Day 9: Invermere-Banff

WE MADE IT!!!!   Yes indeed, at around 4:30pm all 22 GearUp4CF riders rolled past our "finish line" at the Banff sign.  It is amazing to be done.
Yesterday was a long day, it was the second longest day of the rider, 150km, and it was probably the hottest in the afternoon.  But it was a great ride.  There were so many times that I was just astounded by the beauty of the rockies and the landscape we were riding through.
Last night we went for a celebration dinner and it was a celebration indeed.
Again, I want to thank all of my family who were waiting for us at the finish line here in Banff, it was awesome to see you all!
More to come.

This first picture is a group photo at the top of our second to last climb, it was a beautiful view point about 10km out of Radium.  The second picture is our official "finish line" picture at the Banff sign with all 22 riders.

Day 8- Cranbrook-Invermere

Today was a great ride.  It was a nice flat ride with no real big hills and the temperature was perfect.  For pretty much the whole morning it was overcast and when the sun came out in the afternoon it wasn't too hot.  Today was a very fast ride.  My average speed was just over 30km/h and I got on some really good pace lines to make it easier.  Over-all it was a great day of riding.

It is crazy that tomorrow is already the last day.  As much as I don't want the ride to end it will feel so awesome to finally see that Banff sign!  

Pictures below: Me leading a pace line this morning; relaxing at lunch in the Venza; team 4Lungs and a Liver chillin at Tim Hortons. 

Day 7: Creston-Cranbrook

The sun finally made a sustained appearance today!  Today was a nice ride through the rolling hills of the Kooteney's.  It was considered to be a relative recovery ride but it was still a long day none-the-less.  There was not a lot of excitement on the ride, it was hot but we got through it.  Actually, there was one note on the day, I got my first flat tire of the ride.  It wasn't too big of a deal, I changed it and was back on the road in just over 10 minutes.
All in all it was a good day.  My bike computer didn't work for some reason so I don't have an accurate map of the ride, oh well, sometimes those things happen.
Hope everyone reading this is well.  I know a lot of my family are currently making their way to Calgary for my cousin's wedding tomorrow; I hope it is an awesome day for you Aletha!

Day 6: Rossland- Creston

Well our biggest summits are behind us!!  Today was a gruelling day but it almost didn't happen.
We started the day leaving Rossland around 8:00am.  Right off the bat we had a very steep descent into Trail, a 10km, 10% grade downhill, it was a pretty fun ride, but then everything came to a grinding halt.  Just before leaving Trail we came across a highway sign which said the HWY 3 was closed just past the Kooteney Summit due to a fuel spill.  After making some phone calls we decided to keep going to the next town in hope of more info by then.  We stopped in Selmo to regroup and made a decision on what to do.  I must admit that secretly I was hoping the highway would remain closed and we could leave the Kooteney Summit for another day.  But just when we were about to settle into the motel that the volunteers had already lined up we got word that the highway was opening single alternating traffic and we decided to go for it.  We then road for another 16km to our lunch break.
Everyone had a pretty difficult morning despite the fact is was a pretty flat ride.  It seemed like everyone's legs were having a hard time getting going and no one was looking forward to the Kooteney Pass.  The Kooteney Summit is the hardest climb of the trip- 20km of 6-9% grade with no breaks or flat sections to rest the legs on, it is just up, up and up some more!
After lunch I basically put my bike in first gear and just set a pace and didn't stop until I hit the summit almost 2 hours later.  It was an amazing climb!  There is nothing really to compare it to near Vancouver except maybe doing Mount Seymour back to back, it just keeps going and going.  The crazy thing also is that it follows the side of a mountain and so there are points when you can look up the valley and see the road climbing about 5km's ahead.
It was a pretty emotional climb for me.  I rode the whole thing by myself and had a lot of time to reflect.  I thought about people in my life who are going through a hard time right now but I spent the majority of the time thinking about my cousin, Erin, who lost her battle to CF in 2003 at the age of 19.  I have Erin's picture taped to my handle bars and every time I look down in frustration and exhaustion I see her beautiful smiling face looking up at me.  I know that it was Erin and her inspirational spirit that kept me going on that climb.  It was an amazing climb and when I hit the top I had the greatest feeling of accomplishment I have had in a long time.   As I said, it was an emotional climb and though it couldn't be seen on the outside, I was smiling the whole way up.
From the top of the climb we had about a 50km ride down the mountain, along some beautiful farm land, and into Creston.
It is an amazing feeling to have the Kooteney Summit behind us.  All our big summits have been climbed and everyone is feeling really good to have this one out out of the way.
For more info on the ride remember to check out the right hand column of the blog to see what the ride actually looked like according to my "onboard computer."  

Here are a couple pictures from the top of Kooteney Pass.

Day 5: Grand Forks-Rossland

Today was a pretty amazing ride.  The day started out with some nice up and downs to loosen up those stiff legs.  Then mid morning we hit the huge climb of the day - a 25km climb up Paulson Pass.  The climb started off quite nice with 4-6% grades but quickly went up to 8-9% grades and proved to be the hardest push thus far, during the steeper sections I was lucky to hold my speed at 8.5km/h - quite slow.  But slowly we made it.  We then had some lunch and began the second climb of the day; it was a lot like yesterday, not a huge climb but it hurt due to the intense climbing of the morning.
Unfortunately our most difficult climb is still ahead of us: Kooteney Pass.  We will be hitting this one tomorrow.  I am pretty nervous for it so we shall see how it goes.

GearUp Day 4- Osoyoos-Grand Forks

Today was a big day.  The day started with the climb up Anarchist Summit which began less than 1km from out hotel.  I think I was preparing myself for a horrible climb because in the end was not that bad. I settled into a good pace with two other women and slowly on we reached the top.
The rest of the day was a number of long and fast descents with another average climb in the afternoon.
Our hotel here in Grand Forks is awesome.  It is right along the river and the owners did our laundry for us!  It is called "Johnny's" and I highly recommend it if you are passing through.
Tomorrow is another very big climb up Paulson Summit... I better get some rest.

Here is a picture of myself and three other riders I spend most of the morning with.  This is a statue of the Sasquatch near the top of Anarchist Summit.

Day 3- Princeton- Osoyoos

Another day is done and boy did I feel a lot better than yesterday.  I am almost feeling back to my regular self and I was able to keep a pace that I had wanted.  Overall it was a great ride through a beautiful landscape.  We did hit some pretty good rain and there was also a pretty strong headwind for most of the day but I was able to stay in the pace-line for some of it so that was a big help.  Tomorrow there is going to be a very looooonnnnnnggggggggg climb less than 1km from where we start so we shall see how that goes.
Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement.  Kim and I are having a good time.  Also on that note, Kim has been a huge help for me, especially yesterday and I am so glad she is here.
Here are two pics from the day, one from when I was riding on my own and another while climbing up one of the last hills of the day, working together with another rider (I know I look serious in the pictures but I was having a good time.)