August 24, 2016
Day 3 - Lizard Lake to Jordan River: Walking uphill is not a bad thing!
Having learned from yesterday's experience, and knowing we had a big hill or two coming up, we set the alarm and woke up at 6:00. After retrieving our food bags from the tree (where they went undiscovered by any wandering wildlife) we had a quick breakfast of PB on bagels and set out for Port Renfrew, a quick 20 km away.
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What a beautiful morning for a ride! We had to stop, not only to take pics, but to put on some layers as it was not only breathtakingly beautiful, but cold as well! Good thing we had a few layers to put on!
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Riding is such an awesome way to see an area. You really get to take your time and notice things you wouldn't in your car. We even managed to see an elk, out for a morning graze!
We continued on down the road and into Port Renfrew, where we stopped at Tomi's cafe for some much needed coffee and a hot second breakfast sandwich (bacon, eggs, cheese - yum! - way better than McDonalds!).
I used the time to catch up on the world and get ready for what I knew was coming - a monster hill not too far out of town. It did not disappoint. At about 10 km long and with an elevation gain of 224 meters, this was just a really really long climb. I walked most of it and Jim, amazing guy that he is, rode the whole way up! Of course, he would stop every so often to wait for me, which gave him a chance to catch his breath, but wow! With the amount of weight he is carrying on his bike, pretty impressive! I, on the other hand, was working those arm and leg muscles pushing! It took us about 1 1/2 hours to finally get to the top, but we did it!
The remainder of the ride to Jordan River was filled with more climbs and big downs. I walked up some more and managed to ride up a few - Jim, of course, rode up every one! There were a few scary tight curves, but you really can hear traffic coming so there is lots of time to get off the road if necessary. Some of the downhills were so amazing! We topped out at 60 km/hr - our fastest yet!
Late in the morning we broke out of the woods and into the bright sunshine with some fantastic views of the ocean - incredible! We stopped off at an old logging site with great panoramic views to have lunch.
After lunch, we continued on to Jordan River where we found the campsite right by the water.
We could have stopped a little earlier at China Beach to camp, but while asking for directions, Jim found out that there was a little cafe near the Jordan River campsite where we could get some baked goods - sold!
After setting up camp and having our little snack at the cafe, Jim and I brought our chairs down to the overlook right by our camp site and sat for about an hour just watching the waves and seagulls - now this is living!
We settled down to sleep, listening to the sound of the waves nearby.
Day 3 stats: Distance 64 km; total time 7 hours; avg speed 16 km/hr; max speed 60 km/hr
Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 184 km (114 miles)
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