Challenging Myself - Okanagan Trestle Tour 2013

This past weekend I completed something I would never have thought of doing a few years ago.  That was the first annual Okanagan Trestle Tour. 80kms on a bike from Myra Canyon thru Naramata and finally into Penticton. Piece of cake is what I thought... the pictures on the website looked beautiful. I was told the trail was completely flat and easy, with an slight decline after Chute Lake. We would complete it in 5-6 hours tops... and that's with stopping for pictures.....

What really happened that day?..........

Sunday morning we were up at 6 to get ready to catch the buses to the top of Myra Canyon from Penticton. Our bus driver was hauling ass, passing other buses on our way. We were going to be one of the first people to arrive, it seemed. Then some other buses turned and we kept going...... and then pulled into a gas station as she was afraid the bus wouldn't make it up the steep hill into Myra Canyon, so that set us back about 20 minutes as people on the bus chose that as a time to run to the bathroom. (only ONE bathroom in the gas station so that took up some time)

Back on the road and up the steep hill, all gravel, huge pot holes and a very bumpy ride began to make me nervous. Finally we arrive and we see all the bikes set up... or where once was all the bikes... Not many bikes left which tells us we are close to the end of the pack. We get ready and off we go... Km 0 is the first sign we see.. Ok... only 80kms to go! No problem. The trail is wide and flat, nice smooth ride... stop to take some pictures and go over some trestles. As we come around a corner, we see at least 100 people stopped... standing on the trestle with their bikes, not really moving. What is going on, we ask? Because one of the trestles was damaged in a rock slide a few weeks back, they have made a 1.3km bypass just for us. No problem, we say....... Until we get closer to where the bypass is and we see people scaling straight up a mountain side on a small dirt path pushing their bikes... Have I mentioned I am scared of heights and we are already up pretty high before we start scaling that mountain.... while pushing our bikes!! As im walking up this incline, i slip and fall, and almost drop my bike. Now im scared. A lady and her husband are in front of us and her husband grabs her bike as well as his, and she comes back down and grabs mine! She looks at me and says, "we are all in this together!"... I was almost brought to tears by her kindness. 

Relieved to have completed the bypass, we are back on our way down the trail. We are cruising along and just looking forward to the first aid station where we can fill up our water bottles and grab a power bar to keep us going....... Arrived to find that ALL the power bars were already gone. We heard later that people were taking 3-4 bars for themselves, leaving nothing for the rest of us. Thats ok because we have a few snacks of our own and we are promised there are lots of snacks at the Chute Lake aid station. Who knew that getting to that aid station would be so difficult... A few kms after the first station, we encountered sand on the trail... and when i say sand, i dont mean a tiny bit.... I mean thick sand that felt like you were riding your bike on the beach! Noone mentioned sand in the advertisement. I thought I was just being a baby and i was getting so frustrated from the difficulty of trying to maneuver my bike in it, when i saw Brent up ahead get off his bike and throw it! I asked him if he was ok and he just replied.. "Effing Sand!"..... Ok!! This is good to know that he was struggling as well because I thought i was just being a baby. It was TOUGH. We didnt see people for Kms at a time, and we thought the we were never going to arrive in Chute Lake... Finally we did and we saw our friends that we were there with, only for them to tell us that this station, as well, had run out of food! We wanted to cry.... not just from the lack of food, but because we were exhausted from all the sand, and couldn't bare the thought of riding thru anymore of it. A lady at that station assured us that was the end of the sand and it was an gradual decline the rest of the way to Penticton. We sat there for a bit, considering whether we should go on or throw in the towel as we still had over 50kms to go. We decided to continue on.

No food at Chute Lake = Sad Faces

As we passed Chute Lake, it definetly was a gradual decline down, however, there was STILL sand! So now we are not only having a hard time biking in the sand, but because its a hill, we are trying not to go too fast as our bikes keep going out of control. And if the sand is gone, there are huge rocks that could make us wipe out at any second. By now we are about 36kms in, our butts are sore, my wrists and lower back are killing me, blisters on my thumbs and im mentally exhausted. I dont know how I can go on anymore since we arent even half way there yet. I get off my bike for a bit and walk it, Brent walks beside me, and I break down. I say I cant do this anymore thru my tears and Brent tells me that I can. I reply... Well, yes I CAN but i dont want to! haha We get back on our backs and continue on...

Third aid station at the Adra Tunnel Bypass Trail...... i believe we are at Km 58... and once again, they are all out of food! We want to sit on the ground and sob by this time! One of the volunteers tells us that there is a bus waiting about 10kms down the trail for anyone that wants to get a ride back to Penticton. We say that we definetly will want to do that. And then we continue on.... There isnt as much sand now but as we are still going downhill, there are large rocks and embankments on either side of us.... there is a switchback now that takes us back towards Kelowna for 6kms and that is playing with our minds.... All we know is that we are going backwards and getting farther, not closer to our destination. A lady in front of us is getting picked up as the sand and rocks has made her wipe out and she is hurt... Brent falls off his bike as we pass her, his gears are no longer working on his bike except for one, and we are exhausted and hungry by this time. Its almost 6pm and we have been at this since 930 am that morning! We cant wait to see the bus and get on it! As we make our way back around the switchback towards Penticton again, we see Glen (event organizer) in his car and he stops and gets out when he sees us and asks if we want a ride. We dont say no but we dont say yes yet... Brent asks how much longer until the trail gets smooth, and Glen says only about 4-5kms and then its smooth sailing....... He goes into his car and gets a box of fruit bars and gives us half the box and some vitamin water and says we are doing amazing....Brent and I say we will continue...... We have some of the bars and vitamin water and carry on.

I can see Penticton!!

We see the final aid station up ahead as well as the bus and then we see the kms marker...... We are at 67kms! We look at each other and say Bus or continue on?....... Brent looks at the empty bus and yells... "Screw You Bus!! We are finishing this bad boy!" and off we go!!! Suddenly we are on a smooth even trail. NO sand! NO boulders! And we can see Penticton although it still looks so far away! We bike as fast as our legs will go......... 6.5kms left....... 6kms..... 5.5kms..... at every half km marker we give out a Woo Hoo!! We are smiling for the first time in about 50kms! We can see the end....1km!........ and suddenly we are crossing the finish line!! 

I will tell you that this was the MOST challenging thing I have ever done, both mentally and physically. I learned alot about myself that day and Brent and I grew even closer out there in the middle of nowhere. We supported each other when we thought we couldn't go on. We laughed and cried together up there on that mountain and we conquered it together! There is noone else I would have rather been up there with that day. We are proud of ourselves for not quitting and letting it get the best of us! I can proudly say i finished!!!


If you are interested, here is the map route showing the distance we went. 
http://www.okanagantrestlestour.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/route_google_large.jpg

I would also like to add that this event was very well put together from start to finish! I have heard people complain about certain aspects of it such as running out of food etc. I know what its like to run a first time event, and you never know what to expect the first time around. As far as running out of food....... the food that was to be supplied were Solo Bars... As adults, knowing that we are about to embark on an 80km bike ride, wouldnt it be wise to bring your own food and snacks and not to rely on just a few bars? After all, it is a long way and we wouldnt go on a long hike without food, would we? I would consider doing again if the bypass was gone... lol, which it will be, and the sand was gone... I think if it werent for those 2 things, we would have been a bit faster and a little less challenging.