21th June: Hixon to Prince George
Odometer: 69 km, Start: 9.30am, Finish: 2.00pm, Avg: 19.0 km/h,
Weather: Sunny early, then overcast, Temp: 18-22°C
Bear count: 4, Mosquito Bites: 28, Hills walked: 0
Road Conditions: #97, Good/reasonable surface, 2m shoulder. Traffic light-ish. Quite a few road-works in operation (mainly road widening schemes). No services. Ascent: 400m up/500m down.
My intention yesterday morning was to get to Hixon so that I could make Prince George by midday today and start east down the Yellowhead Highway (route #16). This would make a dent on the long remote stretch coming up to McBride. I didn't feel too good when I woke up this morning, so I decided to have a short day and ride to Prince George instead.
It wasn’t a hugely scenic run in; the land was pretty flat and featureless, it was increasingly overcast and there were several road-work areas to negotiate. (For a lot of this top half of the Caribou Highway there seems to be multiple ongoing road widening schemes). I just rolled in my own space for most of the morning.
About 10km outside of Prince George I met a fully loaded touring cyclist stopped at the roadside, the first one going my way since my start point! Tom is biking to Prince Rupert after starting out a few days ago. I’d heard that there was a “lone biker” ahead of me back at Lac le Hache. I’d finally caught him. Unfortunately, our paths will separate at Prince George! (He’s about to go west on #16. I’m going east).
Both of us were having off days. Tom was tired and had just woken from a kip in a field by the side of the highway. I was still suffering with my insect bites. We decided to make Prince George a rest day town. We headed downtown, found tourist information and sorted a good, cheap motel to start our respective recovery processes…
No comments:
Post a Comment