There are mainly two routes out of the Lower Mainland of BC, or the Vancouver Metropolitan area, east. One if the TransCanada Highway and the other is Route 7. The TransCanada Highway is an limited access, US Interstate kind of highway not recommended for cyclists. Cyclists are probably not allowed on the road either. The second route has multiple access points, goes through relatively small communities, is on the north side of the Fraser River, and starts with 4 lanes (2 in each direction) and then goes down to 2 lanes (1 in each direction). The stress level is much less following Route 7 and becomes less stressful the further one moves east from Vancouver. This journey starts in the suburbs of Vancouver so traffic diminishes but the shoulders go from great to good to tiny to great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had only one choice and that is to follow Route 7. It is surprising how little elevation gain occurs on this first day because the mountains close in on me from the north and south and are looming in the east. There is one relatively easy 11 percent grade climb west of Agassiz. Maybe because I climbed steeper hills earlier but this one in particular was not too taxing. It also plateaued, or lessened well before the top. Going downhill seemed much steeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being off the bike for 2 weeks my butt got sore quickly but my leg muscles felt pretty good. I did not have the stamina that I two weeks ago but I knew that would come in a few days. I made good time to Hope. Hope is where I am going to spend the night because once I leave here the towns are further apart. I also needed extra time to determine with direction to go from here. That is because a mudslide on the route I wanted to take closed the highway two days earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got into Hope I was surprised at the number of homeless people camping along the Fraser River. It was common to see homeless in Vancouver Metro area but I was surprise to see it out here. For those of you that don\u2019t know, Hope was obliterated by Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in his movie First Blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s stats: 72.62 miles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Average speed: 14.3 mph<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elevation ascent: 1555 feet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elevation descent: 1572 feet<\/p>\n\n\n\n