Month: May 2015

Day 16 – Gull Lake

Day 16 – Gull Lake, SK (May 17, 2015)

I got up and cleaned up camp while it was snowing lightly.      Nature couldn’t really decide whether to rain or snow so I ended up with a bit of both. It was miserable!

I was on my bike by about 6:20am and worked my way through the drizzle to the restaurant and the gas station on the Transcanada.   I was disappointed to discover that it didn’t open until 7am so I found refuge in the lobby of an old run down motel.

When the restaurant eventually opened I struck up a conversation with a talkative Korean waiter. He was an electrical engineer who quit his job to work in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  He explained but I couldn’t quite figure it out!  He mentioned that he had traveled across Korea and back on his bicycle and complained about chaffing. (luckily I’m probably too skinny to have his problems)

It was a miserable day; cold, windy and wet. The forecast called for a low of -3 which would put my sleeping bag to the test. I decided, given the wind it would too risky to count on making my destination at Swift Current. Instead I initially decided to stop a Tompkins.   Tompkins resembles a town out of a western movie.   I had lunch at a diner that appeared to be the “respectable” town hangout. Then at 3pm made my way down to the hotel.   The hotel had better days. In any respectable city it would have been torn down. There was an old pub down stairs and a sorry looking bar maid that also looked after the hotel.  Her kids apparently had been sleeping in rooms 1, 2 and 3 so she was forced to give me the suite.

I settled in, took a shower, and was taking precautions from bed bugs when the electricity went out and I decided that the next town may be a better bet.

So I thanked the lady, packed up my things and took off for Gull Lake 24km East. As it turned out the electricity had gone out in a large area of Saskatchewan and Gull Lake didn’t have power either. The town was only marginally better but I was happier in a small motel room.   Because there was no electricity the restaurants were closed and I had mixed nuts and beef jerky in my cold room before hitting the hay.

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Day 15 – Eagle Valley

Day 15 – Eagle Valley Campgrounds, Maple Creek, SK (May 16, 2015)

I left Medicine Hat a little before 7am and like the previous day made good time for the first hour or so. It occurred to me that perhaps at last the forecast wind direction was wrong. I started making plans to go further that Eagle Valley. Alass before too long the wind picked up.

All I can really say about the day is that the wind was the worst yet. The wind gusts were well above 30km. There were no places to stop and eat along the way. At one time I stopped for a short break and was catching up on the texts to Michelle when the wind took my bike and rolled it right over so it was upsidedown momentarily. All the contents of my handlebar bag were left on the ground.

I made Eagle Valley about 2pm, setup my tent, had a shower, did the laundry and then relaxed over a good meal with salmon and shrimp. The campground was very well organized and well maintained. I likely should have gone further today given the time but the wind takes a lot out both mentally and physically and I couldn’t beat the spot.

Calcium deposits beside a pond. There is no drainage for the water, only evaporation. 12:24 pm 2015/05/16
Ralph, and the contents of my handle bar bag on the ground after the wind flipped it over. 11:14 am 2015/05/16
Prairies. 11:55 am 2015/05/16

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Day 14 – Medicine Hat

Day 14 – Medicine Hat, AB (May 16, 2015)

I left Brooks with almost no wind and for the first hour or so made relatively good time.  After that the wind picked up but I managed to make the most of it with a good rhythm that kept me from getting too frustrated with the lack of speed; stand-up, sit down with my hand on the bars, sit down upright with the hands on the risers, and repeat every 15 minutes or so.

I decided I’d stop at Suffield.  I think it was the only stop between Brooks and Medicine Hat so it was a no-brainer. I almost missed it. I have to remember that if there is a clump of trees with a number of buildings that’s likely the town.

I had the worst burger for years in Suffield. As I was leaving the cook who was taking a smoke break asked me how the burger was. I lied and he smirked. I can say with some surprise that it didn’t make me sick.

The wind abated as I approached Medicine Hat. I think it may have reversed. It was as if Medicine Hat sucked me in to a vortex.   In the last hour I made very good time.

I stayed at Best Western in Medicine Hat. It was more than I wanted to pay but the campground looked a bit sketchy. The receptionists were nice. Not knowing whether the bike would fit in a normal room they gave me a suite for the same price.  I don’t fully appreciate a suite but I appreciated the place to shower and sleep. I would be happy with a place to

Ralph the bike ready for a bath in the suite. 4:04 pm 2015/05/15
Some Pronghorn. They were much closer to the road when I first saw them but something spooked them. Perhaps I looked like a hunter in my orange raid coat. 11:07 am 2015/05/15
Prairies and the bike. 12:01 pm 2015/05/15
Prairies and the bike. 12:05 pm 2015/05/15

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Day 13 – Brooks

Day 13 – Brooks, AB (May 14, 2015)

After tidying up my camp site and eating my breakfast I was on my bike by about 7:30am. I stopped by Pete’s Cafe to get rid of my garbage and was checking the pressure of my tires when the Mayor lady came out with a cup of coffee. She reminded me that Pete’s doesn’t open ’til 9am. There you go – Cluny an isolated little place with some friendly people living a life.

After that I set on my way heading into the wind all bundled up for the 4 degrees C morning.

Beside the obvious open space the prairies may appear at first uninteresting. However I have found a few interesting things:

  1. When you are on flat land a pessimistic cyclist like myself looks around and sees the horizon as hills in every direction.
  2. In order to draw attention to the mundane the department of highways occasionally puts up “Important Intersection” signs. I could not for the life of me figure out was important about them.
  3. Cattle, like gas molecules, take all the available space. In one expansive area there appeared to be one cow/steer (whatever) per 10,000 square meter. There were hundreds of cattle as far as the eye could see.
  4. In low lying areas the ground looked white from some salt or calcium deposits.  I imagine that this was from irrigation runoff and had very little vegetation.
  5. Cattle are about as dumb as fish. A few times one started running for no good reason that I could tell and they all started running for miles around.
  6. Most of the land doesn’t appear to be used for anything. They should roll up east and west together until they need it. This would make the distance shorter for bicyclists.
  7. There is nowhere to pee without being seen.

I made it to Bassano by about 10 something and knowing that I may not stop until supper I had a second breakfast. More french toast.

The wind had by know put me about 2 1/2 hours. I planned to stop for the night at Brooks effectively making what would have been a two day ride in three days.

I completed the ride to Brooks by about 3:15. I was happy that Brooks resembled a real city. I had supper at Boston Pizza and met a cyclist in his 50s who reminded me of cousin Ken. He too had issues with the roads in Ontario and suggest a route involving a ferry across Lake Michigon. I think it’s out of the way but I will take a look. I ended up staying at the Lakeshore Hotel. I was in good time to relax and purchase a few things including a pair of replacement ear buds. I am now depending on music to get me through the daily ride.

Bassano finally. 2 1/2 hours late. 10:07 am 2015/05/14
Cluny in the early moring with the flags blowing west. 17:51 am 2015/05/14

Day 12 – Cluny

Day 12 – Cluny, AB (May 13, 2014)

I packed up at the hostel in Calgary and was on the road a little before 7am. Apparently the hostel served breakfast at 7:30am as part of the cost of the room. It would have been nice to take advantage but I find the continental type breakfast insufficient (waiting 40 minutes translates to too long) and I wanted to get started.

Eventually I had my breakfast at a retro Harley Davidson place and ordered the breakfast staple, “Pain dore”. Katie would appreciate it.

After breakfast I weaved my way through the bicycle trails that followed along a dyke of one of the canals.

When I left Calgary the wind started to pick up from the East by South East I as predicted. I knew that if the wind continued I was going to have a hard time making Bassano.

As the hours wore on working against the 20 km head wind a number of things occurred to me.

  1. There is this ‘stinking’ effect somebody came up with. I think it was Beroulli or some other sick person. Basically it says that the air travels faster over a hill. I’d like to tear that out of the text books.
  2. Truck drivers are too nice in Alberta. Imagine this: I get this huge shoulder lane all to myself on the transcanada. Along comes a truck pushing air and the drivers, thinking they are doing me a favour, pull over the passing lane increasing the distance between the truck and me to about 30 feet.

As the day wore on making it to Bassano became a bigger and bigger obstacle. At the first sign of a gas station I stopped and bought some chocolate bars and beef jerkey – no real food.

In Cluny, about 50km from Bassano,  at about 4pm, I decided to call it a day.

The was a gas station at the corner at the trancanada. A restaurant was advertised  but the restaurant area was cordoned off. It looked like it had been that way for years. The lady at the counter explained there was place to eat at Pete’s Cafe in Cluny “just down the hill”.   That worried me since hills in the prairies are up to 5km long but I took the risk.

The population of Cluny was around one hundred. Pete’s Cafe and Bakery was in the center of the town. I was served by a friendly girl in her 30s who scurried about with a low center of gravity.   Another lady came by explaining I could camp down the road and wouldn’t be charged. She was a kind magnanimous person who seemed to run things.  She could well have been Cluny’s mayor (or should have been.)

After chatting with some local guys about bikes I settled in for the night in an open field by a baseball diamond (the town camp site.)

My bike pointed east with a flag pointing straight out toward the west. 10:39 am 2015/05/13
Pete’s Cafe and Bakery in Cluny. 7:51 am 2015/05/14

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Day 11 – Calgary

Day 11 – Calgary, AB (May 12, 2015)

It’s 105km from Canmore to Calgary.  Because the forecasted wind direction was from the NE I new it was going to be harder than I had planned.  I was up at 6:15am. Later than I had wanted.

I had decided to have breakfast 14km down the road in Eshaw.  The morning was about the coldest yet. My thin gloves were insufficient. As it turns out it appears all that exists in Eshaw were a number of Lafarge Cement Plants and, praise the Lord, one truck stop that served breakfast! The place was run by a couple of tough looking Filipino guys who didn’t say much but served a good breakfast.

After breakfast it was earlier enough that the SE wind hadn’t yet picked up and I made good time.   I noticed that the roads away from the TransCanada were more protected from the wind. At about 10am when I merged onto the Transcanada the wind had picked up and it was hard slugging.

I arrived in Calgary about 2:30pm. It was pleasant to see that Calgary had excellent bicycle trails and bike lanes. Perhaps the best bicycle aware city yet.

On the way I passed by BowCycles which is the biggest bicycle shop that I have seen. I thought I would stop and take the opportunity to have my front derailer fixed.  They immediately took me in and bumped me to the front of the repair line. They switched the front and rear brake, switcher combinations and all the cabling.

While I was waiting I had a long conversation with an employee (who could have been the owner). He did all the talking. I guess he was in his 50s who was a former engineer, a graduate of Carlton, who had worked in the oil business. He told me a bit about his time in Saudi Arabia and how his wife wanted to come back to Canada. It was mixed in his comment about the “no alcohol” policy. Then he smiled and said everyone made their own anyway “the grapes were there right beside the sugar. All you needed is some yeast which somehow almost everyone had.”. He has since retired to work in a bicycle shop. Hmmmm – interesting thought.   He had done bicycle touring in Europe including the eastern block before it was opened and kicked himself for not paying more attention. “East and west was like night and day back then. Now you hardly tell the difference.”

It was 6pm before the bike was ready. The fellow who did the work treated it with a lot of respect and care. All the cables had been carefully rerouted around my lamp. Everything worked now just like it was new.

The bike trails in Calgary are just about the best I have seen anywhere so far in Canada. Generally they are all paved, well marked, have center dividing lines and even have speed limited. As I was riding I was overtaken by another man on his road bike.  He was a big man in his 50s with calves at least the size of my thighs. He rode with ease on his light bike as I laboured.  I will call him “BigCalves”; I may refer to him later. He talked to me about his trips across Canada. (By the look of him it would be like a short Sunday ride.) He confirmed for me that biking in Ontario and specifically north of Lake Superior are the worst in Canada. He recommend a route south of Superior through the states. “Better roads and more towns”.

It took me to 7:30pm to find the HI Calgary. By that time it was too late to meet up with the Hunkas as I had planned. Apparently the USB adapter that Ann had sent had not yet arrived.

When I arrived at the Hostel there were only two beds left.  The HI Calgary was just as well maintained as HI Canmore but much busier full of interesting people either transient or serious travelers. The girl ahead of at the reception counter was a smart, German girl, with a pack that looked as big as my four panniers together. I gather she was doing some sort of traveling article or something. There were others too. Mostly young people still in their twenties; an Australian, someone who was caring for their sick friend and older man who seemed in another world.

Tomorrow is another long day. Because of the wind I am thinking of breaking it up. We’ll see tomorrow.

Bike heaven! BowCycles in Calgary. (I believe the “Bow” is the name of the river and large valley running from Canmore to Calgary.) 4:37 pm 2015/05/12
A panorama of picture scanning the mountains in the west to the prairies in the east.
A panorama of picture scanning the mountains in the west to the prairies in the east.
A panorama of picture scanning the mountains in the west to the prairies in the east.
A panorama of picture scanning the mountains in the west to the prairies in the east.
A panorama of picture scanning the mountains in the west to the prairies in the east.
A panorama of picture scanning the mountains in the west to the prairies in the east.
The last picture of my bike with the last view of the Rockies in the distant background. 10:27 am 2015/05/12

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Day 10 – Canmore

Day 10 – Canmore, AB (May 11, 2015)

From Lake Louise to Canmore is only 88km.  I thought this trip would be easy; the distance is shorter and there is a considerable descent.  But nothing is ever easy. There was a considerable 20km headwind, stronger gusts, and it was too cold for shorts.   The wind made what should have been an easy day much tougher. I hate wind! Panniers catch the wind like a sail.

On the positive side; it was sunny and not hot.

I had my lunch and Banff at about 12:30pm with only 25km remaining to Canmore. Banff was filled with tourists from all over the world.

Downtown Banff has tasteful architecture that fits the surrounding mountains.  I still didn’t like the town. It was full of people visiting from somewhere with nowhere to go.

I had so many choices for lunch I ended up going somewhere really boring – Subway. It was the only place I could keep my eye on my bike.

I arrived at the Hostel International in Canmore at 3pm. Early enough to relax, enjoy the view and a cider.  I’ve never stayed at a HI before. Hey – for $25/night you can’t go wrong.   It appears that tonight at least I will have a room to myself. What a beautiful, well maintained place.

A plaque commemorating the interment camp of non combatants at Mount Castle during the first world war. 9:31 am 2015/05/11
An elk thinking he is king. He eventually walked slowly across the road without a care in the world unafraid of any cars that may pass. 11:39 am 2015/05/11
Rocky Mountains 11:50 am 2015/05/11
Rocky Mountains 11:50 am 2015/05/11
Rocky Mountains 11:50 am 2015/05/11
Rocky Mountains 11:50 am 2015/05/11
My feet up with cider on the table, taken from the Hostel International in Canmore. 4:12 pm 2015/05/11

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Day 9 – Lake Louise

Day 9 – Lake Louise Campground, AB

From Golden to Lake Louise is “only” 85 km.   I thought I would take my time getting up. Golden is a picturesque gem; all surrounded by mountains but it’s not much of a town yet.

The trip to Lake Louise was almost all up hill. My GPS said it was about a 750 m ascent.  Although I suspect the elevation numbers I know first hand it was uphill.

At about 1:45 pm I had my lunch in a little tourist town named Fields at a place called Trifle Pigs. I had a dainty serving of salmon and some fancy green stuff (not my usual Hamburger and Beer).

The remaining 27 km from Fields to Lake Louise was tough; the ascent was considerable, I had a strong head wind and my front derailleur refused to switch to first.  I eventually made it.

I was hunting for a place to eat supper and eventually  agreed with a couple from Holland to eat at a family restaurant so I could get my regular food.

The campground and Lake Louise had a notice that tents weren’t allowed because of bear activities. I wasn’t going to argue! I ended up staying in the Mountaineer Lodge (the first place I came to.).   These places have a few perks but the outdoors scenic experience is not one of them.

In Golden, just a few meters from where I camped 8:05 am 2015/05/10

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Day 8 – Golden

Day 8 – Golden Municipal Campground, Golden, BC (May 9, 2015)

I checked out the distance for Day 8 the night before. 154 km to Golden! I resigned myself for a long day..

I asked the lady managing the camp (who I believe had a Dutch accent) where the best place was to have breakfast in Revelstoke before 7am. She was very kind and recommended two local places that were in the heart of the town and pointed them out on a map of the town. And then as a bit of an afterthought she said “then there’s Denny’s”. The advantage of Denny’s for me was that it was closer to highway.

So I got up in the morning and packed up camp by a little after 6 am and headed down to the Denny’s by the highway at Revelstoke.  I ordered two eggs, two blueberry pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, bacon, and hash browns.   Not a bad breakfast.

I looked around to see what other people ate at Denny’s when just then a couple in their 50s drove up in their Mercedes. As they were walking I couldn’t help noticing how happy they both looked and enjoying each others company; like they walked right out of a pharmaceutical commercial. And they even ate at Denny’s. By-the-way I was served by a born and raised ‎Canadian! What do you know.

There are no towns or food stops between Revelstoke and ‎Golden.   The trip starts with a gradual climb to Roger’s pass which is pretty close to half way.   At 1pm I had about 84 km left and was just arriving at Roger’s pass and began a descent and picked up some time.

Near Roger’s Pass there are a number of avalanche ‎shelters and at least one tunnel. Point to remember: when you are going through the tunnel on your bicycle take your sunglasses off and turn on your lights (if you have them). Within 30 seconds of going in the tunnel it was too dark to see the barrier 2 feet to my right, lane markers or loose gravel.

I arrived in Golden with a bit of a tail wind at about 5:30pm Pacific Time (6:30pm Mountain) and had supper at a roadside restaurant.   I was served by a rosy-cheeked girl in her early thirties who immigrated not too long ago, for ‘love’ no less. When I told her I needed calories I ended up with a hamburger monstrosity that would likely not fit any mouth that I know of. It was the first meal that I couldn’t finish.

I camped at Golden Municipal Park, had a shower, washed some clothes and caught up with all the excitement in Kitchener on the phone with Ann.‎

11:08 pm 2015/05/09
11:09 am 2015/05/09
12:34 pm 2015/05/09
2:19 pm 2015/05/09

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Day 7 – Revelstoke

Day 7 – Lamplighter Campground, Nixon Road, Revelstoke, BC (May 8, 2015)

I got up at about 6 and was on the road at 7:20 am.  I knew I had a long day and wanted to get a good start.  I rode 138 km from Swan Lake to Revelstoke successfully.  No big hiccups.

I stopped and ate lunch at Grandma and Grandpa’s Restaurant in Sicamous after about 4 hours, at 11 am just about the 1/2 way point.

From Sicamous to Revelstoke was a bit tougher.  There must be an elevation increase but the biggest issue was a head wind that threw off my schedule.  After another 5  hours, I arrived in Revelstoke at 4:50 pm.

The trip was very beautiful.  God made a special pass through the mountains just for cars and bicycles.

Today was a tough ride but tomorrow I have even further at 154 km to make Golden.  If the conditions are about the same I will have to get going even earlier.

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2:50 pm 2015/05/08