I am there

So this is me at Sunset beach near downtown Vancouver.  Getting here from Hope was an adventure in itself. I woke and had a lazy morning taking my time to take down the tent and then went into town to have a leisurely breakfast. I did find a nice home cooked restaurant that was really perfect.  I had a great breakfast and then I left Hope about 11 am.  Leaving Hope I realized I had miscalculated how far today''s bike ride would be instead of 130 km it was 150km.  A significant extra chunk to do, but I thought I could still do it, as I had done 140km the day before (with lots of hills).  The first stretch was rolling hills, but really pretty with a gently winding road.   When we got closer to Chilliwack the mountains parted and I was in the delta.   After that there is one big hill that needs to be climbed.  Its about 1.2 km long and 9% grade.  I had taken a photo of the hill before I took it on. Once I was over and back in the delta, I stopped at a blueberry stand for 2 baskets of blueberries.  Each was about 3lbs and big! all for $5 each! So I sat and munched on berries for a while, then thought  should check my messages so went to pull out my phone and I could not find it AT ALL.  I searched everywhere for it and it wasn't on my or in my backpack.  So I reluctantly biked back to that hill (without the trailer) and climbed it again.  I found the phone sitting on the side of the road near where the hill had started. So I technically did the hill 3 times, although without the trailer it was a lot nicer!  


I plugged away for the rest of the day and reached Maple Ridge about 9 pm at about 130km mark.  With only 20km left I decided to keep on trekking, I should be in a nice warm hostel by 10 and a refreshing shower was awaiting me.  At Port Moody, I got lost twice as the signs aren't very clear it was a construction area and that complicated things.  I had one lady point me back the way I had come, and when I had returned to the construction zone I met a cyclist PJ.  PJ was a really nice guy who by now should be living in Calgary as that was his plan then.  What made PJ special is that he only had 1 leg, the other was only down to his knee.  He had it removed as a child do to a rare form of cancer.  Now that was not a limitation for PJ, as he could easily out peddle me with just one leg compared to my 2! I was very impressed.  He is training for the para-Olympic team and I bet he will make it.


He showed me a route and biked with me for a stretch until it started to get dark where he had to turn around.  The route was hwy 1, but said bikes single file. later on I ha a van stop and give me a handful of change as his wife had seen my banner.  That is where I saw a sign saying "freeway starts"   but I didn't see any signs saying "no bikes". So I kept going, and biked through some very nasty construction.  Now its really dark, and this nice cop pulls over, lights a flashing yelling at me to get off the freeway.  I tried to say I didn't see a sign not to be here but I'd get off, he didn't get it, but I repeated I'd get off.  His car was almost smooshed by another car while I was there.  I peddled up a little and there was a car with a flat.  The cop told her that she couldn't change the tire there as it was too dangerous, then told me to throw my bike down the embankment which I did and my trailer.  Luckily Hwy 7 is a block from there so I was able to continue on on hwy 7.  I finally made it downtown around midnight.  I did stop for McD's and to charge my phone for 45 min.  And entering downtown ancouver I met a cute 20 yr aussie who was travelling Betty was her name.  She been o a greyhound in the states prior to being in Vancouver and had made a couple criminals who had gotten out on parole.  In the states when your released you get a free bus ticket anywhere.  Well she facebooked them which I don't understand.  Anyway I turned her around as she was going the wrong way.  How I knew that given I had just arrived in Vancouver was funny in its own right.  Well I kept on going and biking downtown looks really sketchy at 1am, but I finally made it to the hostel which turned out to be a sweltering sauna.   


Given how tired I was I should have been able to sleep through anything, but even after my cool refreshing shower, I had a hard time sleeping. 


So I made it in 10 days of actual biking.  It was 1,150 km total to this point and I did another 50km to visit a friend who helped me get to the airport and is going to help get my bike & trailer home.  When I got home I weighed myself and had lost 11 lb.  Not bad for 10 days of biking!  From the day before my Ride to conquer Cancer last week of June to end of first week of August (6 weeks) I lost a total of 18 lb.  or 3lb a week.  







Location : 117-145 Glenhill Dr, Cochrane, AB T4C 1H2,