did.
Kate saves me and I chug an LMNT. 1,000 mg of sodium does the trick.
The downhill is much better than yesterday’s, you don’t have to pedal you just get to hold on and go fast.
We reach the bottom, and find a creek to refill waters. Now we have to go uphill again? Holy crap my legs are already toast, but I just ate a sandwich and a brownie.
I pop an airpod in and start the playlist I made called Bike Babes. I figured I’d soon be in the pain cave, but despite my burning quads, I just vibe in the back of the pack, slow and steady. Another 3,000 feet of climbing on top of the 3,500 we already did.
Get to the top and wow! Views! My biggest day of climbing ever is done, and now we get to descend 10 miles into town.
The uphill effort pays off on the fast and windy descent. My glutes burn from standing, but I don’t slow down.
5.5 hours of riding on the day. Last night. We get greasy hamburgers after we all take turns showering in the room. We’re tired. Tomorrow is our last day of riding. It’s only 30 miles and doesn’t have any sustained climbing.
Should be easy we think.
Maybe 5 miles in, we find out that the day we thought we would crank out no problem, actually contains quite a bit of single track. Not a problem, but it slowed us down significantly.
Up, down, sandy rocky exposed trail. Some hike-a-bike ensues. We think it’s only going to be a couple of miles.
It’s more like 15 miles!
We run into some nice Canadians on E-bikes. They encourage us that we only have like 10K to pavement.
I do some mental math. 6.2 miles. We can do that. And we do.
Pavement has never felt so smooth. We go through neighborhoods, and we see a bear standing up leaning on a fence. I’m glad there is a fence because she wasn’t very far.
All the way through town, and over bridges back to the hotel.
Damn it feels good to be done, but I’m kind of sad it’s over. We grab some iced coffees and I drive us the 3 hours back home, this time the drive feels longer.
Sore legs, but overall, I’m unscathed, and a September full of bikepacking is wrapped up. September is the best month, and you won’t convince me otherwise.
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