Monday, July 22, 2013

Day 14 Purden Lake to McBride







This was second biggest day of the tour at 145 kms. When added to yesterday’s mileage we covered 200 miles in two days. Not bad riding for a bunch of amateurs.
 
However I did want to talk about today’s ride as it was spectacular.  For the first 60 kms we have brand new pavement with wide shoulders. There are lots of great climbs all in the 2-3 kms range with a few short but steep descents.  The sky is the brightest blue without a cloud to be seen anywhere.  The temperature is right around 17 C and just a hint of a tail wind. I averaged 30 kms stretch of road. I just couldn’t believe what a great ride it was.  After the first 60 kms we hit the end of the new pavement and were on a section which was only a few years old and was still in beautiful condition. However by now the tail wind had picked up. The climbs had gotten considerably longer and much steeper with few descents. So lunch which was at the 105 kms mark came up before you knew it. It took 3.75 hours to cover the 105 kms which was totally amazing considering how much climb was involved.

After lunch was a quick descent to Goat River and then a tough grind up the longest hill of the day.  There was close to 9 kms of 5-7% grade. So by the time I got to the top I was overheating as the temperature had increased to 27C.  Julie was waiting for us in the van and I drained the ice water out of the cooler into my water bottles. It was so cold it gave me brain freeze.  Wow did it feel great getting that ice water.   

After the summit was reached there was only 31 Kms to town and it was all downhill with a howling tail wind so I just glided on into McBride. I found the local ice cream shop and sure enough the other riders were in there sucking ice cream cones. 

We are staying a the Beaverview campground which is just a couple of kms east of McBride and is it every beautiful. There are acres of really nice grass and everyone is spread out.
 
The barbequed chicken for supper just capped what had to been a perfect day.
 
Terry

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