Neil and I were up relatively early Saturday morning to meet up with friends for a day of camping, followed by a day of cycling. We were camping at Birkenhead Lake, north of Pemberton valley (just north of Whistler). The location was absolutely beautiful with a long sandy beach and relatively warm glacial-fed water that had a greenish tinge, a result of the silt. We wasted no time inflating our air mattresses and carrying them to the lake for some fun in the water.

The water was decently warm, considering every body of water in BC is glacial fed and typically freezing. The water of Birkenhead Lake had a distinct temperature difference between the upper few feet of warmer water and the lower depths of freezing cold water. The air mattresses were great for catching a few rays, enjoying a beverage and taking the occasional dip when our skin was too warm from the sunshine. There is no better way to spend a lazy, crazy, hazy day of summer. As the sun was disappearing behind the mountains, we chased its rays for as long as we could handle it, until defeated, we paddled our way back to shore. By this time, I was starting to shiver quite violently and couldn’t wait to get into some warm, dry clothes and to relax by the fire. During the drive to the campground, we stopped to fill up our trunk with super thin, dry pieces of cedar that had been made available by a lumber yard to passers by. The wood burned easily and filled the air with the sweet smell of cedar. Before long, we were sticky with roasted marshmallows and maxed out on sugar. The night ended early, as we had an early morning and a day of biking to prepare for.

Sunday morning, we were up early to pack up and get ready to participate in the Slow Food Cycle Sunday. Thousands of cyclists took to the streets to enjoy some good eats and treats. The Slow Food Cycle is a yearly event that invites

all growers, nature-lovers, weather-watchers, green-thumbs, gardeners, naturalists, stewards, hunters, farmers, foragers and lovers of the land to help protect what belongs to us all, to our collective commons. Fresh water, clean air, seeds, know-how, habitat, the pleasure of growing your own food.

The day started off quite chilly and I was actually contemplating wearing pants and a hoodie. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt, hoping not to regret the decision particularly as a few drops started to fall just as we set off. The first stop was the Pemberton Valley Coffee Company. The stop included sustainable coffee, a necessary wake-me-up for the coffee lovers on our journey. I opted for the hand-made frozen yoghourt treat as the sun had already started to rear its glorious rays and was warming my skin. We sat and enjoyed the soulful, funky music of the talented Papa Josh. Papa Josh is a one-man show, during which he plays and records each layer, building it up into the complete sound of a full band. It was great to watch him record a loop and just keep adding to it with percussion, vocals and guitar.

The next stop was the Riverlands Farm, where they sold a garden plate of veggies, hummus and pesto. I wasn’t quite ready for the roughage, so I wanted waited until the next stop for a bite, but I was nearly convinced after one cyclist exclaimed that it was the “best pesto I’ve ever had”.

We mounted our bikes and continued along our trek to Across the Creek Organics, where we sampled their Yukon Gold, German Butter and Red (Russet?) Potatoes with their Blackberry Vinaigrette and Sweet Ginger Curry sauces - delicious! I typically don’t eat cooked potatoes with anything other than butter & salt, but these sauces have opened me up to a whole new world of potatoes! Now they won’t sit and collect in our cupboard for weeks until they start growing eyes and we have to throw them out. They were served at room (by room, I mean out-door air) temperature.

Next on the map was Helmer’s Organic Farm, where we spent a fair bit of time wondering its grounds. This was by far, the largest and most established venue. Thankfully, most of it was shaded. We enjoyed samples of potato cakes on a bed of tomatoes, topped with what tasted like really tart basil leaves, but I couldn’t identify the herb. There was plenty of gelato to enjoy as well, so we sampled their Mango and White Chocolate flavours. They mixed well the tartness of the Mango and the succulent sweet flavour of the White Chocolate (it tasted like Vanilla).

After some time, the crew reassembled and hit the open road. The next stop was the Pemberton Meadows Natural Beef; our primary destination. We were saving room in our stomachs specifically for this stop, but when we arrived and saw the extreme line-up the majority wanted to keep riding thinking that we would catch it on the way back. We made one more stop 5km up the road at Shaw Creek Farm. There was one photographer showing his photos that were quite impressive. I guessed that he had some sort of amazing telephoto lens having captured detail in the face of a grizzly bear and black bear. My favaourite photo was one of a hummingbird frozen in mid-air. That couldn’t have been easy, by any means. It was a spectacular display of colour and motion frozen in time. Wow. If only.

After a cool-down in the shade, we ventured back to the Pemberton Meadows Natural Beef, but disappointedly, it was shut down. They had ran out of burgers after serving 600 of them to hungry bikers. We took a run through the sprinkler to cool off, before making our way back onto the road for the final leg of the race - the ride back to our vehicles.

The trek back was just over 13km and we made it back in amazing time. There were six of us forming a long train of cyclists, drafting the first rider the entire way back. Thankfully, the men took turns leading the pack to spare us women the burden of the head wind. I wouldn’t have been able to keep up for so long at that pace had it not been for drafting. I haven’t ridden that hard in a really long time and it was great to expel that last bit of energy. The last 500 m or so, the first two riders took off to burn their last bit of energy. I know we held them back in order to be able to draft them, but working together let us all get there sooner, rather than later. It was a fun ride and I’m already looking forward to next year’s ride. Having learned a few tips from this year’s ride, we’ll be better prepared for next year’s, including sunscreen that is more protective than SPF15.

I’ve really been missing my mountain bike this summer. We’ve yet to take it out after such a busy summer. We made a quick stop into Whistler on our trip up to Birkenhead Lake. It was the week of Crankworx, a mountain bike festival held in Whistler every year. We’ve gone to watch the events for the past two years, but we hadn’t been paying enough attention and missed out this summer. We used to ride Thursday nights with the John Henry bike club during the summer season, but since the club lost its support last summer, we haven’t been keeping in touch with any of the riders or the riding events of the summer. We’ll have to get out there and make the most of the final dog days of summer.