St. George’s KVR – Day 3

Wow.  It snowed last night, and a little bit this morning.  Nothing sticking, just really light flurries, but still….it’s May.  Kind of makes you excited to get up and race, doesn’t it?

Yup, it’s the infamous race day.  Complete with high intensity relay hand offs.

I’ll let you enjoy this sampling of the action without smartass comments. 

It was an awesome competition.  See saw action, but in the end my group lost by about 50 m.  I was reelin’ em in, but I just ran outta track.   The locals were amused, but then again, they’re easily amused.

As we are at Granite City, it’s time for a picturesque shot at sunset.  This is hands down the best campsite of the trip.

Plus, we get to do the tour of the ghost town and cemetery.  I think I actually caught a ghost in this shot.

Look how scared the boys are…

I like how they all start to huddle together as it gets darker.

Another low light shot of our camp, as the crew beds down for their last night out.

Of course, as is tradition, the guides stayed up a little later to celebrate another great trip.

St. George’s KVR – Day 2

Day 2 (or 3….we’ve already covered tis so I’m just gonna drop it for now), and we start off with a lovely descent into Princeton.

After a short break to fuel up on candy, we’re right back at it with the longest tunnel of the trip, followed by the first of several trestles.

This is probably the coolest section of the whole KVR.  The Tulameen Canyon is much quieter than the more famous Myra Canyon, and also is right at river level.  Fewer trestles, perhaps, but I like the flavour of this portion of the trail the best.

There are many cool points of interest in the first several kilometers, including another gazebo at Tulameenie Falls.  The curved tunnel is in the background.

The riding overall is much easier than yesterday, but there were a few notable sections.   This part is quite narrow and falling into the river.  Luckily, we didn’t lose anyone…this time.

Most of the time it was smooth sailing.  Although technically uphill the whole way, the surface is hard for most of the route so it’s not so slow.

From Coalmont to Tulameen, however, it’s very soft.  Combined with a stiff headwind and the uphill grade it made for some heavy pedaling.  The last 5km were as tough as the first 20!  I started to worry a little about the boys when I saw the vultures gathering nearby, but once again, we all made it.

Had to take a break and wait for stragglers at the infamous Tulameen Shoe Tree.

Here’s a typical bike that these guys bring.  That’s full rigid, with a lovely sheepskin seat cover.  Just some advice…the Peugot Attitude is not the most comfortable bike of the past…ever.

Soaking up some local culture at the Tulameen Trading Post.

We got to Otter Lake in the mid afternoon, so we took some time to play bikes and try out some new skills.  Here we’re answering the age old question, “If a tree falls in the forest, will some kid try to ride his bike on the log?”

…and we will finish with the traditional overbuilt campfire shot.

St Georges KVR – Day 1

Well, technically this would be day 2. We drove up from Vancouver yesterday after crashing at the Tippie’s house in the Cove (thanks Brett and Sarah), then camped at Link Lake. Barb and Chevy came out and we let the boys settle in to their situation with minimal interference. After a leisurely sleep in, it was time to grind out the first 50km of the route. Here we are in the midst of the sandiest section of the trip. The trestle is a nice interlude from the grind of this particular part of the trip.

Near the end of the worst sand, we took a lunch break at the tunnel. Seriously, in 30 km all you get that’s neat to look at is one tunnel and one trestle. The rest of the time it’s a straight slog in sand with the occasional set of ATV ruts heading across into the forest.

After you get past the tunnel, however, it’s much nicer. The boys were pretty stoked to hear that from this gazebo (an old water tower for the steam engines), it was more or less downhill to the next campsite.

See how excited Jordan looks?

OK, these guys are feelin’ it. Marc and Palmer (I think it’s Palmer…) were near the front of the group all week.

Yep, that was a tough ride. No worries, we broke the back of the trip today. There’s plenty more to go, but nothing as hard as the first day. Enjoy the campfire.

PS — Happy Birthday to my sister! It was yesterday, but close enough eh?