Day 9 - Lake Louise (she's high)

It's 10:20 and I'm beat, so this will be a quick one. We crossed the continental divide today and entered the province of Alberta.

I reached the highest elevation of the trip at Lake Louise, about 1700 m. It's all downhill from here!

The weather was all over the place again. I rode through sunshine, rain, hail and wet snow. My footwear solution today was a plastic bag:

It kinda worked but I might try to find something better in Calgary.

Tension grew when we reached the campsite and found that the tents were to be set up far away from the truck. As a result, the truck was moved and supper was delayed for a couple of hours. A bit of a low point in terms of morale, but I'm sure it will be quickly forgotten.

Today's track

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Day 8 - Golden (...showers...)

Climbing Rogers Pass in the pouring rain, the word that kept going through my mind was "epic". After going through some tunnels...

...with Chris and Isabel, I put the hammer down in the hope of powering through the rain storm.
My way of coping was to talk to myself in my best action-movie-preview voice, with cheesy lines like, "one man must conquer the elements," or "only one thing can get in his way... himself", etc. It actually helped, though I'm sure I got some weird looks from passing motorists.

At the crest of Rogers Pass, the weather started to clear up...

And after a hot dog and tuna sandwich, I was feeling not too bad. From there, the ride to Golden was a hodge podge of various weather. Hot sun, light rain, thundershowers and Owen even encountered some hail.

Tonight we're staying indoors, which is always welcome after a wet day. As I write this, my clothes are tumbling away in the dryer, almost ready for the next onslaught.

Today's track

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Day 7 - (Fat) Albert Canyon (...hey, hey, hey!)

The sun did come out today, but only after a rain soaked ride. It was a challenge for a number of reasons. It was long (127 km), and because of the low cloud cover there wasn't much to look at. Also, because we were on the Trans Canada, there was lots of traffic, which makes it harder to relax.

At one point, as the rain was coming down, I became mesmerized by the rain drops collecting on the brim of my cap. Every half a minute our so a new one would form, dance back and forth on the brim in time with my pedal strokes, and then fall.

Along the ride, I passed the site of the last spike in the Canada Pacific railway. Suddenly I feel inspired to read Pierre Burton's book. Is it any good?

At the campsite, the sun came out just in time to dry our tents and other gear. Bill bought me a beer and we sat in the sun doing absolutely nothing and loving it.

As I write this, it's 9:30, my eyes are getting heavy and a freight train is squeaking past. Somebody put some WD40 on that thing!

Today's track

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Day 6 - (the sun'll come out, to-) Mara

We continued North through the Okanagan Valley today, through Vernon to a campsite in Mara.

The scenery was much like the previous ride, which is to say amazing, although I find that I'm starting to become desensitized to the magnificence. Here's Jim cresting one of the hills on his brand new bike:

He had been having some trouble getting up the hills, so he actually bought a new, lighter bike in Kelowna. Seems to be doing the job so far, but the true test will be in a couple of days when we climb the Rogers Pass.

We saw some interesting cars on the road today. A Ferrari F 50, which sounded absolutely delicious, and this strange beast:

Although it wasn't a hard day, I am totally knackered tonight. It's only 9:10 and I'm ready to konk out. Zzzzzzz...

Today's track

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Kelowna Rest Day

Yesterday was a rest day, which meant that we stayed at a nice hotel (the Royal Anne in downtown Kelowna) and weren't obligated to do any riding. It actually turned into as pretty full day for some of us as we criss-crossed the city by foot, bike and bus to get our bikes fixed, laundry washed and energy bar stocks replenished.

At the end of the day, I went for a stroll in the park...

...and ran into an old friend from Halifax who kindly treated me to some Moo Mix ice cream. What a sweet accident!

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Day 5 - Kel-ow!-na

This was the big one. We continued our descent...

...into the Okanagan Valley and kept riding...

...to Kelowna. Today I was riding with Ilan and Bill. We took turns at the front and set a pretty good pace. At 142 km, it sets a new single-day record for me. Knock on wood, my body seems to be coping well, aside from a slightly sore butt.

Ilan, by the way, is raising money for schools in Nicaragua. Check it out: http://schoolbox.ca/

Quote of the day came from Rick at dinner, who remarked that I have the legs of a hundred dollar hooker. I couldn't have been more flattered!

Today's track

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Day 4 - (full speed a-) Hedley

What a difference a day makes. Today we started out with a gentle descent and then a significant climb to Sunday Summit, but not nearly as tough as yesterday. Here are Rick and Isabel climbing:

And here's Chris:

After that, it was about 60 glorious kms of mostly downhill and tailwinds, and the sun even came out!

To top it off, the campsite is a huge step up over yesterday. The post ride shower felt pretty great, and our soggy gear quickly dried out in the gentle breeze alongside the river.

Dry and happy, the aim now is to get a god night's sleep before the 146 km ride into Kelowna tomorrow.

Today's track

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Day 3 - Manning (up) Park

Today we climbed 1000 meters under relentless showers, descended a bit and then climbed over the Allison Pass.

I didn't get many pictures due to the rain and my desire to get to camp as soon as possible.

The North Shore mountains prepared me well for this ride. Thanks to that preparation, a light bike and taller gearing, I passed the rest of the group on the road and got into camp first.

The highlight of the ride was when Owen's wife Barb unexpectedly drove along and gave us Timbits as we climbed the pass. I can safely say that we all greatly enjoyed those Timbits.

A few bear sightings too. I saw one right on the shoulder, only a few meters from me. Fortunately it had no interest in me whatsoever.

Unfortunately the shower facilities here at the campground are out of order because someone stole all the copper pipes. So we're roughing it. Truly a day to "man up".

Today's track

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