>>1567498Haha thanks! This photo is from my very first attempt at a century with Sophie. In the winter of 15/16 I had moved from Vancouver to a more rural / suburban place for the winter as I was pretty depressed and had broken up with my girlfriend and lost my job. It was December 21st and my plan was to ride from Abbotsford out to chilliwack, Agassiz and then harrison hot springs and back. I set out in my microfiber sneakers and windbreaker. I posted a photo on instagram from the hot springs and a friend of mine who lived in Hope reached out and said "whoa! You're so close by! You should come hang out!"
At that point, about 90km in, maybe the farthest I'd ever ridden at that point and already having dealt with 3 fucking flats (this is when I learned not to cheap out on tires,) the 30km to Hope sounded a lot more manageable than the 70km home, so I set off, not thinking about the fact that Hope is nestled in the mountains and a very different climate from the rest of the valley. By then, it was so pitch black out on the highway I didn't even realize I was climbing. Finally I reached Hope, looked around and realized there was a foot of snow everywhere! The second I got off the bike I was FREEZING. Thankfully my friend lent me a warm jacket and we went down to the river to have a fire beside a big beaver dam. The next morning I woke up with my toes in agony from the exposure / being tightly clamped by my toe straps in my floppy shoes, but I felt accomplished. I hadn't ridden the century but at 126km that was still by far the longest ride I'd done at that point.
