Tuesday June 30

As expected, the municipal park is a hangout for teenagers after dark. About six girls laughing and chatting away on a picnic table for hours. Then the spriklers turned on with a thwack-thwack against the tree trunks. Chatted with the couple next site over in the morning then off I went at 25 km/hr down to Christina Lake then a long climb up to Bonanza-Polson summit at 1500+ m. Rode with a 66 year old Montrealer for a short while he was moteling it, pulling his gear in a tote on a trailer. He said he was going to Nelson but I an wondering if he can do it in one day. It's 11:30 am now and I've just cleared the summit. Gotta love the MP3 player - I haven't used it a lot bc FM reception not always good, batteries die, wind noise etc but as I crested summit I was singing along to Great Big Sea "When I'm up I can't get down" I stopped at Castlegar for a coffee and a fabulous macaroon madness. After the best descent I've ever done. The map said 26 km from Nancy Green Prov Park to Castlegar so I figured about an hour. It took less than half that. Continuous descent all the way. Castlegar was too big to be too friendly so didn't dissappoint me to leave. About 10 km out of Nelson I came acress the 66 year old Montrealer. He needed glue (?) got a ride (I guess to Nelson) and was now riding back to Trail (!?) I'm really worried about him now. I got to Nelson and missed the turn to the InfoCentre and stopped to get my bearings. I was across the street form the Hostel. It's open but I can't check in bc there is no reception until 4:00 pm a half hour from now. Things pretty quiet here. Check in makes it sound nearly full (Real Estate ad says 43 guests and all yours for $750k) but I haven't seen too many people - mostly European students trying to make a few dollars under the table and some older ones but they aren't very chatty. Met one of my roommates just now ~8:00 pm Nelson is still cool - exceptionally hippie or sports junkie - esp mtn bike - and not much in between. A few restaurant patios make for a great atmosphere. Too bad the waterfront is mostly industry.

OD 680.0, 6:46:22hrs, 139.09 km, 20.5 km/hr ave, 61.4 max (it's hard to go faster due to scary wind gusts and paniers are not very aerodynamic)