Tried not to think about the ride back to the highway or the 125 km day waiting for me as I stretched and made oatmeal.
Eventually the time came and I saddled up.
Sure enough, the ride back down to the highway was just as bad as I anticipated. It took me about an hour, leaning on the brakes the entire way. I had the smart idea to dry my towel and shorts on the back of my bike, which turned out to be less than smart when I got within 2 km of the highway and realized my shorts had fallen off somewhere along the way. Well shit. Knowing that they were not worth braving another 1 - 2 hours on the logging road I carried on.
Hitting the asphalt again was a pleasure but was soon dampened by the inmediate hill around the corner. A long climb and then longish descent into Nakusp started the days hills off.
Rolling into Nakusp was a treat though. The first real town in three days, complete with cell service and cafes. I caught up on notifications while sipping coffee and did some planning before heading to the grocery store for lunch stuff and fresh veggies. Looking at google maps as I left town at 11:30, it was still 81 km and 900 m of climbing to Slocan, but I was determined to push on. I mean, 81 km isn't THAT bad.
There was an absolute gruesome kicker to get out of the downtown, hitting at least 15% gradient, and then I settled into a gradual climb up to the divide between Arrow and Slocan Lakes. It got very overcast and a slight headwind developed as I climbed, making it almost feel like autumn. However, it was also extremely humid and the effort level was enough to keep me dripping sweat.
Legs felt good though so I made it to Summit Lake in good time and took a short lunch break and assessed leg condition. Still seemed good so I carried on.
Quickly realized that the name "Summit Lake" was a bit off as I actually had another few kms of uphill before I began a slow descent to New Denver.
Increasing wind and water on the road alerted me to a nearby rain system but I was cruising at a solid 30-something km/hr on the downhill and spirits were rising.
I then made an unexpected discovery of the rare "item that can actually flat out my touring tires". Or well, my rear tire found it. I still have no clue what it was but I am picturing a cross between Wolverine's claws and one of the swords from Kill Bill, since it went through my usually bombproof tires like they were a wet tissue.
Had to change the tube on the side of a narrow road, and also tape up the hole inside the tire itself to keep dirt out. As I started up again, anxious about how this may affect my ability to reach Slocan before dark, it began to sputter rain and the wind increased.
Another one of those character building days.
I was having eta anxiety as I reached New Denver and the tire and tube seemed to be holding so I had a quick snack, mentally prepared myself for the days biggest hill and headed out again.
I came upon the hill about 5 km later, still feeling okay-ish in the legs and just paced myself really well. I was luckily still in the zone and had no issues, reaching the peak in about 45 mins.
As I started down the other side it got progressively sloppy but I knew it was almost all downhill to Slocan so I was feeling pretty swell.
The descent went well, until an unexpected uphill a scant 2 km from town with increased headwind almost killed my legs for good. It should honestly be illegal to put an uphill segment at the very bottom of a long downhill.
However, within an hour I had my campsite set up, was eating my way through an entire bag of chips and was getting ready to shower and drink some cold beer.
Long day done. Google maps tells me it was about 125 km with roughly 1150 m climbing. Pretty solid.
Tomorrow its less than 100 km back to the car with only about 500 m of hills. Should be a fairly pleasanr ride with a lunchtime beer stop in Nelson before getting back to my car. Theres even a rail trail for most of the way that I may check out.
Alls well that ends well.
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