Location: Grand Forks Library
Favourite moment of the week: pedaling down the hill into Midway wearing nothing but my t-shirt and board shorts, getting poured on with rain as thunder rings off in the distance while whooping and hollering with my cycling companion Erik. Drenched and joyous, we wandered into the general store to restock before heading on to Greenwood (or something like that) to camp for the night. The country folks in the store felt so sorry for us lunatics (and believe me, we looked like a couple of crazies; we were smiling and laughing as we dripped water all over the grocer) that they gave us complimentary cookies and coffee :) Gotta love small towns.
So here I am in Grand Forks. Not to be confused with the town of Forks in Washington State, made famous by the Twilight series. We're here because I needed a bike shop after I blew out my tire while cycling on the Kettle Valley Rail out of Kelowna. Apparently it's more for mountain bikes than touring/road bikes, but I didn't know this until I was on the trail, headed off into the middle of nowhere with no one but the over friendly chipmunks to keep me company. Then, BANG! In one moment my tube was shot, tire destroyed, and rim cracked.
But I made a friend, Erik from Victoria, while I was fixing my gear on the side of the path. The first soul I'd seen in hours, he stopped to make sure I could get my spare tire on (thank goodness I brought one), and we kinda just kicked it down the path together after that. We've spend the last few days cycling along the old rail bed, powering through puddles of unknowable depth, camping near lakes and streams, and chilling out around the ol' cooking pot. The other night we had the
opportunity to sleep in a renovated old caboose, which was totally rad since it down-poured rain on the tin roof all night long. We arrived in Grand Forks this afternoon, kicked it straight to the bike shop where my rim (special ordered from Norco) was waiting for me. A couple of hours later and $225 in the hole and I'm good to go. Note to self: to avoid minor disasters, research trail conditions prior to heading out.
So the weather had been rotten/awesome. Don't know what more to say, except that I'm sick of lubing up my chain and having it all washed off each day and replaced with a thick layer of grit. The sun, when she shows were lovely face between storms, is brilliant. I hope to see more of her, and less of her lousy rain cloud friends, over the course of the summer.
peace,
meg
Favourite moment of the week: pedaling down the hill into Midway wearing nothing but my t-shirt and board shorts, getting poured on with rain as thunder rings off in the distance while whooping and hollering with my cycling companion Erik. Drenched and joyous, we wandered into the general store to restock before heading on to Greenwood (or something like that) to camp for the night. The country folks in the store felt so sorry for us lunatics (and believe me, we looked like a couple of crazies; we were smiling and laughing as we dripped water all over the grocer) that they gave us complimentary cookies and coffee :) Gotta love small towns.
So here I am in Grand Forks. Not to be confused with the town of Forks in Washington State, made famous by the Twilight series. We're here because I needed a bike shop after I blew out my tire while cycling on the Kettle Valley Rail out of Kelowna. Apparently it's more for mountain bikes than touring/road bikes, but I didn't know this until I was on the trail, headed off into the middle of nowhere with no one but the over friendly chipmunks to keep me company. Then, BANG! In one moment my tube was shot, tire destroyed, and rim cracked.
But I made a friend, Erik from Victoria, while I was fixing my gear on the side of the path. The first soul I'd seen in hours, he stopped to make sure I could get my spare tire on (thank goodness I brought one), and we kinda just kicked it down the path together after that. We've spend the last few days cycling along the old rail bed, powering through puddles of unknowable depth, camping near lakes and streams, and chilling out around the ol' cooking pot. The other night we had the
opportunity to sleep in a renovated old caboose, which was totally rad since it down-poured rain on the tin roof all night long. We arrived in Grand Forks this afternoon, kicked it straight to the bike shop where my rim (special ordered from Norco) was waiting for me. A couple of hours later and $225 in the hole and I'm good to go. Note to self: to avoid minor disasters, research trail conditions prior to heading out.So the weather had been rotten/awesome. Don't know what more to say, except that I'm sick of lubing up my chain and having it all washed off each day and replaced with a thick layer of grit. The sun, when she shows were lovely face between storms, is brilliant. I hope to see more of her, and less of her lousy rain cloud friends, over the course of the summer.
peace,
meg
Is the trail a little rough for your city bike?
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a few more pictures.
Happy trails:)