That Wasn't So Bad

Perry here.  I've been losing sleep worrying about our impending Kettle Valley Railway bike trip.  Am I strong enough for seven or eight days of riding in the mountains?  Am I going to pack the right stuff?  What about my sleeps?  Did I get the right Thermarest?



A mountain of stuff

 My nerves took a beating when I stood back after loading my new bike and saw the mountain of stuff on the back.  Yes I've done the Golden Triangle three times but that was different because we went "Inn to Inn" and had lunches and meals in restaurants - we didn't have to carry everything on our bikes.  I'm a fussy guy and I don't want my brand new Specialized getting all scratched up.  Pearce told me to take off the kickstand because the added weight isn't needed so I hope I find trees or something to lean the bike against.



Just for starters

 Our little ride down to the campsite was a piece of cake.  My computer showed 11 klicks - which is shorter than my commute to work.  Pearce tells me that we'll do 50 - 65 klicks a day on the KVR -  so doing that distance everyday concerns me.  Once we pull into our reserved campsite, Pearce whips out two big cans of beer even before we decide where to put the tents.  And then he pulls out a bottle of red wine from deep down in one of his panniers.  Does this guy have a drinking problem or what?  Or is the KVR trip just a beer bash and punch-up?

I had to pat myself on the back when I got a good fire going in one of those useless rotating mailbox looking BBQ/firebox thingies.  (I did have to call my wife to bring down a box of split wood from home and what the heck - maybe some more beer).  We went over to the camp office to ask about wood and when we saw that the wood came in great huge chunks and was stuffed into a four foot sack and cost ten bucks, that's when I called my spouse to help out.  Not only are we too cheap to pay for wood but without any way of splitting it, we would end up like the rest of the campers with a smoke generating machine (which might help keep the mozzies away!).


Not bad eh?

Except for having to get up for a whizz at 3 am, I had a good sleep and using my earplugs, I blocked out the buzz-saw snoring coming from Pearce's one man tent.  The tent that he says he bought intentionally so that there was no way he would have to bunk with anyone else.  Let alone spoon another man!

I think I can do the Kettle Valley Railway.