Woke up early today at 6.20 am and had a quick shower. It
seems like I am getting better at setting out my routine as my tent wrap and
pack up time is now under 15 minutes. For breakfast today was scrambled eggs,
potatoes, oatmeal, and other usual stuff for making pack away lunch. I had the
potatoes with oatmeal, bread butter, yoghurt and a protein shake. On galley
duty today was Robert and a bunch of us stayed back to help his team wrap up
the packing of trucks. We ended up leaving the camp at 8.40 am and the ride
today was on Trans-Canada highway all the way to Sicamouse.
Ride today started with some flat portions and then it was
rolling hills with some long climbs up decent grades. I rode with Keith most of
the day as our biking paces seem to match and neither of us were in a rush. Our
first stop was just outside of Chase, BC and I ate half a peanut butter
sandwich. After that it was some great ride with perfect temperatures and a
decent shoulder width on Trans-Canada hwy. The next big town on our maps today
was Salmon Arm, BC and we stopped just while entering at a petting zoo and
farmer’s market area. Peacocks, chickens, turkey, donkey, Lama, goats all were
there for petting along with some old tractors. From thereon we started towards
the town of Salmon Arm and hunted down a Tim Hortons for a lunch. I ended up
eating a veggie sandwich, vegetable soup and small chocolate milk and stayed in
Timmies for around 40 minutes. Cyclists use all the opportunity they can get to
sit on a decent seat.
As soon as we got back on Trans-Canada there was a long 2 km
climb out of town and it seemed to go on forever. We then saw a paper mill on
the lake and it was flooded with lake waters rising drastically. The rest of
ride was along the lake for the major part and involved frequent long climbs
and even the descents seemed a struggle with some headwinds. The road was
deceiving as we would think that we are going downhill after a climb but our
speedometers said that we were in fact climbing. We rolled in to Sicamous and
quickly discovered the damage floods have caused. There was drinking water
advisory in town and the town had set up clean water supplies at multiple
locations. A quick visit to the city hall and after speaking to the attendant
we knew that we have been allocated some space for camping in a park. The
attendant was busy trying to handle all the negative media coverage about city
not being able to troubleshoot flood situations. The immediate turn around and
support we received from the local community in accommodating is really
phenomenal especially since the city is dealing with another set of crisis
different altogether.
We rolled in to camp around 3.30 and set up our tents in a
tree nested area. Dinner today was Chicken Paprikash (tofu version for
vegetarians), salad, left over lentil rice and strawberry and cherries for
dessert. After dinner Keith and I went out for a quick spin to D Dutchmen Dairy
(local dairy farm) for some ice-cream. Again we found petting zoo and since it
was too late for a proper tour, the owner said that it’s OK to just roam around
the facility and so we did. We are going towards canyon hot springs tomorrow
and there is a tough climb towards Rogers pass just after Revelstoke. We are
also scheduled for our galley duty tomorrow so we will be heading out a little
earlier in the morning to make sure we are in time.
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