Banff Day 1

Well, it turns out it was a good thing Dad and I decided to be done 1 day early. Last night my grandmother dislocated her artificial knee. It was bad enough that we had to call the EMT to take her to the hospital, and after they couldn't help they transported her to the regional hospital in Calgary. It was a long night for my grandparents.

Grandma is doing much better. Today is Sunday and July 1st is Canada Day, so they had some difficulty locating a specialist, but were finally able to get someone who could manipulate her knee into place. She's spending 1 more night in Calgary, and then coming back to Canmore tomorrow.

While Mom, Dad and my grandparents were in Calgary today, Jim and I went exploring and photographing. We visited Lake Louise and Lake Moraine. A word to the wise, if you go, go EARLY. Jim and I left about 11, and the traffic was parked on the side of the narrow, windy road for miles. Traffic was backed up, waiting for entry and a spot to park, and it was awful. We got parking spots no problem, and were feeling quite proud of ourselves.

Day 7: Radium Hot Springs, BC to Vermillion Crossing, BC - our surprise final day

Miles: 37
Elevation gain: 2701 feet
Average speed: 13 mph

Today was our last day. It wasn't going to be, but we decided it was a good time to stop.

Originally planned for today was 72 miles. However, we decided to cut things short. We were staying at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort for our rest day, and when looking at the route, had the following concerns.

1. We drove to Radium Hot Springs yesterday during our rest day, and realized that the road up to the hot springs doesn't have a shoulder. The road is narrow, winding, and through a national park on a Saturday. We weren't comfortable riding on it.

2. We wanted to ride up the hill before the heat of the day. It's been over 90 the last few days, and we didn't want to be out in that. I do not do well in the heat.

3. In the words of Dad's biking mentor, Dave Ertel, "Remember, this is supposed to be fun!" Riding that portion without the shoulder wouldn't have been fun, and riding in the heat of the day wouldn't have been fun. 

Given these constraints, we decided to utilize our support vehicle. Driver Jim took us to the point where the shoulder reappears on Highway 93. It cut off a good bit of the ride, but we decided not to feel guilty about that.

On the way to our drop off point, we saw 2 long horned sheep! They were big guys, and they were probably the coolest animals we've seen so far.

The downside to Jim dropping us off, is we went immediately into our biggest hill. It took us about 50 minutes to ride 5 miles. We averaged 6 mph. On the way up, we saw a young sheep, who scrambled up the cliff to get away from us, a group of female sheep who ignored us, and a large black bear which also ignored us. The black bear, who Dad thinks was about 200 lbs, was right off the road, eating something, and didn't even look up. He made me a big nervous, but seemed utterly uninterested in us.

We made it to the top sooner than expected. That's what happens when you cut 4 miles off the climb. The descent started out fine, and then, like we've had before, the shoulder got really bumping and gravely, which is not pleasant in the traffic. And there's a lot of traffic. July 1st is Canada Day, so lots of people are heading out on their holiday. We got down the hill fine and head a gradual climb for the rest of the time. However, we still weren't having a great time. The vehicles are mostly very polite, but the sheer number of them is stressful. It makes the ride noisy. You can't just relax and ride. Dad and I couldn't even really talk with each other. It just wasn't fun.

Given the fact that we weren't enjoying the ride much, and that tomorrow looked to be more of the same, we decided to end our ride 1 day early and have Driver Jim take us on to Banff. I couldn't cancel my reservation in Vermillion Crossing, so we went and took showers, walked around, made some coffee, and headed out. A part of me is disappointed that we quit 1 day early, but overall I'm okay with the decision. We weren't having much fun any more. Our legs are fine, but we're mentally tired. Better to meet Mom and my grandparents in Banff, and get an extra day to spend there.

Day 6: Fort Steele, BC to Fairmont Hot Springs, BC

Miles: 57 (5 more than we expected)
Elevation gain: 2600 feet (it felt like more)
Average speed: 15.6 mph (16.4 before the final 2 kilometers)

The breakdown for today looks like this:

30 miles of amazing
20 miles of tolerable, but not great
7 miles of pain

The first 30 miles were fantastic. The road was smooth, the shoulder wide, the hills rolling, which we enjoy. We averaged 17.4 mph for the first 20 miles it was so great. Then, as we've experienced multiple times throughout this trip, the shoulder reverted back to the older chip seal. Now, this wouldn't have been a big deal the first couple days, but on day 6 of riding believe me when I say our posteriors did not appreciate the additional bumps. We just focused on riding as quickly as we could to get to the hot springs. We didn't see much in the way of animals today. We saw another eagle, and a few buzzards. I have an appreciation for buzzards after working summers at the Oregon Zoo and hearing the bird show about 1000 times.

We were doing pretty well, until the last 7 miles. At about 7-8 miles out we had a descent. Normally this is a plus, but it coincided with the shoulder getting more gravelly and bumpy, and an increase in traffic. Not pleasant. At this point it was also getting quite warm, and our destination did not appear when we expected, so we had to just keep riding. We finally made it to Fairmont Hot Springs, only to discover that the resort is 2 kilometers up a roughly 10% grade hill. The sun was really getting to us, and we got to the top and collapsed for awhile. We were not happy people.

Luckily tomorrow is a rest day, and we can relax and soak in the hot springs. Believe me, it is much needed. My legs need a rest, and my butt seriously needs to not sit on a saddle tomorrow. Unfortunately we'll have to backtrack about 3 miles Saturday, which makes our ride roughly 71 miles with a major mountain, but by then we should be rested. Or at least more rested than we currencly are.

A few nice things about Canada - The construction workers let us through before the rest of the cars
- The trucks are especially polite
- There's wayside garbage cans everywhere
- There are posters telling people to report polluters and not let their cars idle, there's also an enormous recycling bin in our hotel room

Pictures from Day 5

 Dad still out rides me up the hills.

 Then he makes me go back down and up so he can get the perfect picture. I didn't go all the way down. I'm not crazy.

 Our breakfast stop - we highly recommend.

 There were swallows everywhere. They make their homes in the cliff.

Day 5: Eureka, MT to Fort Steele, BC

Miles: 67

Elevation gain: 3082 feet

Average speed: 15mph

Once my legs finally warmed up, about 10 miles into the ride, today went pretty well.

We left our motel and backtracked on 37 a mile or 2 until we got to Airport Road. This was a fun way to start the day. The road was mostly empty, mostly flat and through farm land. It was beautiful. We took this road to the border, road right across, and ended up in Canada!

Our first bit in Canada was on highway 93. The traffic was light and the shoulder smooth. We were in biking heaven. My legs had finally woken up as well, and the Sudafed we flagged Jim down for started to kill my headache, so we were flying. We continued flying right down an 8% grade, hitting speeds (don't read the rest of this sentence Mom) over 38 mph. Of course the 8% down led immediately into an 8% upgrade. That was a fun kilometer.

Not long after the steep hill we left highway 93 for chip sealed Jaffray – Baynes Lake Road. Dad and I were thinking that we would have preferred to stay on 93 and done a few extra miles, and we continued to think that up until we rejoined 93 for a truly miserable 6 miles. Luckily we had stopped in Jaffray for a second breakfast (I had a brekkie sandwich) at a great spot. Mostly we've just been snacking throughout the rides as there really hasn't been good places to stop. We realize now that we've been missing out. The meal helped a lot. An added plus was the actual Washroom we got to use, rather than the camping outhouses we've been encountering. The restaurant owner is also a biker, and he told us that 3 days from now, after our rest day, we'll be regretting life as we ride up a truly enormous hill. We needed the extra energy. In the 6 miles we spent on 93 the shoulder transitioned between really rough chip seal, gravel and dirt. There were lots of trucks, and it was up and down hills. The road was newly paved, which made the condition of the shoulder especially maddening. Fortunately it was just 6 miles, and we turned off and spent the final 20 on a really wonderful road. It again was smooth (mostly), unpopulated (mostly) and ran through farms and the woods. We even saw a 4 point deer.

I started to flag about 10 miles from the end, so we took a quick break. Once we got going again, we discovered a tail wind had come up and just the perfect time!

Overall it was a good day with some beautiful views. Tomorrow is day 6 on the bike, and Dad and I are definitely looking forward to the rest day which comes after. Deciding to take our rest day at the hot springs is looking more and more like a really excellent decision.

We're camping tonight. We decided we needed to use all the gear we drug along at least once. However, the mosquitoes and sprinkles are making us long for a hotel room. I always think I should like camping, but I really don't.

I'll post some pictures of today tomorrow when I hopefully have a better internet signal.

Day 4: Libby, MT to Eureka, MT

Miles: 72
Elevation gain: 5285 feet
Average speed: 13.7 mph

I am tired this afternoon, so you're going to have to forgive any typos or awkward sentences.

Dad and I left the hotel by 7:30 this morning. We're following the Adventure Cycle Northern Tier route right now, and the map had us going onto a road which parallels Highway 37 for the first 15 miles of the day. We could not find the road. It was a very slow start. We road back and forth across Libby, following their instructions, and eventually just gave up and took 37 out of town. We stayed on 37 the entire day, and for the most part it was a great road. There was a wide shoulder and almost no traffic. Our map said the road can get busy, but apparently not on Tuesdays in June. The shoulder did get really rough for a few miles near the Libby Dam, and then a few other times throughout the many, many miles we road, but even then it wasn't too bad. I just get nervous when there's gravel and potholes on the downhill stretches. I have this fear of hitting something wrong at 20+ mph and going flying. Uphill, not so much. Especially today. You don't fall over at 7mph, unless it's from exhaustion.

We had water views all day today. Lake Koocanusa is enormous. It stretches from Montana into Canada, and it was our companion. The only problem was we kept going down near the lake, which of course meant we had to go back up! By about 50 miles Dad and I were starting to get more than a bit tired. We knew the town of Rexford was coming up, so we held off on our 3rd or 4th snack of the day for just a few more miles. Unfortunately, Rexford has a population of 105, and we couldn't find anything. We scarfed down some trail mix and gel packs and prepared for our final 10 miles. We were moving extra slow at this point. There was sun, a bit more climbing, and our bodies were tired after 4 days of riding, which left me with an awful headache all day. Luckily Jim met us just as we were coming down the final hill, and revived us with chocolate milk. It may seem silly to think that we needed all these snacks for 10 more miles, but once you bonk on your bike each pedal stroke becomes more and more difficult. We're burning an enormous amount of calories right now, and our bodies are demanding a certain level of sustenance. In other words, we eat a lot.

We lost our shoulder the last 4-5 miles of the day, and had more traffic in that stretch than the rest of the day combined. Dad and I had to get off the road twice for logging trucks. It was not pleasant. 

When we came over that last hill our view changed from forest to farm land, and we saw storm clouds on the horizon. Between the clouds, and the fact that Eureka no longer has facilities at their city park, we opted for another hotel. Maybe we'll use all the camping gear we lugged along this trip!

Tomorrow we leave the Northern Tier route and head north to Canada on the Great Parks Tobacco Alternative route.

Side of the road rest stop:

Stonehill Rock climbing wall at milepost 51- I don't recommend climbing in bike cleats, coming down is a bit tricky:

6 Years Ago vs. Now, a reflection

Dad and I were looking back over the posts from the last trip, and realized that a lot of our days are shorter and less hilly this time. This, of course, made us feel a bit wimpy. Why aren't we riding 65+ mile days over mountain peaks?

Then, I started thinking. Why am I being so competitive with myself? Why am I comparing these trips? They're different experiences.

6 years ago I didn't do much bike riding in preparation, but my overall fitness level was much higher. I was just finishing up 4 years of college cross country, and I was FIT. Despite being in overall good shape, the first 5 days of our tour HURT. It hurt so much. My legs hurt, my butt hurt, my neck hurt, and I collapsed in the RV at the end of each long, hilly day, absolutely exhausted. There were good moments, but overall I didn't enjoy that first week. Of course by the time we hit Wyoming Dad and I were beasts, we were ready to just keep going across the country, but it took 2.5 weeks to get us there. 5 days of misery, and then the rest of the time to continue improving and start enjoying.

I wish we had 3 weeks to ride this year, but we don't. We have 1. Could we ride longer and more difficult days. Yes, but it would hurt more. Not as much as it did 6 years ago, thanks to 3 months of training, but more than I'm hurting now. Our days are shorter and easier, but I have energy at the end. I can go out and walk around. I can enjoy the ride, and also the place we stop each night. I'm having fun, and that's what really should be most important.

Besides, we didn't choose our route to purposefully avoid most major mountain peaks in the area. That's just what happened.

As a side note, if you haven't gone on a bike tour, you should. It's the best way to see a place. Dad and I are enjoying sights and noticing details that are missed in a speeding car. As an added bonus, you can fully enjoy your vacation by eating anything and everything, since you worked your butt off to get there.