Weekend Ride to Davis Lake

With my coffee mug full and all my gear in tow, I set off to meet my friend Sheri to catch the Skytrain to our starting point. In true weekend ride fashion we're both running late. Cramming on the skytrain with 2 fully loaded bikes is always a fun filled adventure of 'how much can I be in the way, hold my bike upright and drink my coffee at the same time'. Needless-to-say there were a few dirty looks, but I would argue me not having my coffee would be a worse situation.

Route Map Link

This loop through Miracle Valley is one of my favourites. Challenging hills, farm roads, speedy downhills, baby goats by fences and me and my bike! Lunch under cedar trees, unnecessary detours down hills only to have to go back up again, pedaling hard past Stave Lake damn while bunches of motorcycles boom past giving us the thumbs up that we're half way up the hill and the layers of sweat building with grit and grime. So much fun!

Had the pleasure of rescuing a woman who had a had a flat tire, added a nice bit of afternoon excitement. She had a tire patch kit and a pump but didn't really know how to use either of them. It felt good being the one who knew how to fix things for a change as I've spent the past couple months trying to learn the basics of bike mechanics.  Yeah me!

The river, oh the wonderful, glorious river! After riding for 85km in 30 degree sunshine splashing about in clean cold water feels like a piece of heaven (and very tasty to drink).

After a cool down, restock on water supplies and food now began the last leg of the day....and the most challenging. We passed off the asphalt on to a Forestry Service Road (FSR). Steep inclines and large gravel resulted in pushing fully loaded bikes up the hills and on the few occasions we were able to ride it was a game of try not to hit the largest rocks amongst the many, correcting sliding back tires and hoping we wouldn't shred a tire. The problem with Davis Lake is it's not marked and not on the road (actually it's a 20 minute hike down to the lake from the road). We totally went double the distance we needed to, had to back track and then still had to carry all our gear down to the lake. It took us about 3 hours to complete a distance of 3km.  Oh I almost forgot to mention the swarm of flies hovering around us the whole time, I actually felt like fly lunch.... But we made it! I was so worth it!

Warm lake water to swim in, room-temperature beer, 30-year-old Sherry, cheddar smokies, curried rice, salted dark chocolate and watching the sun go down with no one around but us! It's quite amazing how quickly the perils of journey it took to get here were forgotten. Feasting alone in the wilderness while fish intensely splash at our feet catching flies (actually have never seen fish be that active before like that, it seemed as if they were going to flop right on to the beach, but didn't). 

The morning brought endless bird chatter and an old owl above my tent (thank god for earplugs) and BREAKFAST, my favourite meal! Oatmeal with honey and dried berries and of course coffee! It was a lazy morning as neither of us were in a hurry to pack up for the journey back down to the asphalt. We managed to make it back to the river by 2pm (not bad considering it took an equal amount of effort to get down the FSR after climbing back up to the road). And of course we had to stop at the river again for more frolicking and dirt and dust removal from coming down. 

The ride back was filled with rolling farm roads, easier hills and thoughts of the ice cold beer waiting at the pub! An absolute divine weekend get away. 175.5km total. Thanks for joining me in the adventure Sheri!