Day 2 - Ucluelet to ?? (Clayoquot Provincial Park)

Bonjour la gang,

Ucluelet to somewhere halfway to Port Alberni.
53 km. Cold, raining, snow on the ground in these mountain ranges, and some wind.

Words of the day: cold, wet, grind.

Firstly, my sleep last night. That guy at the campground made me quite paranoid. I woke up the first time with a strange noise (it was probably a loon or something), and I decided to make noise to scare off this “bear”. Basically my voice froze, and I could only whimper something as strong (and menacing) as a baby kitten. I was embarassed. The second time I was awoken, I was able to automatically to into “noise making mode” and let out something resembling a chewbacka. It was odd. Again, no bear.

I decided to split my Day 2 (originally planned Tofino to P.A.) so I could take it easier on the body. A big concern I have is my ITB, which could cause me some undesireable knee pain and quite possibly grind my trip to a halt. Since I didn't get to train properly (mainly due to school), I slowly ramp up my kms and phase that into the trip. I've also had the pleasure of getting my legs ripped (treated) by Bill and Sheena at Smyth Massage, as well as having my bike fit by Mary Patterson (physio) so I could decrease my chances of injuries. Time will tell.

The downfall of splitting my day in two is that I will have to wildnerness camp in the middle of nowhere, where there is a possibility of spotting cougars and bears. By talking to the locals, they basically assured me that it would be fine if I keep my food (or anything scented) far away and possibly hung up in a tree. I hope I am not scented to their taste tonight.

Beautiful spot though, although mainly covered by snow. Everything is wet, so I can not start a fire to warm up (or dry myself or clothes). Almost everything I have is wet, as I have been biking in the rain for 2 days now. My feet and hands look worse than a pug's face.

The ride today felt good. That 18% hill was tough, but I biked it. Luckily, that climb was also followed by an 18% downhill. I had to trust the bike with the cold roads at high speed with some weight all over the bike. Fun. I also reached the peak of those mountai range – something like at 166m (for that pass). Not much, but heck of a lot of climbing for day 2 (especially since the only hill I did before coming here were some overpasses in the Ottawa East area). Wake-up call for the lungs.

Oddly enough, I guess B.C. Ministry of Transportation knew I was coming. They put up a bunch of signs to taunt me: “SLOW”. I probably saw tons of those today. Shees, I know I'm slow.

Well, very light day for riding, lots of killing time too, and it's now 8:30 pm. I will head to bed within the next half hour. I hope to get an early start tomorrow and maybe go do some laundry (the proper way, not using a sink at a campground). I haven't made up my mind on how far I will ride tomorrow, hence where I will stop. But, stay tuned.

Any requests/questions for me over here?

Bonne nuit.

p2