2011-05-13 Squamish to Strawberry Point (Mount Currie)

After having spent the night at a beautiful, yet loud, next to the road spot, I rose early. For breakfast I made myself a snickers and some other goodies, than I used the nice weather and the parking lot to sort through my things, repacked and there I was again on the road.

 
Next destination Whistler – The ride to Whistler was uneventful, strolling uphill through some amazing scenery, snow covered mountains, deep valleys, ravaging rivers, mellow green blue lakes. All in all a blast.

Arriving in Whistler I had lunch. Whistler is a busy town, lots of people on the street, biking, hiking or strolling with their kids. Definitively a place worth living it seems and I was debating whether I should stop for an afternoon and switch off the bike with some skis. Overall I opted for only a quick stop, refueled my water bottles and than I was hitting the road again. As lively as Whistler is, I wasn’t alone on the road. Some folks on the mountain bike gave me the thumbs up and a lovely lady passed me with her road bike heading the same direction. A nice change and company always motivates. By By lovely Lady - I was thinking - with my 150 lbs I won’t see you again.

So I just pedaled along, enjoying the nice view onto the lake thinking about nice cool bath jumping in. A while down the road my lovely lady came again into view. Whether I just had my 150 lbs pushing me down hill fast, or whether she was just rolling along enjoying the view as much as I did. In any case with my luggage pushing me downhill I got closer and closer, another hill and she was gone again, just to appear again on the downhill. We played this game for a while until I finally had to pass her on a longer downhill stretch. You know a ~$2000 bike, lots of expensive gears, her face and smile price less. - come on Girl you can catch me again. She didn’t :-( - maxing out at ~75 km/h on the steepest downhill I think she didn’t had a chance.

Racing down to Pemberton averaging about 40 to 60 km/h on the slopes I enjoyed the freedom of being on the road. Just before Pemberton one last 15% climb stopped me in track, slowing me down to a screeching halt- feeling like a snail at only 6 km an hour. The nice thing here was that a group of cyclers were passing me, giving me the thumbs up and cheering me on.

I caught up with them in Pemberton, while one of them was already on her way up to Whistler, the other three were resting at a nice picnic area outside of the gas station. While they were hitting the road I had another chat with a local and than made my way over to the local grocery store. Stocking up on water (again), a nice steak for dinner, bananas and a large yoghurt for breakfast. Well equipped, I headed over to the Pony (pub) – tied up my Drahtesel on the bar and had a nice ice cold Corona, while working on some pictures and my last days Blog, enjoying the view and sunshine and chatting with a couple of people.

Before heading onward to me night place I had another quick stop in front of the café, where I could hitch on the internet, posting my first blog and sending of a few e-mails, and off I went again hitting the pavement and speeding down towards my camp for the night. Beautiful lush green meadows, the river inviting for some catch or just a leisurely stroll.

Finally I arrived at the lake, with Strawberry Point another 7 km down the dirt road. Oh Wow Dirt Road cycling is very different from the nice road. Washboard pavement doubles the fun. Lingering the worries whether this will be too much for my bike racks. Ah Well if they can’t take this now, how shall I get up to Prudhoe Bay I tell myself, and off I go downhill topping at about 30 to 40 km/h and up hill the usual slow 5 to 10 km/h. The last hill I did 1.5 times. Unsure how much further the actual camp ground would be or whether I may already had missed it, I had spotted a decent camp spot I headed uphill than half way downhill, where I chatted with a passing car. Ah Well only a few more meters they told me and it would be worth while getting up again.

One more time. And there it was I may have been 500 m short of the parking lot. - Daahh

One last effort getting down to the beach and the campgrounds. A nice little path, two staircases and there I was. All alone at the beach. Not totally - a nice Australian couple living in Whistler had spent the beautiful sunny afternoon at the place. After a nice chat – Hey Mate – they were hitting the road and I finished my delicious dinner, soup and a quinoa pasta dish with my steak and sugar snap pees and a spectacular view, enjoying myself and reflecting on two great days riding my bike across the mountains.