Golden, BC - 82km

Another great day of riding! Out of the summit in the morning we had a really great downhill start for around 12km, that was quickly offset by headwinds that really slowed us down. We're finding it a matter of acceptance with wind in general. At a basic level, wind (and all weather) is just a coin toss - a dice roll in or out of your favor. As game designers, we generally dislike elements of luck! :p However, we are playing to win. The only thing you can do is accept it and make your form consistent to push through. One good trick we find is to focus on pedaling in perfectly efficient circles rather than left-right bursts, as well as keeping you and all your packs as low profile as possible. This way you have slight less drag. Strategy! :)

When we finally got to golden we were so happy to see proper supplies again! Since it was a two day leg before any pit stops (the lodge at summit only had a restaurant) we finally grabbed more delicious foods for the next 3 day haul to Calgary.

We have to re-iterate a crazy phenomenon we are experiencing while riding - there have been many times while riding after prolonged periods where we lose our sense of incline or grade. Our instincts tell us we are on flat or even downhill yet for some reason it's very hard to pedal. When we look behind us we realize we've been climbing the whole time! It's incredibly hard to describe until you've had it happen first hand but it's definitely real and a strange sensation when you can't trust your inner bearings.

More on gear! Sometimes the best stuff on you is super simple. For us it was a last minute purchase in our wet shoes. They are ultra simple 8 dollar rubber-soled wet shoes from Canadian Tire. When you finally get to camp you need to air out your feet. These puppies are even great in rain and mud in almost all terrain near your tent. And most importantly, because they are soft construction they can be squeezed into a small pocket in your bag!

A question from our friends Pam and Nick: how are we feeling? Tired, optimistic? Good question! We both are feeling really sore all over, there's no question. Cycling is definitely not just your legs when you go this long. We are doing arm, neck and shoulder stretches, as well as working on our core to lessen burden on arms, etc. We're feeling pretty optimistic about our progress though, yeah! If we were only half way through BC we'd be pretty demoralized, but if we push hard now we are going to see Alberta border in a day or two. And I'm happy to say we did a double-take with our time-check today because we are now in a new time zone! :) Only 2 hours behind Ottawa now. That's a big achievement for us! Spirits are up!

Attaching some pictures of our little egg holder getting filled as well as our delicious steak sandwiches we had for dinner tonight (with sauce we squirreled away from Nando's Chicken ;) shashasha)

Good night all!