One Province Down, Many To Go

Day 10: Chase To Sicamous: Woke up in nice cozy bed at Aunt and Uncle’s house. Had a great breakfast cooked for us and said goodbye to Aunts Kathy and Judy and Uncles Steve and Marsh. They took pictures of us as we rode away. We climbed a hill and then most of the way to Salmon Arm was downhill. We had a nice view of the Shuswap most of the way and I pondered what it would be like to be house-boating or sea-dooing. Reality kicked in. We stopped at Tim Horton’s. Left Salmon Arm by climbing another giant hill. Legs hurt. Sun was scorching. Managed to peddle our way to Sicamous and stay at a campsite. Paid 50 cents for my shower. Got shampoo in my eyes while adding the extra quarter. Took a swim in the pool. Forgot to put on bug-spray. Received the biggest mosquito bites known to mankind.

Day 11: Sicamous to Revelstoke: Woke up itching bites. Oatmeal for breakfast. Left early morning. Repaired flat tire halfway to Revelstoke. Scorching heat. Eventually rolled into Revelstoke and realized how cool of a city it is. No Dairy Queen though. (I might have forgotten to mention that a DQ blizzard is an awesome treat after a long day of biking). Spoke to receptionist with amazing Aussie accent at cheap hotel and got free passes for the local pool. Rotated between pool, hot-tub, kiddie-slide and sauna. Shopped for food. Ate at hotel. Fell asleep to really loud air-conditioner.

Day 12: Revelstoke to Rogers Pass: Fairly smooth day. Still hot out. Beautiful mountains though. Stopped for some lunch at a resort along the way and paid $7.50 for a sandwich that I could have made better for $1. Made it most of the way to Rogers pass before stopping at a rest stop off the highway and meeting three hardcore, leather wearing bikers. We stopped and asked if there was a place ahead to grab some water. One of them opened up a cooler in his trunk (it’s a motorcycle, not a bike:) and gave us some ice cold soda (or pop if you prefer). We travelled maybe another 5 km to a campsite and realized there was no room left. Then a guy from Edmonton named Paul with a girl from New York named Avery offered to let us use their site with them at no cost. We thankfully said yes and had some good coversations with them. Cooked soup for supper. Fell asleep to the soothing sound of a rushing mountain river.

Day 13: Rogers Pass to Golden: Woke up and said goodbye to Paul and Avery. Biked not far to the visitor center at Rogers pass and got free hot dog and bottled water. Fed a fat squirrel some bread from my hand and had tourists in four different languages comment on how amazing that was. But really it wasn’t amazing. The squirrel was fat. Fat squirrels will eat anything. Watched a lumberjack use a chainsaw to make a chair out of a solid piece of wood (I think they were celebrating something here). Left to start on Rogers Pass expecting it to be all uphill. It was all downhill! One of the best days for riding. Pretty sure I got to over 70 kph. Beautiful scenery. Stopped at a resort at Heather Mountain for lunch. Had one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Made it to Golden from there with relative ease. Noticed a Dairy Queen. When we arrived a nice lady told us the power went out in town because of a thunderstorm. No blizzards. But we talked to the nice lady and her family and they wished us well. We rode over to the Husky station and ate what we had in our packs. Fed another fat squirrel (seriously!). Prayed in my head that the power would come back on in town and 2 seconds later it came back on. We got our blizzards. Stayed in another cheap hotel where you can hear everything going on in the next room.

Day 14: Golden to Lake Louise: Woke up and showered. Started the day by climbing a giant hill. Followed that by climbing some mountains. Baked in the sun. Finally got a nice long downhill stretch and had to climb right back up another one. Stopped at a waterfall and dunked my head. Got pretty soaked all over. Dried off pretty fast. Climbed more mountains. Stopped in Field. Ate a Buffalo burger. Started on the next pass to the Alberta border only to realize that I thought Rogers pass was where all the uphill was, but no, it was here… And it was called 10-mile hill… No joke. Climbed every mile. Was easier than anticipated and we got to the border. Literally after passing the sign for Alberta the shoulders on the highway got worse. It felt like I was going over train tracks and I was dodging pot-holes and glass shards all the way to Lake Louise. But at least most of that was downhill. Arrived in Lake Louise only to find that campsites were full. Had to dish out the dough for a hotel. We saved $50 though.

Day 15: Lake Louise to Canmore: Ridiculously easy ride. Mostly downhill the whole way. Gorgeous mountains. Popped another tire though but replaced it and stopped in Banff for lunch. Arrived in Canmore early and set up our tent at a campsite near the highway. Biked around Canmore and checked it out. Before going to bed I broke out the journal and wrote a poem of a dream I keep having. Tried to fall asleep. Fell asleep and then kept waking up. Apparently this campsite is perfectly situated to maximize noise. Multiple train tracks. Major highway. Major off-ramps from highway. Semi-trucks all through the night.

Day 16: Canmore to Calgary: Woke up… sort of… Packed up and ate breakfast. Started the climb out of the mountains. Realized the climb doesn’t really stop there. In fact most of the way to Calgary is uphill, however gradual it is. Baked in the sun. Stopped for some soup at a Native reserve. Biked basically the whole day in the blazing sun, against the wind, and uphill yet we managed to accomplish 110 kms to get home. Arrived at home. Key is lost. Waited for sister to arrive with key. Talked with mom on phone. Had spectacular shower and was treated to pasta and cake at my Sister Amber’s and her husband Ian’s place (same building:). Slept oh so well.

Day 17: In Calgary: Woke up… sort of… Read my book. Watched some TV. Read more. Watched more TV. Avoided any contact with the sun or the living world. Had some awesome BBQ at sisters’ place. Cake for Dessert. Went out for movie. Got back late.

Day 18: Still in Calgary: Woke up this morning early (though later than I usually wake up for work). Packed up bike and gear for a trip to the food bank. Arrived at food bank and volunteered and really got to see what goes on there. Met some amazing people, very supportive. Got pictures taken with bike and received my most painful injury of this trip: I cut my leg on the Calgary Food Bank sign. It was my fault, I wasn’t looking, I won’t sue. Talked with Nollind and others about our trip so far and Brooke the lovely media lady for the food bank (who also took our pictures) graciously gave me medical attention for my leg. It’s just a scratch, really.

We’re planning to leave tomorrow for the rest of our trip although I might be inclined to stay an extra day and get everything in order. Especially with rumors of thunder showers on the horizon. We’ll see if I can convince Braden. But honestly I think we both want to get going again before we get too comfortable. But hey, why not put on another few pounds to burn off, right?

Oh, I almost forgot. Speaking of burning off pounds: I’ve lost 8 pounds in 2 weeks on the “Bike Across Canada” System, and I feel great! I’ve always had strong legs, but now instead of being able to kick goblins and leap great distances into moving rafts, I fell like I can kick through the Black Gate of Mordor itself! (that one’s for free guys)

I’m still trying to find a way where you can leave comments all together on a page because I’d like to know you’ve visited… So look for that in the future… But for now, I will go… Love you all!