The day started out great, we left Rossland and had a nice quick descent into Trail, it was about an 8-10% grade and a lot of fun to cruise down. Once we got into Trial we right away had two climbs to get back out of Trail and we were on our way to Fruitvale for our morning break. From here we set our sights for the bottom of Kooteney Pass, the 67km lunch break. We had a pretty stiff headwind for the 30km's leading up to lunch but we could not have asked for better weather. From here we started up the biggest (and I think hardest) climb of the trip. It started out quite well with some nice 4-6% grades but about 10km's up we hit the 7-8%'s and these killed me. It was about a 21km climb and I suffered big time over the last 10km. I remember that last year I did the whole thing without stopping; not a chance this year. I think I had to stop about 5 times, they were all short breaks, but my legs just would not go.
The weather was perfect the whole way up, quite cloudy but it looked like it could rain at any time, and sure enough, with 500 meters to go the sky opened and it started coming down good. You can see the pictures below. We all grabbed our bags and headed into a little warming cabin that is up there and we all put on our winter gear. It rained quite hard for about 17km's down, I got totally soaked through and then I came around one corner and was hit by a burst of warm air, about 1 km later the rained stopped and all of sudden it got really warm. After reaching the farming flats outside of Creston, right at the bottom of the mountain, I had to stop and strip off a few layers as it was about a 11km ride to the hotel.
The day was difficult but overall I am satisfied with how it went. We had three riders do the Kooteney Pass twice this year which is amazing!
This picture makes the whole day worth it:
Kim working hard at the top of Kooteney Pass...our volunteers are the only thing that keep us going.
One of the highlights of the day was coming with 100 feet of a Moose, twice! I took video of each "encounter" but the internet is kind of slow here so I won't be able to upload it, but it was pretty fun.
Lastly, here is what we have in store for ourselves tomorrow.
Good job, George!! Congratulations on making another summit. Hoping tomorrow won't be as gruelling. Kudo's to Kim for her hard work keeping you guys going!!
ReplyDeleteLove you both, Dad and Mom
Your determination is amazing George! Way to go! Love reading your updates! Stay safe! Keeping you and Kim in thought and prayer! Harry and Joan
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