Day 5 – June 22nd 2018 Sunshine Valley to Princeton

Today was the Manning Provincial Park day.  It was also the only day with three summits but when we got to the third, we learned that it did not have a name and so we only climbed Allison and Sunday Summit.  In truth, the third summit was only a 70m climb from the dip off the last summit and therefore probably why it went unnamed.

We awoke to low level clouds and cooler temperatures.  RJD commented as we rode downhill that he was pedalling not to go faster but to keep his legs warm.  But at km 12, we got our first climb, albeit only a 4.8 km climb to warm us up.  A kilometre and a half later, we hit our second up Allison summit.  At the bottom, there was construction with a flag person who let us through and then stopped traffic.  Of course, they did not start traffic in the other direction until we cleared the section and then they let traffic go again in our direction.  This meant about twenty minutes where no one passed us and we could ride on the newly paved highway instead of cowering on the shoulder.  But all through Manning, the roads were good and we had various streams along side the road to provide visual entertainment.

 

I saw what I thought was my first deer of the ride though RJD indicated he had seen others and after I had some sugar in my blood as I sat composing this note, I could also remember at least one other.  I also saw my first wolf of the ride but he did not stick around long enough for RJD to see him.  He crossed the road a few hundred meters up and when I got to the crossing point, he was still hanging around in the forest.  His shoulders seemed almost brown but his haunches were lighter to almost grey.  He looked at me only so briefly and with the forest light, I did not get much of a face view. Always nice to see a wolf.

 

So the summary of today and everyday seems to include very beautiful scenery on lovely roads interspersed with poor roads that don't allow you to enjoy the scenario as well.  We as a country need to do a better job at maintaining the shoulders.  Maybe if BC had more industry and therefore more tax revenue, they could do a better job maintaining their infrastructure to promote Eco vacations.

Today you get two ride pictures.  The first is at the West Gate of Manning where we stopped for second breakfast but I think RJD took the picture of third breakfast.  Food is an important part of the ride because we are burning so many calories a day.    My two sandwiches came with mayo on the side and I used my crusts to wipe the container clean because any calories are good calories.

 

 

 

The second picture is of Sunday Summit, the second of the summits.  Even if RJD is smiling less than me, at the end of the day, he stated that today was not the hardest day for him and it was for me so you know he is.holding back in the pictures.