Radium Hot Springs - Kimberley 26th-28th Aug

September 2, 2007 by paulandnaomi.

This day brought us some excellent changes in weather conditions and terrain. We arrived at Invermere Information Centre 20km down the road in what seemed like seconds, under a bright sun and going largely downhill. On being bombarded by a very unexpected barrage of sleet on the way into Invermere, we took refuge in the Eatery with an excellent salad bar. After some mundane shopping and bureaucratic necessities in town we made our way down a lovely rolling road in once again beautiful weather to Fairmont Hot Springs (no bathing this time), where we spent the night.

The following day, the easy riding continued for 60km at record breaking speed (19km/hr!), with some excellent slip-streaming (and therefore energy-saving) opportunities. However, easy riding does not last forever when your heading for the highest city in Canada. For 30km we made our way up slowly towards Kimberley, a city that for some reason deems itself as some kind of mini-Bavaria. I have since found out that most of its population is descended from Swiss, German or Austrian immigrants. Therefore it was schnitzel for dinner at the Mozart Inn with a big hearty mug of beer.

When planning our route, we had noticed a minor road through the mountains from Kimberley which knocked a good 160km and a couple of days off our route to Nelson (next planned day off). But things were not as simple as they appeared on the map. We knew this road was unpaved. What we didn’t know, is that it was not only 95km of wilderness, but also meant a 900m ascent with 14% switchbacks on either side of the summit. Over 35km. With potholes. And bears.

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