When the Longest Ride Changes to the Shortest

Day 3: Saltery Bay to Powell River

Today's Distance: 18 miles

Total Distance: 101 miles

I woke up feeling like I didn't sleep at all last night.  Once in my tent every little sound got my heart racing.  In my mind it was a bear or a crazy killer woodsman or Bigfoot.  Even though I was exhausted I just couldn't fall alsleep and even when I probably was asleep I didn't really feel like I was sleeping.  Does that make sense?  I've never slept in a mummy sleeping bag before. I'm a side-sleeper and I like to sprawl out a little but a mummy sleeping bag is more for sleeping on your back and is super restricting.  So that sucked.  And I was actually pretty cold too. I remember telling a girl that worked at REI that I don't really get cold easily, but on this trip so far I've been cold everyday haha.  I forced myself to get up in the morning because I had a 75 mile day.  I'm so sore today so I spent a long while stretching out.  While stretching I met the couple that were in the lot nearby. They were on a trip to San Francisco and it's their first time doing something like this too.  We're following the same guidebook (Bicycling The Pacific Coast) and I told them I planned on making the 75 mile ride to Rathtrevor Beach. They are taking their time and planned to stay 18 miles away at Powell River for the night.  We all took off around the same time but somehow I separated from them right from the beginning.

My home for the night

Do I look like a cyclist?

So on today's ride there was no warming up. You hit the steepest climb of the day almost immediately.  While resting part of the way up, a nice lady walking on the other side of the road lets me know this is the worst hill and once you get over the top you're good.  She also let me know that there were a couple humpback whales right on the coast and as she said that we heard them clear their blowhole.  I rode up a little farther and watched them swim around for a bit and just took a moment to thank God for blessing me with this experience.  And then continued on climbing. About 10 miles in Chad the Canadian catches up to me and let's me know that he checked the ferry website and apparently every Wednesday and Saturday they only have 2 ferries scheduled to cross over to Vancouver Island. The first one we already missed and the 2nd didn't leave until 8:45pm...so long story short today's ride just got a lot easier.  When I got to Powell River, it was a surprisingly busy little community. I had a nice lunch and called it a day.

If you look real close you can see the whales spout

I thought this was pretty random but fitting 🇨🇦🇲🇽

What I Learned Today:

•Being spontaneous can be really great and can lead to a lot of fun situations but certain situations call for careful planning. You can't be one or the other all of the time. It's all about balance.