So what a tough day. We did make it to Merrit after 120KM of a very tough grind. Had to battle so pretty steep ramps with rain for the first 40 km. Claude and I were both thankful for having a few friends in our heads to talk to as we ground up that first 40 Km.At the top thinking we were home free, we started heading downhill but the rain wouldn’t let up and so CLAUDE decided to stop and put some warmer clothes on. That was the beginning of some issues. I moved on Thinking he would catch up real quick as I knew there was a rest area a little further on down the mountain. I got to the rest area cold and trembling as I knew I would and I quickly changed into some warmer clothes I got myself a cup of coffee. An hour later still no Claude! I was trying to reach him on the phone but I was low on power and I couldn’t get any answer. It turns out when he stopped almost immediately his hand started to go white as he says he normally do and he couldn’t get his gear back on because he had no feeling in his hands. So he worked at getting sensation back and finally got underway and meet me at the rest stop. Another hour later, he finally warmed up gone through three more changes of clothes and we were on our way again. It was getting rather late however so I figured it had been a tough enough day and we would probably look for a motel. The last section of the of the day wasn’ really any easier Probably because we were getting pretty tired. Then, bang our first flat tire! CLAUDE has been riding in his own pace for a while but what I didn’t know, is that he had been struggling and I had planned to stop and wait anyway. I just had to keep my own piece to try and keep from getting too cold. Now the first time changing my flat tire with this new bike could’ve been a challenge, but in the end it took me about 40 minutes after having taken off all the gear and everything was fine.All said and done, Claude had still not arrived. Finally he did in a teased him a little bit because he probably has stopped another few times to change in some more clothes.
Anyhow the last section was mostly downhill And we paces ourselves to get into the town of Merrit. A few checks at some local motels which happened to be quite full because of the tourist season as well as the evacuees from some of the neighboring fires. We had to settle for the ranchland motel! A bit of a dive but all in all they turned out OK.Go to a few beers at BC liquor in order out pizza while everything was trying to get dried up. Suffice it to say that when I looked over at CLAUDE side of the room it looks like an explosion head hit it because there was clothes everywhere!
English (Canada) 
Français du Canada