Follow Ramesh's Journey

Today was a great day for hand cycling.  There was blue sky, sunshine, and wind at my back. We heard that there were just a couple of hills between Cache Creek and Kamloops, and that the majority of the route was flat. With that in mind, the team thought today would just be a leisurely day of cycling along the Thompson River.

As it turned out, there were some pretty big hills this afternoon. My top speed hovered in the 60s going downhill several times, but there were plenty of climbs as well. To anyone from Kamloops who’s ever wondered if Six Mile Hill is actually six miles, I assure you – it most definitely is!

We called it a day about 25 kms outside of Kamloops. The entire six-month trip from Victoria to Cape Spear will be 7,200 km, and today we did 79 – which is technically over one per cent of the entire trip in a single day!  Tomorrow will be relatively light in comparison.  It will cap off a very intense five days in a row of cycling from Hope, through the Fraser Canyon, and into the City of Kamloops! After tomorrow, we’ll rest in the area for a few days. 

I learned something interesting today as well:  it’s not just people who are stopping by the side of the road to show their support for Cycle to Walk and polio eradication.  All day, cows stopped grazing, horses galloped towards us, and dogs followed along their property lines.  I like to think they all know we’re on the road for a good cause.  Still, you’d think they’d never seen a guy on a hand cycle before! 

I was excited to hear that our website’s online donation function is now up and running.  I’m even more excited to know that donations have started coming in!  Thank you to everyone who’s supporting Cycle to Walk. Just remember: a single dose of the polio vaccine costs just 60 cents. We’ve had the tools to end polio for 53 years now – it’s time to finish the job!