Touring - B.C. Hope to Prince George

So, the ticket is bought, the bike is ready and I'm training as hard as I can (not true, but I'm training kinda hard). I'm not from Canada and have never been to B.C. I'm researching this area like mad but not finding a lot of trusty and inspiring travel logs to go on for the strech of road from Hope to Prince George.
Can anyone out there tell me what biking is like on this road? I hear it's beautiful but my friends from Canada have got me a little frightened.
These people are not bikers and are giving opinions in smoke-filled bars while telling me I'm nuts to spend my vacation riding a bike all day, but still, they stress to me: these are not hills....these are MOUNTAINS.
On a scale of 1-10 how might you rate this strech of road difficulty wise? What else can you say about the route, even if you've just driven it.
I'm expecting huge hills and a lot of them. I'm not afraid of them, but would like to know what exactly I'm getting into.
Have I mentioned this is my first tour?
Thanks in advance.

Are you riding through the Fraser Canyon? That section is super narrow in places and a little freaky on a bike. I'd try to go through in an off-peak time like really early in the AM.

There are two routes out of Hope towards Prince George. The Fraser Canyon route (Highway 1) is the most direct, prettiest and has the least difficult hills. It is not easy but it is not impossible either. If you check the following link you will find that there is no summit on this route between Hope and Prince George that is higher than 800m.

http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/bc_highway_summits.html#btm

The road through the canyon has narrower shoulders than the Highway 5 but most groups that do cross Canada tours chose the canyon route so it is obviously not too difficult or dangerous.

The biggest problem will not be the road or the hills but the seven tunnels between Yale and Boston Bar. Five of these are short and straight so they aren't a huge problem. The other two are longer (500+metres) and curve so they are a little more difficult. You can look for a break in the traffic and cycle like mad or you can walk your bike along the very narrow sidewalks inside the tunnels. Personally I would cycle.

Once you get to Lytton you should continue on Highway 1 to Cache Creek and then north on Highway 97 to Prince George. This is the interior plateau region of BC and has pleny of rolling hills but no mountains like you face to the east or west. Your biggest problem here will be the heat. If you are planning on cycling during the summer, plan to rise early and quit cycling by the early afternoon.

There are plenty of camping spots and hundreds of lakes within easy cycling distance of the highway.

If you want more information reply here or send me a private message.

I would suggest you investigate http://www.adamk.ca .

This guy (Adam K.) has done a lot of cycling through B.C. and his comments seem interesting.

P.S. I have criss-crossed B.C. many times, though not by bike.

if you continue on from cache creek to Kamloops you can get off the 97 and onto the 5. 97 is more direct kind of following the frazer river, over all the scenery is kind of flat as you are on the interior plataue but there are more towns and things to do like in a stop in barkervill. 5 is more in the way of scenery, mountains and the like but with less population, relativly speeking. the 5 hooks onto 16 just north of valemount, very close to jasper.

then there are the back roads... then there are the trails... then there are the places where there are no trails...

as far as the hick factor of B.C. interior, it's there all right, but don't believe the hype. or maybe I'm too close to realy see it.