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June 3rd: 120km day (River Riding)

(JOSEPH) After 5 days of riding and one boat ride up the inside passage Rob and I are in a small town called Terrace. We completed over 400 miles of our trip. While riding, I feel great, the scenery has been abundant with wild flowers, mountains, and water everywhere. I’ve seen 5 wood peckers. A humming bird was mistaking my shirt as a flower. One apparently injured bear was limping up a hillside on Vancouver Island. Needless to say, the wild life has met my expectations. With only about 7 -8 hours a sleep per night a feel like I have a tremendous amount of energy although I am having some numbness with my finger tips on my left hand and a great deal more on my right. It has lasted for about 3 days. As a result of my injury I’ve added more padding to my handle bars as well as being more mindful to give my hands a rest while riding. The most disturbing issue on my mind however is not the bears, but the Cassiar highway. Most people think we are fools for riding on it. “The road will rip up your tires; there are pot- holes for 800 km straight; the roads are too steep; Are they right? Most of them have never been there and don’t ride bikes. But the majority of them live “close” to the area. That has got to mean something. The only relief from this anxiety was the German tourist who was just on the Cassiar and explained the highway in better detail. His 2004 map of the road showed a gravel section that is now perfect pavement. The fellow rides and also saw our bikes too. He says it will be difficult but he also thinks the ride is doable.

(ROB)We woke up this morning late. We slept next to the traintracks, just off the highway. We had to tie up our food 200 meters away because we are in Grizzly country. Its interesting talking to people around here. We tell them that we are going up the Cassier Highway and they think we are nuts. They tell us it is not possible but we continue anyway. We have not heard anything good about the highway so far. We also fear about the fires in the north that are causing road closers.

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