We were promised cooler and overcast and got cooler and cloudless. Cooler meant 30C rather than 32C. The Princesses were a little tired this morning heading out on our Apex adventure but looking forward to it nonetheless. Princess Sandy had new brake pads. Princess Jane had flashy new blue kinetic-tape on her knee. Princess MC had songs ready to belt out when inspired. Princess Zenny – well, she had a date with a chiropractor. Princess riders had with them frozen water bottles, sunscreen and CanDo attitudes. It was going to be a good day.
This ride begins with a 21km climb to the base of the Apex Mountain Resort road and a 15km or so descent to the junction at HWY 3. From there, contrary to last year’s instructions and the estimated 1km from there to the rest stop at Yellow Lake, it’s actually a 3.5km climb.
Brakes, snakes, lakes, water, wind and potato chips.
The day began with a whoop as Princess Sandy discovered she had brakes that didn’t squeak. Happy day! What she didn’t realize was that one of the new brake pads was literally “on” her wheel. She was feeling particularly troubled by the fact that her heart rate was soaring and her legs felt like lead. Hm. A quick adjustment after 6km of that business, and she suddenly felt like riding again. 
The ride to the top was beautiful. The road was pretty quiet and we all had a lot of time to chat. A few little pit stops including one at the Apex junction and we were down the other side. Princess MC (Hammer – now a new nickname for her – because of her singing and for her ability to hammer the uphills) lead the group (yes you read that right) in the downhill. Awesome. Even more awesome – road across her first cattleguard without even hesitating. Whoohoo! She is officially our chief wildlife observer. She saw a snake on the road that the rest of us missed… thankfully.
Princess Jane continues to hold out on us. Let’s see. She’s steady as a rock on her bike. She’s mentally tough. She’s got lots of stories to tell… but we have no dirt on her yet. Hm. Still working on it. She was the smartest of all of us yesterday on one front for sure. She had frozen her Camelback bladder enough that when we got to lunch and sadly ran out of water – she had a fresh supply of COLD water to share. Genius!
Lunch was delivered to the Yellow Lake rest stop by our trusty Chef who managed to find a nice picnic table in the shade. The topper – he brought some nice salty ripple chips! Just what the doctor ordered (and delivered).
The ride was long. The final stretch – windy. The dip in Lake Skaha post ride – wonderful. The day – near perfect.
Today – they rest (and maybe tour some wineries – I mean, really…).
LiveSplendidly!