CCCT 2012 - June 2/12

Cross Canada Cycling Tour - Saturday, June 2, 2012
Day 14 - Castlegar to Balfour, BC. Trip 82.31 kms Time 5 hrs 11 mins Max 48.3
We were up early and dressed for a rainy day. Bev made tea and instant oatmeal. I added 1/2 banana and mixed nuts and raisins to my oatmeal. We also had the muffins provided by Frank, our motel manager for breakfast. They were rather bland. We finished packing and loaded our gear on our bikes and set off for NELSON, BC, at 7:50 AM. It was overcast and just spitting a bit. My bike felt very heavy. I had touble going up inclines. After about 6 kms I stopped and checked my rear tire. It was low!!! I got my pump out and pumped it up. I went for another 10 kms and had to stop again as my rear tire was soft again. I had a slow leak!!! This was a new tire and tube which I had purchased in Christina Lake the previous day!!! I pumped it up again. At 12 kms Bev saw a sign for "Bike & Lawnmower Repair". We stopped and went up to the house and rang the door bell. A big dog started barking. Thank goodness it was inside. I was just about to give up when the "repairman" came out of the side door with his large black dog. I explained my problem and asked if he could help me fix it. He agreed to fix my flat for $10!!! I thought this was a bit excessive but under the circumstances I agreed. I had a feeling that I would end up doing most of the "fixing" myself. Once we got my rear tire off and the tube out and inflated he used the fish pond in the front yard to find the "slow" leak. I marked the spot with some chalk that came with my patch kit. I scraped the tube, put rubber cement on it, waited until it dried and applied a patch. Once again he did the water test only to find out that we had missed the hole by a cm. Took that patch off and proceeded to apply my last patch. Did the water test again. Still leaking!!! but on the opposite side of the patch this time. It was then I realized I was dealing with a "SNAKE BITE". Bev loaned me a patch from her kit and after the 3rd water test it was OK. My "Mr. Tuffy Strip" that goes between the tire and tube had a bit of a tear in it so I decided to leave it out. The tube seemed a bit oversized for the new tire but we managed to get it stuffed in and re-inflated once we got the tire back on the rim. The tire wall indicated Max PSI 88. I pumped it up and checked the PSI with my Zéfal pressure gauge. It read 90 psi. Close enough. Larry, the Russian, agreed not to charge me for the repair as I had done most of the work. He said we should look up his son, Michael, in Montreal!!!
We set off for Nelson again at 11:10 AM. We hadn't gone very far before Bev had to stop for "nature's call" and so we had a snack. We set off again. I began to feel a "thump, thump" coming from the rear tire at 32 kms. Then a BIG BANG!!! My rear tire had blown right off the rim. I pulled over to the side of the road at a driveway entrance. Fortunately there was a large sheet of plywood lying on the ground off to the side. It came in handy for placing all my gear on and flipping my bike over so I could work on my rear tire. I had to put one of my new thinner tubes in my new tire and pumped it up to 80 psi. It was now 12:30 PM so we decided to have lunch before setting off again. Bev had prepared PBJs the night before plus a hard boiled egg and an orange. We re-loaded my panniers and set off for Nelson and 1:30 PM.

Scenery on the way to Balfour, BC

We arrived in Nelson at 2:00 PM and stopped in at the Visitor's Centre to get our BC passports stamped and to get information on the Balfour/Kootenay Bay Ferry, etc. We cycled to a nearby mall and Bev went into Save On Foods for groceries for snacks, breakfast and lunch. We cycled to the edge of town where we saw a DQ. It was a hot day so we decided to treat ourselves to an icecream cone. We cycled along the river to BALFOUR, BC, another 34 kms of quite hilly, winding, light traffic road. Very scenic. We arrived at the Balfour Beach Inn at 5:30 PM just ahead of a huge thunder and lightning storm.

Sergio enjoying a "mini-pint" or two

I went in to the Pub/Rest to ask about a room. A guy at the bar said the rooms were around $100. I asked for something around $80??? He went off to check with the owner and came back with $75  for a nice room overlooking the Bay. We unloaded our bikes and no sooner did we have our gear and bikes in the room did the skies open up. What a terrific storm over the Bay. It was over in 1/2 an hour so we were able to walk back over to the Pub/Rest for a cold beer and dinner. I asked the waitress "Marguarita" what was on draft. I didn't recognize any of the beers so she came back with a couple of mini-pint samplers. We both chose the lighter lager and Fettucini Alfredo with Chicken. We watched the hockey game LA 2 vs NJ 1 in O/T. We had a nice chat with a couple at the next table who assured us we would have a nice ride down to Creston tomorrow once we managed to get up the 3 km climb after getting off the ferry. Also it promised to be a nice sunny day with calm winds. They planned to go out on the Bay to do some fishing.
We returned to our room where I worked on my blog before going off to bed at 10:00.
Bev and Roly