Quick hello

[Nia]

Hello everyone...i'm new to the forum and fairly new to biking as well!! I've just moved to Penticton BC from Ontario and decided to beocme more active along with my new life out here. I just bought a used roadbike to get started and am loving it so far....though have ways to go yet!!

...anyhow just wanted to say hello!!

[dingster1]

Howdy!!! And welcome to TE!!! We have lots of fun here

[effy]

Welcome Nia.
Get the bike tuned in and ride. I'm also new to cycling and TE has so much good information, on all topics. This site is awesome. I hope you let us know how the riding is going.

[Grog]

Hey welcome to Team Estrogen and to B.C. (I am in Vancouver).

Enjoy the ride!

[Zen]

Hello.

[mimitabby]

Welcome to TE !
and tell us more about your bike

[Road Rash]

Welcome Nia,

I recently moved back to Ontario after almost 10 years in BC - 7 years in the wonderful sunny Interior, and 2 in dreary Maple Ridge. It was the depressing fall and winters in the GVRD that drove us back to Ontario. Stay in the Interior.

I hope you have a hybrid or moutain bike that you can use on unpaved trails. The Kettle Valley Railway offers some great day trips or extended tours. It's a nice ride down to Osoyoos (some of the ride is on Hwy 97 though - watch for motorhomes).

Have you gotten use to the sound of sprinklers yet?

Happy riding.

Sharon

[Nia]

Welcome Nia,

I recently moved back to Ontario after almost 10 years in BC - 7 years in the wonderful sunny Interior, and 2 in dreary Maple Ridge. It was the depressing fall and winters in the GVRD that drove us back to Ontario. Stay in the Interior.

I hope you have a hybrid or moutain bike that you can use on unpaved trails. The Kettle Valley Railway offers some great day trips or extended tours. It's a nice ride down to Osoyoos (some of the ride is on Hwy 97 though - watch for motorhomes).

Have you gotten use to the sound of sprinklers yet?

Happy riding.

Sharon

'

Where in Ontario did you go back to? I'm oringinally from Kitchener Waterloo....never had the joy of roadbiking out there though...
I bought a used Mountain bike for the occasional trail...so the kettle valley is on my list to do!!

...the sprinkler...oii!!! lol they are as common as tourist around here!!! (i think i'm allowed to say that since i was one for the longest time!!)

...i love the oliver region!! what an awesome ride from ok falls to osoyoos!!!

[Nia]

Welcome to TE !
and tell us more about your bike

It's nothoing fancy quite yet!! Since i am a beginner i decided to start off with something used and found an incredible late 80's model of a bianchi!!
It is in great shape and has been babied from day one...the tube shifters are taking a bit of getting used to!!

I will certainly kep this one for the trainer once i know what i want...!!!
right now i am just loving it!!

[Nia]

Hey welcome to Team Estrogen and to B.C. (I am in Vancouver).

Enjoy the ride!

Thanks Grog!! ..where are you riding out in Vancouver?? i would love to take my bike out with me on my next trip!!!

[Road Rash]

'

Where in Ontario did you go back to? I'm oringinally from Kitchener Waterloo....never had the joy of roadbiking out there though...
I bought a used Mountain bike for the occasional trail...so the kettle valley is on my list to do!!

...the sprinkler...oii!!! lol they are as common as tourist around here!!! (i think i'm allowed to say that since i was one for the longest time!!)

...i love the oliver region!! what an awesome ride from ok falls to osoyoos!!!

I'm back in my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie. I went to the University of Guelph, so I'm familiar with the K/W area.

When we did our multi-day tour on the KVR, we took friends from Ontario along. We spent our first night in a campground in Osoyoos. The sound of sprinklers kept them awake for hours, while it lulled us to sleep.

Where we lived in Lillooet was quite arid like the Okanagan (often rivals Lytton for the Hot Spot in Canada title). The road biking was pretty much non-existent as the highways are described as some of the scariest in the province in a car - no shoulders, very twisty and quite mountainous - but very scenic. The mountain biking was excellent, there is a great heli-biking business in town if you like spending all day on a single descent. If you ever want to go to Whistler, take the Connector to Merritt, then Hwy 8 to Spence's Bridge, Hwy 1 down to Lytton, then Hwy 12 to Lillooet and Hwy 99 to Whisler. It's one of the best drives in BC (alot less traffic too). (Sorry for the travelogue)

We would probably still be in Lillooet, except the gov't office where my husband worked was closed shortly after our daughter was born and he got a job in downtown Vancouver. We hated the weather, the commute and the expense of living in the lower mainland, so when the opportunity to move back came we took it. We now have the same income, with a ten acre hobby farm that cost less than our three bedroom townhouse. We have a ten minute commute (30 minutes by bike), our daughter is in a great french immersion program at school and we are close to family - yay free babysitting!

We do miss the mountains, but the cross-country skiing is much better here than in the mountains and much safer. I don't miss wearing avalanche beacons at all!

I hope you take every opportunity you have to travel around BC, Alberta and the neighbouring States. There are some wonderful places to see and people to meet. My only regret is that we didn't take the ferry up to Prince Rupert or drive up to the Yukon while we were out there.

Sharon

[shootingstar]

Glad you enjoy Ontario return, RR. It could have been dicey after B.C.

To Nia: I grew up in K-W .and moved to London, ON for university. K-W is an unique area. There wouldn't quite any city like that in B.C., given K-W's history.

After that toronto for over 2 decades, before Vancouver.

I'm sure K-W has changed alot. Many of my school mates had German last names...

New bike routes seem to have been designed for that area. We did a loaded cycling trip for several days from Toronto, via Guelph etc. and into Elmira.. I still have a few friends in K-W.

[Nia]

oh i know all about those german last names (my parents are german...and very stubborn ones on top of that!) lol

I never made it out on a roadbike in ON...i really just got hooked when i came out here a few months ago...and hooked is the right word!
I would love to take my bike back with me and explore the elora/elmira area...it would be a great stretch to take for sure...though the scenery here really is quite a bit nicer!

I have really fallen in love with my Bianchi...eventhough i am occasionally curising the tube shifters...especially the adjustment i find rather ..hmmm how do i say this...rather finicky?! still. I did get to ride an orbea onyx the other day and...oiiii! that's all i can say! But my Bianchi is here to stay...she might just get a younger sibling though!

I cannot wait to explore the area and get myself into a higher level of endurance....

[Nia]

Thank you for the travelogue Sharon!! I am always looking for great routes and cannot wait to explore the province by bike more.
My bf and i spend a weekend in Jasper and the Golden region not to long ago and we saw the biggest group ride i have come across yet...what a gorgious ride that would have been to take!!! A stretch that is most certainly a must do in the future...though i better train up yet!!

One of my trips to Sault Ste. Marie (by car was one of my favorite ones in Ontario...certainly a very beautiful area!! Glad you are enjoying being back home!
Cross country skiing and ava;anche beacons are two things that do not belong together in my books!! LOL maybe because i am a big chicken. lol

thanks again for the ride tips for bc!!