Biking on the Okanagan Rail Trail

Kathryn (left) and Eric (right) and Murphy (both!) biking the Okanagan Rail Trail yesterday.

 As many of you know, Kathryn has been dealing with migraine headaches for about 15 years now.  Any kind of activity exacerbates them and she finds even simple chores too much for her.  Biking was something we used to do, but since the onset of her migraines, we haven't taken our bikes out together.  In fact, Kathryn hasn't been on a bike for nearly 20 years.

All that has changed with our newly acquired e-bikes.  We have been out a couple of times now and are looking forward to more excursions in the near future.  One of the advantages of living in Kelowna is that the place has a myriad of dedicated bicycle trails, many of them using the defunct rail lines that used to sprawl through the area.  We did some 12 km yesterday and enjoyed the sights and sounds along the path.  We passed a waterfall, rode along the Wood Lake shoreline most of the way, and returned to our RV campsite none the worse for wear.

I use the e-bike on the 1 setting most of the way while Kathryn keeps hers on the 3 setting.  This allows her to get some exercise while not overdoing it.  On the way back she found that the distance was too much for her; so she used the e-bike's motor to do all the work and just ambled happily back.  It's nice to be able to do things like this once again.

The only sore spot was that Kathryn tipped while stationary and fell over.  The damage was minimal and, except for a small cut and bruise, there was no injury.  She has a lot of confidence on the bike and looks forward to our next outing.

Murphy was great.  We borrowed our friend's doggie backpack (you can see Murphy in it on my back in the right image) and took him with us.  He never made a peep, even when we passed other dogs on the trail.  We will have to get one of our own for next time.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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