Sunday…that would be last Sunday…was the third and final day of my little IMC prep camp. The plan was to ride all the major highlights of the bike course:
Ally and I planned to start riding around Vaseaux Lake, just outside of Oliver. We would ride to Osoyoos, up Richter Pass, over the 7 rollers, perhaps cover the out and back between Keremeos and Cawston, then ride the final big climb up to Yellow Lake. About 100-120 km depending on what we decided on doing. Given that my longest ride to date had been about 2 hours I did not feel that riding the entire course would be a good idea. Even this plan would be about 5 hours, so that is a pretty big jump. To pull off a point to point ride we also needed to have a support vehicle. That’s where the boyfriend came in. He had volunteered to come out to the Okanagan that weekend to man our official Subaru SAG wagon. He’d drop us off, keep a cooler of drinks in the car along with snacks (candy, orange slices, fig newtons) and take our gear for us if need be, then pick us up whenever we were ready. He also doubled as official cameraman for the day. It wouldn’t have been possible to hit all of these major points on the ride without his help and it was much appreciated!
Unfortunately the weather was not fantastic. The temperatures had cooled off a bit to about 12C and there were threatening clouds in the sky. As we drove to our drop off point we passed groups of cyclists and they were all wearing a lot of clothing. Hopefully we wouldn’t be underdressed! I went out with shorts, a short sleeve t-shirt, a short sleeve jersey, arm warmers and a jacket. From Oliver to Osoyoos the road is fairly flat so it would serve as a good warm up for the hills to come.
It was hazy in the valley, and as we rode towards Oliver we realized why. An old hotel in downtown Oliver was on fire and most of Main Street was closed off as fire crews tried to save the buildings around it. After riding the detour around downtown we continued on to Osoyoos. The scenery was absolutely beautiful as we rode past vineyards and orchards. With it being spring everything was still so lovely and green. After about an hour we made it to Osoyoos where we met up with our SAG wagon to swap out bottles and I had a chance to go to the bathroom and ditch my jacket. From there the work started.
Almost as soon as we started climbing Richter Ally pulled ahead. She’s been cycling outside a lot already so I knew that would happen. Richter is about a 10K long climb where you gain about 370 meters in elevation. I plugged along, keeping my pace at that Sunday “ride all day” pace. I got passed, I passed people, I just kept moving. Part way up Richter there is a little flat spot and if you look to the left you can see Spotted Lake. Before I knew it, I was at the top of Richter. Really? Already?
After that there was a long downhill into the Similkameen Valley. One place I definitely need to gain more confidence are on the downhills. What is the good in being able to climb up strongly if I am tentative on the down? It was probably best to play it safe on this day as there were large boulders in the shoulder that you had to be careful about. The view down into the valley was amazing as everything was such bright green. From there it was in to the 7 rollers. Some rollers are bigger than the others but I found them pretty fun. Not sure how I’ll feel about them on race day though! Here’s me zipping down a roller…
From there it was in to Cawston for a bit of flat reprieve, although it was definitely windy out. All of a sudden, there was the turn off for the out and back. Ally was nowhere to be found and I figured she’d be waiting here. I texted her but no response. Honestly, I was hoping to meet up with her and call off riding the out and back. With no response I took off on the out figuring that I’d see her on the way back. There was no sign of her though. Although I was feeling great physically, but this point, being about 3 hours+ in I hit a mental low just from having spent so much of the last bit on my own. Sigh, I guess everyone has their points on the long rides, eh? Finally, luckily, we managed to find each other. By this point in time I was doubting my ability to ride up Yellow Lake and I debated calling it quits at Keremeos. But I didn’t come all this way to call it quits. We rode to Keremeos, I stopped in at a bathroom, I had some orange slices and got ready to ride again. It was only 18K from Keremeos to the top of Yellow Lake.
The clouds were nasty in the direction we were headed, it started drizzling on and off and it was windy. Angie had promised that there was a great place around Yellow Lake called Bear that had amazing cookies. We rode forward with the motto that we were “riding for cookies”! There are km markers on the shoulder of the rode, counting in 0.1K increments the way out of Keremeos. Only 18K, no problem…
We were climbing, but I was waiting for the real climb to start. By this point in time we had less than 10K left to go….when would it start? All of a sudden I had my answer. We turned a corner and you could see the road going up, up, up… People around us were flagging so we passed them. Must ride for cookies! Finally, we were at the top!
We couldn’t quite stop right after a big hill climb though as it would have been bad for the legs! We dropped all of our gears and spun around the perimeter of the lake just to make sure our legs were flushed out. And then, we were done…109K of riding in just under 5 hours.
I truly felt great. I may have had a mental break in the middle of the ride, but physically I felt strong the entire time. And it was a great confidence booster to see these big points on the course and to know that I can tackle them. The IMC bike course is beautiful, but it is also tough and I think you have to play they day tactfully. The initial third of the ride is pretty flat, but you have to be careful and not go all out to make sure you save your legs for the big climbs. I’ve now seen the majority of the course with the exception of a section between OK Falls and Vaseaux Lake (all flat), and Yellow Lake back to Penticton (mostly downhill). That can be addressed at our TTL training camp in July though…
After our ride we went into Oliver for lunch, then went off to Tuc-el-Nuit Lake for one last open water swim. It was cold!!!
And then that was it, our IMC prep camp was over and it would be back to Calgary on Monday. I can’t believe it has taken me a whole week to write up three days of activity in the Okanagan… This week has been busy though, so I promise to fill you in on it. Hope everyone had a great weekend!
It is one of my favourite routes to run there! We wanted to knock out our swim first though, so our first stop was 
He was pretty big, so I think it may be a beaver? I also downed my first Jet Blackberry 
On Friday morning we decided to do a short 1-2 hour ride and tackle the front portion of the IMC bike course – from Penticton around the east side of Skaha Lake, McLean Creek Road to Okanagan Falls, and then back along the lake. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day with plenty of cyclists out. The route starts out very flat around the lake so it was a nice warm up. We tried to hug the shoulder or edge of the road as much as possible but a few irate drivers decided to honk at us because they didn’t think we were over far enough. That was nerve wracking! We continued riding all the way around Skaha to OK Falls and then we tried to find McLean Creek Road… 
I’ve been teased for wineries being a bit of a magnet for me… We debated stopping, but decided that it would be better to continue biking. As we continued riding along McLean Creek Road something seemed wrong as it looked like we were going the wrong way. I pulled over, pulled up a map of the course on my iPhone. We had missed the initial turn off for McLean Creek Road along Skaha Lake. Oops! We decided to ride to the end of the road (which was downhill), hit the bottom and turn around to ride up for a bit to get an idea of what the uphill would be like.
From there it was a nice, straight forward ride around the lake for a total of just over 26 miles. We packed the bikes back on to the car, ran around the lake for a quick 15 min brick, then found a picnic table for some lunch. Mini-IMC prep camp was off to a great start!
Monday was mostly about driving down to Seattle from Kelowna, popping in for lunch with my grandmother along the way, and then hitting up a few shops. On Tuesday, May 18th, it was the 30th anniversary of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens. I’ve always wanted to visit, so this seemed like the right time. I hit the road for a 2+ hour drive each way to see the sights. Unfortunately it was rainy, cloudy, windy and pretty cold so the views of the volcano were not the best. There were all kinds of television crews out there for the anniversary.
On Wednesday it was time to get back in the swing of things as I had a one hour run to take care of. I thought about running around Lake Union, but I needed to run fairly early and I wasn’t sure what the route was like. Instead I opted to drive up to 
From there I hopped in a cab to check out the happy hour at 
It was a great few days, but I had to head back to the Okanagan in time for the weekend… 
There were some nasty clouds in the sky that morning and I really hoped we wouldn’t get rained on. So much for wishful thinking! It began to rain as I turned the corner on to Highway 97. This is the part of the course that is perfect for getting in aero and just going. With the rain I was definitely feeling more cautious. I was sitting up more. Perhaps not picking off people ahead like I would have liked. In Calgary it is either sunny or it snows so I don’t have too much experience riding in the rain. Shortly before coming into transition the rain stopped. I downed my second gel about 10 or 15 minutes from transition. Despite riding more cautiously I still rode a few minutes faster than last year.
I like this picture. My parents were out on the course and found a couple of spots to take pictures at. My mom spotted me and she was walking towards me to get closer for a picture. I told her she should hurry up or she’d miss me and this was the picture… Guess I was riding fast! 
I saw that I could squeak in under 2:56 so I took off down the hill to the finish.
Hey…look at that, I forgot to turn my Garmin off…oops! 
My goal for the swim was to have a happy swim. I decided to take a chance and start swimming with the pack in the hopes that I may be able to draft off some folks. People spread out pretty well so apart from a bit of touching there wasn’t a lot of contact. Every time I would breathe to the left I would see the same person in a green cap next to me. It felt kind of nice to have people in front and to my left and right as I think it helped me stay on course a bit easier. My swimming felt effortless and I swam past the four buoys on the way out in what felt like no time. As we turned around to come back we all dispersed quite a bit more and I was more on my own. I looked up and was surprised to see the number of people behind me. Last year I think I was definitely more at the back of the pack. I completed the first loop, ran out on the beach, around a buoy and back into the water. Again on the way out I found a few people to hang out with. I felt great the entire swim. I didn’t swallow too much water, my chest didn’t tighten up. Goal achieved!
Yes!! They had wetsuit strippers this year. Thanks so much guys! I hit the timing mat and looked up at the clock. 35 minutes and change. That’s in line with what I’ll swim 1500 m in the pool at, plus it was 3 minutes faster than last year.
Those shorts are maybe mine from circa grade 7 or 8? They still fit in the waist, but I think my hips have grown since then. I found a couple of Kleenex in the pocket. Or maybe I should wear one of these? 
It may be hard to decipher but there are three shirts there. They used to belong to my brother. If skinny jeans can make a comeback, maybe so can obnoxiously loud Body Glove shirts. You never know! OK, time to go clean my bike! 
Yup, my niece is adorable!! After brunch it was time to head home and knock out a spin workout. If I couldn’t ride outside then I had a 2 hour power workout to do inside instead. I’m not sure what I was thinking…I was supposed to do a 2 x 6:00 set, staying in the middle chain ring in the back, and flipping between the big and the small ring in the front. For some reason I set the workout up as 8 repeats instead of 2! Oops! That wound up changing up the workout slightly…and sadly I still had to cut it a bit short as I had to run to the pool. I had plans to meet Kelly at the 
After we finished up 90 minutes of riding we hopped off the bikes, hung out and chowed down on salad, fruit, cookies, brownies, Nanaimo bars….good stuff! 