Day 6:

• The previous night we discovered a broken spoke on the rear wheel.
• As we drove to Fernie, we considered many trail riding scenarios for after the bike was repaired. Every scenario depended on when the spoke would get repaired.
• We had a rather quick and impressive turn-around time at the Straight Line Bicycle Shop!
• We realized that we could NOT complete the remaining GDMBR in our remaining available time.
• We decided to ride from Corbin to Roosville, a planned 4 day ride. Our shuttle vehicle had already been positioned at Roosville.
• We rode as far as Flathead Pass and just over the Pass we ran into swollen water streams and our road to bike upon was flooded as far as we could see.
• We decided to return to Corbin, get off the trail for now, and to come back to the GDMBR in August.

Day 6 - Drive the Bike to Fernie, Repair a Broken Spoke

Above Left: Broken Spoke. See It?

Above Right: When we departed Elkford, we saw Elk at the edge of town.

How We Mount a Metal Cam-Lock Nylon Strap
(to carry a rear rack load)

1: Tie the Strap to the Rack. The trick to learn is have the Cam-Lock forward and have just enough strap length to place the Cam-Lock to be at or near the top of the load.

2: Mount the Panniers. The trick to learn is to NOT have a position conflict between the pannier mounts and the strap tie-down knots on the rack's top. Lesson, we once tied the strap well forward of the support strut and tightening the strap caused the forward-tip of the rack-deck to bend with the increased tightening stress.

3: Stow away excess strap lengths. The trick to learn is that every now and then a bike tourer may need that extra strap length (like to carry one or more full water bladders or to carry more gear than is typical). ... or to carry sandles or shoes - Steve F.

4: If you carry a cargo net, then mount the net. The trick to learn is to make sure that the net hook tips turn away from the cargo load so as to not punch a hole in the carry bag/sack. Our best use of the cargo net is for carrying rain gear, especially for those times when the rain gear is worn and removed repeatedly or for those times when wet gear is wet and it needs to be dried begore stowing.

Gear Loading

Above Left: Before.

Above Right: After.

The Trail Head for Flathead Pass on the GDMBR

Above: The Trail Head for the Flathead Pass Road - Notice the oversize Lego Blocks.

Above Left: Trail Info (summer and winter).

Above Right: Typical water puddles, easy to maneuver around.

Above Left: A week ago, this was a miserable bog, today we can ride around it.

Above Right: A new shrub to us, it is probably a berry plant.

Above Left: This is nice for a mountain road.

Above Right: See Her?

Above Left: A Doe.

Above Right: Same Doe.

Above: Typical road.

Above: We think that this wild plant is in the rhubarb family.

Above Left: Closeup of sign.

Above Right: Side view, all of this snow is making for a lot of snow melt.

Above Left: Narrow road ahead.

Above Right: About 2 yards/meters of road washed away.

Above Left: Another new flower to us.

Above Right: We're working our way up the to the Pass.

Above Left: Glacier Lilies.

Above Right: Up the way we go.

Above Left: We're in snow country now and we have been feeling the temperature drop.

Above Right: We're nearing Flathead Pass.

Above Left: Near Flathead Pass.

Above Right: View to the northeast.

Flathead Pass in British Columbia, Canada

Above: Terry Struck and the Bee are standing at the high point of Flathead Pass in British Columbia, Canada.

Above Left: We're just starting to head downhill.

Above Right: Zoom.

Above: Now we have to mind the road.

Above Left: Rough Road.

Above Right: At first, it only looked like another stream crossing.

Above: Downstream, the creek is running straight down our road to travel - The road is flooded downstream.

We stopped to look at the snow melt run-off conditions. BC had a record breaking snow fall this past winter, there was plenty of remaining snow, and there was more water on the road than was typical. We were quite capable of performing this first stream crossing but a second look made us consult the map. The map indicated that the road stayed parallel to the creek (this creek) for about a quarter of a mile (1/2 kilometer). But when we looked down stream, we could see that the creek was overflowing its banks and the water was running straight down the road (the road was flooded). The downstream road was under 18 inches of water (1/2 meter). We carefully considered all of the issues, one of which was that we were capable of doing this stream crossing but the process was going to add 1 or 2 more days to our planned 4 day ride (to get to Roosville from here). We concluded that there were too many unknowns for now and there was not enough time for any delays. So we decided to come back later in the Summer (late August) and finish the Canadian GDMBR then.

"Discretion is the Better Part of Valor"

Above Left: This image is of our travel road, it is flooded for as far as we can see.

Above Right: We're heading back to our car at the Corbin Trailhead. We will come back in 2 months (late August, 2017).