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.
