Envision a holiday where your only mode of transportation is a bicycle. Carefree riding under sunny skies, beautiful scenery around every corner and great people to share the experience with. Chris and Heather Hartridge’s Stickman Cycle Tour’s “Lumby Loop” finished August 21 and it totally lived up to their expectations. As with most cycle tours, every day was an adventure and these cyclists encountered some real challenges.
Chris, Heather and Marj Watt met at the trailhead in Lumby. Last minute adjustments were made to the bikes and equipment lists double-checked. The tour was designed to slowly introduce more difficult rides as the days progressed. The first day’s 40 kilometre ride through the Creighton Valley east of Lumby was the perfect start. Chris’ mantra throughout the tour would be “slow and easy wins the race”. This was never more true than when the trio conquered their first mountain range riding over the Monashee Pass. Reaching this first major summit was a great achievement particularly for Marj who hadn’t previously enjoyed such a challenge.
Marj described the feeling, “once I was up there, I had a sense of OH YA, I can do this. I felt the personal power that comes with this type of experience. I also felt the huge release of endorphins that I now know come with every climb. You can’t buy that.”
Cycle touring is all about the journey, not the destination. You don’t get anywhere in a hurry and the world seems to slow down around you. You’re close to nature and you see things from a different perspective – fully and completely – birds of prey, exotic reptiles, all kinds of fuzzy four-legged mammals and the huge variety of wildflowers that bloom in B.C. The Lumby Loop offered up its fair share.
The route continued along the shores of Upper Arrow Lake and at Nakusp it turned south to follow the Slocan Valley. Along the way, curious onlookers would ask, “Where do you sleep?” “In our tents.” “Do you eat out?” “No, we cook.” “How do you climb those hills?” “One pedal at a time.” One of the highlights of this leg of the trip is Fomi’s Bakery just north of Winlaw. This place is a must for hungry cyclists burning upwards of 4,000 calories a day.
At Castlegar the route turned west and headed up and over the Paulson Summit on the way to Christina Lake. At the Nancy Green Provincial Park the trio met an amazing young woman on a bicycle towing a two-wheel trailer. She left Montreal with $30 and her dog Shiraz on her way to work in the orchards around Keremeos. Her bike was a relic. It was on old CCM with a basket on the front for her puppy to ride in. Totally self-sufficient, she made the incredible journey across Canada and was almost at her destination.
Into their second week, they were now feeling comfortable with the daily distances averaging 60 – 70 kilometres. After crossing two more summits (Eholt and Anarchist) on Hwy 3, they headed south of the border for a two-night stay in Oroville, Washington. It was a chance to rest after riding for 11 days straight. While there, a perky young Jack Russel dog named Jackie befriended the riders and promptly stole their hearts. The riders woke the next morning to find Jackie and her family had left camp early. Oh well, memories of Jackie will linger for a long time. After the daily routine of making coffee and breakfast followed by packing the panniers they were off on the next leg of the trip. Following the Similkameen River in Washington, they eventually arrived at the border crossing at Chopaka. Along the way, evidence of the current gold rush dotted the banks of the river. Small, portable, motorized sluice boxes on pontoons floated in the river. The goldminers looked like fly fishermen jockeying for a prime spot in the river.
At Chopaka, the usual border questions about bringing cigarettes, alcohol and firearms into Canada seemed absurd from the seat of a bicycle, but the kilometre-per-hour signs were a welcome sight regardless. As the morning progressed, the temperature rose along the river on the Canadian side. At a favourite swimming hole they parked the bikes and just walked into the river. Ahh... Arriving at their destination, the two-day stay in Keremeos included wine tours of some of B.C.’s finest wineries. Gourmet dinners cooked on the camp stove topped it off.
The last week of the trip would find the intrepid cyclists taking a secondary road to Princeton and then over the old Highway 44 to Summerland. The Lumby Loop was beginning to close. A stay at a Warmshowers.org home with the Perrin family in Westbank and a campout at the historic site at Fintry were on their route north towards Lumby. BC’s Cheese capital Armstrong was the last overnight stay.
Througout the 21 days, they cycled 950 kilometres, had only two short thunderstorms, climbed four summits and countless hills.
Just for fun, they did some math and estimated it took 272,000 pedal revolutions to cover the distance.
They’d do it again at the drop of a hat!
Chris Hartridge is a cycling and fitness enthusaist.