Richmond, BC, CA

We left the church in Lynden, WA this morning to rain and a large que sheet. In fact, I think it was the largest que sheet since our ride from Edwardsburg, MI to Chicago, IL. No matter though, because today was our second to last day of riding and nothing could bring our spirits down, we were finally entering crossing the border into Canada!

It was only 6 miles to the border and we all had to meet up there to wait for everyone to cross at the same time. It was quite the odd affair, passing through customs and crossing into another country on our bike. The border was basically a toll booth and there was one lane open for cars and a separate lane opened to process the 30 of us. We approached in groups of three and a border patrol officer asked us a few obligatory questions, looked at our passport and that was it, Canada. Right beyond we took a group picture with the Welcome to Canada sign and then we headed on our merry way to get to Richmond. Only, it wasn't so merry.

 

The entire day it rained, meaning road were slick and visibility was low. We've ridden through rain before and it was a short 52 mile day, but it still quickly turned into a stressful one, full of lost riders, perilous roads, constructions, spills and general discomfort. 

Immediately at the border, we had about 20 miles through rural, farm roads. Just a two lane road with a minimal shoulder, but there wasn't much traffic. What it lacked in traffic though, it sure made up in steep hills. Actually, they can more be described as walls. Looking ahead, you were approaching a vertical wall that you'd have to climb. It was by far steeper than any of the passes in the Rockies or Cascades and even steeper than going through VT and NY. Granted they weren't long and we managed, but we've had enough climbing of late, our quads and calves hurt. 

From the rural roads, we entered the outlying cities of Vancouver, full of strip malls and suburban developments. Whereas the similar terrain in Ohio that I hated wasn't made for bikes, these roads did have bicycle lanes. The problem though is that while we wanted to go straight in the bike lanes, cars would be crossing over to make a right turn, quite the dangerous proposition. Add in the rain and it was a mess. There were lots of close calls. Through this I caught up with the front half of riders (they made a wrong turn) and rode with Jessie, Kathy, Dan and Kim. Lunch was at mile 38, but Kathy and I decided to press on and get the day and rain over with. 

The two of us continued on into the most confusing and dangerous part, the bridges. There were two bridge we had to cross and we had been warned about it at our pre-ride meeting earlier at the church. They are busy six-lane roads and there's no way around them. We came up to the first bridge and used the sidewalk on the left side to ride on, which was the smart thing to do. But in order to get over to the left side, we had to get off our bikes and run across six lanes of traffic. As we were riding up on the sidewalk, we see the front group of guys pass us to the right. They were riding on the roadway, over the bridge, taking up a lane since there was not shoulder, no good. 

And after the bridge is where most nearly everyone got lost. We were supposed to make a left on Columbia St., but it never seemed to appear despite road signs with arrows pointing to it. Kathy and I continued on and realized we were off track and decided to ask some locals where to go. We asked a total of 4 people. The best one was the first guy who gave us directions, then decided to completely negate the first set with a shortcut in the opposite direction and finally invalidated all of his comments telling us, "It's my first time in the area."

We found out way back on track to cross the Queensborough Bridge. At this time, we were on an on-ramp to merge with the main roadway and up comes Jessie cruising along in the complete next lane over. So now, we meet up with her and note far behind are the front group of guys who had passed us on the previous bridge but had gotten lost themselves. After this last bridge, we all traveled as a big group (Ian, Anson, Isaiah, John P., Bobby, Jessie, Kathy, myself) and made it easily to the church. I made a point to move fast and keep pedaling since I had lost feeling in my toes many miles ago. 

Since it's Sunday, our arrival just before 1:30 meant services were still in session, so we all headed over to a nice bistro for lunch. A place to warm up and spend some time and relive and go over the mess that was the ride. Now, it's no fault of the que sheet, there's no route to get from Lynden to Richmond that isn't confusing. This trip has been going on for 7 years and there still hasn't been a successful route figured out. And, even if it weren't raining for the entirety of the day, it still would've been a very unsafe ride.

When we finished, we got back to the church around 3:30 with the majority of people having managed to make their way. There were a few stragglers that came in late, with Michelle and Quang arriving at 5:15, well after the sweeps (who are supposed to be the last two people) had come in.

Once people started trickling in and over dinner, the various stories of the day circulated around:

Reed and Dae made a wrong turn after the first bridge looking for Columbia St., but instead found Koreatown and many miles out of their way. Zack and Arianna followed Route 99 instead of Route 99A. They went well out of their way and instead of crossing the river at the second bridge, came upon a tunnel. Now, biking through tunnels is very dangerous and backtracking was not an option, so how'd they get through? They took a bus. Kristen, Derek and Laura got lost enroute and somehow bypassed Richmond altogether and prematurely entered Vancouver. Laura also managed to ride entire second half of the day without brakes. Christopher too, he used Flinstones method of braking, with his feet, "Yabba Dabba Doo!" Lindsey, off route by 10 miles, got a flat with no pump, tube or patches to replace it. It was a long time before the van got there. Sean took a spill since a car cut him off. Oh, he also had a flat. From there, he screamed and threw his bike into a bush. Michelle rode through a seemingly innocuous puddle only to fall over since it was a massive hole. We all had cars honk at us, not in the good way. John P. had a car pass within inches of him. Joy stopped on one of the bridges to collect herself after a car came a bit too close. Christopher's bike decided to flat twice today. Add Erik's bike to that list too.

Somehow, as with every other day on this trip, we all managed to make it to the day's destination safely. For a last ride, it was quite the doozy. We were naive to think that we'd get off easy.

For tomorrow's "ride" we only have 12 miles before we dip our wheels together in the Pacific. Our wake up time is a leisurely 10am.