Day 8 – Sicamous to Revelstoke (T.D.: 86.3km ; S.T.: 4h41min )

Alright! We’re back with another update. Sorry about the wait for all you faithful readers out there. I bet that felt like your favourite Sunday night program was being consistently pre-empted by silly old Sunday night football. Or worse.

Anyway, here we are in CALGARY no less, telling you about things that happened almost a whole week ago! I guess that ruins all the suspense, knowing that we survived the Rockies and are seated comfortably in front of a dashing PC desktop in the cool, furnished basement of a lavish Calgary home. So it goes.

So yeah, back to the subject of this particular post: the ride from Sicamous to Revelstoke. It was, in a word, BEAUTIFUL. This stretch of road is, for those of you unfamiliar with the territory, the first in which snow-capped mountains come into plain and sustained view on the TCH heading east. I mistakenly took these mountains to be our first glimpse of the Rockies. In fact, they make up part of the Columbia mountain range (or possibly the Selkirks – I’m not too sure). Not the Rockies though – those would come later. In any case, they were beautiful. If the trees had ears (and wouldn’t that be something if they did!), they would have heard, between Caroline and myself, repeated, echoing cries of:

“Beautiful!”

“So beautiful!”

Normally, these words are whispered tenderly as we gaze lovingly into one another’s eyes, but today, our gaze was directed outwards, beyond the warm cocoon of our relationship, towards the heavenly landscape that surrounded us. It really was beautiful.

Although there is a slight gain in elevation between Sicamous and Revelstoke, with such sights lifting our spirits, it felt like a downhill run the whole way. Revelstoke itself is a wonderful little town, home to Ryan and Ann Marie Gill, their two young sons, Tobin and Nicholas, and their dog – who, in all seriousness, is named Bear. Two bear encounters so far – but still no actual bears.

Ryan and Ann Marie treated us extremely well – our eternal gratitude to them – and are busy with their own formidable pursuits. Ryan is an avid mountain biker in the summer and downhill skier in the winter, while Ann Marie is in the height of her training for an Iron Man race in Penticton this summer. Now that’s hardcore.

A final note: We stopped at the bike shop in Revelstoke and picked up side view mirrors for each of our bikes and a nerdy orange flag for Caroline’s. For the attentive bloggee, these minute changes might be noticed in future pictures.

Stats:
Av. Spd: 19.1km/h

Mx. Spd: 53km/h

Milestones achieved: 620km in cumulative distance – roughly 1/10^th of our entire journey, and over halfway to Calgary.

Best natural air conditioner: The many rivers and streams that flow from the mountains along the highway -- what a refreshing breeze they bring.

Most aggravating sight: The members of Velo-Quebec, who are doing a supported tour (meaning they have a van that carries all their stuff, and meets them along the way with snacks and Gatorade) from Vancouver to Montreal . Curse their ultra-light road bikes and snappy bike apparel.

Best flavour of gelato at La Baguette in Revelstoke: Truffle Chocolate (it tastes like you’re eating a really cold, soft, wet, brownie – and what’s better than that?)