Day 6 Athabasca and Jasper

Unfortunately, this late morning shot didn't turn out that well, but it was a beautiful sight and forced Aviam and I to spend several minutes admiring it and hoping for a good shot. We failed... However, it was points like this that made me really appreciate the trip; sore ass, fatigued legs, all forgotten when you saw the beauty of the Rockies.

We spent the day riding quite casually and chose the 93A which hugs the Athabasca for the majority of it. It ia a much quieter road, as people are relaxing and not in a big rush.

I have never seen the Athabasca this high and was amazed at is power and speed. We stopped several times to watch it as it angrily flowed, within a foot of the bank. Quite impressive.

Athabasca Fall were even more impressive.

Day 5....Up....The Icefields!

Perfect weather, awesome scenery, and then the ascent.......

I remember driving this road, with my parents, and friends over the years and this one part always sticks in my mind (unfortunately, I do not have a picture of it). There is a long turn to the right, that seems to go forever. However, before that, you can look up, way up, and see cars parked on the side of the road and it makes you wonder how the hell they got up there. As I rode up to this section, I too wondered how the hell I would get up there.

By this time we had been climbing for quite a long time and were quite spent. I am pretty good about keeping myself going but at this time, I was happy to have someone else pushing to keep me motivated. The wind on 'the turn' was pretty strong but we kept pushing as we knew we still had plenty of uphill climb ahead of us.

It was a warm day, actually, it felt hot at this point. The ascent to the point where the cars seemed to be parked precariously on the edge of a mountain was still a ways away, and damn, it was steep.

We made it, had a rest, received a few compliments from thsoe who drove up, then headed up a bit more. We basically chose a spot we wanted to get to and pedalled on. Stop, rest, pick a spot, pedal on...repeat. Those days of riding my Balfa up the fireroads in Japan paid off....

One more kilometer!

We reached the Icefield Center, sat around and had a couple of beer(s) and chatted with a German woman who was riding the other way, alone and heading to.....not sure. It felt great to be here, 25 years after.

Aviam and I, although completely bagged decided to start heading down....... We only had a couple of beers and this was over a 'considerable' amount of time. Wilcox pass, a campground , 3.1 kms south of the Icefield Center, seemed way to far to go back to; going downhill was the way to go...

We ended up riding another 20 kms, I think, to Jonas Creek, which should have been named Mosquito Creek, cause holy crap, was there a shitload of them (someone was kind enough to leave us some repellent though.

After hauling our bikes up a walking trail to the tent area, which sucked, we set up camp and made dinner. I again, almost lit the table and surrounding areas up with my brother Michael's stove (which he kindly let me borrow...thanks bro!). Aviam got a kick out of watching me fight with the stove and proudly posed with it later.

I think he wanted to steal it and sell it for a new pair of shoes

Day 5 The Climb

The night before Aviam and I decided we would head out in the morning together. Around 6 a.m. I peeled myself out of my tent, packed things up a bit and then headed out to see if Aviam was alive yet. Turns out he didn't actually get a very good sleep under his blanket he brought with him (temps get a wee chilly in the mountains at night) and spent most of the night shivering. I, on the other hand, had a decent sleep in my warm, comfy MEC sleeping bag....

After some breakfast we headed out. I was a bit concerned that I had a leak in my back tire as it seemd to have lost air. However, after pumping it up it seemed to hold. It may have been a combination of altitude and temperature that brought the tire pressure down.




Things warm up quickly when you are riding with 40+ pounds of gear.














Not a bad way to spend a day.....





The first bit of the ride this morning would mean completeing the climb up to the Bow Summit. It is a 40 km climb, which turned out to be pretty painless. When Aviam and I got there we were quite surprised that was all. We were expecting a bit more of an ass kicking than that. I did know what lay ahead. I had driven it a few times in the past and knew that many vehicles disliked the the ascent up to the Columbia Icefields. Constant reminders to Aviam of what we were to face usually resulted in 'Bring it on...". Little did he know.

Day 4 cont._ Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway

Lake Louis is about 2 kms from the start of the Icefields parkway (it is a junction of the Trans-Canada and Highway 93. I decided to have a bit of a rest here and then start the climb up 93. It is a 40km gradual climb to Bow Summit but I was going to save the for tomorrow. My destination for today would be Mosquito Creek about 26kms up the highway.












Not sure why it was called Mosquito Creek; there weren't too many of the little buggers around. It was a nice enough campground but for 14 dollars , was still overpriced. Spent the evening getting set up, boiling water (they seem overly paranoid about the water in the parks these days) and making dinner. I went next door and checked out the hostel to see if they had anything to drink, as I was fresh out of water. They were closed and advertised it with a 'don't come near me' sign that said something like: " We are not here and we have nothing to do with the campground next door so piss off". At least that's how I read it...




Mosquito Creek Campground



Cooling off my water....



A little back step... as I walked to my favorite hostel, another cyclist rode into Mosquito Creek Campground. We greeted each other with the usual 'Hey' and nod as he rode by. Later, after I returned from the neighbouring HOSTEL, I spoke with Aviam who was on his way to Edmonton from Vancouver. He, like me, was very new to all of this long distance road riding.

Turned out Aviam was working in Korea and was on his way to see his sister in Edmonton.

Day 4_This is what I am talking about

Had a bit of a late start. Got talking with another cyclist (Adam)that apparently got in Tunnel Mountain around 10 the night before. He was coming up from San Francisco and was 5 weeks into his trip. I wish I had taken pictures of his bike. He had an extended frame, with a skateboard base that was basically his rear rack and huge panniers. The solar charger for his iPod was cool....

I rode into town and got a few supplies from Safeway (granola bars, bread, cheese and an apple--- I still had some pasta to last a few days). Then I was off, back on Highway 1 towards Lake Louise. I decided to take 1A because of Adam's recommendation. He said it was quieter, meaning no cars blasting by at 120! He was right. Once I got onto 1A, as I have mentioned to many people, I finally felt REALLY good about riding. It was extremely peaceful, the air was fresh and no one else around me. It was truly what I was waiting for. Although the scenery was not spectacular, it made up for it with the smells and the silence. There was something truly awesome about this leg of my trip.

Day 3..Banff or Bust (or should I say puncture?)

After a good feed with Daryl and his family and a good nights rest, I left the next day around 8 a.m. for Banff. The ride out of Calgary was pretty much all downhill, which made for a nice start. It seemed as though I was going to have nice weather and soon enough I would be able to see the mountains more clearly (I hadn't been able to see them yet as it seemed rather smoky).

An hour or so outside of the city I got my first flat. I had been waiting for this and to this dayI am not pleased with my choice for tire sizes ( I originally had 23C's on but changed to 25C before I left and still feel those are too thin). Changing a road tire is quite easy once you get the actual wheel off. With panniers, sleeping bag, tent, etc in the way, it proves to be a bit of a challenge the first time. By the way, it seems people driving by need to honk their horns at you while you wrestle with the bike in the ditch.

Shortly after getting back on the road, I was finally able to get a decent picture of the mountains....









A Japanese film crew creating a fishing show.



Banff was about a 105 km ride from Calgary and was not a very difficult day. There was a bit of wind coming off the Rockies but nothing too bad. I set up camp at Tunnel Mountain campground just outside of the town ( Not worth the 21 dollars a night thats for damn sure. Or was it more than that? ) and then headed to the Magpie and Stump for some Mexican food and a 'couple beers'. Then it was back UP the road to the campsite where I settled in with an Outside magazine and a couple Labatts Blue.

Day 2_Calgary. Beer, beef and UFC

I rolled into Calgary late morning but still had to get to Daryl's place (friend of mine from school). It had been awhile since I had been in Calgary but knew roughly about where he lived. Country Hills....no problem. It is on the outskirts of town... Well, after another 11kms, uphill, in the blistering heat, I found his place. Of the 306 kms I rode in those 2 days, they were the toughest ones yet (missing the turn-off didn't help).

My trusty steed with about 45 pounds of gear.

Leaving

July 19 was my proposed departure date. I was really not thrilled about riding down Highway 2 right before the weekend, as the road gets pretty busy with plenty of stupid drivers, but I didn't want to delay.

I got away at about 6 a.m.. Here is a quick snap of me before I left. I was actually feeling a bit of anxiety, nervousness at this time... the reason for the fake smile maybe??

I headed out of town and it was about 11kms before I actually fe
My first rest came at 50kms into the ride. It was starting to warm already and was supposed to be a high of somewhere around 33 degrees for the day. I propped my bike up against some garbage cans at a road side pullout and sought some shelter from the sun beside a rig that was parked there. After a light bite to eat and a bit of time to get off that saddle, I was back at it.
lt like I was out of the city. The shoulder just outside of Edmonton, although wide (11foot?) only had about 3 feet that I could ride on due to all the gravel and crap left from the previous winter (I assume...). So for the first part of my journey I was cycling along, on the left side of the shoulder with cars speeding past at 120 km/hr+.

As I said, I really had no idea how far I was going to be able to go in a day. I do lots of downhill mountain biking and have to exert a fair amount of energy riding up to the trail heads but I have never done anything long distance like this. I was hoping for about 100 kms a day at least. Today I was shooting for Red Deer for the night.

After another break for lunch I reached Red Dear and had a bit of a rest at the Mohawk Gas station. It was good to take my shoes off and let them air out for awhile. I decided to bring sandals at the last minute and man, am I glad I did. As I sat and drank my gatorade and snacked on a granola bar I contemplated my next move. I was already past the campsite at Red Deer and it was still early enough I could still get a a fair bit of road out of the way. I decided to move on some more. I had already done more than 140 kms....why not keep going?

I pulled up to this rest area/campground at Bowden and decided to call it a day.202 kms for day one was definitely enough. I had gone much further than planned and would be able to reach Calgary around noon the next day. I was quite pleased with myself and surprised at the distance I covered in a day. Here is where I spent night one....

2007 The Rockies--In Preparation

In the spring of 2007, I started thinking more seriously about doing a ride though the Rocky Mountains. Since elementary school, I have always though about either ride out to Jasper, from Edmonton, or ride from Jasper to Banff via the Icefields Parkway. This year past year I did both....not necessarily in that order....

Almost immediately after returning to Edmonton for the summer (I reside in Fukuoka, Japan) I went out bike shopping. I was really surprised to find out the tour bike industry does not really exist in Edmonton. I visited most major bike stores in the city and finally found a bike I felt would do the trick. At Revolution Cycle I purchased a Specialized Tricross (not exactly a touring bike) for about $1200 and a few hundred dollars worth of gear (rear rack Aviom panniers and a few other things). A visit to MEC also saw my wallet empty as I bought a tent, sleeping bags and other necessities. I think all said and down I spent about $2500 on gear (including bike).

Initially I was planning to ride to Jasper first but changed my mind for a couple of reasons.... The first was that I wasn't too excited about riding into the wind right from the get go. It is approx 365 Kms to jasper from Edmonton and I really wasn't sure how far I would get my first day. Secondly, the ride down Highway 2 (or id Queen Elizabeth? Gateway? Calgary Trail..??) to Calgary is anything but exciting and figured it would be nice to get that out of the way first... So that was the plan. Ride to Calgary in 2 -3 days, then to Banff, up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper and then return to Edmonton on the Yellowhead....