Finding the Olympic spirit up to Whistler

So, the original plan was to be in Whistler early so that I could potentially take one of the cable cars up the mountain and enjoy the view. But the clouds were hanging so low today that there weren’t any views today at all.

I left my campsite at ten past eight and continued my ride along the Cayoosh Creek. The first three hours were only uphill (imagine I had done the last part of yesterday’s stage and the beginning of today’s at once). Then I finally reached the highest point and from there it was a long downhill ride – 1000 metres elevation on thirteen kilometres.

Down in The Valley it was dry and warm again. I stopped in Pemberton for a quick lunch (two slices of pizza) and checked the weather. The forecast said heavy rain in the afternoon, which seemed odd to me because in Pemberton it was quite nice.

Well, the meteorologists knew their business. The three hours from Pemberton to Whistler were tough because they were all uphill, and it was pouring down like crazy most of the time. Luckily, I had booked a hotel (specifically a pod hotel) for the night. So no matter how wet I was, I knew I would have a warm shower and dry clothes eventually. That was the spirit which brought me up to the location of the 2010 Olympic downhill ski events.

The centre of Whistler village is a pedestrian area, and it is very confusing. So it took me a while to find my hotel. I found a liquour store before I found the hotel, so I grabbed two Bud on the way as well (no local brew in the cooler). The hotel is pretty cool. The pod consists really of the bed only and a shelf. But it’s cheap, clean and stylish, and the staff is really friendly.

Also, for the bear record, there was a black bear in the pedestrian area tonight. It stayed there for a while and tried to hide from all the tourists with their cameras. But the police chased it away eventually with fireworks. It was very scared the poor thing.

Tomorrow is the big day – going to Vancouver finally. It will be 120 kilometres if I ride all the way to my hostel, or 100 kilometres if I skip the downtown traffic and get a bus from the harbour. We will see what my legs say (or rather my bottom) tomorrow.