Penticton to Vernon

Day 6 (5th on the road) June 05 142 km Total 536 km

Penticton to Vernon via West Side road

After a welcome recovery day on the shore of Skaha Lake in Penticton, it was time to press on.

Started off with a brisk tail-wind which was lucky for me - we later heard from Pete and Ryan that they had battled a strong and scorching headwind going to Kelowna the day before.

The ride to Summerland was relatively easy, with a few uphill stretches, but always returning to lake level. I already missed the company of Pete and Ryan: the miles go faster when you have a partner in your field of view to share the pain of the tough sections, to rejoice in the achievement of each summit and to enjoy the new vistas at every turn in the road.

Just past Summerland, I was lucky to miss an hour-long road closure for a major construction project. I expect that I was not to popular with the crews, as they had to wait for me to traverse the several miles of the project before they could begin their blasting operations. Turns out that this highway improvement project is at the location of the major landslide last year that cut off transportation along the Okanagan valley for several weeks last year. The amount of material that had been carved from the mountainside is amazing.

Coming into Peachland, the favourable wind was starting to turn, but a small construction project was causing the traffic to bunch up and slow to a speed not much faster than mine. I have learned that in this type of situation you can enjoy a nice boost from the slipstream of passing traffic.

By late morning, the temperature was rising. I had covered 60km, with a fair amount of up-and-down, and was feeling more tired than I had expected. I had decided to take the West Side Road route from Kelowna to Vernon, which is much more scenic than the interminable strip-mall developments on highway 97 through Kelowna. West Side is a winding switchback road through rocky terrain, a succession of steep 200-300 foot climbs followed by similar drops back to lake level. But what the hey, I'm not on this trip to follow easy routes!

I decided to forgo my usual midday feast in a restaurant, instead stopping at Bear Creek Park to get a protein fix from nuts, fruit, beef jerky and landjaeger sausage, followed by a pleasant 45 minute nap on a picnic table. Before leaving, I fortunately remembered to refill my water bottles - even so I was running on empty by the time I reached Vernon.

During one climb, I experienced my first mechanical problem of the trip: missed a gear change and got my chain firmly wedged between two chain rings. I eventually managed to pry it out, with no apparent damage. New motto: if your chain comes off, stop pedalling!

By late afternoon, pedalling was becoming hard work, so I was pleased to get my first sight of Vernon through the haze across the lake, and stopped to eat some chocolate that ran down my fingers.

Fun to see some teepees by the side of the road - a large part of West Side road runs through the open rangeland of a First Nations reserve.

And finally into Vernon. At the city limits, I called Farrah and the boys, and Jeffrey, Taylor and Nolan rode ther bikes down the hill to meet me.

And now for a great weekend of sun and fun with the family. On Saturday, we will go for a family ride to Kalamalka lake (heaven - no panniers!), watch Jeffrey playing in his soccer league, and enjoy a birthday party for friend Doug Hartree. On Sunday we will all go to the beach with the Yalie and have a picnic with boat rides. Always a sweet prospect, and doubly so remembering how I got here!