Day 14: Moyie Lake to Fernie- Desperation Brings a Record... or the ``Magic Tunnel``

A new day, and very little rain despite the dire predictions of the Weather Channel. So we headed to Cranbrook looking for a physio assessment for Evan`s knee, no big problem but it might help knowing how to eliminate some pain at the end of uphill days. No physio available in Cranbrook, but that`s no problem for clever adventurers. We call ahead to get an appointment in Fernie for tomorrow when we should arrive about noon. A solid 100 km for today should put us 30 km from Fernie, an easy bike ride in the morning for a 1:30 appointment. Aren`t we clever...



We arrive in Elko, our designated camping zone quite pleased to be there by 5:45. ``Haven`t you heard,`` said the store clerk. `There is a heavy rainfall warning for tonight and tomrrow... a big storm is coming.``

... Gulp. Tent in the rain, get up in the rain, bike in heavy rain to Fernie... but our day is done... the weather folks have been predicting rain the last two days that never turned up. Could they be wrong again... what to do... it does not get dark til 9:30 pm with the recent time change. The road is pretty flat they say.... but...

So we gulped down some peanuts and protein and headed out... we can do 30 km on flat road ok in 2.5 hours. Good news, the road is flat, even slightly down through a spectacular mountain canyon. Bad news... there is a horrible wind against us that feels like the Port Williams Dykes on bad days in March while training. There is nothing like struggling to bike forward on a downhill incline! There is a cliff to the uphill side of the road & and a cliff to the down hill with only the concrete barrier in between us and the canyon river below. The shoulder is piles of sand and salt from the winter which is unrideable, and the transport trucks are zipping by (it was real pretty when they weren`t). It took an hour to do 11 km and we were whooped. The only thing keeping us going was that there was no place to stop for another 4 km. Finally we approached a small tunnel through a piece of hanging cliff that the road engineers could not figure out how to get around any other way. We went through...

... presto chango... we know it was the mountain spirits on our side... the road abruptly turned to smooth new pavement, the wind stopped and we were immersed in a flat green valley with the overflowing river winding through. 20 easy kms and we were in the sleepy offseason ski town of Fernie in an hour, and booked into the Travel Lodge for the storm. A new km record for us (see below) and four tired bodies.


But was it worth it... will it really rain tomorrow... or was it a lot of do about nothing... stay tuned to find out.


We reached the millennium!

Distance: 123.04 km
Time on bikes: 7:25:13
Average a speed: 16.5 km/h
Distance from Vancouver: 1042
Start time: 9:15 am
End time: 8:15 pm