Bike Bounce

It was gray and very threatening-looking when I got up today, so I drove back once again to the Penticton Starbucks, where I spent a couple of hours drinking coffee and catching up on my email. By then it was raining, so I decided to take a drive out towards Okanagon Mountain Provincial Park. This is a little confusing… within 50 miles there’s Okanagon Falls Provincial Park, Okanagon Lake Provincial Park, and Okanagon Mountain Provincial Park. Okanagan Mountain is way out in the boonies, and the last kilometer is a 2-track, 4-wheel-drive-only, not very scenic dead end road. Still, I persevered to the end, just before which I had to drive under a fallen tree leaning across the road. Nothing but a parking lot and presumably a trailhead, although it was raining and I didn’t even get out to explore. Turning around, as I headed back under that tree, I hear a clunk, and looked in my mirror to see my bike bouncing on the road behind me. Well, shit.

I got out to survey the damage. Doesn’t seem to be any to my bike, other than my new mirror falling off, but even that isn’t broken. But when I went to put the bike back up top, I realized the straps that hold it onto the bike carrier had broken clean off. I’m so happy that they broke and not the bike! After removing the front wheel I was able to stuff the bike in the car on top of all the other stuff that’s in there Maybe this is a sign I should head for home?

Back towards town I drove out to Skaha Bluffs and hiked back in a bit to watch rock climbers doing physically impossible things. Oh, if I was 30 years younger and 50 pounds lighter..

Then it was raining again, so back to town for a visit to the wonderful used-book store… one of those big old slightly disorganized places, with books piled high everywhere, and the guys running still able to tell you where everthing is. And then to my afternoon latte, this time at Pacific Brimm, obviously the locals coffee place, very homey with big comfy chairs where I sat and read for awhile. When the rain let up, I went out to explore the huge farmers market that takes over downtown every Saturday. Oh, I wish I could take a bunch of the wonderful local fruits and veggies home. I limited myself to a bag of pickling cukes to munch on.

By the time I got back to my campsite, the weather seemed to be clearing up and the wind had died down a bit (although it never seems to stop here), so I decided to paddle for awhile. About 45 minutes out, the wind picked up. And then picked up some more. And then some more. And I ended up paddling back in a regular gale. Not a headwind, but not exactly a tail wind either. It was exhilarating but right at the edge of my comfort level, and I was glad to get back to camp. It was so windy that stuff had blown off my picnic table, and a layer of sand had formed inside the tent.