Tag archives for Vernon

Day 32: Vernon to Banff

By Chris Published August 17, 2012

This morning was a repeat of yesterday as dad woke up and took off early, and left poor Adrian and I to fend for ourselves in the hotel. Unfortunately our sleeping in plan didn’t work out that well as there was far too much yelling and door slamming going on in the hallway. Aside from the door slamming, the hotel was great, and we’d like to thank the Prestige Hotel and Conference Center in Vernon for putting us up for the right price last night. I’d definitely stay at that hotel again.

Breakfast at the hotel was great, and upon getting gas we hit the highway. Traffic was pretty heavy on the way up to Sicamous, and we got stuck behind some side by side semis for a while… “Kind sir, please move over!”

Speaking of that, being that it was a Friday, apparently all rules of the road went out the window as people were driving slower in the passing lane, and we even had a few vehicles deliberately attempt to pinch us off at the end of passing lane opportunities. It was just ridiculous!

Rogers Pass on a beautiful day!

As you can see from this picture at Rogers Pass, the weather was dynamite again today, and we didn’t even have to consider putting our jackets on. The temperature was hot, but tolerable and didn’t feel like we were riding on the sun like we were yesterday.

The tunnels were also a good time today. Traffic was heavy again, and we ended up slowing down to about 50 at one point while inside a tunnel… of course I dropped er down to 2nd gear, and I’ve never heard so much hilarious backfiring since I’ve had the bike. I turned to smile at Adrian and all I saw was him buckling over in laughter. Thought the poor guy was going to crash!

Just outside of Banff we passed the 12,000km mark! My initial estimate of just under 12k for the entire trip is obviously a little bit off.

Once we got to Banff I had a little surprise as my rear brakes were gone… I don’t know what happened to them, but it’s a little bit different riding around without a rear brake. I’m going to see if I can take care of it tomorrow before we leave (maybe just bleed the lines or something as the pads are ok), but if not I’m sure I’ll be able to make it back to Edmonton with just a front brake. Going to have to adjust the riding style a little bit to compensate.

Tonight is the 2nd last night of the trip. Looking forward to being able to sleep in my own bed again on Sunday night when we’re back.

Here are today’s points of interest:

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Day 31: Whistler to Vernon

By Chris Published August 17, 2012

Adrian and I slept in until the early hour of 8:57am when housekeeping busted into the room in attempt to get us going. Seriously, what hotel starts cleaning the rooms at that hour when checkout isn’t until 11?

My Harley at Green Lake

Anyway, dad got up early and started making his way to Vernon before us as he didn’t want to ride in the heat. As we slept in and didn’t start making our way until after 11, we rode right through the harshest heat of the day. Just a mild 37 degrees as we rode through terrain that was something out of an old western.

What kind of McDonald’s is this?

Starting the western theme to the ride off right is this interesting McDonalds in Pemberton.

Adrian being awesome near Duffey Lake

We decided to strike some sweet poses at Duffey Lake…

Check out that windmill!

We were quite entertaining for the other people that stopped off at Duffey Lake for photos with our air guitar playing… who knows how this idea came up, but it did and the pictures are forever proof.

Anyway, the heat was compared to “riding on the sun” according to Adrian, and we had pretty much 7 hours on the road as the roads were so twisty and speeds were so slow. At 20-40km/h for almost 200km, it took us forever to cover off a fairly short distance.

The roads that we took today, combined with the weather, made for one of the best riding days that we’ve had throughout the whole trip. The scenery was phenomenal, and the omnidirectional terrain was out of this world. There were probably 20 different occasions that I wished I still had my GoPro camera on my bike, as there were no places to stop to take photos, but the mounted camera would have been able to capture it.

Good news is that GoPro is going to replace the camera that broke off my bike and ended up smashing down the highway on Vancouver Island. Thanks for the great customer support, but too bad I wont be able to capture footage for the entire ride. I’m really missing a lot of good footage right now…

Anyway, we continued the ride on the sun in the 37 degree heat and arrived in Vernon as a pair of sweaty messes. Was a fun ride, a little hot, but still pretty fun. Dad had gone down to Turtle Bay between Vernon and Kelowna to meet some friends from Edmonton, so Adrian and I went to the Irish pub near the hotel for some dinner.

Tomorrow we have another similar distance day as we head over to Banff. Cascades today, and Rockies tomorrow!

Here are today’s points of interest:

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Day 25: Nakusp to Kelowna

By Chris Published August 10, 2012

With the unknown ferry crossing times and traffic, we had an early morning out of Nakusp to make sure we got to our 1:15pm meeting with the Kelowna MS Society.

Getting on the Needles Ferry

Riding across the Monashee

We had a great ride down to the ferry, and then the Monashee once again proved to be one of the best biking roads in western Canada. Traffic was light, and the peg scraping, while a little startling the first time it happened, was a blast!

With the Kelowna MS Society and Team Rona MS Riders

Once we finished tearing that awesome road apart, we stopped off for lunch in Lumby, and then made it in to Kelowna just in time to meet our motorcycle escort into the city! Traffic was heavy so it was a little rough at the start, but once we picked up the Rona cyclists, things went well and we had a nice little ride in to meet the reps from the Kelowna MS Society. Thank you to Miriam King for organizing the event and welcoming us to Kelowna! Check out the newspaper coverage we received here in Kelowna.

While riding in we passed the 10,000km mark on the ride!

It was so hot in Kelowna… I melted!

It was so hot in Kelowna that when I got to the hotel I pretty much melted… or at least that’s the visual that Erin was going for when she lined up my stuff on the couch like this. Success?

For dinner we headed back up to Turtle Bay Marina for a heart attack platter, while Erin debated taking a sea-doo out for a rip. Unfortunately once she finally decided to go, they were out of them and wouldn’t have one available till later… later as in when it wasn’t as sunny and awesome out anymore.

Anyway, the heart attack was good, and it was nice to meet Erin’s friends and see C.M. again!

Here are today’s points of interest:

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