Jul
29
2009
by Mr Cubes
Boya Lake to Jade City (24.5 miles)
Total Miles: 1,635.4
Today started so well that I wished it would never end. Once I was out and riding, I began to feel like it really wouldn't ever end. Another day of huge contrasts as the temperatures became insane for cycling in.
As I was getting ready to leave, the campground host came over and asked if I was doing the ride for any particular reason or cause - so I told her about the charities that I am trying to raise money for: Great Ormond Street Hospital and Save the Children. Once she heard this, she said that she would waive the fee for camping and gave me my $15 back. A very good start to the day! At this point, Lily and Ian came over and we chatted for a bit and it turned out it was them who had mentioned it to the host - thanks guys, that's $15 you saved me! After swapping details I set off on my way, back up the steep hill out of the site onto the main highway. Before I'd even completed half a mile, Ian came along in his car with Lily leaning out of the window taking photos of me - now I know how those A-List celebrities must feel. We waved goodbye a final time and I 
was left to finish the climb on my own. It was just coming up to noon and already very, very hot.
After an hour of riding I'd completed just nine miles and arrived at Good Hope Lake, a small community which was supposed to have a store. Well, I suppose it did, but all they sold was cans of pop and packets of crisps. Not particularly nutritious, but still felt luxurious as I savoured them in the shade of a nearby picnic table. Shortly after, a couple in an RV came over and after chatting for awhile offered to give me all sorts of snacks - which amounted to two cans of V8 vegetable juice, a tin of sardines, two packets of tuna and a family size pack (about 30 sticks) of pepperoni. Which made it into a fairly good day's shopping after all.
My plan for the day had been to have lunch at Jade City but it took me so long to get there and drained me so much physically that I decided to call it a day. The city itself consisted of one store - selling jade souvenirs. There was an abandoned campground opposite where I set up my tent and after spending several hours in the shade of the store drinking more cans of pop, I headed off to bed. The views all around were simply stunning, but I'd had no chance to appreciate them on the bike. Maybe tomorrow will be cooler...they also told me it was largely downhill from there to Dease Lake - the next community - about seventy miles away, though the mountains up ahead suggested otherwise.