B4B/15 Day4A: Courtenay to Campbell River via Rippling Rock

​Day 4 of the 2015 Bike 4 Bibles event was cold.  And rainy.  It was also short and scenic (as much as the fog allowed us to see, anyways!)  
    Special thanks to Bryson McEwen for his technical wizardry on the video "Rainy Campbell River."

Patience, waving the red flag to signal a refuelling stop (ie. see food, eat food, therefore stay warm.)

Wednesday was a short day. But for the thirty or so bicyclists it was probably the toughest day of the entire trip because of the cold, rainy weather. It was also a rough day for me. (I'll expand that story later in this post.) Our workaholic roadies were up preparing breakfast before dawn, and then I provided the short inspirational message, about our collective experience the previous day going through Nanaimo. I told them about the high-speed car chase that happened in the same location and at the same time that the riders should have been passing me, but instead were scattered around the town. I said that this is a supernatural coincidence. (See the post "Duncan to Courtenay A".)  Then I left immediately to get to my flagging station and promptly missed the sign, which was literally out of the church driveway that pointed us in the right direction. Oops.

I quickly realized my mistake and knew where to go, but before I could turn around I passed a few of our cyclists going the same direction. They saw my vehicle pass, with it's distinctive rear 3 bicycle carrier, and figured they were going in the right direction. Unfortunately, they did not see me turn around, and I did not think to  flag them down and point them in the right direction. I got to my post, radioed Roger and Judith, who came out to talk to me, and then retrieved the wayward riders, by then several kilometers down the road.  
 
Roger has a big truck, so they all piled in, bikes in the back, and started again from my post a little out of Courtenay. These particular cyclists were very gracious to me later when I talked to them, and were also proud of the extra miles they had ridden, as well they should be. 

Our trusty supply truckers, Andrew and Patience, found a spot to provide a refuelling break at the halfway mark. Most of the cyclists stopped just long enough to grab some food and took off again.

The riders then rode up to Rippling Rock, about 10 km past Campbell River but Andrew and Patience went straight to the big Baptist Church in Campbell River.  

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Judith & Patience near Campbell River from Daniel Loucks on Vimeo.

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Patience welcoming Katlyn (blue jacket) & Karen into the Rippling Rock Lookout, with Roger's truck in the background.

Jim and Jeanette Bosma

Stella, Rick, & Joanne at Rippling Rock Lookout.

Kathy, Jim, & Rick (front to back) are looking at the Narrows, while Lenny looks at the camera.

This day was also my toughest day because I got lost (yes, I will admit that!) not once, but twice!  I will explain the second time in the next installment of this series about the Canadian Bible Society's Bike for Bibles 
"Vancouver Island & the Sunshine Coast" ride.