Coquitlam, BC!!! Bike Trip is Over Today!

I'll get around to updating again in the morning with details since Calgary, sleep soon.

We are only a handful of km's from Vancouver now, with probably an hour or two to put in tomorrow. Today was quite possibly the worst day of the trip in terms of things going wrong. If there ever was a test of patience, pain, and aggravation, today was it. We awoke in stunning Hope, BC on a sandy riverside spot, fully secluded from the nearby road. However, as the sand quickly dampened with the slow-starting drizzle of the day, it began to stick to everything we needed to pack, not to mention getting in the cracks of tire rims, brake pads, you name it. After a great breakfast at the local family diner, we set off for Coquitlam, roughly 120km away. The rain came down all day, making up for the dry spell we'd experienced for a long while.

At the day's end we'd experienced doses of heavy traffic, unpredictable roads, and steady streams of road grime being shot from the back tire of the rider immediately in front. The road sludge does well in laying down a first and second coat of muck to face, legs, and clothing. For me the day really started after one unfortunate event. A water bottle fell from Mike's rack, who was directly in front of me, and as it was fairly large I swerved suddenly to avoid it, losing control and sliding to the ground. At first my left thigh smacked the stem under the handlebars, then as I luckily unclipped my feet from the pedals, I skidded to the ground using my palms to bear all the impact. Since the day before I had slipped on a turn, going very slowly thankfully, my hands and arm had already sustained some scrapes and road rash. Today's fall though was harder and faster and my right hand lost a loonie size piece of flesh. I was in shock at first, a strange sensation, and the sting had me on my knees biting my lip and grimacing more than one should have to grimace. After 15 minutes of collecting my breath and wiping up the damage, we were off again.

Adding to the fun, I managed to pop four tubes, and the bracket holding my rack and panniers to the seat post happened to snap mid-ride, causing all the gear to suddenly fall to the road and drag behind me. Terrific. And these were just my troubles. There were other flats in the group, we missed a turn-off, so on and so forth. The final long riding day and it just had to be this eventful. Ah well, shit happens! Now we're at Mike's Aunt and Uncle's in Coquitlam, showered and well fed, so it could be plenty worse. Tomorrow we end our bike trip and begin our week of BC exploration until flying back home. I'll update the gap between Calgary and here when I get a chance in the morning. For now, sleep.