Days 10 & 11... starting to melt together...

Day10

Up at ~08:30 but moving slowly, on the road by ~10:00 in search of breakfast.  2 forgettable sausage rolls and a decent cup of coffee and I was ready to go.  Decent winds blowing more or less Westerly, so the first hour rolled by pretty well.  Then the knee started to hurt again.  Dammit.  The ankle was bugging me as well, but one can ride through most types of ankle pain without too much difficulty.  Knee pain makes riding extremely difficult.  I had moved the cleat on my right shoe a bit last night in the hope that that might fix it, and it did feel better - but it wasn't quite right.  I can't see what it looks like from the side.  I limped into Lethbridge and stopped at the visitor's center to ask about bike shops.  There are three in town, and the lady kindly mapped them out for me.

 The first was one of those all-in-one sports stores that also sells bikes.  I rolled by.  The second had a whitewater kayak in the window and something about skis on their sign.  I kept going in the hope that the third would be a real bike shop.  Bingo!  Ascent Cycles - an actual honest-to-goodness bike shop that sells bikes and only bikes.  Road, mountain, bmx, cruisers... a little bit of everything - but all of them bikes.  I talked to one of the guys behind the counter for a while and then another guy came over to give me a hand.  He took a quick look at how I was set up and then rotated my right cleat a little bit.  Back on the road and it felt weird, but that's to be expected when a change like that is made.  I stopped for a quick lunch and was rolling again. 

Incredible blue skies out in central AB.  Again, the scenery is vastly different from Western AB.  The mountains and foothills are gone, as is most of the "roll" (at least that's what today's been like thus far).  I saw a combine deploying its arms which was pretty awesome (just like a Transformer - Ronco would have lost his mind :p) and I swear to Vishnu, a dead prairie dog with a fresh white road line painted over its head.  I didn't get a picture as I was moving pretty well when I saw it, and it took me a few seconds to process what I'd seen.  By the time traffic cleared enough for me to turn around it was a good ways back. 

It's hot out here, and there are precious few trees - and even fewer opportunites to find shade.  Beautiful country.  Unforgiving, but beautiful.

Stopped short of Medicine Hat in Bow Island - again, I needed ice.  No decent camping options, either.  I don't know what it's normally like but that flood sure hasn't helped things.  Flooded fields and standing water everywhere. I don't need any help attracting mosquitos...



STATS:

Total Elapsed Time: 8:45
Actual Ride Time: 6:20
Total Distance: 164.2km
Avg Speed: 25.8kph
Max Speed: 67.1kph


Day 11

I had a plan.  Up early (for me), roll out HARD to take advantage of the tailwinds and then stop at a nice cafe for a few hours to kill the hottest part of the day.  Then back on the bike and roll 'till evening as the day cooled off.  This plan would have worked in BC.  Probably in ON and QC.  Not so in Eastern AB / Western SK.  The small towns that dot the highway are few and far between, and there's no such thing as a nice cafe in any of them.  I was lucky to find a general store that sold cold drinks and snacks (Irvine, AB).  These towns are barely scratching survival and the floods that hit recently have done a lot of damage.  Farmers can't plant this year, loads of property damage, even the highway was fully washed out for several days.  I overheard two locals talking about the impact and one was saying that everyone around him (including him) was selling and getting out.  My (unasked) question was, who's buying?  In light of all this, I guess my plight of not being able to find a nice coffee shop to spend a few hours midday isn't all that bad.  :p

The knee was feeling better but the ankle was on and off, cycling from "perfectly normal" to "I should get off my bike and get on a plane - NOW".  Mostly it was annoying background noise - not terribly bad, but ever present. 

Western SK is like a green moonscape.  Nothing but barren rolling hills of green, with no signs of civilization as far as the eye can see (road and fences notwithstanding).  It was HOT, humid, and the sun beat down on me mercilessly from its throne up high in the sky.  The winds were decent - not awesome, but providing at least some assistance a good portion of the day.  SK is hillier than I would have expected too - it really isn't flat the way we all think it is.  Sure there are no "major" climbs, but it rolls endlessly. 

I crossed over the area where the highway had been washed out and the entire Westbound section was missing.  They had rerouted traffic to share the Eastbound lanes and were working on rebuilding the Westbound side.  Rolled along forever and ever and ever, looking for a decent option to pull the plug on a long and hot day.  Finally I settled for a campsite in Tompkins - more out of exhaustion than any other reason.  At least they had taps with potable water...  I was treated to a wicked lightning show and huge winds, but not that much rain. Oh, and lots of mosquitos...




STATS:

Total Elapsed Time: 10:20
Actual Ride Time: 8:50
Total Distance: 203.31km
Avg Speed: 23kph
Max Speed: 52.7kph


Day10 breakfast:

 This must be what the locals do in the evenings...

A tanker train being loaded with grain

 That's supposed to be a pasture, not a pond...

 It should have said "Welcome to Green Hell"

Proof that SK has both hills and trees (no thermometer to prove that it was 36 + humidex)

Day9 - holding on...

Today I was back to riding solo.  Joe, Lu and Linda took off for Vancouver at around 08:30 and my plan was to give my phone a quick charge while I packed up.  Instead I discovered internet access and got distracted, not leaving until after 11.  By the time I rolled into Sparwood proper, had breakfast and hit the road it was nearly noon.  Oh well. 

The last push to get out of BC was BRUTAL.  Nasty headwinds, no legs, no energy, and low motivation.  Funny how quickly I got used to riding with company.  I was a little worried about the last pass as my maps didn't show an actual pass, but there is a marking called "Crowsnest Pass".  Was it one of those "unofficial" passes that all the locals know about but cartographers refuse to acknowlege?  How bad was it?  Apparently there's a municipality called "Crowsnest Pass" that encompasses several small towns - the actual road does rise a few times, but there wasn't any sort of a "pass" per se.  I fought the road, the wind, my bike, the heat, my body and my demons pretty much from the get-go right to the Alberta border.  I swore I was going to text everyone as soon as I crossed: "I made it to AB - can I come home now?".

The change in scenery when you cross over is remarkable.  It's as marked as the boundary between the different regions in BC, which makes me wonder if this is how they decided where to draw the lines on the map.  The pictures below do NOT do justice to the amazing colour of Crowsnest Lake.  It has an amazing azure quality to it and it just glows.  The winds were strong but the way the road winds it's never constantly in one direction.  The road snakes along following the river, which changes the wind direction (relative to you) from headwind to side to tail.  AB is also a lot "rollier" than I had anticipated.  I knew it wasn't going to be pancake flat, but barring one descent before Elko, it was hillier than the route from Creston to Sparwood. 

I took advantage of the strong tailwind in sections, pushing the pace as much as possible.  This may have proven to be a tactical mistake as my ankle had been bothering me initially during the day but somewhere before Pincher Creek my right knee started to hurt.  A lot.  I wondered if I was compensating for my ankle in some manner that made my knee hurt?  I limped into Pincher Creek and stopped for lunch and ibuprofen.  Normally I don't like to medicate during a ride as if something doesn't feel right, I want to know - but I did know, and knew that I wasn't going to be able to continue riding on one leg.  Not without screwing up my body. 

My knee felt a little better after lunch, and I made the decision to spin more and "crush" less.  Normally I like to mix it up a bit - spinning at times and pushing a bigger gear seated at others, standing often and at different cadences.  After lunch it was all about being light on the pedals.  Of course, this means heavier on my butt.  Well, you can't have it all.  :p 

I pushed on into Fort McLeod, with my knee starting to bother me again about 15k out.  I'd have liked to keep rolling, but I needed to get some ice on it.  Both of them, actually.  And my ankle.  And some other maintenance.  There weren't any decent camping options nearby so I settled for another night in a motel.  Not what I wanted, but it's what I've got.  :p

Hoping for an early-ish start tomorrow, decent joints, and good winds.  The good news is that I've heard that Hwy1 is open now - at least one lane.  I probably won't quite make Medicine Hat tomorrow unless something special happens for my physically, which gives them another day to work on the washed out road. 



Stats:

Total Ride Time: 6:30
Actual Ride Time: 5:44
Total Distance: 140.55km
Avg Speed: 24.5kph
Max Speed: 63.3kph


Breakfast

The main attraction in Sparwood - mine tours

Finally made the border...

Crowsnest Lake

Amazing views in Western AB...

Albertans know how to make a road friendly to cyclists... (that shoulder is almost a full lane wide and perfectly maintained - and the drivers STILL move over as they pass - AWESOME!!!)

Want to talk about WIND?

Wind farms, wind farms, wind farms...

I remember learning about this place in grade school...

Day8 - Entourage

Today I had company all day.  LuAnne rode out with me from Cranbrook, and Joe and Linda were going to drive ahead, park the cars and get settled further up the road in Sparwood or Hazel and then ride back to meet up with us.  We rolled out at ~09:45 and were once again treated to an absolutely STUNNING day.  I have to say, I've been really fortunate with just incredible weather thus far.  Lu was riding really well, and I did my best to keep up. 

Before they left Vancouver, Linda had dispatched Julian to get some proper chamois cream for me and he picked up a jar of Assos.  I've used most products in this genre before - Chamois Butt'r, Bag Balm, George's, Udder Butter, a variety of hand creams and lotions, even diaper rash cream - but this stuff was something entirely different.  Something remarkable.  It's pure gold.  My butt was the closest to happy it's been since Day1 of the trip.  That is significant given it's current state.  My legs weren't there, but I wasn't really expecting them to be.  My ankle was bothering me again, and would continue to bother me all day.  It was definitely the weak link in the chain. 

I've enjoyed rolling along solo for the great majority of the past week, but it was really nice to have familiar company.  Lu and I rolled along, stopping for fuel when necessary and making decent time.  I had to fight a bit to stay with her at times, but that was good because it helped to take the focus away from my ankle. 

Lu hasn't been on her bike much this year and I was feeling pretty gassed - so at about 30k out from Fernie I sent a text to Joe and Linda to see where they were - hoping that they had opted for a shorter endpoint rather than trying to push for the AB border.  They had gone as far as Sparwood, and were rolling out to meet us.  ~60k to go.  Ok.  No problem.  I can handle that.  We rolled out and were treated to some more amazing views.  It really is incredible seeing the country this way. 

Joe and Linda met us just outside of Fernie and we all rolled back together.  Well - Lu had had enough of being on the bike, so she took off down the road to get it over with quickly.  The rest of us rolled back together.  :p

Showers in Sparwood, I did some laundry at a proper laundromat and got a massage from Lu while Joe and Linda walked the dogs and found some beef jerky, and then we were off to dinner in Fernie. 

Fernie is a really cool town.  It's almost completely surrounded by mountains, and has an amazing feel about it.  I want to come back in the winter to ski.  Joe called it "Classy Hope".  Dinner was massive, and then we came back and crashed.  The three of them have a ~10hr drive to get back to Vancouver, and I'll continue to plod East.  Word is that Hwy1 is washed out between Medicine Hat and Swift Current, so I'll have to see what my options are when I get further into AB. 

Stats:

Total Ride Time: 7:10
Actual Ride Time: 5:31
Total Distance: 126.22
Avg Speed: 22.8kph
Max Speed: 55.5kph



Interesting road sign (I didn't realize that I had crossed into WI)

Southeastern BC scenery

 s

Fernie, BC

Day7 - Week One in the books

The awesome thing about camping in the non-desert is that I don't wake up 600 times throughout the night to drink.  The less awesome part is that the kit I hung out to dry overnight wasn't.  The thunderstorm that forced me to seek shelter put enough moisture in the air that things were still damp.  Oh well - if that's the worst thing to happen to me I'm doing pretty well. 

I tend to wake up really early when I'm camping.  I don't really know why - it just happens.  So after "sleeping in" until "really late" I finally looked at the time and it was 05:30.  Well that ain't gonna happen.  Back to sleep until 07:30 - a much more reasonable hour.  I took my time making with breakfast, enjoying "the best campsite on the lake" and was rolling at ~ 09:20.  If I thought the way out yesterday had been hilly then today was something else indeed.  Lots of climbing.  Lots of descending.  Nothing too long, but constant hills.  Steep ones, too.  After about an hour I was passed by a van belonging to the National Biathlon team. I waved, but I don't know that they saw me.  Shortly thereafter I passed it as it had pulled over, and  recognized the coach - Geret Coyne in the driver's seat.  A little while later I was passed by a group of about 8 athletes on road bikes.  I didn't get a gopod look at them but I assume them to have been the National Team as they didn't look like cyclists to me.  They were all young and fit, but they were obviously cross training - not roadies.  I passed them again when they had pulled over for a nature break but didn't try to make out who they were because I only really recognize the women, and well - they were "busy".  They soon passed me once more, and I played leapfrog with the team van a few times until they were well out of range. 

I continued rolling along and made Creston in about 3hrs, give or take (I forgot to make note of the time).  Had a nice leisurely lunch in a nice little cafe called Buffalo Coffee of something like that, and then got moving again.  Joe, Lu and Linda were chasing me down driving from Vancouver today, and I figured the catch would happen ~30km out of Cranbrook.  I had to get moving.  Hwy3 from Creston out of the rest of BC has been described as "the worst of the climbs are over" - which isn't terribly descriptive, but leads one to believe that there aren't any more major passes to cross.  That was certainly the case to Cranbrook.  It rolled, much more gently than the Nelson detour, with some headwinds, false flats, and descending false flats.  Several times I got the distinct notion that my tires were flat, the road was "sticky", or something was just wrong.  I chalked it up to fatigue and continued on.  More stunning scenery, more rolling, and another repaving project that my butt was very pleased to see (fresh ashphalt)!  I stopped in Yahk for ice cream and to fill my bottles as Two Scoop Steve's, and carried on.  Still my bike felt "draggy".  Finally descending a slight grade and not going anywhere I stopped to check it out, only to discover that I had been dragging brake.  Great - I wonder how long that's been going on?

My ankle was starting to bother me as well.  That started a day or two ago and has been getting worse.  I was riding ok, but favouring it.  Gonna have to do something about that...

As I passed the "Cranbrook 32km" sign I reached over and patted myself on the back.  Not two minutes later a car zoomed up from behind and decelerated quickly, pulling up beside me.  Looking out the passenger window was Eggle (Linda's dog).  Nice timing!  We chatted for a bit and then she went on up the road and pulled over so as not to block traffic.  I stopped and chatted with her for a bit, and she mentioned that Joe and Lu were not far behind.  Back on the bike.  Soon Joe and Lu pulled up beside me and Lu asked if I needed anything.  Then they went up ahead and pulled over where Linda was waiting and we figured out the plan for the evening.  Apparently they were all under strict orders to take me out for "a real dinner".  Auntie isn't pleased with how I've been eating, it seems...  :p  I told them to go on ahead and that I'd turn on my phone when I got into town, as being in the dead zone just kills my battery.  They took off and I was looking at ~30km to go. 

A headwind picked up, and my pace slowed.  Damn - not exactly how I wanted to end my day.  I thought about the evening and figured that I'd have to get a hotel so that I could leave my stuff somewhere safe while we went to dinner.  Lu had also offered to work on my legs and ankle when we stopped earlier (she's a professional Registered Massage Therapist).  Gee, that's going to be a hard sell. :p  I was getting hungry and the road turned, giving me a sidewind.  I picked up the pace and drove it home as fast as I could comfortably go without working really hard.  When I got into town I turned on my phone and then saw Joe and Linda crossing the street.  I pulled up next to them and they told me that I was too fast and had spoiled their plans to get tacos as a pre-dinner snack.  :p  Joe handed me a key and said that I was already checked in - so to go and have a shower and that they'd be by in a bit.  AWESOME!  I'm so fortunate to have such amazing friends...

A shower, a ridiculously large prime rib dinner, and a painful massage that Lu tells me has everything working properly again, and we made plans for tomorrow.  Lu's going to ride with me and the other two are going to "scout the route" and then park the cars and ride out to meet us.  The goal is Sparwood, though Linda really does want to see AB - so we might push a bit farther.  We'll see. 


I also got a care package from Auntie.  Thank you!


Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 10:40
Actual Ride Time: 8:18
Distance Traveled: 175.33
Avg Speed: 21kph
Max Speed: 67.1kph


A creek

 I *think this is the Kootenay River...

An awesome road sign...

Two scoops at Two Scoop Steve's

TIME ZONE!!!

Day6 - a planned detour, and an unplanned early stop

I opened my eyes and looked at the clock.  07:20.  I smiled, and rolled over.  Not today...  At around 08:30 I woke up and thought about what I'd do today.  At ~09:30 I finally got out of bed and decided to start the day - for real this time.  My clothes were still wet.  Not soaking wet, but wet enough.  Damn - that kind of puts a damper on things...  I contemplated my route.  Sticking with Hwy3 would have me going over two passes on my way to Creston - the second of them being the 2nd highest paved highway in Canada.  The alternate route is an extra 60km out of the way - up one side of the lake, a ferry ride across, and back down the other side of the lake.  Colin, who grew up in Cranbrook and knows the area had strongly encouraged me to take the long way 'round.  There was a significant part of me that still wanted to stay on Hwy3 and "hit every pass", but my legs were dead.  Not sore when I woke up, just dead.  That wasn't really the problem, however.  My concern wasn't so much making it over the 2nd pass, but having another storm blow in and catch me 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up - leaving me with no shelter and no options.  That would SUCK.  I consulted my map, packed up my stuff, put on my wet kit and hit the road in search of breakfast.  Actually, I hit Google in search of breakfast, then I hit the road.  Breakfast was a forgettable affair.  A sorrily understuffed turnover and a greasy sausage roll, washed down with an okay cup of coffee.  I had also picked up a package of cookies, 3 for $3 and a can of Coke to fuel the first part of my journey.  Nelson was ~50km North, and the ferry terminal another 30km North of that. 

In bypassing the two major climbs today, I still did not get a "flat" route.  In any province outside of BC or Alberta these climbs would have rated mention in a guidebook.  The road rolls steadily and constantly the whole way - with some of the hills being a pretty solid effort.  I'm pretty sure that I didn't save any time going this way but it *might be easier on my overall level of fatigue - which has been moderately high of late.  The thing about climbing a major pass is that even though you spend 3-5hrs at 6-10kph, you travel an equal distance down the other side between 35 and 70kph - so the overall speed at which you traverse the pass is relatively high.  Proportionally one's climbing speed might be only a quarter of one's flatland speed - but the actual diference is only ~15-20kph.  Compared with one's descending speed, which is typically between 45 and 70kph, that's 20-55kph faster than flatland speed.  Chosing this route would almost certainly be slower.  After the past night however, the threat of a storm blowing in was very much in the forefront of my mind.  Colin had also emphasized that "this is the only FREE ferry in BC" - how could I pass that up?

I made Nelson in about 2hrs and the ferry terminal in a touch under 4.  That last 20 odd k seemed to stretch on forever, and the road reminded me a bit of Northern Ontario cottage country.  I made it to the ferry with enough time to grab a cheeseburger before boarding, and then in a rare departure for me, went upstairs to sit down and chill out.  Normally I like to stand on deck, but I didn't want to get cold and stiff.  Rolled off the ferry and a nice gal at the restaurant filled my bottles for me.  Up a STEEP hill that was a lot longer than it needed to be, and I was back in (heavily) rolling terrain.  My plan was to make Creston and stealth camp, so I pulled into a gas station and filled a 2L dromedary bag.  Less than 6km down the road the storm announced that it was on its way - and FAST.  I pulled over at a corner store to pull on my rain gear and the rain began to fall.  The skies were black, and the wind was picking up.  This was exactly they type of weather and fast moving storm that had prompted me to take this route rather than going over Kootenay Pass on Hwy3.  They had a campsite there so I paid for a spot and set up my tarp STAT.  I had everything up fairly quickly, and stood under the tarp watching the storm over the lake.  Within 45min the storm had blown over and it was sunny and beautiful once more.  Uh... Okay...  Since I had paid for the site I decided to just chill out for the evening and get some rest.  The real storm did hit later, and quite hard - but I was all tucked in and safely out of harms way by then.  Not exactly what I had planned, but it was a decent day in the saddle. 

Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 6:30
Actual Ride Time: 4:44
Distance Traveled: 95.8km
Average Speed: 20.2
Max Speed: 61.7


Breakfast was mediocre at best...

If I stop there, would I ride faster?

Hwy 3A, North of Castlegar

Not what I expected to find in Downtown Nelson...

Short break on the way to the Ferry

Kootenay Lake

Chillaxin' at the ferry terminal

Lunch!

The other side of the lake...

Camp:

My dinner companion...

Not unhappy about my decision to stay

Views from "the best campsite on the lake"

I wouldn't normally post pictures of myself "in bed", but just to dissuade readers from the notion that I might be cold or uncomfortable...

 

I leave you with the music to which I fell asleep, and awoke

http://vimeo.com/12892482