Pre Ironman Canada: Day 1 Wednesday

Today was the traveling day. My flight to Spokane via Salt Lake City was early. I asked Elishia to pick me up at home and drop me off at the Marta station in Sandy Springs at 5.30AM. I weighed my luggage before I left and surprised that it was 51 lbs, one pound over the limit. I had a lot of stuff bring: one carry-on that contained all race gears that I couldn't afford to lose, one luggage and one Tribike Transport gear bag that was dropped off the previous week along with my bike.

I asked Elishia what she was going to do after she dropped me off. For sure, I thought she was going to work out before work. She said she was going to take me to the airport. What a nice surprise! I was worried she was going to be stuck in traffic on the way back but she wasn't. When we got to the airport, she gave me 4 cards that were to be opened later. One was for on the way to Penticton, one was for when I needed a little pick-me up, one was the day before the race and one was for the day after the race. I couldn't thank her enough for her thoughtfulness and support during the past few months of training and especially, today.

When I lined up at Starbucks by the gate, Eric was there. Our group was split. Eric and I took the morning flight. Sarah, Susan and Ellen took the early afternoon flight. The flight to Salt Lake was around 4 hours. We had an hour before boarding again. I saw a guy with IM tattoo on his calf. I asked him if he was going to do IM Canada. Of course, he was. Wednesday and Thursday were traveling days for most athletes. Since this was his third IM, I asked him the lesson he learned from the past races. Save plenty of energy for the run! I couldn't agree more. I wanted to feel good during most of the run. Don't let the heavy legs come too early in the run. I could only do that if I was being conservative on the bike.

We got to Spokane around noon. the drive to the US border was uneventful. Lots of flats, nothing but wheat fields that were just recently harvested.


Golden wheat field on the left

After a few hours, we entered the US border.

Still in miles, not kilometers.

Oh Canada!

Welcome to British Columbia!

The view soon changed from flats to mountains to fruit orchards. Penticton is the fruit capital city of Canada. It is a city in the Okanagan Valley situated between Okanagan and Skaha Lakes. Okanagan Lake is north of Penticton, where the swim course is. Skaha Lake is south of Penticton. The roads along the lake are parts of the bike and run courses. Okanagan Lake is very large, 135KM long and 5KM wide. It is said by some to be home to its own sea monster - a giant serpent-like creature named Ogopogo, Loch Ness monster's long lost brother :)


Apple Orchards in Okanagan Valley

As soon as we reached Osoyoos, we were on Mile 40-ish on the bike course. This was the first mountain pass (I stopped calling it a hill because a hill is just a hump compared to this climb) called Richter Pass. It's a 1267 feet elevation increase over 7.4 miles. You climbed, got a little break, steep climbed, little break and climbed again.

The beginning of the Richter Pass climb

It was long but not as steep as the Georgia Gaps. After Richter Pass, I saw Spotted Lake. The spots were made mainly of magnesium sulfate, which crystallized in the summer. In the summer, only the minerals in the lake remain, and they hardened to form natural “walkways” around and between the spots.

Spotted Lake, Osoyoos.

After Richter Pass, there were 7 rollers. Some people counted 10, I think it just depends on what you consider rolling hills.

One of the rollers

Lots of orchards along the rollers from apple, pear, cherry, blueberry and peach. Vineyards were every where. It's an arid climate. The orchards and vineyards are well irrigated from the lake water. The second mountain pass is Yellow Lake. The climb is shorter than Richter but steeper. It's around mile 85 on the bike course.


Yellow Lake

Skaha Lake, end of the bike course. Across the lake, it's the run course.

The view is so gorgeous. The backdrop of the lakes and orchards are mountains. I took it all in because on race day, I probably wouldn't pay much attention to the views. After Yellow Lake, we drove along Skaha Lake. Lots of downhills from here until we were back in Penticton.

Day 1 was ended with strong wind that worried me. Our suite had lake (Okanagan) view if we had this kind of weather on Sunday, I would be in trouble. White caps on the lake made challenging swim and motion sickness which I was very prone to. I went to bed at 9PM which was 12AM EST. Susan, Sarah and Ellen got to the suite around midnight.