Early this year, I began planning a bike trip. I enjoyed the 2017 Sea to Sea bike trip and wanted to try the challenge of the B.C. mountains again. When mentioning it to family, I received interest from others wanting to do it too, either biking or as a support person. I had been biking on the warmer days in January/February but then starting March 1, I began biking 5 days a week to train for this trip. I also began my (usual) hours of planning into all the details. Looking up Sea to Sea routes, comparing, changing etc. Then just before Spring Break, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and the world slowed right down. My plans did the same, and the interruption to the normal routine also stopped some of my extended family from joining. Eventually though, life became busy with online school and helping a neighbour’s kids with their school and helping on the farm. At one point, my Mom expressed interest in still coming along as a support person, and my little sister, Elizabeth wanted to bike with me. At the end of April, I started biking again to train. This time I worked on my ability to climb hills by doing them often. I tried to bike often but I didn’t want to bike in the rain and we had a wet spring, so I didn’t get as many rides in as I would have liked. After working out schedules, we decided to do our trip July 6. We planned to bike from Abbotsford to Salmon Arm. On our Sea to Sea trip, we did that in 6 days but we are going to split one of the longer days into 2. Elizabeth and I did a couple of rides together but because she’s always working, it didn’t work too often. At one point, I biked up the hill on Christiansen road next to our house. That was a tough hill. At one point I was so tired that I had to cross the street and then come back so that I had relief from the steep grade. I enjoyed coming back down the hill, although it was over much too quickly! I think I over exerted because I had quite the runny nose for the next few days. At the end of May, I was told I’d be needed back at school so I then started biking in Abbotsford. Instead of driving to the parking lot I usually did, I biked there. The reason I had always driven was because of a big hill in between my house and there. Now, I was planning on biking through B.C.’s mountains, so I had to practice hills. I was biking 3-5 times a week. I biked to White Rock and back once, and that was very tough at the end. It was relatively flat, but I was just exhausted. That was 90km which was close to the same distance we would have for a long day on our trip. I had enjoyed the rest of the ride though. Every time I went biking in Sumas Prairie, I practiced the Vye Road hill. On Strava, I could keep track of my time for the hill, and see how I was improving. That was the most motivating. From the first time I biked it to the last, I had shaved off over 1 minute! Instead of almost 5 minutes to climb it took just under 4! At the end of June, school finished, and I returned to Salmon Arm. Elizabeth and I climbed the Christiansen Road hill again, and I was faster and it was not as hard! Elizabeth and I also biked to Armstrong and back for a 90km ride just a few days before our trip. It was also good to bike together to learn how the other bikes. July 6 - 12 is the date of our trip.
(It is July 11 as I write this)
(It is July 11 as I write this)