Day Five, Osoyoss to Midway

Day Five, Osoyoss to Midway
69 km

We awoke early in the morning faced with the daunting task of crossing Anarchist Mountain, 4892 feet above sea level.  This summit was the only thing that lay between us and Midway.  The weather forecast was for a 30 degree day, so we desperately wanted to be out on the road early in order to beat the heat.  We packed up and we were spinning the wheels by 7am.

I am definitely not a strong hill climber.  In fact, I HATE hills!  I must give due credit to Rob, for getting me up and over Anarchist Summit.  Granted, I physically did the work, but like a highly trained professional coach prepping his team for a playoff run, Rob managed to break the climb into smaller, attainable segments, the next pull-out, the next view-point, 5 more kms, etc. Segments that seemed doable vs. Impossible for me.  He as an uncanny ability to know when I need encouragement and maybe more importantly he knows when not to speak but to simply offer water.

The views during the climb were absolutely spectacular.  Watching the sun rise on the mountain and the pink shades of light dance on the lake below helped take our minds off the climb.  Up we went.  The hill was relentless.  At each hairpin turn, I begged the mountain Gods for mercy, yet the road continued to wind upwards.  There are several false summits on Mount Anarachist, great places to stop for a rest, but at the same time mentally challenging.

Finally, after four very long hours we arrived at the summit.  We pulled across the road to take a picture at the summit marker.  As we celebrated, another cyclist approached.  It was Darren.  We had shared a campsite on our first night with Darren and his cycling partner George.  They were using bike trailers to carry their gear.  Quite intrigued with theIr trailers and gear, we affectionately called them, "The Trailer Park Boys" and we watched out for them throughout our ride.  It seemed somehow fitting that we reunited on the summit.  We shared stories of our respective rides and enjoyed a few minutes togetther at the top of the mountain. We bid farewell and safe travels and then the descent began.

FUN doesn't come close to describing the descent to Rock Creek.  We literally FLEW down the mountain.  What goes up, must come down and down we did go.  I'm not sure what speed we reached, but we travelled almost the entire way to Rock Creek without pedalling.  The pain of the climb seemed far behind us, and as the road levelled out we enjoyed the last few miles on relatively flat terrain.  We rejoined the KVR just outside Midway.  We didn't want the trip to end, so we hopped off our bikes and walked the last km back to Mile 0.

Giggle of the day:

You don't giggle while climbing Anarchist Mountain.