This was a foray deep into the coastal mountains of central Vancouver Island by two cyclists, with yours truly as the 'support' guy. I had it easy, these 2 riders didn't need anyone's support...
I had the opportunity to 'support' two of our very ambitious cyclists who wanted to do an extra 30km on the day we went from Courtenay, past Campbell River to Rippling Rock, and back to the River. Rick is one of the Island contingent, while Lenny is from the Netherlands and has participated in the BC week-long rides for a few years now. They decided to bike 15 km further out from Rippling Rock deep into the central Vancouver Island Ranges. It was a steady, cold rain and about 12 degrees out. The fog was also rolling in with thick blankets.
Lenny & Rick at Rippling Rock Lookout before cycling an extra 30km.
Once Lenny took off again, a young couple swung into the roadside where we had done the interview to fill their water jugs, so I did the same, and drank some very tasty and refreshing mountain water. Vancouver Island mountain water is very good!
On the way back from the 15 km marker, we stopped in for a hot coffee at a little cafe in the middle of nowhere and I conducted an interview with Rick and Lenny that can be viewed below. The questions are not exactly original, but the guys bailed me out with their answers! Hopefully, these interviews give an idea of how tough the day was for our riders. After that, we headed back into Campbell River, but I missed my turnoff and ended up back on the highway south of town, with nowhere to turn around for a few minutes. Earlier in the day, I had missed another turn, so I was very glad to finally roll into the church and relax. By then the sun was out, and we had a good time that evening. We always enjoyed our time at the destination church, but this was the end of three very tough days physically for the riders and four emotionally tough days (a major injury happened on the first day) for everyone. We could regroup and look forward to a smooth back end of the week.
|
Click to set custom HTML
|
RSS Feed
