Today was a lot of fun! Darron, Iona, and I all left Canyon Hot Springs late but we made up some ground while climbing the rest of the way up Rogers Pass. It was a steady but gradual climb that lasted 33 km. Roger's Pass is one of the most difficult mountain routes in Canada as it is the key passage way through the Selkirk Mountains. This area is highly prone to Avalanches and we had to cycle through 5 poorly-lit snow sheds.
At the summit of Rogers Pass was an information center that was pretty cool. It had information about the creation of the pass for the railway as well as some of the deadly avalanche's that occurred over the past century. Also at the information center were stuffed animals that inhabit the park such as wolverines, grizzle bears, and cougars (the four legged kind!). Anyway, it served as a great place to rest at 10:15 am.
The decent from the pass was nothing short of invigorating! The winding road was extremely steep and I was hesitant to let my speed go higher than 60 km/h. It was a chilly ride down that lasted over 10 km. The remainder of the day consisted of several short but steep climbs and finally some easy riding into Golden. The daily mileage was 121 km. Oh yeah, another cool milestone for today was that we crossed the pacific/mountain time zone. This is the first of six time zones that we will cross throughout our trip. It's kind of good news for me because now I will be able to call home a little later in the day.
Tomorrow is a rest day in Golden so I wasn't in a hurry to set up my tent. Instead I pulled up my camping chain and hit the beer cooler. I think it was a big mistake because my quads have really started to seize up and I should have stretched first. Well, at least tomorrow is a rest day. Almost our entire group went to small cinema across the road to watch "The Break Up." Not a bad way to spend the evening, Vince Vaughn is funny as hell and Jennifer Aniston is hot!
That's all I have for now, our campsite is located right next to the Kicking Horse River so I should be a cool night and allow me to sleep in tomorrow. Only two days left in British Columbia!
