Friday June 30, 2006

Day 7-Merritt to Pritchard
Temperature: 34 degrees and 50 degrees measured en route
Distance: 144 km

Another hot one today, with a ride that included the dreaded and much talked-about within the group- 4km climb.

There are two groups doing the Tour Du Canada this summer, and we’re traveling a day apart from each other, ours being the second group.
Yesterday was a rest day, where the groups overlapped at the camp site in Merritt; the other group was talking about taking a short cut to Pritchard today that would essentially eliminate the 4 km climb, plus take 10km off the route, and remove going to Kamloops.

Of course once our group caught wind of this conversation, people immediately jumped at the chance to skip the hill, as hills have taken on the persona of the bogey-man for many people (I’ll admit, myself included.)
We have been regaled with stories of legendary hill climbs that we will come across during our trans-Canada ride; one woman from Newfoundland was so frightened by the upcoming hill on our third day that she lost sleep over it (she made it.)

Needless to say most of the group opted for the short cut, but I am riding with some tough-guy wannabes-(myself included) so we elected to Climb The Hill.

Our ride started off from Merritt, along gently rolling terrain, which followed a series of lakes; eventually we veered away from the lakes, and started to go higher in elevation through a series of the rolling hills.
The country side again is amazing; very dry, rocky and desert like, and seems to be mostly inhabited by horse farms and cattle ranches-we are definitely in cattle-ranch country.

Eventually we reached the foot of this much-talked about hill (we didn’t know it at the time, but soon figured it out,) and started our ascent.
It wasn’t too bad in the beginning, but gradually started to increase in pitch.
The climb was deceptive as you could see a bend in the road, but once reached, took you to another bend.
This was repeated numerous times until 4 km had gone by.
I climbed slowly, at some points gasping for more air and gears-it was indeed a tough climb.
Once we reached the summit we saw signs for Kamloops, and came across a warning sign for drivers to check their brakes before the descent-this was going to be fun.
The descent in total was about 15 km-sometimes the pitch gentle, and sometimes steep-it was pretty hair raising to come racing down the hill at break neck pace into town.
The view going into Kamloops was spectacular, as the town essentially sits in a basin, between two mountains.
We raced down the hill, hitting a speed of 62km/hour, and just going down, down into the town-I’ve never had such a long descent.

Kamloops is an odd town; it feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere, (probably because it is,) and I am still not quite sure why its there.
We made our way into the centre of town, and had a Big Fat Greek lunch.
I will not do that again, good as it was, as afterwards I was full, yet still had to bike about 50km in 36 degree heat.
I could barely keep my eyes open; the mid-day heat was doing its thing, and I desperately wanted to crawl into a little ball and have a nap, but press on we must, and press on we did.
Luckily the rest of the ride was fairly flat, and we rode fast, riding at 34-40km/hour for long stretches at a time-I wish more of the riding could be like that.

We hit Pritchard eventually-but am not sure what Pritchard is, as I can’t see where it is, or if it exists.
We’re staying at a strange RV campsite (aren’t they all strange by nature?) with all kinds of animal horns and skulls nailed to various things around the site-a little unsettling.

It’s always fun to see what the amenities are going to be like; some places are obviously better than others.
I took a shower in this tiny stall (25 cents) and when I walked in, I saw a Big Black Spider.
I swear I saw it turn its head, look me in the eye, wink, and give me the thumbs-up-go ahead.
Once I was done, it immediately rappelled down to the floor, took a drink, and then scuttled its way up to its lair (with the skeletal remains of large insects and birds)
It seems to have figured out a routine when people shower.
I was grateful that I had served a purpose and wouldn’t have to be sacrificed, so gave it the salute and hastily beat a retreat.

The dinner pan has just been banged!