Day 4: Eat, Rest, Sleep.

Yesterday as Vanessa wrote the last post, I fell asleep in an armchair in the lobby. I then got up, proceeded to the hotel room and fell asleep on top of the sheets for about twenty minutes. Lastly I managed to lurch under the covers and slept heavily for the remainder of the evening. This pattern of behavior is pretty much a microcosm of our rest day at manning lodge.

So far today we have managed to eat roughly our weight in bread and granola, there is no such thing as being full on a trip like this. Our big exertion was to slump into a hot tub where we spent a lot of time experimenting with how to get the jets to massage our calves.

As Vanessa wrote yesterday, the ride from Hope to Manning Park Lodge was easily the most physically and mentally tiring thing we've ever done. Between staring down both a grizzly and a black bear, to almost losing a pedal half way up the mountain, it was an incredibly difficult day. The pedal fell out halfway up a climb. They're countersunk, I still have no idea how this happened. That being said the views we experienced and the sheer feeling of joy when we reached the top more than outweigh the hardships. There's something absolutely bizarre and magical about starting a day in the sun and biking into the clouds till you're in three feet of snow.

Above are a few of our favorite photos from Vanessa's point and shoot. The lower two shots were taken on the ascent and summit of Allison pass. The graffiti was found in about the steepest part of the ascent and really lifted our spirits. The snow covered service building is a taste of what we saw at the top of the pass. The first pic is our favorite photo of the trip, taken west of Mission. BC has the best roadsigns ever.