Parkinson's Cycle of Hope: June 28th Day 3-Hope to Manning Park (70km )

Today was supposed to be one of those days where mental and physical strength is needed. I have talked to several cyclists who have said this part of the ride is probably the toughest. I have been mentally preparing for the biggest mountain in the world, but thankfully that is not the case. Elyse and I drove down highway 3 from Princeton towards Vancouver on our trip out here and the mountains looked a little frightening; however, I didn’t expect to come from training in Sarnia and Windsor, ON and just breeze through the mountains, so I was ready for some pain. Barry cooked us some perfect blueberry pancakes and sent us on our way with a healthy, homemade smoothie for the ride!

This is a tree in Barry's front yard. He has engineered a plan to pull himself up 120 feet into that tree...he doesn't know what he will do (maybe read a book he says), but anyone who knows Barry, knows he loves to use his skills to bring life to his creativity.

This is the beautiful view of his back yard! I only wish I live in such a serene location..

I kept the gear I carried to virtually me, the bike, and some water bottles, because I am fortunate enough to have Elyse there with the support van. Climbing this definitely was not easy, but I didn’t really have any trouble with it. The biggest downfall was that my cycling computer’s date was full part way through the ride, so I resorted do using my cellphone app to track my progress and unfortunately it doesn’t track altitude. Regardless today was a great ride and I don’t feel too bad at all. Elyse had a bad day of driving…she was pretty rattled after this scene, but I was just glad that she was safe, and we were able to get the car back on the road (no cellphone service in Manning Park and absolutely nothing around for miles). The car was just bottomed out on the soft shoulder but that is like 2 feet from flipping down a cliff

I am a slow cyclist but I make up for it with being able to ride long hours. I made it 32km outside of Princeton, which was actually further than my Manning Park plan. I figured there was no point to stop in Manning when it was going to pour rain there. We are staying at a little camp in Princeton and I can hear the river running by as I type this final blog update. I’m sleepy and I need to stretch…I have to drive back towards Manning Park to make up the 32km but I am well ahead of schedule and there is a ton of downhill on tomorrow. It is a pretty sketchy road to cycle on from Manning to Princeton. There is a brutal bike lane and the cars don’t seem to give me any room. I have to say I have been very impressed with the respect that drivers are giving me; up until now, I have felt very safe.