Day 1 – June 20, 2014

Aaron Tews’ Route for Day 1 of cycle trip to Calgary – June 20 2014
Trip Agenda:
- Goal: Hope to Merritt
- Predicted: Highway 5 (Coquihalla) from Hope then Coldwater Road into Merritt (to bypass the additional elevation). Ended up staying on Highway 5 entire way due to warning about riding on Coldwater Road alone on a bike (guy in food truck at Coquihalla Summit).
- Distance:
- Predicted: ~115kms
- Actual: 121kms
- Predicted: ~115kms
- Elevation (Google Maps):
- 1775m (5824 feet)
- 1775m (5824 feet)
- Time to complete:
Packed and ready
I was cycling by 6:30am. It was cold – about 7 degrees C and lightly raining. As I began the ride, the true magnitude of my goal and the solitude hit me. For some reason, I became a little nervous about what I was actually doing. However, once I started the uphill grind, I settled down.
The day was perfect for the ride. It alternated between light rain and simply overcast so it
never got too hot. Once I
hit the bear snowshed, I knew I was committed. The incline at this point of the Coquihalla destroys cars (see picture) , but for some reason, I felt really strong and powered all the way up. At the summit, I overheard someone mention it was 3 degrees C (where the toll both used to be) which would explain why I was so cold. I spent 30 minutes in the heated rest area warming up, hydrating and snacking.
Found a food truck at another rest stop a little further on and had a PowerAid and cookie for
$8 – but was it good! It was here the vendor warned me about riding along Coldwater Road alone and on a bike. I heeded his warning and stayed on Highway 5 all the way into Merritt. The differences between staying on Highway 5 and Coldwater Road – about 500m in elevation and the traffic!
The push to the summit before Merritt was definitely a mental challenge – every corner lead to another incline. I had forgotten how steep the climb was the last time I drove it in the car. Once I got into a groove, I found I could maintain about 17kms per hour. I even had a few cars and rigs honk their horns in support! You can see where I was heading in the distance!
It was a relief to hit the summit before Merritt and begin riding downhill for a while. This turned to a panic as I quickly hit 60 km/h! It seemed the brakes on my bike were struggling to slow me down. After about 10 minutes of hard brake use, I pulled over and stopped to give times for the brakes to cool off and have some water. After about 10 minutes resting, I touched the front brake router and actually burned my fingers. It was a good thing I pulled
over as I’m guessing my brakes were close to failing. For the rest of the
decent, I took my time keeping the bike at around 30kms / hour.
I decided to check into a hotel for the night as the campsites were quite a distance out of town. It was quiet and clean and by 8:30pm I was out cold!
Next Blog Post: Cycle Trip 2014 – Calgary II (Day 2)